What's cooking? part 4

gah, I haven't cooked anything in weeks due to the despair of hotel living, but now I am back home and have just fried up some side pork for breakfast.

Matt, that's fantastic! Mr. Jaq and I are talking about some sort of UK sojourn in 2008 and will come and eat all yr foodz when that happens!

Term is over, and now I am starting to enter my kitchen again. Onion soup today. Num num onions.

what to do w/boring bland old boneless chicken breasts? tonight I rubbed em w/a paste made of cilantro oliver oil chili powder cumin & coriander (dried) 1 clove garlic minced S&P. cored & chopped a 1 lb package of tomatoes then spread them around/on top of the chicken breasts in a pyrex dish. 450 over for 20 minutes, not bad served with curry couscous and steamed spinach. from Mark Bittman w/a few adjustments.

If I have to have boneless chicken breasts (and I do, because it's the only part of the bird my wife will eat), I generally pound them flat, dredge in seasoned flour, brown and set aside, turn the fond into a sauce with whatever is tasty and at hand. Add the chicken back, simmer a few minutes, serve chicken and sauce with a starch.

Or I make chicken curry soup.

Ooh, Deli Matt sounds fab!

uh oh - have you been incapacitated?

I fell arse over tit over double-fractured ankle on the way home from work last month. The cast is off now, but I'm still extremely hobbly. Last night's cooking was done by Domino's I'm afraid. Still, I'm going to bring out the mulling spice ice-cream recipe for a party on Saturday night.

omg! so sorry to hear that but glad you're on the mend. some mulled wine along with the spiced ice cream will probably speed recovery.

best dish so far: rice/spinach/ginger/garlic mix. da frigging yum.

tonights meal =

smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich
i.e. two discs of derbyshire oatcake enclosing 2 salmon rashers (lovely smoked salmon we get at work) with rocket and a bit of wasabi creme fraiche

Then cassoulet:
a bit different to norm as MiL doesn't do pork so it had lamb and garlic sausages, some great little lamb chops and some confit duck legs and gizzards, nice crisp crust too which helps - washed down with an excellent Irouleguy.

Pudding was going to be a pannetone bread and butter pudding but my timings were cack, so we'r cracking into a bottle of port instead

i made a quick curry with string beans, a little onion and chicken tonight. served with brown rice. it was kind of not so great.

who has the best easy curry recipe? my friend makes a great one with sour cream. i tried with yogurt tonight but it ended up a bit odd and i think i overseasoned :(

Easiest and always good:

1. Fry mix of minced onion+garlic+ginger+chili in neutral oil.
2. When soft, add spices (like a tablespoon of curry powder, or your own mixtrue). Fry for a minute, until quite dry.
3. Add a can of coconut milk. Bring to boil, let cook down 10-15 minutes until reduced by a bunch.
4. Now you can add whatever protein you want (chunks of boneless chicken, shrimp, etc.) and cook in the simmering liquid. When that's done, you're done. Squeeze over some lime, add some cilantro if you want/have any.

thank you. yes, that is easy but i am also looking for something without coconut milk (sorry i should have said that before) because it's more than likely i won't have that on hand at any given time when i decide i want to throw a bunch of random crap into a curry.

what i've been doing lately:

1) chop up a bunch of veg (and whatever protein you're using) and mix in a bowl with a good quality curry powder. make sure all pieces are more or less dusted and let sit for half an hour or so.
2) chop and fry garlic/onion/ginger/etc as g00blar says.
3) add veg and saute. if you've got meat in there, you want it to sear and brown a bit.
4) add some moisture (ie, water or broth) and cook covered for a bit until veg soften up.
5) cook with lid off for a bit to reduce sauce.

For some reason lately I've been really into chilaquiles, either tomato or tomatillo, with chicken, slices of onion, queso añejo, and a fried egg on top.

Roast butternut squash with harissa and goat cheese or drained yogurt is pretty good too.

And roast brussel sprouts, sometimes with fish sauce, chili, and mint. Or at least salt, pepper, oil, and lemon juice.

^^#1 sounds wild! I roast sprouts w/garlic or shallots olive oil S&P and finish w/a little stock.

gonna make my annual xmas ham here @ my sisters w/old fashioned pineapple glaze/rings and radioactive maraschino cherries

i went through a phase of having a baked sweet potato with crumbled goat or feta cheese and some kind of chili condiment for dinner at least 3x a week, but i never thought of trying it with squash for some reason. good idea. and i heartily endorse the fish sauce/chili/mint combo for sprouts - so, so tasty.

i'm about to go on deviled egg duty for a cocktail party. xmas is gonna be duck, with a prune/apple stuffing.

I was on deviled egg duty as usual this year for the family get-together, and did something a little different. I seasoned up some shrimp with garlic, chili powder, cayenne, S&P, and sauteed them in a crazy amount of butter...took the shrimp out, turned the butter into a sauce with some key lime juice and white wine. Coarsely chopped the shrimp, combined with sauce, and put a spoonful of that in each egg half before I piped the egg yolk part on top.

Christmas things are about to be cooked. Meringues, cranberry sauce, bread sauce and giblet stock. I think that's all I'm doing today other than prepping so that I don't have too much to do tomorrow other than make soup and cook the turkey/veg and assemble things.

I'm making up pumpkin pudding today. I'm also supposed to provide roast potatoes - I guess it makes sense to roast them today and reheat them (after transporting them south 60 miles) tomorrow.

in the process of making Xmas pudding ice cream, and the Agen prunes are soaking in a mixture of armagnac and port ready for pudding.

Also Pigs in blankets are ready for P&M's later on (yes yes, we're having two dinners:) )

Dinner tomorrow will be foie gras (bloc only unfortunately) on brioche toast, followed by a rack of lamb, Cavolo nero with bacon, maple carrots and potatoes (either dauphinoise or Boulangere - haven't decided yet) washed down by a Ravenswood Zinfandel.

and then the pud mentioned above.

Hopefully It'll go down ok - I've been feeling bloody awful for days

Can someone please remind me -- or better yet, give me some sort of mnemonic -- for the test of whether eggs are still usable (for, you know, making cookies in this instance). It has to do with whether it floats in water, right? Or doesn't float? Sigh.

Fresh eggs will sink to the bottom of fresh water. This is because the air cell in the large end is small to non-existent. As an egg ages, the air cell grows larger - a 2 or 3-week old egg will float pointed side down, but still be mostly underwater. Eggs that float mostly above the water are probably too old to be used.

Eggs make good cookies for 5-6 weeks, if they've been stored in the fridge, but the freshest eggs make the best meringue.

How about the mnemonic "fester" (Fresh Eggs Sink; Tired Eggs Rise)?

The eggs were no good, so I made cardamom shortbread instead. But, well, maybe I'll remember "fester"...

Hopefully It'll go down ok - I've been feeling bloody awful for days

I trust it did, and that you're better, it all sounds absolutely phenomenal.

Christmas dinner at Coastal towers was a roast goose, with shredded sprouts fried with pine-nuts and a local pancetta. As a result everything since has been cooked in goose fat, hurray.

Halibut steak steamed over fennel and white wine. Sauteed fennel as a side and slices of yummy pumpernickel.

God i love fennel

chicken & garlic stew -- chick parts and two heads of g cut up in cloves braised in stock w/ a little cinnamon

the other day I made ziti w/sauted califlower & garlic & red onion, finished w/mint and grated parm. tasty.

Anyone have a recommendation for temp/time for roasting a half leg of lamb? 620g/1.5 lbs, bone-in.

From memory (ie. best check with others) half an hour per 500g at 180 degrees.

Dinner tonight: pork shoulder roast rubbed with cracked black pepper and thyme, carrots braised in butter/maple/caraway/black pepper.

I made these brownies tonight; they're cooling RIGHT NOW.

Pretty damn good, even if they're sort of falling apart. Dark chocolate+espresso makes them "complex", but I wouldn't have minded if they were a bit more straightforwardly sweet chocolate goo.

I owed the GF over for a special dinner (she's been cooking up a storm for us), so for my first major meal for us I pained over the following menu:

1) SALAD: a winter salad with baby arugula, microgreens, pomegranate seeds and shaved almonds with a meyer lemon/olive oil dressing. garnished with some red and yellow and orange mini peppers (semi-sweet).

2) APP 1: prawn cocktail with straight cocktail sauce adding a little south east asian chili-garlic sauce for a little more mmmmmmmmm.

3) APP 2: apple cured bacon wrapped brussel sprouts. cheated on the bacon by microwaving it half-way (sacrilege!) and then wrapping around the partially-steamed sprouts. i had some left over prawns so i wrapped a couple of these too and threw the shrimp and sprouts in a frying pan with some butter/olive oil and browned them up.

4) STARCH 1: fingerling potatoes with oyster, shiitake and maitake mushrooms. boiled the potatoes til nearly done and then threw in the soaked mushrooms for flavor. added some parsley. finished it off by draining then simmering the potatoes in the mushroom broth with a little butter, salt and pepper and more parsley.

5) ENTREE: local wild halibut. got a nice medium-belly cut from my hook-up at the fish market. soaked this in juice of 3 meyer lemons for a little more than 20 minutes. folded some foil underneath and then threw it in the broiler for a little more than 10 minutes (the lemon juice starts to boil). garnished with cilantro, a couple more of the mini peppers, and served on a bed of

6) STARCH 2: the coup d'grace: my mother's grits recipe, dressed up with a teeny bit of truffle oil and some saffron. this came out super good as well as...

7) VEGETABLE: side of yellow zucchini. crisp, super sweet and just a dash of salt on top for flavor.

8) DESSERT: hand-packed pomegranate/tangerine gelato from the folks at Ciao Bella (ex-NYC gelateria whom i love), with a few pomegranate seeds for garnish, and a splash of framboise liqueur.

We split a bottle of a bone dry Reisling from Santa Cruz.

Good times.

I did the popcorn in the paper lunchbag with staples thing the other night.
it turned out AWESOME.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_11374,00.html

hooorrraaaay alton brown

staples + microwave = O_o

office staples are shorter than the wavelength of the microwaves and thus don't spark

Yay Alton! None of that respiratory illness causing fake butter smell.

i will call that tip 'great' precisely because dr. morbius won't see me use it, and ream me out.

Steve Shasta, your grits w/ truffle oil and saffron sounds intensely good (well, as does everything else in that menu).

I'm getting back into the daily rhythm of cooking - today, oatmeal for breakfast (the long-cooking kind); thinly sliced and sauteed redskin potatoes with chopped green olives and feta cheese for lunch; homemade egg noodles with leftover pot roast for dinner.

I also bought 20 lbs of winter pears back in late October and have approx. 8 lbs left in the bottom of the fridge - new favorite breakfast treat is a peeled and sliced pear topped with a big spoon of thick greek honey yogurt. yum.

I got drunk munchies last night and decided to use my little square cast iron pan to make a bunch of bacon, then chopped up a tomato and grated some emmentaler into a bowl, ripped up the bacon and mashed it all together on a couple of toasted burger buns. I had no lettuce but it was num. BACHELOR MAGIC

Oniony meatloaf in the oven right now, smells so good. No ketchup in the house though. Will lime pickle be an adequate substitute? We'll see.

my current favorite condiment: lime pickle mixed with real mayo.

hey shasta what was the name of the riesling?
i'm on a quest to find as many good dry wines (red or white) as possible right now.

family members planted / ran / owned husch vineyards, and i can vouch for the quality

Lots of Washington state wineries do nice dry rieslings - Columbia Crest, Chateau St. Michelle, Covey Run, Hogue. I think all those are distributed nationally now.

i'm not usually a riesling person, but if it's dry enough i will give it a shot!

i am going to a dinner party tonight where there will be an assortment of dishes including a lemon roasted chicken (i've had this by the hostess before and is amazing) and also lasagna (i don't know how these two came together). i'm about to go wine shopping, i guess i could take red or white (or both!) but i want it to be good. i get very nervous about dinner parties with people that know things about food or wine because i don't want them to judge me on my cheap wine-buying or lack of knowlege!

http://www.nataliemaclean.com/matcher/

^fun

Maybe it's a vegetable lasagna for the anti-carnivorous? If you can find a white that's a blend of marsanne and roussanne, it would complement the lemon chicken. Sometimes hard to find though!

btw, off-dry rieslings and gewurtztraminers go really really well with spicy Thai and Indian dishes - the slightly sweet acid is magic with the spicy chiliness.