what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027

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!

omg i love summer food too
i grilled some pineapple 2 days ago and it was heavenly

windows open, music on, wine, breeze coming through the house, it is a good time to cook.

otm

charcoal grilled flank steak and new potatoes tonight for us, but it's noon on the west coast. time to marinate the steak!

i suggest giving this a play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9IatdfP_W8

love summer food

first blt's of summer for lunch <3

grilled squid, a salad similar to another one i mentioned itt of tomato, roasted corn, feta, basil and lime juice. big glass of chablis easing a horrible hangover.

yum

squiiiiiiiiiid
love it
i am about to go to the store (tomorrow tbh) and remembered that i love ceviche so i think it's time for that

baked a two layer caker for mr veg's birthday ... am now living my own Great Britsh Bake Off

- planned to do 1 good size cake & sandwich it
- turned out more modest in height than anticipated
- baked a quick second layer
- made buttercream frosting
- was v unappealing off-white so colored it yellow
- now looks like actual butter lol
- did my crumbcoat, all good
- added jam filling, and whipped cream
- added top layer, noticed whipped cream starting to break down slightly
- o fuck the whipped cream prob wont hold
- madly frosted the whole thing & spackled over the filling to lol contain it lololol
- shoved it in the fridge, hope for the best
- hopefully (vainly) that it isnt sitting in a pool of oozed cream tomorrow

hee hee all a bit of adrenalin & fun in the end
i do enjoy baking, masochist that i am

damn you've put the work in there!

tonight i am going to cook a chicken leg and have some asparagus on the side. i bought a jar of romesco which is a bit of a cheat but whatever.

cake update:
https://instagram.com/p/BV0RVSclEyL742png8BPEUUUNKGe8OCiNSt30Q0/

the frosting set nice & hard so my "spackling" method contained the filling :)

cream kinda disappeared/ soaked into the cake despite crumb-coat but there was plenty of jam

cake was ok but v dense...may have buggered up the method somewhere so i think i'll go back to classic sponge cake next time, i have more experience with those

overall yay!

cool!
your insta-link = Sorry, this page isn't available, btw

god i miss being able to run down the street and pick up fresh squid like i was able to while living in sf. living in chico on account of school rn and can't wait to get outta here in a year

My neighbor has gotten into gardening in a big way this year for the first time, and we got hit with a deluge of yellow squash last night. At least it's not zucchini. I'm having rice + furikake + sauteed squash + a fried egg on top for lunch, and will make a pureed squash soup for dinner.

i really like making a simple squash soup just by roasting it and then putting it in with stock, onion, garlic, ginger and coconut milk and then immersion blending. very easy light meal.

sunday is fish day. whole roast plaice with cherry tomatoes and thyme, handful of samphire with lemon and olive oil. glass of vinho verde.

baked apricots with brown sugar and some leftover cream.

mmmmm yum

i just looked up samphire and still don't recognize it
intrigued!

it's sometimes called sea asparagus - it's like a salty quite coarse green - very nice and cooks quickly. think it was faintly popularised by foraging chefs over here, i guess it's plentiful in the uk as you can buy it in most supermarkets now.