what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027

i would love ottolenghi style stuff everyday too if it just magically appeared in front of me. I look at those recipes a lot but it's just too much.

the humble pleasures of european food are quite entry-level compared to a lot of asian cuisines, we accept this, we are still in some ways a barbarous ppl

google news recommended i make this https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019772-spiced-chickpea-stew-with-coconut-and-turmeric
i was amused to see that almost all the commenters loved it...after they made changes to the recipe. because it's bland. as for me, it was great after i used just one can of coconut milk, added a load of curry powder, extra cumin, and cayenne pepper, then lime juice before eating

no, i misremembered, it was youtube. i didn't know who alison roman was but i hate her.

"If you type "the stew" into Google, you'll get Alison Roman's Spiced Chickpea Stew With Coconut and Turmeric as the first result. It's so popular that it even has its own hashtag across social media, #thestew." seriously? it's just chickpeas, and turmeric is not enough! i should be in the new york times

i also started some fermentation projects because fall temperatures are here. ghost peppers for very hot sauce (i will regret this) and dilly beans. ignore the trader joe's salad dressing in the photo.
https://i.imgur.com/V10pWcL.jpg

have very fond memories of seeing a wall of jars like that in the grandparents' basement. nice work.

Farro with Roasted Mushrooms Recipe | Bon Appetit
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/farro-with-roasted-mushrooms

i bought a small sheet pan with a rack at a discount place and made this. Was v good, but i think the simple path toward delicious crispy roasted mushrooms is the most exciting part. Did convection at 400 to really go for crispiness.

woah that looks great, url doesn't do it justice judging by the pic.

ghost pepper pickles look impressive. am completely jealous tbh

xxpost

i also started some kimchi yesterday. fun!

no, i misremembered, it was youtube. i didn't know who alison roman was but i hate her.

"If you type "the stew" into Google, you'll get Alison Roman's Spiced Chickpea Stew With Coconut and Turmeric as the first result. It's so popular that it even has its own hashtag across social media, #thestew." seriously? it's just chickpeas, and turmeric is not enough! i should be in the new york times

― forensic plumber (harbl), Sunday, October 6, 2019 4:37 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think the stew is very good. surprisingly so given the few ingredients. i think serving it with some nice thick and fatty yoghurt is pretty key though. i also cook it for longer than directed so it reduces more

i got a dinner and 3 lunches out of the stew, cooked from dry chickpeas and it was more than 2 cans worth, so i do owe her some credit. i will be making more #thestew variations.

i agree that tumeric isnt much of a flavour but i liked it... i think that like jim said, reducing it is key as well as mashing up the chickpeas to thicken it up, so it's not just a soup with chickpeas floating it.

I could see myself trying to make that stew and it would just turn into chana masala with kale.

hehe, yeah i think i'd be tempted to toss in garam or curry powder to that recipe. BUT freshly cooked beans (i know - they're a legume) are so effin tasty and texturally noble maybe that would be enough delightfulness to carry it for me. think i'll get some chickpeas and ginger in the morning. have sorta been craving something coconut milky and stewy lately.

i don't usually use fresh turmeric, but i think it'd be a nice idea for this tbh

i made this #thestew and it is very nice but not necessarily life-altering (like a curry can be, say). really easy to put together though which is nice. did sub freshly cooked 'banzos and a bunch of kinda roughly chopped fresh turmeric - dried turmeric as acceptable, fresh has SO much more going for it (texture, flavor, blablabla).

i've grated the tumeric and also juiced it but have never done a chop. I should try it. I kind of freaked myself out over reports that some dry tumeric from certain countries has high levels of lead so I think I want to use the fresh more.

I use fresh turmeric in smoothies — I like the earthy flavor and I can pretend it’s a health concoction if I has spinach, ginger, and turmeric.

Also soups and spinach pies

I just went through a weekend process of buying a ton of ginger, peeling it and then slicing into 1/4 inch medallions to freeze (to toss into smoothies). I should do the same to turmeric.

i'm making a chicken pot pie. i actually rolled the pie crust without ripping it or making a huge split. not a good circle but an improvement.

that's a victory in my house

I did deconstructed chicken pot pie yesterday. Filling/stew of everything except the potatoes, in a well of stiffer than usual mashed potatoes. Served with biscuits on the side instead of top crust.

^^^ this is making me want vegetarian shepherd's pie. with loads of shrooms (don't think i've ever encountered a actual veggie pot pie?). i like the biscuit idea though. it's still in the 90's here, but when it cools off. . .

made stuffed manicotti last night based on this recipe https://www.noracooks.com/vegan-stuffed-jumbo-shells/ but subbed kale in for spin. the filling was terrific and the dish wasn't a pain to put together at all. i've made calzones before with a very similar tofu ricotta mixture that were great fwiw

i love making stuffed shells! and i am suddenly interested in all kinds of meat pies.

i am attempting to make my own pitas to go with lentil/potato/kale soup. i've been adding berbere and some canned tomato product to lentils and it's like a miracle combo

Ohhh, I make vegan manicotti a lot but never thought to do the cashews before. I also do kale sometimes (or add in whatever greens/mushrooms I have around).

last night i made a soup of red thai curry paste, 1 can chaokoh, 1 qt homemade chicken stock, 1 can pumpkin, some sliced cabbage, and cooked chicken. served with a couple scoops of jasmine rice. i died.

I am dying to make these steamed scallion buns this weekend but I don't have a steamer so I guess I might have to do the plate in a pot method.

https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/steamed-scallion-buns-hua-juan/

Steaming pain seems worth it. made the momofuku fried chicken 2 days ago. The "octo vin" is wonderful. Chicken was also good, but frying even a small pre-steamed chicken for 8 minutes is more mess than I can handle in a small kitchen. Going to find more use for the octo vin, though.

Ooh, I've bookmarked those scallion buns, they look good.

also made the mushroom and kale lasagna from six seasons for dinner yesterday. so easy and good. It has velouté instead of red sauce! A step futher from adding bechamel!

I guess this past Friday was Lidong, the 19th solar term of the traditional Chinese calendar, the beginning of the winter? So you eat specific food to keep the cold away. My taiwanese wine sister had pics of her meal on fb and those were included.

I am totally ignoring the bechamel in lasagna madness.

but it is velouté. A mother sauce loophole!

he calls it a "green lasagna," and I've accepted it.

I will not be tricked.

but you can sing "velouté" to that enya song while you make it

I made those scallion buns. They were VERY good and once I youtubed a video on how exactly to form them it was pretty easy. I did a batch of scallion, ginger, garlic; portobello, ginger, garlic; portobello, scallion, cilantro, ginger, garlic. I thought I was going to skip the 5 spice because I have never liked it but I think I changed my mind on it.

Did you eat them with sauce?

yeah, I made regular dumpling sauce to go with them but they kind of don't need it if you eat them right out of the steamer because the recipe has you brushing oil and adding salt before you roll everything. I also cooked the mushrooms before adding them so they were also already seasoned. I ended up doing a plate in a pot method to steam.

I might have to relent and get a bamboo steamer. These seemed good to make for parties. Easy to have everything prepped and then fast to put together.

Apart from rinsing, is there any trick to getting rid of the tinny taste of canned beans (using in a salad - maybe let them marinate in the vinaigrette?). This is basically the only food thing my husband is really fussy about.

Also: share your fav vinaigrette/dressing recipes. I need to make some warm salads.

is this with all brands and bean types? I have never encountered this. does he only taste metallic things in beans?

I really like fried shallots, garlic, lemon juice + dijon or whole grain mustard variations for vinagrettes (like adding in some sherry or balsamic vinegar or whatever herbs I have around) and just whip it all up to taste. I tend to not add that much olive oil, the mustard gives it enough creaminess.

i make a mustard vinaigrette for thanksgiving and i am so looking forward to it!
my menu is pretty regular at this point and i am also looking forward to gumbo!!!!

I always make the deviled eggs for t-giving, and this year I want to make some of them stuffed with shrimp salad instead of the usual yolks+flavors. Trying a test batch this afternoon.

Xp it seems like he always tastes it?? No matter how much I rinse.

have you tried goya beans? online there are some things about taking vitamins or medications that make you sensitive to metallic tastes. I have never experienced this.

for a while i was getting some brand of beans at whole foods that came in a pouch instead of a can. i have no idea if that would help at all.

i cyber monday'd a 2.5 mm copper pot bc dave chang told me to. must now decide what to cook in this ferrari of pots.

I made salmon tikka masala last night from a madhur jaffrey recipe for chicken t.m. But I didn't have tomatoes and was too lazy (one step too far) to deal with the can of crushed tomatoes so I just used a pouch of marinara. It actually turned out fine! It was on the verge of being too spicy because I only have hot paprika (in addition to the hot chili powder that was added) so instead of folding in all the salmon we spooned the sauce on top. I feel like it could've been folded in, but now I have sauce leftover to put in some chickpeas I guess.