I love cooking. It's such a nice counterbalance to architecture, imo. In my job it takes sometimes years to see the fruits of my creativity, but cooking lets me be creative and also gives me immediate gratification. The past ~16 months or so I've been getting deep into super local & seasonal ingredients. Trying to make whatever pops up in our garden (my wife gardens, I cook), or what I see at the farmer's market. We've also started exploring mushroom foraging this autumn(the PNW is a bounty of wild mushrooms!) There's something so primal, almost earthen, to tasting the flavors of seasons.
Anyway here's some sexy photos of autumnal meals I've made recently. I'm definitely gonna keep bumping this thread as I retreat into my kitchen to avoid the scary scary world.
Roasted delicata squash stuffed with white bean + herb risotto. Ricotta. And lobster mushroom butter. Squash and herbs from our backyard, mushrooms from the forest.
"Double Mushroom" Farro - with foraged Oysters, dried Shitake, mushroom broth, spinach, parsley and parmesan. One of my favorite vegetarian dishes. It tastes like the earth in Autumn.
Beer-braised bratwurst with also-beer-braised lentils, onion, kale + tomato, pickled serrano peppers and cilantro.
tduds, we use a lot of similar ingredients but your dishes look delicious! I have equipment to start growing our own mushrooms but have not found time to start yet.
Our 5 year date-iversary (the anniversary of our first date) is this weekend, and every year I like to make a ridiculously over the top meal. Gotta somehow
out do myself from last year... I'll be sure to take some pics for the thread!
Right now I'm cooking cabbage rolls with lots of saurkraut and smoked pork meat (hearty central european meal).
I cook a lot - new meal almost every day...need to stop, because we've gained a lot weight!
Tomorrow will be fish (typical Friday meal), Saturday will be garlic and pasta in olive oil, Sunday might be chicken parmigiana, Monday maybe sheppards pie................check out Italian Grandma or Laura Vitale or various European based cooking Youtube sites...filled peppers, apple strudel, roasted lamb, pork shops and mushroom sauce, osso bucco, roast duck...............
Aps, sounds like good hearty fare! My wife's family is Sicilian and Polish so those recipes sound familiar. In fact I'm planning to make a soup tomorrow with caramelized onions, lots of cabbage and meaty pork hocks from our own pigs. We have well over two hundred cookbooks but I'd rather get inspiration from my architect friends. Also, it's not political!
We subscribe to one of those meal-prep weekly box deals. Started it a week before corona hit us and have loved every bit of it. I do all the cooking and meal planning and my wife is ridiculously picky but yet I've been able to find 4 to 5 meals per week that are new. Tonight will either be vegetarian curry or Italian sausages.
Also try to have a new beer almost every day and my average (since I started keeping track) is 1.2 new beers per day. Tduds, what the brew in the pic?
I don't have experience with those--do they just send you ingredients, or recipes too? There are advantages to being picky--I LOVE food and have not yet found a food I don't like, which makes it hard to remain at a moderately healthy weight. We often do veggie curries, especially for quick mid-week dinners.
What do you do with Italian sausage?
We never get enough sausage from the pigs we raise, as we also like butcher cuts, but always get some. 1.2 new beers per day is impressive. My wife got me a microbrew maple beer--it's interesting, but too sweet for me. She loves it.
Can't remember the name right now but it's by Block 15 http://block15.com/ Really nice wild ale.
Edit, found it: Cassidy. "Inspired by my daughter, this farmhouse-style ale was brewed with spring flowers and matured in Sauternes wine barrels with a select strain of Brettanomyces. Cassidy is brewed each spring, bottled the following spring with honey from her Grandpa’s bee hive, and released around her birthday. Each bottle contains a portion of all previous years' blends."
WG, the boxes come with either prre-prepped or un-prepped ingredients and a recipe card. I pick 4 to 6 meals out of maybe 20 options of which 80% change weekly. Some are a few $ more but will already have some of the prep done like minced garlic or chopped onions, etc. I typically dont get those.
The meal boxes are super convenient with good recipes. We've saved the recipes we've gotten, and have re-made them with stuff from the grocery store. My two frustrations are the amount of trash from the packaging, and lack of leftovers. Maybe they have family-sized options we never purchased, but there is almost always not enough to take in for lunch the next day. That's a deal breaker to me.
Speaking of food, tonight on our BS + Beer Show (BS for Building Science) we have Matt Risinger and a couple of other smart dudes, and the theme is barbeque--I'm not sure how deep we'll go down the BBQ hole but a couple of the guys are really into it. https://mailchi.mp/544cd6ddd2f...
I just discovered a British YouTube show where they have a "regular guy" with no budget limitation and a professional chef with a low budget prepare the "same" meal. It's less interesting to see who prepares the "best" version of the whole meal than to see which specific dishes are more dependent on quality ingredients and which you can safely scimp on. I'll try and find the name of the YouTube channel.
I love the idea for this thread. Can we please try to keep it going?
Same same but different, I started reviewing beers with friend on Instagram and while I need to do a better job of being consistent, it's a fun thing to do while we're all stuck at home. I may even start brewing again. Cheers!
You have to boil wort to make beer, so isn't that technically "cooking?" I have brewed my own and about 15 years ago was seriously considering going pro with it, but convinced myself the market was saturated with microbreweries. In the meantime several dozen microbreweries have opened here in Maine, so clearly I misgauged the market. I bought equipment to brew 15-gal batches instead of the usual 5-gal but things got busy and I've never used it. Anyone need a plate chiller? ;-)
love the idea of this thread, have nothing to offer recipe-wise, I simply boiled potatoes today and added some sweet potatoes to that and green peas and fried up some nutballs.
When the ingredients are high quality, preparing them simply can be the best way to have them. IMO. I'm not sure what a nutball is but I assume it's food and not anatomy?
That sounds good. We try to eat meat sparingly and always on the lookout for alternative protein that's not lab-grown (though I'm fine with lab-grown mushrooms!)
Chicken Parmigiana...chicken breast, provolne cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmigiano-reggiano cheese, tomato sauce with white whine, hot pepper seeds, salt, pepper, garlic, onions, olive oil, on linguini, and parsley...do it once a month or so.
Just some rigatone with chopped tomatoes in Europe
Italian sausage, peppers, potatoes, and chopped tomatoes with parsley...olive oil, salt, pepper, and hot pepper seeds...
Rabbit stew in tomatoe sauce...served on mashed potatoes in Europe.
Little piglet on a spit...family gathering in Europe.
Cheese strudel
Pan roasted chicken thighs, rice and beets.
Oven roasted pork chunk...top be served with roasted potatoes and tomatoe/cucumber salad (only added olive oil, white vinegar and a pinch of salt to the salad).
And a picnic lunch on the grass in front of a church on a lovely Sunday afternoon over in Europe...wine, proscutto, grapes, pate, cheese, and tomatoes
I love rabbit meat--there's a restaurant in Quebec City called La Lapin Saute that looks like a tourist trap, and it is, but they also make excellent food. Their braised rabbit is the best rabbit I've had.
I've thought about raising my own, as I like to grow a lot of my own food, but I'd have trouble with slaughtering them. I do raise pigs but take them to a butcher--I'm a softy and should probably be a vegetarian.
Right now, we're in Montreal. You can buy rabbit in the stores here - already butchered thank God. I had them as pets when I was a child, and there is no way i could butcher one. Even eating them takes some willpower. That one was given to us by cousins wife in Europe...they raise a bunch, same with chickens. They don't raise pigs any more - they used to - now, they buy them already cut up. You live in the countryside? Pig farms are not exactly common in the cities, though you could have a horse if you live in The Hill Country outside of Austin, and probably many other places in the West.
Nov 6, 20 11:09 am ·
·
poop876
Oh yes to the pig roasts. I do about two pig roasts a year and about 3 lamb roasts. I typically go to a farmer that I've become friends with and buy lamb from him and he let's me butcher them on his farm. I usually do 3 or 4, keep two for roasts and cut up the rest of them and freeze them. Thanks for sharing.
Nov 12, 20 10:43 am ·
·
poop876
My wife loves cheese pita but prefers burek!
Nov 12, 20 10:43 am ·
·
apscoradiales
I prefer lamb over pig, but the pig will do as well. Dad used to freeze the roasted pig on the spit...tasted awful. Are you guys Bosnian?
In high school Spanish class we had to bring in a Spanish-influenced dish. A big fancy grocery store with foreign food opened up nearby (this was around 1989) so I brought in Chili con Perro and swore the store was carrying dog meat. Current me would not spread such a harmful stereotype but it was hilarious at the time.
Garlic pasta...lots of olive oil, lots of garlic, hot pepper seeds, parsley, lots of cherry tomatoes and linguini (I think, maybe it was fettuccine, can't remember).
As i said above, the anniversary of our first date was this weekend. It's turned into a fun little tradition that I cook a super elaborate meal for my wife. This year I did four courses, each with a beverage pairing. Went a little overboard but had a ton of fun planning this out and executing it to (near) perfection!
Alright here's the good stuff:
1 - French onion soup in a roasted butternut squash cup. Crouton. Gruyere. Chives. w/ Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel
2 - Risotto "Cannoli" in a parmesan tuile. Lobster mushroom butter. Pancetta.w/ Wolves and People "Honeycone" Farmhouse IPA
3 - Seared Hamachi on a beet chip. Cucumber vinegar. Fresh horseradish. Daikon sprouts. w/ citrus + blossom seltzer
4 - Duck breast. Celery root soubise. Miso-maple glazed sweet potato. Black lentils. Scallions + pistachio. w/ De Garde "Ivy" Wild Ale
Halfway through the meal, she surprised me with a gift! Which served as a perfect post-meal sip.
That looks absolutely awesome, and beautifully presented! You are in the wrong business - forget architecture; it's a dumb profession - you should be a chef!!! Michelin stars, here I come!!!!
As someone who used to work in a professional kitchen, kudos for properly resting that duck breast! That’s where you usually spot the amateur home cook, all that blood in the sauce.
Great Scotch! Have you tried Talisker or Laphroaig? Excellent choices.
Nov 18, 20 4:47 am ·
·
tduds
I just finished my bottle of Talisker Storm, and I have two bottles of Laphroaig on the shelf. Slight aside - I rewarded myself with a nice bottle of scotch for each ARE I passed.
I've been doctering up instant ramen into some pretty good lunches lately, no pics tho. Parodically make an awesome sourdough bread or brew up an excellent IPA.
Yes you can. Just watch some Youtube videos of recipes and follow. Long after architecture is dead, you will still have to eat - might as well eat well.
Nov 9, 20 1:32 pm ·
·
randomised
You can look at the package of your ramen for serving suggestions!
Nov 9, 20 1:46 pm ·
·
shellarchitect
Randomised, that was my starting point, got some good stuff going now! Spent a good part of the summer smoking some really good meats!
pretty basic, just a weber with with temp probes. I use some bricks to pile the charcoal to one side. I've no patience for more than a few ingredients, but somehow no problem watching a smoker for 12 hrs. Maybe the beer helps....Used to use a kamado joe which was awesome! Big plans to build a custom bbq table in the spring along with replacing our deck
The least you could do was have kettle or tyrrell’s...what are you a monster ;-) They at least have them with balsamic vinegar, the black pepper and sea salt option is awesome too!
We have been doing a catfish filet battered with corn meal and creole seasonings that gets fried in a cast iron skillet. Once the fish is fried we take a small cup of olive oil and mix it with the same seasoning and brush it on the fish. Then we make up a spicy remoulade that gets served with the fish.
About an hour goes by after you eat this and your knocked out for a few hours!
Not gonna even try and say its healthy cuz it aint - but damn does the soul like this dish!!!
I have an immersion circulator that I use to do a bunch of meat on Sunday for the week (chicken/pork so I can do them at the same time). I'll usually pre cook some brown rice and a couple of vegetables that I can easily reheat without quality loss.
Then I can whip everything out and have a 3 item meal in about 15 min by just searing the meat and heating the other stuff up on the stove. Often will toss in some fresh steam or sautéed vegies of some kind, like broccoli or asparagus. Having things that aren't exactly fresh but taste fresh has been a real silver bullet for me wanting to cook more.
Lunch today was seared pork tenderloin with a lemon sauce, oven roasted carrots, and brown basmati rice.
Dinner was pan seared chicken with white gravy and peppercorns, and sautéed garlic asparagus.
I love frozen veggies for that reason, just cover them with herbs, spices and oil and pop them in the oven, 20 minutes later you have dinner ready as you can do all the other prep during that time...
I'm not one to take pictures of food, but I do tend to plate my 4y old's meals like Gordon fuckin Ramsay was looking over my shoulder and fuming... I then use about 1/8th of that finesse on my own plate. (1/2 for my wife's since she super picky and things can't touch other things).
There have been a few silver linings to the pandemic, and one is that with most meetings being virtual, and in-person meetings being masked, I don't have to worry about what garlic does to my breath! I love strong flavors and your boss' sauce sounds delicious. Who cares if it was smelly--good food usually is.
My gf is vegan and I'm trying so last night I cooked pasta bolegnese using impossible beef. It wasn't bad, but can definitely tell it's missing the oils and fat from real meat, which gives it a lot of the flavor.
My MIL was using impossible beef the other day to make some taco meat. It tasted ok, but I agree that there was something missing. The seasonings and spices probably helped disguise it. I would have eaten it and been happy, but we weren't sticking around ... just picking up the little one.
Nov 12, 20 5:17 pm ·
·
SneakyPete
I find it to be an acceptable substitute considering the harm beef does to the planet the way we currently produce it.
I prefer dishonesty if I'm honest. I haven't had any luck finding enough meat free meals I like, so subbing meat with fake stuff is a good way to split the difference. I respect people who have the ability to go meat free and not use substitues.
No judgement there, just my own feelings. Here's a pretty great vegan dinner I made a while ago: Crispy tofu, brussel sprout shallot + serrano slaw, with avocado. Nothing fake, nothing processed or grown in a lab, just some good plant stuff and a tortilla.
I'm not a vegetarian, but I aim to limit my animal consumption for a whole slew of reasons. I think good sourcing, simple ingredients, and attention to ethical practice results in a better / healthier lifestyle than simply avoiding animal products and eating processed garbage. Not that you can't have a full, healthy diet by eating vegan, just that eating vegan doesn't automatically mean you're eating better.
I make meat free meals pretty often (I aim for more than half of my week's meals to be vegetarian), but my philosophy is that meat free food (all food, really) should be honest about itself. Fake meat is weird to me. Substitutes are off-putting to me. I'd rather have the real thing or something else entirely.
I'm getting a lot of mileage from Mr. Kahn lately, but...
"You say to a vegetable, 'What do you want, vegetable?' And the vegetable says to you, 'I want to be hamburger.' And you say to vegetable, 'Look, I want that too, but you're a vegetable, and I can go slaughter a cow. What do you think of that vegetable?' Vegetable says, 'I want to be hamburger.'"
That looks good! Do you use a wok on a gas cooktop, or some other arrangement?
Nov 12, 20 5:07 pm ·
·
SneakyPete
I have a junky electric stove. My wok is flat bottomed, so it sits nice and has good contact. A wok spatula is so much better than I would have guessed. It looks like a shovel, but it turns things MUCH better than any other implement I could have imagined.
Pete, same here, we have a glass-top electric. My wife really wants a gas stove but since my design focus in increasingly on healthy indoor environments that's a hard leap for me to make. I'd rather have an induction cooktop. A flat-bottomed wok would work on that, and might help me convince the wife...
Pork chops (pan fried in olive oil and couple of pieces of unsalted butter), mashed potatoes (butter and milk added), green beans (cooked then pan fried in olive oil, some onions and garlic), and German pickles (very little sodium unlike North American pickles that have a tonne of salt added). Finished off with a little port.
Gave some pork chops to my little honey, but she didn't eat them...she had dry figs earlier - loves them, so do I - so she wasn't hungry enough...
Lunch today.homemade smoked paprika tomato soup, with bacon crumbles, cheddar bacon grilled cheese sandwiches, cranberry juice and one observant pup with paws on the table.
I've not a photo, but my recent favourite breakfast has been fried onions, wild mushrooms with chestnuts and a drizzle of maple syrup either as is, or in a wrap, with a maple latte.
Will be making some good recipes this weekend. I forgot photos, but will be making again on Saturday. We do food shopping Friday night, so out of stock :(
Your first dish looks like it has one of my favorite ingredients--"wet bread." My wife is Italian and Polish, and grew up eating lots of pasta. My heritage is as waspy as it gets, and we didn't have a lot of money, so many dishes were some sort of stew over bread or toast. Looks great.
When I was in Highschool I worked summers on a ranch and this was out typical breakfast before we were out the door repairing barbed wire fences , replacing post, riding horses, or baling hay and stacking it. I was told two things by that rancher: Don't be late to a meal and don't put any pepper or salt on your food that is done in the kitchen by my wife.
Not the most photogenic meal I've made, but it was a damn good & relatively easy weeknight dish:
Mushroom-Buttered* gnocchi dried shitake mushrooms, lima beans, & spinach in mushroom broth (from rehydrating the shitakes), with garlic, shallots, thyme, and parmesan.
(*This fall I made mushroom-infused butter from the cuttings of foraged lobster mushrooms. Had a few ounces of it kicking around the fridge. Amazing stuff.)
They do look like little potatoes. Yum. Mushroom-infused butter sounds amazing. We forage Reiki on our land and sometimes find gray Oyster, but we have to buy Lobster mushrooms. (Reiki mushrooms taste horrible, btw, but good for ya.)
My wife got some reiki powder with other herbs & what not. It's supposed to help with mood. I don't know how making my coffee taste like garbage is supposed to help my mood but here we are.
Crispy kale is an unsung gem. And so easy - just toss in a little oil, salt + spices if you want (I used smoked paprika here. Pairs nicely with the sweetness of butternut squash) and pop on a sheet tray for 15 minutes.
Breakfast on Sunday was toasted bread sauteed with bacon fat from our pigs as the first layer, topped with onions, a lot of garlic (~10 cloves--we're garlic-rich, just planted 1,000 bulbs for next year) and brocollni, covered with whisked eggs (not too much--I didn't want this to be a tortilla espaniola), with a good Scottish cheddar on top.
Then the piece de resistance, my new addiction--chili crisp. Have you tried it? It adds incredible depth of flavor, color and texture to many dishes. This was made locally (https://trilly-maine.com/produ...) and aside from the cheese everything else was grown by local farmers.
It was, as I like to tell my wife when I like a dish, "edible." The toast compacted to a nice fatty crust, the eggs just held everything together without being overwhelming, and the flavors were balanced. Thanks for the inspiration, everyone.
Working through the last of the garden gourds, last night I made a stuffed roasted acorn squash. Stuffing is pork sausage, shallots & bell peppers, red quinoa, plus garlic fennel & thyme. Topped with mozzarella & broiled to a crisp.
Believe me, I've tried. For many years we grew several hundred pounds of different types. I probably just got sick of it, actually. I do like it sometimes, especially butternut.
I think I'd get sick of several *hundred* pounds of anything! Butternut is a workhorse, but my real favorites are delicata & spaghetti. Last fall I made a surprisingly delicious spaghetti squash pad thai and a pretty interesting spaghetti squash carbonara. It's all about mixing up the flavors so you don't feel like you're eating the same thing every day for a month.
Dec 17, 20 5:40 pm ·
·
Wood Guy
LOL, yeah we fed a lot to our pigs and later to our compost pile. But we ate a lot too. My MIL grows delicata and it is good too. Nobody in my family likes spaghetti squash, which is too bad because I think it's good for some things--just not to replace pasta, if you're of Italian heritage. That said, we have a lot of guanciale in the freezer, maybe I'll find some spaghetti squash and make something carbonara-like.
I made Mediterranean-style fish stew last weekend. Definitely not bouillabaisse, I wouldn't want to claim that.
I actually set out to make mixed seafood chowder, which is why there are potatoes in it, but then it was so delicious (and there was so much of it) I decided it would be a shame to put any dairy in it.
I also went back and watched the Julia and Jacque episode on it - I love how flexible they are on the recipe. Will make again with their tips incorporated next time. Forget making a rouillet though, no one got time for that.
Today is my father-in-law's birthday. Christmas eve is my sister-in-law's birthday. Then Christmas day. Then the 27th is my wife's birthday. Then of course there's New Years Eve and New Years Day. As you've seen, I love cooking, and my other sister-in-law is a professional chef, so we split the duties roughly down the middle and it's all so over the top and so fun.
Every year is a fun game of trying to make 4-6 killer dinners without overlapping or repeating, and without making everyone so over-satiated that they're sick of it before the week's end.
The plan is: Lamb tonight. Oysters, Crab & Duck on XMas eve. Tenderloin on XMas. Ramen (from scratch, of course) for my wife's birthday. And pasta with some kind of ragu for NYE. I'll make a photo post when it's all done!
My line up for feasting season is green chili for Christmas Eve, prime rib for Christmas day, and pigs in a blanket for New Years Eve. My kids will make the pigs in a blanket meal.
So this is what it takes for a wood guy thumbs down? To clarify, my parents are inside our social bubble, so the little one gets to see his grandparents. Everyone else (inc aunts/cousins, even my grand mother). Sorta looking forward to calm holiday not filled with crammed and loud dinner parties.
Sorry, I meant to clarify--boo that you have to cancel plans, +++++ for being a responsible citizen. Binary communication leaves room for misunderstanding ;-)
Bought a leg of lamb today in the store...all the way from Australia...we will have it on Christmas day. Cost me as much as a whole lamb all done on the spit in some parts of Europe!!! Better be good!
Dec 18, 20 6:26 pm ·
·
Non Sequitur
I've never had lamb... and I would not know what do to with it. I think that Gordon Ramsay would pop out of my pantry and call me a wanker if I ever tried to cook a rack and left it 8 seconds too long in the pan.
Rando, I'd need to see some stats on that... but if you're talking about Big Organic vs Big Conventional ag, you might be right. Organic will have less negative impact on the soil though.
I grow my own using beyond-organic techniques, or from local farmers who do the same. I guarantee our carbon footprints are lower than most Americans'.
Dec 19, 20 10:46 am ·
·
Wood Guy
Aps, I hope it's good. Why did you choose Australian lamb instead of locally grown? The leg of lamb my MIL got was a gift from a carpenter working on her house. (We're building the addition featured here: https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/all-about-helical-piles.) He raises sheep and does other farming on the side. We get along well ;-)
Dec 19, 20 10:49 am ·
·
Wood Guy
Non, I haven't cooked a lot of lamb but find low, slow cooking in an oven works well with most red meat, after searing on the stovetop. Last night I did that with country ribs from our pigs. It's a pretty forgiving method. If you don't like the flavor on its own, chop it up and put it in a strongly flavored stew.
Dec 19, 20 10:50 am ·
·
randomised
Organic veggies require more land (lower yields per hectare) and that results in more deforestation.
M’y jive is with the label and how it’s convince so many that it’s better because of the label. It’s not, at least not without a whole bunch more context, but the average wanker consumer only has time to read part of a one headline in their Facebook feed before making life philosophy choices.
Dec 19, 20 11:32 am ·
·
Non Sequitur
Excuse moi, french keyboard on. Makes for odd word autochoices. No regrets, leaving as is.
Dec 19, 20 11:33 am ·
·
Wood Guy
Non, I totally agree, and the organic farming community was mostly against the government taking over the term 20+ years ago. The best term I've heard, and used above, for those who practice truly organic (restorative, not extractive) agriculture is "beyond organic." It's still not a great term. Another is "restoration agriculture" but that doesn't always cover annual crops very well.
X-jla, I have a couple of books on it and have thought a LOT about how I could do more on my land, which is mostly wooded. I think it has potential for small-scale homesteaders but hard to scale in a way that would have broad impact. What do you know about it?
Ah, I didn't realize you were a desert-dweller. I have 30 acres, only about 2.5 of which are cleared. When we raise pigs they are partly on pasture and partly in open forest. Our town is named Palermo, so we jokingly call our pork "jamon Palermico," a play on "jamon Iberico," the most famous of the Spanish pigs raised in open woodland, the Dehesa. Unfortunately we don't have centuries-old nut trees to feed the pigs, so ours get a lot of grain. I've tried to get our goats into the woods but they are terrified of being away from the pasture they're used to.
Dec 20, 20 10:22 am ·
·
randomised
“ Rando, lamb grown locally 100% on pasture with abundant water available is not the same as factory farming operations.”
No it’s not the same, but looking at things holistically from a global perspective, if everyone would grow their lamb like that more forests would have to be chopped down to make way for pasture...it might still look sustainable from a personal perspective, but once you zoom out it’s a different story.
Dec 21, 20 4:58 am ·
·
Non Sequitur
Rando, I'm all for a good reductio ad absurdum (it is, afterall, one of my primary modus operandi), but everything becomes the worst thing ever if you zoom out enough.
Dec 21, 20 9:03 am ·
·
Wood Guy
Rando, globally I'll agree. Maine, where I live, is by far the most heavily forested state in of the lower 48 and we also have the second most organic farms per capita in the country, but we also have a tiny population--only 1.3 million people, a mid-sized city at best anywhere else in the world. In the mid-1800s much of this area was cleared for sheep farming to fulfill a need for wool. It's a good example of why eating what is produced locally (without undue effort) is the most sustainable approach. In some places (Maine, New Zealand) that might mean sheep. Elsewhere it might mean mangoes.
It all comes from AUS up here. There are farmers in Ontario who raise sheep, but cannot - or should not go there now - due to covid.
In any event local stuff is not always cheaper than something from millions of miles away.
Dec 19, 20 5:48 pm ·
·
Wood Guy
You're in Canada? I thought you were in Europe for some reason. I agree that local is not always cheaper than imported food. As far as I'm concerned, though, price is the least important factor when buying food. When I was young and poor I felt differently, and even my now-financially secure mom can't pass up meat on sale for a dollar a pound. She also has good health insurance. I don't, and pay more for food I trust instead.
Dec 20, 20 10:15 am ·
·
apscoradiales
I was born in Europe, partially educated there, partially in Canada - worked in Canada, Europe, Middle East, Caribbean...in other words, all screwed up...:)))...!
For the price of that lamb leg I paid here, I could have had the whole lamb roasted on a spit in some parts of Europe...and lamb that ate local grass, and roamed the local fields. This one was probably raised in a factory, and fed all kinds of chemicals. But hey, what can you do when you live in a fast country...
Is that your set-up there Aps? I have family that competes in (amateur) BBQ competitions and I'm always in awe with what they do with their grilling toys.
Dec 21, 20 8:51 am ·
·
apscoradiales
Nope, I wish it was. There are ethnic restaurants/stores in Toronto/Mississauga where you can order them for festive occasions.
What's Cooking?
What have you cooked lately that you thought was good? My wife and I both love to cook (and eat) but need some new ideas.
If you're interested, you can see some of the things we cook here: https://www.instagram.com/expl... And I have some food (and farming) pics on this account: https://www.instagram.com/gree....
Oh yeah great thread!
I love cooking. It's such a nice counterbalance to architecture, imo. In my job it takes sometimes years to see the fruits of my creativity, but cooking lets me be creative and also gives me immediate gratification. The past ~16 months or so I've been getting deep into super local & seasonal ingredients. Trying to make whatever pops up in our garden (my wife gardens, I cook), or what I see at the farmer's market. We've also started exploring mushroom foraging this autumn(the PNW is a bounty of wild mushrooms!) There's something so primal, almost earthen, to tasting the flavors of seasons.
Anyway here's some sexy photos of autumnal meals I've made recently. I'm definitely gonna keep bumping this thread as I retreat into my kitchen to avoid the scary scary world.
Cheers!
A lot more food pics (and photos of my dog & my wife and the wilderness) on my instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tdudstagram/
I'm coming over for dinner next week!
tduds, we use a lot of similar ingredients but your dishes look delicious! I have equipment to start growing our own mushrooms but have not found time to start yet.
Thanks! Half the fun is in the composition. Non-restaurant cooks under appreciate the "wow" factor that a good plating can convey .
That's some seriously impressive cooking! Love it.
Danke.
Our 5 year date-iversary (the anniversary of our first date) is this weekend, and every year I like to make a ridiculously over the top meal. Gotta somehow out do myself from last year... I'll be sure to take some pics for the thread!
Nice
Looking awesome
Right now I'm cooking cabbage rolls with lots of saurkraut and smoked pork meat (hearty central european meal).
I cook a lot - new meal almost every day...need to stop, because we've gained a lot weight!
Tomorrow will be fish (typical Friday meal), Saturday will be garlic and pasta in olive oil, Sunday might be chicken parmigiana, Monday maybe sheppards pie................check out Italian Grandma or Laura Vitale or various European based cooking Youtube sites...filled peppers, apple strudel, roasted lamb, pork shops and mushroom sauce, osso bucco, roast duck...............
Aps, sounds like good hearty fare! My wife's family is Sicilian and Polish so those recipes sound familiar. In fact I'm planning to make a soup tomorrow with caramelized onions, lots of cabbage and meaty pork hocks from our own pigs. We have well over two hundred cookbooks but I'd rather get inspiration from my architect friends. Also, it's not political!
We subscribe to one of those meal-prep weekly box deals. Started it a week before corona hit us and have loved every bit of it. I do all the cooking and meal planning and my wife is ridiculously picky but yet I've been able to find 4 to 5 meals per week that are new. Tonight will either be vegetarian curry or Italian sausages.
Also try to have a new beer almost every day and my average (since I started keeping track) is 1.2 new beers per day. Tduds, what the brew in the pic?
I don't have experience with those--do they just send you ingredients, or recipes too? There are advantages to being picky--I LOVE food and have not yet found a food I don't like, which makes it hard to remain at a moderately healthy weight. We often do veggie curries, especially for quick mid-week dinners. What do you do with Italian sausage?
We never get enough sausage from the pigs we raise, as we also like butcher cuts, but always get some. 1.2 new beers per day is impressive. My wife got me a microbrew maple beer--it's interesting, but too sweet for me. She loves it.
Can't remember the name right now but it's by Block 15 http://block15.com/ Really nice wild ale.
Edit, found it: Cassidy. "Inspired by my daughter, this farmhouse-style ale was brewed with spring flowers and matured in Sauternes wine barrels with a select strain of Brettanomyces. Cassidy is brewed each spring, bottled the following spring with honey from her Grandpa’s bee hive, and released around her birthday. Each bottle contains a portion of all previous years' blends."
wild ale with flowers? sounds good.
WG, the boxes come with either prre-prepped or un-prepped ingredients and a recipe card. I pick 4 to 6 meals out of maybe 20 options of which 80% change weekly. Some are a few $ more but will already have some of the prep done like minced garlic or chopped onions, etc. I typically dont get those.
The meal boxes are super convenient with good recipes. We've saved the recipes we've gotten, and have re-made them with stuff from the grocery store. My two frustrations are the amount of trash from the packaging, and lack of leftovers. Maybe they have family-sized options we never purchased, but there is almost always not enough to take in for lunch the next day. That's a deal breaker to me.
Speaking of food, tonight on our BS + Beer Show (BS for Building Science) we have Matt Risinger and a couple of other smart dudes, and the theme is barbeque--I'm not sure how deep we'll go down the BBQ hole but a couple of the guys are really into it. https://mailchi.mp/544cd6ddd2f...
I just discovered a British YouTube show where they have a "regular guy" with no budget limitation and a professional chef with a low budget prepare the "same" meal. It's less interesting to see who prepares the "best" version of the whole meal than to see which specific dishes are more dependent on quality ingredients and which you can safely scimp on. I'll try and find the name of the YouTube channel.
It's called SORTEDfood.
Wood Guy,
Italian sausage and peppers...look up Italian Grandma on Youtube - the dish is yummy!!! Made it many times...can't really screw up.
Italian sausage and peppers - very easy to make
I love the idea for this thread. Can we please try to keep it going?
Same same but different, I started reviewing beers with friend on Instagram and while I need to do a better job of being consistent, it's a fun thing to do while we're all stuck at home. I may even start brewing again. Cheers!
You have to boil wort to make beer, so isn't that technically "cooking?" I have brewed my own and about 15 years ago was seriously considering going pro with it, but convinced myself the market was saturated with microbreweries. In the meantime several dozen microbreweries have opened here in Maine, so clearly I misgauged the market. I bought equipment to brew 15-gal batches instead of the usual 5-gal but things got busy and I've never used it. Anyone need a plate chiller? ;-)
i just had pot roast and mashed potatoes paired with a paso nobels cab sav.
I literally just started drooling. Time to go make some dinner!
love the idea of this thread, have nothing to offer recipe-wise, I simply boiled potatoes today and added some sweet potatoes to that and green peas and fried up some nutballs.
When the ingredients are high quality, preparing them simply can be the best way to have them. IMO. I'm not sure what a nutball is but I assume it's food and not anatomy?
I’ve met a few nutballs.
They are meatballs but without meat and instead are made from nuts and soy.
That sounds good. We try to eat meat sparingly and always on the lookout for alternative protein that's not lab-grown (though I'm fine with lab-grown mushrooms!)
Chicken Parmigiana...chicken breast, provolne cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmigiano-reggiano cheese, tomato sauce with white whine, hot pepper seeds, salt, pepper, garlic, onions, olive oil, on linguini, and parsley...do it once a month or so.
Hell yea. I love a good chicken parm!
Oh man, that looks good.
Just some rigatone with chopped tomatoes in Europe
Italian sausage, peppers, potatoes, and chopped tomatoes with parsley...olive oil, salt, pepper, and hot pepper seeds...
Rabbit stew in tomatoe sauce...served on mashed potatoes in Europe.
Little piglet on a spit...family gathering in Europe.
Cheese strudel
Pan roasted chicken thighs, rice and beets.
Oven roasted pork chunk...top be served with roasted potatoes and tomatoe/cucumber salad (only added olive oil, white vinegar and a pinch of salt to the salad).
And a picnic lunch on the grass in front of a church on a lovely Sunday afternoon over in Europe...wine, proscutto, grapes, pate, cheese, and tomatoes
Where do you live again? I'll be right over.
I love rabbit meat--there's a restaurant in Quebec City called La Lapin Saute that looks like a tourist trap, and it is, but they also make excellent food. Their braised rabbit is the best rabbit I've had.
I've thought about raising my own, as I like to grow a lot of my own food, but I'd have trouble with slaughtering them. I do raise pigs but take them to a butcher--I'm a softy and should probably be a vegetarian.
Right now, we're in Montreal. You can buy rabbit in the stores here - already butchered thank God. I had them as pets when I was a child, and there is no way i could butcher one. Even eating them takes some willpower. That one was given to us by cousins wife in Europe...they raise a bunch, same with chickens. They don't raise pigs any more - they used to - now, they buy them already cut up. You live in the countryside? Pig farms are not exactly common in the cities, though you could have a horse if you live in The Hill Country outside of Austin, and probably many other places in the West.
Oh yes to the pig roasts. I do about two pig roasts a year and about 3 lamb roasts. I typically go to a farmer that I've become friends with and buy lamb from him and he let's me butcher them on his farm. I usually do 3 or 4, keep two for roasts and cut up the rest of them and freeze them. Thanks for sharing.
My wife loves cheese pita but prefers burek!
I prefer lamb over pig, but the pig will do as well. Dad used to freeze the roasted pig on the spit...tasted awful. Are you guys Bosnian?
My little honey with whom we share our meals...she only eats what mommy and daddy cook. second best thing that happened in my life...
Looks delish!
In high school Spanish class we had to bring in a Spanish-influenced dish. A big fancy grocery store with foreign food opened up nearby (this was around 1989) so I brought in Chili con Perro and swore the store was carrying dog meat. Current me would not spread such a harmful stereotype but it was hilarious at the time.
Aps, cute pup!
Today's meal;
Garlic pasta...lots of olive oil, lots of garlic, hot pepper seeds, parsley, lots of cherry tomatoes and linguini (I think, maybe it was fettuccine, can't remember).
Yesterday's meal;
Chicken Parmigiana again....chicken breast, provolone cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmigiano-reggiano cheese, tomato sauce with white whine, hot pepper seeds, salt, pepper, garlic, onions, olive oil, on linguini, and parsley.
Tomorrow's meal; salt and vinegar chips!!! Day off from cooking.
My kids eat from square plates with round corners, do your plates have a suction cup to stick to the table too?
Yum!
randomised,
seriously? never heard of that....
https://www.beaba.com/en/cutlery-tableware-and-bibs/2164-silicone-suction-plate-blue-3384349134303.html
As i said above, the anniversary of our first date was this weekend. It's turned into a fun little tradition that I cook a super elaborate meal for my wife. This year I did four courses, each with a beverage pairing. Went a little overboard but had a ton of fun planning this out and executing it to (near) perfection!
Alright here's the good stuff:
1 - French onion soup in a roasted butternut squash cup. Crouton. Gruyere. Chives. w/ Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel
2 - Risotto "Cannoli" in a parmesan tuile. Lobster mushroom butter. Pancetta.w/ Wolves and People "Honeycone" Farmhouse IPA
3 - Seared Hamachi on a beet chip. Cucumber vinegar. Fresh horseradish. Daikon sprouts. w/ citrus + blossom seltzer
4 - Duck breast. Celery root soubise. Miso-maple glazed sweet potato. Black lentils. Scallions + pistachio. w/ De Garde "Ivy" Wild Ale
Halfway through the meal, she surprised me with a gift! Which served as a perfect post-meal sip.
That's all, folks!
consider my singular thumbs up equal to 42. Damn.
That looks absolutely awesome, and beautifully presented! You are in the wrong business - forget architecture; it's a dumb profession - you should be a chef!!! Michelin stars, here I come!!!!
Impressive.
Cooking is my hobby, not my job. If it became my job I'd have no hobby to decompress from my job. Anyway, thanks for the kind words!
Show off. Nice work.
good work!
As someone who used to work in a professional kitchen, kudos for properly resting that duck breast! That’s where you usually spot the amateur home cook, all that blood in the sauce.
The trick is to finish the potatoes in the duck fat while the duck rests.
++ For the Ayinger and whiskey
Great Scotch! Have you tried Talisker or Laphroaig? Excellent choices.
I just finished my bottle of Talisker Storm, and I have two bottles of Laphroaig on the shelf. Slight aside - I rewarded myself with a nice bottle of scotch for each ARE I passed.
Look absolutely fantastic!
How do you come up with the receipes? Do you just improvise or use resorces? I would love to hear about any websites or cook books you use.
I've been doctering up instant ramen into some pretty good lunches lately, no pics tho. Parodically make an awesome sourdough bread or brew up an excellent IPA.
I can't compete with you guys.
Yes you can. Just watch some Youtube videos of recipes and follow. Long after architecture is dead, you will still have to eat - might as well eat well.
You can look at the package of your ramen for serving suggestions!
Randomised, that was my starting point, got some good stuff going now! Spent a good part of the summer smoking some really good meats!
Shell, what's your system for smoking meat?
pretty basic, just a weber with with temp probes. I use some bricks to pile the charcoal to one side. I've no patience for more than a few ingredients, but somehow no problem watching a smoker for 12 hrs. Maybe the beer helps....Used to use a kamado joe which was awesome! Big plans to build a custom bbq table in the spring along with replacing our deck
Today's meal...delicious.
I have eaten at least a ton of those in my lifetime...
The least you could do was have kettle or tyrrell’s...what are you a monster ;-) They at least have them with balsamic vinegar, the black pepper and sea salt option is awesome too!
Now all I can think of is a foamless lukewarm pint from an English pub at 4 in the afternoon...
Yeah probably only half a ton of Lays, and another of Kettle or Cape Cod.
About an hour goes by after you eat this and your knocked out for a few hours!
Not gonna even try and say its healthy cuz it aint - but damn does the soul like this dish!!!
Photo?
I have an immersion circulator that I use to do a bunch of meat on Sunday for the week (chicken/pork so I can do them at the same time). I'll usually pre cook some brown rice and a couple of vegetables that I can easily reheat without quality loss.
Then I can whip everything out and have a 3 item meal in about 15 min by just searing the meat and heating the other stuff up on the stove. Often will toss in some fresh steam or sautéed vegies of some kind, like broccoli or asparagus. Having things that aren't exactly fresh but taste fresh has been a real silver bullet for me wanting to cook more.
Lunch today was seared pork tenderloin with a lemon sauce, oven roasted carrots, and brown basmati rice.
Dinner was pan seared chicken with white gravy and peppercorns, and sautéed garlic asparagus.
I love frozen veggies for that reason, just cover them with herbs, spices and oil and pop them in the oven, 20 minutes later you have dinner ready as you can do all the other prep during that time...
This may be my favorite thread ever! I have nothing to contribute other than a love of good food and admiration for you cooks and chefs.
A little simpler than the last one: Bucatini with "meat sauce" (except the meat is chorizo & the sauce is butternut squash).
Really tasty & nicely spicy!
I'm not one to take pictures of food, but I do tend to plate my 4y old's meals like Gordon fuckin Ramsay was looking over my shoulder and fuming... I then use about 1/8th of that finesse on my own plate. (1/2 for my wife's since she super picky and things can't touch other things).
My boss cooked us spaghetti for lunch with tuna, garlic, paprika, capers and olives in a cream sauce, does that count?
I hope they handed out mints afterwards.
I hope they sent you each to a separate floor afterwards... with a case of mints.
There have been a few silver linings to the pandemic, and one is that with most meetings being virtual, and in-person meetings being masked, I don't have to worry about what garlic does to my breath! I love strong flavors and your boss' sauce sounds delicious. Who cares if it was smelly--good food usually is.
That 1.5m social distancing came in handy!
Last night - Jasmine Rice Pilaf, Haricort Vert, and a poached egg.
Getting back on my poached egg game - so easy but so satisfying.
Few things better than a good poached egg.
Ooh, haricot vert... I haven't tasted green beans in a long time but combination is making my mouth water.
My gf is vegan and I'm trying so last night I cooked pasta bolegnese using impossible beef. It wasn't bad, but can definitely tell it's missing the oils and fat from real meat, which gives it a lot of the flavor.
Sesame oil or maybe some umami from seaweed, perhaps?
The easiest way to make vegan meals taste good is to add some animal protein! Only partly kidding...
My MIL was using impossible beef the other day to make some taco meat. It tasted ok, but I agree that there was something missing. The seasonings and spices probably helped disguise it. I would have eaten it and been happy, but we weren't sticking around ... just picking up the little one.
I find it to be an acceptable substitute considering the harm beef does to the planet the way we currently produce it.
I like my meat-free meals to be honest. That said, I've had a few Impossible Burgers and they're not bad!
I prefer dishonesty if I'm honest. I haven't had any luck finding enough meat free meals I like, so subbing meat with fake stuff is a good way to split the difference. I respect people who have the ability to go meat free and not use substitues.
No judgement there, just my own feelings. Here's a pretty great vegan dinner I made a while ago: Crispy tofu, brussel sprout shallot + serrano slaw, with avocado. Nothing fake, nothing processed or grown in a lab, just some good plant stuff and a tortilla.
I'm not a vegetarian, but I aim to limit my animal consumption for a whole slew of reasons. I think good sourcing, simple ingredients, and attention to ethical practice results in a better / healthier lifestyle than simply avoiding animal products and eating processed garbage. Not that you can't have a full, healthy diet by eating vegan, just that eating vegan doesn't automatically mean you're eating better.
I make meat free meals pretty often (I aim for more than half of my week's meals to be vegetarian), but my philosophy is that meat free food (all food, really) should be honest about itself. Fake meat is weird to me. Substitutes are off-putting to me. I'd rather have the real thing or something else entirely.
I'm getting a lot of mileage from Mr. Kahn lately, but...
"You say to a vegetable, 'What do you want, vegetable?' And the vegetable says to you, 'I want to be hamburger.' And you say to vegetable, 'Look, I want that too, but you're a vegetable, and I can go slaughter a cow. What do you think of that vegetable?' Vegetable says, 'I want to be hamburger.'"
Like this?
I got a good wok this year and MAN is it fun to cook with a wok.
General Tso's at home.
That looks good! Do you use a wok on a gas cooktop, or some other arrangement?
I have a junky electric stove. My wok is flat bottomed, so it sits nice and has good contact. A wok spatula is so much better than I would have guessed. It looks like a shovel, but it turns things MUCH better than any other implement I could have imagined.
what's your sauce?
Pete, same here, we have a glass-top electric. My wife really wants a gas stove but since my design focus in increasingly on healthy indoor environments that's a hard leap for me to make. I'd rather have an induction cooktop. A flat-bottomed wok would work on that, and might help me convince the wife...
Flat bottomed woks make the wokking world go round.
I made dulce de leche.
I have avoided learning how, as if I had it on hand I would have to eat it all.
Fish (Tilapia), rice, with mushrooms and for salad tomatoes, cucumbers, olive oil, and white vinegar. That was Friday's lunch.
Vegetable soup...potatoes, green beans, carrots, onions, garlic, celery, whole skinned tomatoes, vegetable stock, parsley...
Yesterday's lunch. Had two bowls...was yummy.
Sunday's dinner...
Pork chops (pan fried in olive oil and couple of pieces of unsalted butter), mashed potatoes (butter and milk added), green beans (cooked then pan fried in olive oil, some onions and garlic), and German pickles (very little sodium unlike North American pickles that have a tonne of salt added). Finished off with a little port.
Gave some pork chops to my little honey, but she didn't eat them...she had dry figs earlier - loves them, so do I - so she wasn't hungry enough...
My little honey...
Lunch today.homemade smoked paprika tomato soup, with bacon crumbles, cheddar bacon grilled cheese sandwiches, cranberry juice and one observant pup with paws on the table.
Yummy - pup had enough? Or was he still hungry?
She is a Food Hound but only when given to her. After this shot she sat perfectly adjacent to the table with the famished look on her face.
I've not a photo, but my recent favourite breakfast has been fried onions, wild mushrooms with chestnuts and a drizzle of maple syrup either as is, or in a wrap, with a maple latte.
I'll get photos!
did you get photos yet?
Will be making some good recipes this weekend. I forgot photos, but will be making again on Saturday. We do food shopping Friday night, so out of stock :(
I changed the wraps for tender stem broccoli.
I'm a total ignoramus cooking-wise, yet even I know how to make a perfect snack.
That is a perfect snack. More perfect with crunchy style ;-)
Maxine would be in your lap that is her favorite snack.
Chicken Salad lunch...
Pan fried chicken in olive oil, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.
Sad day today, the greatest footballer ever died...RIP in Peace Diego Maradona.
So sad to learn of his passing this way. Apparently God wanted his hand back. Eterno Diego.
all the feels
I remember that goal...watching it live on tv. without a doubt, the mother of all goals EVER!
Odd thing, or maybe not, ARG is my favourite team even when they play against my country. Love the passion for the game they show.
Swedish Meatballs, green beans, cranberries, mashed potatoes with parmesan cheese and a glass of wine. Now it is time for bed.
hungry crowd to be fed?
14 folks in our immediate families that we haven’t seen for the most part of the year. We’re dropping them off a box each as an early
Xmas gift.
Vegan Thanksgiving!
Think I’ve gained several pounds just looking at it!
Your first dish looks like it has one of my favorite ingredients--"wet bread." My wife is Italian and Polish, and grew up eating lots of pasta. My heritage is as waspy as it gets, and we didn't have a lot of money, so many dishes were some sort of stew over bread or toast. Looks great.
When I was in Highschool I worked summers on a ranch and this was out typical breakfast before we were out the door repairing barbed wire fences , replacing post, riding horses, or baling hay and stacking it. I was told two things by that rancher: Don't be late to a meal and don't put any pepper or salt on your food that is done in the kitchen by my wife.
Not the most photogenic meal I've made, but it was a damn good & relatively easy weeknight dish:
Mushroom-Buttered* gnocchi dried shitake mushrooms, lima beans, & spinach in mushroom broth (from rehydrating the shitakes), with garlic, shallots, thyme, and parmesan.
(*This fall I made mushroom-infused butter from the cuttings of foraged lobster mushrooms. Had a few ounces of it kicking around the fridge. Amazing stuff.)
I love the gnocchi here they look like little miniature potatoes with the spices coating them. 10/10 on presentation, cute af.
Thanks!
They do look like little potatoes. Yum. Mushroom-infused butter sounds amazing. We forage Reiki on our land and sometimes find gray Oyster, but we have to buy Lobster mushrooms. (Reiki mushrooms taste horrible, btw, but good for ya.)
My wife got some reiki powder with other herbs & what not. It's supposed to help with mood. I don't know how making my coffee taste like garbage is supposed to help my mood but here we are.
My wife dries and powders some of ours, and puts it in our homemade stocks. It disappears pretty well that way.
This one cracked me up because the color and texture were nearly identical to Kraft Mac n Cheese. Trust me it was made from scratch.
Strozzapretti w/ butternut + thyme puree. Smoky kale crisps. Toasted pine nuts.
That looks awesome, duds. People who say they don't like kale haven't had it cooked creatively. And mac-and-cheese is irresistible in any form.
Crispy kale is an unsung gem. And so easy - just toss in a little oil, salt + spices if you want (I used smoked paprika here. Pairs nicely with the sweetness of butternut squash) and pop on a sheet tray for 15 minutes.
Breakfast on Sunday was toasted bread sauteed with bacon fat from our pigs as the first layer, topped with onions, a lot of garlic (~10 cloves--we're garlic-rich, just planted 1,000 bulbs for next year) and brocollni, covered with whisked eggs (not too much--I didn't want this to be a tortilla espaniola), with a good Scottish cheddar on top.
Then the piece de resistance, my new addiction--chili crisp. Have you tried it? It adds incredible depth of flavor, color and texture to many dishes. This was made locally (https://trilly-maine.com/produ...) and aside from the cheese everything else was grown by local farmers.
It was, as I like to tell my wife when I like a dish, "edible." The toast compacted to a nice fatty crust, the eggs just held everything together without being overwhelming, and the flavors were balanced. Thanks for the inspiration, everyone.
Yummy! if that was for breakfast , I wonder what was for lunch!!!
Probably a nap!
Haha, a salad if I recall correctly.
It was not as rich as it might look. There were just a few thin slices of cheese, and four eggs for the whole dish.
That looks fantastic! I love a good breakfast
It's one of the most important meals of the day! Along with lunch and supper.
That seems to be so good! I'd love to have it for breakfast. Gonna try it on Saturday.
Working through the last of the garden gourds, last night I made a stuffed roasted acorn squash. Stuffing is pork sausage, shallots & bell peppers, red quinoa, plus garlic fennel & thyme. Topped with mozzarella & broiled to a crisp.
You've managed to show two dishes in a row that make me want to eat squash--that's saying something!
Squash is great if you treat it right! Like all things, I suppose.
Believe me, I've tried. For many years we grew several hundred pounds of different types. I probably just got sick of it, actually. I do like it sometimes, especially butternut.
I think I'd get sick of several *hundred* pounds of anything! Butternut is a workhorse, but my real favorites are delicata & spaghetti. Last fall I made a surprisingly delicious spaghetti squash pad thai and a pretty interesting spaghetti squash carbonara. It's all about mixing up the flavors so you don't feel like you're eating the same thing every day for a month.
LOL, yeah we fed a lot to our pigs and later to our compost pile. But we ate a lot too. My MIL grows delicata and it is good too. Nobody in my family likes spaghetti squash, which is too bad because I think it's good for some things--just not to replace pasta, if you're of Italian heritage. That said, we have a lot of guanciale in the freezer, maybe I'll find some spaghetti squash and make something carbonara-like.
I made Mediterranean-style fish stew last weekend. Definitely not bouillabaisse, I wouldn't want to claim that.
I actually set out to make mixed seafood chowder, which is why there are potatoes in it, but then it was so delicious (and there was so much of it) I decided it would be a shame to put any dairy in it.
I also went back and watched the Julia and Jacque episode on it - I love how flexible they are on the recipe. Will make again with their tips incorporated next time. Forget making a rouillet though, no one got time for that.
https://web.archive.org/web/20150912034417/http://en.recidemia.com/wiki/Caldillo_de_Congrio
Sometimes I like how cream pulls disparate flavors and textures together, but I can see why you'd want those ingredients to stand on their own.
Here it is... what I call "Feasting Season"
Today is my father-in-law's birthday. Christmas eve is my sister-in-law's birthday. Then Christmas day. Then the 27th is my wife's birthday. Then of course there's New Years Eve and New Years Day. As you've seen, I love cooking, and my other sister-in-law is a professional chef, so we split the duties roughly down the middle and it's all so over the top and so fun.
Every year is a fun game of trying to make 4-6 killer dinners without overlapping or repeating, and without making everyone so over-satiated that they're sick of it before the week's end.
The plan is: Lamb tonight. Oysters, Crab & Duck on XMas eve. Tenderloin on XMas. Ramen (from scratch, of course) for my wife's birthday. And pasta with some kind of ragu for NYE. I'll make a photo post when it's all done!
Merry Holidays Archinect!
WOW. Sounds amazing. Also, I need to know how you stay so skinny.
Dog needs two walks a day. That & a lot of hiking when the weather permits.
Sounds great. All our holiday events are cancelled (some by necessity, others by me) so no family feast.
My line up for feasting season is green chili for Christmas Eve, prime rib for Christmas day, and pigs in a blanket for New Years Eve. My kids will make the pigs in a blanket meal.
So this is what it takes for a wood guy thumbs down? To clarify, my parents are inside our social bubble, so the little one gets to see his grandparents. Everyone else (inc aunts/cousins, even my grand mother). Sorta looking forward to calm holiday not filled with crammed and loud dinner parties.
Sorry, I meant to clarify--boo that you have to cancel plans, +++++ for being a responsible citizen. Binary communication leaves room for misunderstanding ;-)
Wood Guy,
Bought a leg of lamb today in the store...all the way from Australia...we will have it on Christmas day. Cost me as much as a whole lamb all done on the spit in some parts of Europe!!! Better be good!
I've never had lamb... and I would not know what do to with it. I think that Gordon Ramsay would pop out of my pantry and call me a wanker if I ever tried to cook a rack and left it 8 seconds too long in the pan.
I hope it tastes as good as its carbon footprint!
Rando, don't worry, the carrots are organic.
the best way to cook lamb is to go to a restaurant with a good chef
organic farming produces more emissions than conventional farming though ;-)
fine... I guess my joke was lost on this crowd.
Just needs a bit of seasoning.
Rando, I'd need to see some stats on that... but if you're talking about Big Organic vs Big Conventional ag, you might be right. Organic will have less negative impact on the soil though.
I grow my own using beyond-organic techniques, or from local farmers who do the same. I guarantee our carbon footprints are lower than most Americans'.
Aps, I hope it's good. Why did you choose Australian lamb instead of locally grown? The leg of lamb my MIL got was a gift from a carpenter working on her house. (We're building the addition featured here: https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/all-about-helical-piles.) He raises sheep and does other farming on the side. We get along well ;-)
Non, I haven't cooked a lot of lamb but find low, slow cooking in an oven works well with most red meat, after searing on the stovetop. Last night I did that with country ribs from our pigs. It's a pretty forgiving method. If you don't like the flavor on its own, chop it up and put it in a strongly flavored stew.
Organic veggies require more land (lower yields per hectare) and that results in more deforestation.
“ Organically farmed food has a bigger climate impact than conventionally farmed food, due to the greater areas of land required.” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181213101308.htm
Rando, that might be true but it's one factor in a very complicated equation. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05956-1#:~:text=Organic%20agriculture%20has%2C%20per%20unit,on%20reducing%20its%20yield%20variability.
Carbon Footprint Ranking of Food
no.1 Lamb 39.2 kilos CO2 equivalent or 91 car miles equivalent: https://www.greeneatz.com/foods-carbon-footprint.html
Rando, lamb grown locally 100% on pasture with abundant water available is not the same as factory farming operations.
M’y jive is with the label and how it’s convince so many that it’s better because of the label. It’s not, at least not without a whole bunch more context, but the average wanker consumer only has time to read part of a one headline in their Facebook feed before making life philosophy choices.
Excuse moi, french keyboard on. Makes for odd word autochoices. No regrets, leaving as is.
Non, I totally agree, and the organic farming community was mostly against the government taking over the term 20+ years ago. The best term I've heard, and used above, for those who practice truly organic (restorative, not extractive) agriculture is "beyond organic." It's still not a great term. Another is "restoration agriculture" but that doesn't always cover annual crops very well.
X-jla, I have a couple of books on it and have thought a LOT about how I could do more on my land, which is mostly wooded. I think it has potential for small-scale homesteaders but hard to scale in a way that would have broad impact. What do you know about it?
Ah, I didn't realize you were a desert-dweller. I have 30 acres, only about 2.5 of which are cleared. When we raise pigs they are partly on pasture and partly in open forest. Our town is named Palermo, so we jokingly call our pork "jamon Palermico," a play on "jamon Iberico," the most famous of the Spanish pigs raised in open woodland, the Dehesa. Unfortunately we don't have centuries-old nut trees to feed the pigs, so ours get a lot of grain. I've tried to get our goats into the woods but they are terrified of being away from the pasture they're used to.
“ Rando, lamb grown locally 100% on pasture with abundant water available is not the same as factory farming operations.”
No it’s not the same, but looking at things holistically from a global perspective, if everyone would grow their lamb like that more forests would have to be chopped down to make way for pasture...it might still look sustainable from a personal perspective, but once you zoom out it’s a different story.
Rando, I'm all for a good reductio ad absurdum (it is, afterall, one of my primary modus operandi), but everything becomes the worst thing ever if you zoom out enough.
Rando, globally I'll agree. Maine, where I live, is by far the most heavily forested state in of the lower 48 and we also have the second most organic farms per capita in the country, but we also have a tiny population--only 1.3 million people, a mid-sized city at best anywhere else in the world. In the mid-1800s much of this area was cleared for sheep farming to fulfill a need for wool. It's a good example of why eating what is produced locally (without undue effort) is the most sustainable approach. In some places (Maine, New Zealand) that might mean sheep. Elsewhere it might mean mangoes.
Wood Guy,
No local lamb if you're life depended on it!
It all comes from AUS up here. There are farmers in Ontario who raise sheep, but cannot - or should not go there now - due to covid.
In any event local stuff is not always cheaper than something from millions of miles away.
You're in Canada? I thought you were in Europe for some reason. I agree that local is not always cheaper than imported food. As far as I'm concerned, though, price is the least important factor when buying food. When I was young and poor I felt differently, and even my now-financially secure mom can't pass up meat on sale for a dollar a pound. She also has good health insurance. I don't, and pay more for food I trust instead.
I was born in Europe, partially educated there, partially in Canada - worked in Canada, Europe, Middle East, Caribbean...in other words, all screwed up...:)))...!
For the price of that lamb leg I paid here, I could have had the whole lamb roasted on a spit in some parts of Europe...and lamb that ate local grass, and roamed the local fields. This one was probably raised in a factory, and fed all kinds of chemicals. But hey, what can you do when you live in a fast country...
lamb in patagonia
The only issue I have with that method is all the juices run off. You catch all the tasty juices when done on the spit.
Is that your set-up there Aps? I have family that competes in (amateur) BBQ competitions and I'm always in awe with what they do with their grilling toys.
Nope, I wish it was. There are ethnic restaurants/stores in Toronto/Mississauga where you can order them for festive occasions.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?