what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027

i don't really use my freezer. prob should.

oh man. ur definitely overpaid

don't think it's that, i just don't plan ahead enough to use it!

yes that is a luxury of affluence!

ok anyway so you could bake the trout again with tarragon, white wine and cream. always a treat

tomato, fennel seeds, pimenton, orange slices, saffron, wine thyme garlic - u can make this combination as poachy stewlike or as saucelike as u prefer

often like to whip up a quick mix of whatever's around from yoghurt, crushed garlic, shaved cucumber, lemon/vinegar, radish, mint/dill for white fish. bit of paprika too, if it's salmon you could dust the skin in var spices

with roast fennel or baby gem lettuce, with vermouth thyme rosemary capers lemon etc, cream too maybe

whole dinner of spring veg (potatoes peas etc) and salmon baked in parchment is uniquely satisfying

got into experimenting with fruit segments and fish for a while, orange/lemon/blood orange bright salady accompaniments with red onion and chilli etc

*greek yoghurt that shdve said

https://www.ft.com/content/8dc78fae-4678-11e3-9487-00144feabdc0

forgot this was a p dope-ass take on the old tuna zzzteak

f u i never planned ahead even when i was skint! i buy a few things on sunday for the week but that's about it. i maybe don't really like freezing/defrosting as a thing, it's annoying and i have doubts the food tastes as good as when it's fresh. my freezer is empty apart from ice cream and marks and spencer's brioche burger buns!

all those ideas sound great btw - ta.

haddock or a like fish wrapped in a spring roll wrapper and sauteed is v. tasty and easy

sea bass or another firm fleshed fish crusted with crushed fennel seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns then started in a hot cast iron and finished in oven

i used to do monkfish (back in the day before the price shot up) in sri lankan curry. that was my fave.

or just a simple lime/tarragon butter melted over a hunk of salmon is a good one

miso glazed cod

xposts

HOW TO MAKE PAELLA, when you've been up for 2 days on the vodka and you just remembered you invited your mother for tea:

1. No saffron. I mean, FUCK saffron, it is a very costly way to what, change the colour of the dish? I can't notice any flavour benefit. Just horse a load of smoked paprika in there instead. But not yet.
2. Prolly should start with the chorizo, then everything after that can fry in the oil that comes out of that. Use the nice one your mother gave you that crumbles, not the normal asda shit that cuts into discs. Then chuck the onions in. Season.
3. Chicken. Brown that, obviously we are using thighs cos more flavour and cheaper, who even buys chicken breasts these days? Oh yeah, Him, but you know deep down you are a better cook than him, don't think about him right now, FOCUS. And season.
4. Pepper, just a bell pepper, whatever colour one is in your fridge. Actually those sweet pointy peppers go nice in this, but you never bought them, did you? No worries. Season.
5. Actually just keep seasoning at every step, I'm gunna stop saying that, just take it as a given from now on.
6. Rice, I think I am meant to use longgrain, but I like this arborio stuff, same as I put in my equally inauthentic (but equally well seasoned) risotto. Throw it into the pan dry for a spell, let it crackle a bit before you put your stock in.
7. Oh yeah, chicken stock, you prolly have a freezer full of pots from every time you roasted a chicken. I prolly should've told you at the start to take one out to defrost, if you didn't it's fine, just drop the block of ice into the pan, it'll slow things down but that just means we can smoke a cigarette in the meantime
8. smoke a cigarette.
9. HORSE A LOAD OF SMOKED PAPRIKA IN THERE
10. Now, your mother will constantly tell you that you are meant to let the bottom layer stick onto the bottom of the pan, and then serve it up with crusty bits. I donno about that, it makes the washing up more hellish, also oh shit, we forgot to use the funcy paella pan our mother gave us for Christmas, doesn't matter, she's not coming in the kitchen so we just won't mention it.
11. add the prawns shortly before serving, you took them out the freezer at the same time as the stock, right? Never mind, they can just go in frozen. Those nice chunky ones would be nice, but c'mon you can't afford them, this bag seems to contain the smallest prawns known to mankind, and they still qualify as a luxury.
12. I think that's it? BOOM:
http://i.imgur.com/3dpBc65.jpg
13. you're prolly not even hungry anymore, just give your mother a bowl of it and pour a drink.

I enjoyed this recipe-narrative

was it well received? tasty?

this was a good read
http://www.bonappetit.com/story/persian-new-year-menu-recipes

took awhile to get to it, but making a soup that article above mentions. simple beans and greens soup with loads of dill/cilantro/parsley. sounds like a winner to me
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/beans-green-soup-with-yogurt-mint

was freakin' outrageous. this Persian noodle soup recipe didn't call for a noodle so subbed Israeli couscous, which maybe incongruous, but worked

cooked some duck breast (lots of slow rendering) with a raspberry sauce. had done it before, this time I added some stock to the sauce, but didn't have any peach. served w/ roasties, it was v delicious & well received.

good call man, i should make duck soon.

duck is not that difficult or really that expensive in the grand scheme, it just *feels* indulgent so i don't do it often.

crispy skin is of course a real treat. I would have preferred it a little less well done but that probably wouldn't have been to my guest's taste. the savoury raspberry sauce really is great though; not really done much like that but it's not difficult - gastrique of sugar & white wine vinegar, break the raspberries down, red wine, stock, season. also feeling very seasonal and there aren't many pleasures out there that can compete with hanging out with a friend, slowly chatting while cooking and watching the kittens go on one of their first explorations of the garden, and then eating together

sounds awesome! i love making duck tho prob more winter eating for me.

I started documenting the slow cooker chili recipes last year

Jan 30, 2016: http://i.imgur.com/lPFtXrMm.jpg
Mar 6, 2016: http://i.imgur.com/Ns9Wx82m.jpg
Apr 24, 2016: http://i.imgur.com/rs5oAr1m.jpg
May 30, 2016: http://i.imgur.com/9J55608m.jpg
Sep 3, 2016: http://i.imgur.com/ZQwuxiDm.jpg
Dec 4, 2016: http://i.imgur.com/G01hCxNm.jpg
Jan 2, 2017: http://i.imgur.com/wjQnIu4m.jpg
Mar 4, 2017: http://i.imgur.com/boVpHdxm.jpg
Apr 30, 2017: http://i.imgur.com/lpohd8am.jpg

Hoping the allspice comes through in the latest batch and I don't hate myself for leaving out the garlic

how do you come by red habaneros in january?! (am trying to grow habaneros and ghost peppers this year)
i've never added corn tortillas to chili though, what a great idea.

Kenny Shopsin puts masa in his and I am a fan!

i think kenji adds masa too, and i'm definitely gonna try it next time

one thing that is definitely making me excited about moving to new mex: hatch (or chimayo!) chiles

adding masa is cool just gotta be careful it doesn't clump

I stole it from ATK I think? Originally they said to put the tortillas and the beer in the blender but it's less work to just dice them up tbf. Soaking them doesn't seem to have much effect.

the habaneros come on a truck.

next batch, definitely keeping the allspice; actually I think the dried seasonings are on point finally - less hot peppers though, and I think the bacon didn't render enough in the oven, this batch is a little greasy.

found an interesting technique flipping through the zuni cafe cookbook yesterday, where you quick braise fish with other stuff under your broiler. you basically get a quick gratinee of everything, then you lower the broiler and cook the finish mostly through. remove from oven, take out the fish, and finish sauce & stuff on the stovetop.

tried it tonight with potatoes, leeks, thyme, sea bass, and a lot of butter. rustic and delicious.

Y'ALL

THIS. IS. BANGIN.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/03/bucatini-pasta-amatriciana-recipe.html

also lol @ the guy at the gourmet shop for getting fussy w/ me asking for 0.2lb of guanciale but that's all I needed bcz I halved it and that shit was still $5 for 0.2 lb!!

anyway track down guanciale or I guess use pancetta and this shit is SO FUCKING EASY and it's one of those recipes that uses v few ingredients and showcases all of their glorious flabors

love a good flabor

o yeah we are all about bucatini

it is great for cacio e pepe

never made something like this before, seems impossible to fuck up though https://smittenkitchen.com/2007/05/crumbling-crisp-convictions/

got huge strawberries and rhubarb this AM at farmers' mkt

gah I never see rhubarb at the farmer's market here, I should get mum & dad to covertly send me some in the mail.

that recipe looks good, I'm gonna save that one.

crumbles are my life, I just used up a year-old bag of frozen berries that I'd forgotten about in the back of the freezer and turned it into a cobbler/crumble kind of thing. easy and delish!

i made that crumble and its v v v good

started bunging rhubarb into my stirfries and it does add something.
Works for savoury if you don't add sugar.
Just kept seeing it in the local LIDL and thought I'd give it a shot.

also cashew nuts, plenty of ginger, garlic, turmeric, chillies, pepper, chayote, aubergine, courgette, leeks, shallotts, spring onions, mushrooms, cabbage, spinach, chard, kale, tomato, radishes, and a few other things.

I also made that crumble as, like harbl, I had picked up strawberries and rhubarb at the farmer's market. I'm a little on the fence about it--I missed the crunchiness of a traditional crisp.

have some extra time to cook since heading into finals week at school so making beet pesto today which i've never done before. sounds weird but worth a try imo. tomorrow gonna make roasted leek and white bean gallette (from smitten kitchen blog) for vegan roommate's birthday

i made ceviche for the first time the other nigh, it was delicious! i grew up eating it a lot, my dad would usually make a shrimp or a squid ceviche, i used turbot for this one it was really good. i followed this recipe for the most part - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/13/martin-morales-ceviche-recipe-peru

last night i made crab rolls, like lobster rolls i guess, i kind of used a few diff recipes mashed together. had them with steamed jersey royal potatoes, a lot of butter was expended for this meal. i still have a little crab left over so i'm going to make a linguine tonight i think, it's very hot in london so maybe some wine too.

both of those things sound delicious. i am almost getting my mojo back!! I think it has a lot to do with mental space afforded to other things that require significant mental space. now that it's fruit & vegetable & grill season + i have a break from work, i am a little more inspired. i'd like to invite some people over to grill with me, that might make it slightly more exciting. like a sunday "grill yr stuff for the week" get together. idk if i have the logistical abilities to pull that together but it would be fun.

communal cooking is the best & definitely helps me get back into it. I have never cooked crab but I do love linguine so mb I should get on it. will mostly be salads, salsa verde, fish and such this week but off duty tonight while my gf cooks feijoada

making nigel slater warm potato salad for the first time this year. i need to make more things from this book and more things from cookbooks in general.

got inspired by some pbs thing on Alice Waters last night, so making Chickpea and Farro Soup from one of her cookbooks. a couple herbs, garlic, celery, onion and orange zest, 3/4 of the chickpeas get pureed. sounds like a simple classic provençal sort of thing that is right up my alley.

can't believe I've never made this dish before, but I did cod with chorizo and lentils from this recipe: http://www.ramus.co.uk/recipes/pan-fried-cod-lentils-chorizo/

and it was way better than I expected. I put a chopped tomato in and left out the kale (had green beans on the side). It had a sweetness as well as savouriness.

cod with salty pork things is a good combo.

I made this last night -- so simple, and SO goddamn good!!
http://nomnompaleo.com/post/150016559668/cantonese-crispy-chicken-thighs

reminds me of the berebere spicy chicken thigh recipe that stevie d posted ages ago -- kind of the same principle, but not spicy but super flavorful.

gosh, I haven't made those berbere chicken thighs in years. sad! I'm actually v delighted that they've had staying power on this thread tho

i have made them a few times, i heart them

made this tonight: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/charred-and-raw-corn-with-chile-and-cheese

subbed feta in for the cotija because living in the uk, had it with grilled squid and a glass of muscadet - love summer food!