What's cooking? part 4

back in the ring this afternoon for turnovers round 2

"This time it's personal."

prep stage complete. success so far!

...but now the garbage disposal is clogged

#circleoflife

<3 u

they worked! big pillowy flaky turnovers full of yummy fruit mince

uncancel christmas!

I cultured my own butter and it's delicious - I used the organic whipping cream from Trader Joe's and some kind of grassfed yogurt, left it covered for two days then ran it through my food processor.

Organic heavy whipping cream, that is. It was the only kind I found locally that wasn't ultra-pasteurized and whose only ingredient was 'cream.'

Wanted to use some grassfed blah blah blah cream but that's $6/pint around here.

VG did you use the fruit mince that has beef in it?

i cooked BEANS in my stockpot. with a HAM SHANK, for the first time.

the ham shank made it fucking stink. is there any way to… not do that?

Was looking forward to cooking family Christmas dinner, but currently extremely resentful of family, and by extension, towards cooking Christmas dinner.

xxpost no i just use fruit-only mince.

EMERGENCY!!!!

I MIGHT NEED TO COOK A GF MEAL TONIGHT TO IMPRESS A BOY

It needs to be delicious and relatively simple/easy to prepare, ideally something GF by nature w/ stuff I can just grab at the supermarket instead of lots of substitutey/emulatey shit

obv I could google this but y'all have such great recommends and I just want someone to hold my hand and say "here make this foolproof wonderful thing"

also note "to impress a boy" i.e. he is coming over my house i.e. let's keep it, shall we say, easy to digest

lol

easiest thing that comes to mind would be roast chicken (either whole or pieces), nice roasted veg mix, and a simple salad?

stevie i often make this when i have company, it's not super difficult and is very rich-tasting and satisfying. you need to have access to dried chiles and canned whole hominy (but most supermarkets in urban areas have both). it's always been well-received by guests. i'm vegetarian but you could easily brown some meat and add it to this stew.

posole with red chile pods

1-2 tablespoons safflower oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
3 dried guajillo chiles (usually available in the mexican food aisle of a grocery or a latin market, they are not super spicy)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 28 oz. can hominy, drained (any latin market should have this, i've even seen it at whole foods in the mexican food section -- hominy/posole are whole kernels of corn that have been treated with an alkali, usually lime (the mineral) or ash, which makes the corn more nutritious and flavorful -- this corn treatment creates that really good flavor that you get in tamales or good corn tortillas)
salt to taste
about 2-4 cups of stock, bean broth, or water (I don't measure this - add less if you want it thicker or more if you want it soupy)
garnish with any of the following: lime wedges, diced avocado, chopped cilantro, shredded cabbage, chopped green chiles, or diced white onion

1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a medium-sized pot. Saute the onion with the guajillos for about 5-7 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and oregano cook until fragrant.
3. Add the drained hominy, stir, then add the stock/water/broth. Simmer for about 30 minutes.
4. Serve in bowls with the garnishes.

I am baking lemon-pecan biscotti atm. My back has been very sore for the past several days, which makes the usual Christmas preparations very difficult, but Mrs. Aimless and I will muddle through.

When I think "impressive and easy" I think lamb chops, but $$$$$$

oooh good one

Find a local butcher who sells pre-made frozen stock (beef, veal, or chicken). No cans, no cartons, no bullion. Anything you cook in it will be a million times better than if you just used water. (Couscous, rice, boiled things, etc.) I recently paid around $3.50 for a quart of stock iirc.

If you're cooking red meat, consider making a salsa verde (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Salsa-Verde-51163810) or persillade to go with it (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roast-Lamb-Loin-Persillade-14269). Make them a day ahead so you don't have to deal with it when you're cooking the entre.

Two Christmas cakes marzipanned, ready to be iced tomorrow. Game plan for turkey, potato and veg timing written down. Veg prep tomorrow. Have not yet delivered on a promise to make brandy snaps.

Brandy snaps!!!!

Yes indeedy :)

So jealz, I haven't had those in at least 16 years (haven't had Xmas with family in 16 years).

I don't think I've had them in 16 years either! My mum just made them occasionally when the grandparents were coming, not for Christmas. I can't remember what we used to eat them with! Maybe cream, or did we scoop ice cream with them? Drawing a total blank.

we only ever had them at xmas, always filled with whipped cream. so goooooood. i think i might ask my mum to make some when i'm back again in august.

do you make the actual brandy snaps yourself? i think ours were store-bought and then we filled them.

thomas keller roast chicken will impress the fuck out of anyone

I think mum sometimes bought them and sometimes made them. I don't have her recipe, but I'm going to try this one: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2451643/brandy-snaps

False alarm, y'all; plans were highly tentative and wound up not materializing. Now I have more time to think up something great.

Xp omg I'm totally gonna try making them now!

STEVIE

I recommend this - http://vahuntergatherers.com/2013/12/11/moms-easy-paleo-greek-chicken-gluten-free/

Yessssss that says it's paleo but whatever, it's tasty and very good if you want to make something easy and impressive because: 1) you marinade the chicken so it will be all ready to go into the oven when your company comes over; 2) the marinade is seriously opening a bunch of cans and jars and dumping it together; 3) it can be as fancy as you want to make it as far as what level ingredients you buy but I've always made it with store brand whatever and it is still really good; 4) you can get as fancy or not with side dishes.

It's really good with couscous and cucumber feta salad. Couscous is easy and the salad you can make ahead so you have lots of time while the chicken is cooking to flirt with your dinner date.

Isn't couscous made from flour?

Oh did Stevie need a gluten free recipe? I missed that part.

Lundberg makes a roasted brown rice "couscous" that's gf and not bad, if you want some grain with it. I want to try that greek chicken; it sounds great!

UPDATE: He is gluten-free, dairy-free, and also doesn't eat legumes

o_o

Dang. Well, if you skip the couscous and the feta and you can still make the Greek chicken and cucumber salad.

I can make my famous pancakes if I buy/pulverize GF-certified oats and make diy vegan buttermilk

Are they still your famous pancakes, though?

Psyched because there is a pot roast simmering away in the slow cooker for Christmas Eve dinner and I'm making a PAN PIZZA for Christmas dinner. Heck yeah.

beef stew in crockpot, cooling a graham cracker crust so I can make cheesecake later on...and that is all I have to do!

oh but I'm making ~panettone french toast~ for breakfast tomorrow. I'm very excited.

Guess what idiot forgot to turn on the slow cooker??!??!? ME. phooey.

this new "carl who doesn't curse" cracks me up
let er rip!

Naw girl carl curses plenty. Ivy's first sentence is going to be "It's a god damn crosswalk, asshole!" I'm pretty sure.

haha

On more hour and my sadly delayed pot roast should be ready.

UPDATE: He is gluten-free, dairy-free, and also doesn't eat legumes

o_o

― y kant max read (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, December 24, 2014 8:07 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Is he me? Y/N

stovetop panettone french toast was kind of a nightmare to make & super annoying - end result kinda burned but edible & luckily quite tasty

so I made an overnight panettone french toast casserole with the rest for this morning's breakfast and *angels sing* so fking good :D

ooh i love doing that with stale cinnamon raisin bread

i'm in love with it

French toady casserole is the way to go.