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.
x-jla
Dec 17, 20 1:33 am
Love pine nuts. Pinole cookies are
x-jla
Dec 17, 20 1:34 am
*pignole cookies are my favorite
Wood Guy
Dec 17, 20 9:31 am
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.
tduds
Dec 17, 20 12:12 pm
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.
Wood Guy
Dec 17, 20 9:26 am
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.
apscoradiales
Dec 17, 20 9:43 am
Yummy! if that was for breakfast
, I wonder what was for lunch!!!
archanonymous
Dec 17, 20 10:26 am
Probably a nap!
Wood Guy
Dec 17, 20 10:40 am
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.
tduds
Dec 17, 20 12:13 pm
That looks fantastic! I love a good breakfast
Wood Guy
Dec 17, 20 12:55 pm
It's one of the most important meals of the day! Along with lunch and supper.
still_c
Dec 18, 20 2:13 am
That seems to be so good! I'd love to have it for breakfast. Gonna try it on Saturday.
tduds
Dec 17, 20 12:32 pm
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.
Wood Guy
Dec 17, 20 12:56 pm
You've managed to show two dishes in a row that make me want to eat squash--that's saying something!
tduds
Dec 17, 20 2:59 pm
Squash is great if you treat it right! Like all things, I suppose.
Wood Guy
Dec 17, 20 5:26 pm
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.
tduds
Dec 17, 20 5:40 pm
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.
Wood Guy
Dec 17, 20 8:07 pm
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.
archanonymous
Dec 17, 20 1:18 pm
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.
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.
x-jla
Dec 18, 20 11:54 am
just hooked my kid up with some chicken cutlets.
Wood Guy
Dec 18, 20 2:52 pm
Looks good! What do you use for batter?
x-jla
Dec 18, 20 7:59 pm
Just use milk and egg, then a mix of flour ,bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and a little dried parsley.
apscoradiales
Dec 19, 20 5:49 pm
yep! and olive oil with some butter.
x-jla
Dec 18, 20 12:07 pm
This weekend did some meatballs with raisins and pine nuts, sauce from scratch, cooked for like 8 hours....some broccoli rabe (favorite vegetable of all time).
x-jla
Dec 18, 20 12:14 pm
Damn, made some banging Barbacoa tacos and homemade salsa with roasted poblanos, Anaheim’s, etc...fried corn tortillas, avacado sauce....the other day...forgot to take pics.
tduds
Dec 18, 20 12:38 pm
Classic. Looks great!
Wood Guy
Dec 18, 20 2:53 pm
Oh man, that looks good. Someone just gave my MIL a leg of lamb that we'll have for Christmas--I hope she makes something like that.
tduds
Dec 18, 20 3:03 pm
We're having lamb tonight. The season of feasting begins (see below). I'm so excited.
archanonymous
Dec 18, 20 6:04 pm
Agree on Broccoli Rabe. My favorite use of it is Broccoli Rabe with home made orecchiette and fennel sausage.
Wood Guy
Dec 18, 20 6:06 pm
It's really a perfect vegetable.
x-jla
Dec 18, 20 7:57 pm
And very healthy
Wood Guy
Dec 19, 20 10:43 am
I roasted some Brocolli Rabe (aka brocollini and other names) for dinner last night, and though of this thread. Not really photo-worthy but like many vegetables, Rabe takes well to roasting.
tduds
Dec 18, 20 3:09 pm
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!
Wood Guy
Dec 18, 20 3:14 pm
WOW. Sounds amazing. Also, I need to know how you stay so skinny.
tduds
Dec 18, 20 3:25 pm
Dog needs two walks a day. That & a lot of hiking when the weather permits.
Non Sequitur
Dec 18, 20 8:01 pm
Sounds great. All our holiday events are cancelled (some by necessity, others by me) so no family feast.
Wilma Buttfit
Dec 19, 20 8:26 am
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.
Non Sequitur
Dec 19, 20 11:30 am
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.
Wood Guy
Dec 19, 20 1:43 pm
Sorry, I meant to clarify--boo that you have to cancel plans, +++++ for being a responsible citizen. Binary communication leaves room for misunderstanding ;-)
apscoradiales
Dec 18, 20 6:26 pm
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!
Non Sequitur
Dec 18, 20 8:03 pm
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.
randomised
Dec 18, 20 8:09 pm
I hope it tastes as good as its carbon footprint!
Non Sequitur
Dec 18, 20 8:10 pm
Rando, don't worry, the carrots are organic.
curtkram
Dec 18, 20 9:23 pm
the best way to cook lamb is to go to a restaurant with a good chef
randomised
Dec 18, 20 9:33 pm
organic farming produces more emissions than conventional farming though ;-)
Non Sequitur
Dec 18, 20 9:50 pm
fine... I guess my joke was lost on this crowd.
randomised
Dec 19, 20 3:56 am
Just needs a bit of seasoning.
Wood Guy
Dec 19, 20 10:46 am
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'.
Wood Guy
Dec 19, 20 10:49 am
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 ;-)
Wood Guy
Dec 19, 20 10:50 am
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.
randomised
Dec 19, 20 11:12 am
Organic veggies require more land (lower yields per hectare) and that results in more deforestation.
Rando, lamb grown locally 100% on pasture with abundant water available is not the same as factory farming operations.
Non Sequitur
Dec 19, 20 11:32 am
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.
Non Sequitur
Dec 19, 20 11:33 am
Excuse moi, french keyboard on. Makes for odd word autochoices. No regrets, leaving as is.
x-jla
Dec 19, 20 11:40 am
It’s a more complicated equation rando. Need to take into account depletion of top soil, embodied energy of transport, embodied energy of chemical herbicide production and its usage impact, etc. An acre or permaculture land is not as destructive as an acre of monoculture land, and it has a greater carbon sequestration potential and overall lower impact in terms of harvest and management.
x-jla
Dec 19, 20 11:47 am
*pesticide
x-jla
Dec 19, 20 11:49 am
Forest farming is really interesting. Anyone experiment with this method?
Wood Guy
Dec 19, 20 1:47 pm
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?
x-jla
Dec 19, 20 10:11 pm
I like the idea, but don’t have much firsthand experience being I live in a desert climate. It seems that there is maybe more potential for livestock. In Spain, they raise their best pigs in pine forests, from what I remember...
Wood Guy
Dec 20, 20 10:22 am
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.
randomised
Dec 21, 20 4:58 am
“ 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.
Non Sequitur
Dec 21, 20 9:03 am
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.
Wood Guy
Dec 21, 20 10:09 am
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.
apscoradiales
Dec 19, 20 5:48 pm
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.
Wood Guy
Dec 20, 20 10:15 am
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.
apscoradiales
Dec 20, 20 2:45 pm
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...
JLC-1
Dec 20, 20 3:49 pm
lamb in patagonia
apscoradiales
Dec 20, 20 5:32 pm
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.
Non Sequitur
Dec 21, 20 8:51 am
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.
apscoradiales
Dec 21, 20 9:31 am
Nope, I wish it was. There are ethnic restaurants/stores in Toronto/Mississauga where you can order them for festive occasions.
apscoradiales
Dec 19, 20 6:16 pm
Just to throw my two cents (Canadian - which is about 0.000001 American at the current exchange rate), I do not trust any organic food, unless it was grown by me. Too many shady people/farmers/corporations claiming "organic" - unless I watched it being planted and grown with my own eyes, it's all a pack of lies to me. In addition, I'm not paying 20 dollars for a tomato they claim is organically grown - f that! Same with "locally grown" fruits and veggies at farmers markets. If you kook carefully, you will find boxes behind the stands with label "Produce of Mexico". Or guys selling "locally grown" bananas! Yeah, right - grown in Timmins, Ontario or Laval, Quebec!!! That will be the day!
bowling_ball
Dec 19, 20 9:29 pm
Show me the $20 price for an organic tomato. Seriously. I want proof. It must be tiring to go through life with such a huge chip on your shoulder. You sound paranoid and out of touch.
Wood Guy
Dec 20, 20 10:11 am
Aps, I trust "big organic" only slightly more than "big conventional" ag. But my wife and I buy most of our food from local farmers, many of whom we know personally and some who have become friends or clients. It's hard to grow enough food to feed yourself--I know, I've tried--but it's possible in many places to know where your food comes from. On the rare occasions we buy exotic food like avocados or citrus, we try to buy direct from established farms with a reputation for quality. It costs more than what you find at the grocery store, but that's why we make it a luxury, not a staple. Nobody needs to drink orange juice every morning, even if TV ads say you should. "Cheep food" is often a false economy.
randomised
Dec 21, 20 8:57 am
And so instead you get your lamb all the way from Australia...you don’t trust your neighbours and local community, but eat what’s grown at the other end of the earth, something doesn’t add up here ;-)
Non Sequitur
Dec 21, 20 9:00 am
I'd pay $20 for locally grown banana if it came from Timmins.
apscoradiales
Dec 21, 20 9:17 am
I'm waiting for climate change so that they can grow them there!
Wood Guy
Dec 21, 20 10:11 am
Climate change is here, but bananas won't be for a lot longer. Every banana we eat is a clone of a single plant and extremely susceptible to mounting pest and disease pressure. Eat 'em while you can!
if they had lamb in the local store from Quebec or Ontario, I'd buy it, but since they don't...
There is a farm in Ontario that has them, and a whole bunch more stuff that they raise or plant themselves, but they're like 6 hour driving distance away and 6 hours back....and we're not supposed to be driving around due to the virus. They make good sausages, cabbage rolls, soups, gravies, smoked meats, and the prices are reasonable - but that's because you deal with the wholeseller...retailers would demand a Kings Ransom for one sausage, so f that!
tduds
Dec 21, 20 11:12 am
Yesterdays project: Ramen prep. Just over a gallon of rich, creamy tonkotsu broth, and in the background: 2 quarts of kombu dashi, plus a soy based tare. All told took about 10 hours. I steamed up every window in the house and the dog was going nuts over the smell.
Check back in next weekend for the finished product!
Wood Guy
Dec 21, 20 12:26 pm
How do you make the broth? We save any meat bones to make broth/stock (I'm not sure if there is a difference). We also keep the feet from butchered birds to make a creepy-looking but tasty broth.
tduds
Dec 21, 20 1:16 pm
This was my first time making ramen base. It's a little more complicated than what I usually do.
For my "normal" broths, I love to save veggie clippings and parmesan rinds in the freezer & once a year turn it into the most amazing parmesan broth. And a couple times I've taken the turkey carcass from thanksgiving and made soup out of that. Those are pretty straightforward - boil it for a few hours with your favorite aromatics & then strain.
For ramen, you're making three parts. First is the broth (tonkotsu for this weekend) - which is a *ton* of bones & fat & bits. I got about 4lbs of pork trotters, 1.5lbs chicken feet, and a pound of pork belly (plus 2 more pounds to braise for serving). Plus one onion, about 6oz of cremini mushrooms, a head of garlic, and 2" ginger. I sauteed the non-meats for a few minutes then added the meat parts, covered with water and boiled for about 8 hours (topping off whenever the water level got below the solids), then strained. Part 2 is the Dashi: Soaked dried kombu in cold water for 2 hours, then slowly brought it up to almost a simmer (don't boil! It ruins the taste), removed the kombu and added dried shiitake. Steeped for another 45 minutes on barely a simmer, then set aside. Part 3 is Tare, which is a flavor bomb. Chicken broth, soy, mirin, more ginger, brown sugar, and rice vinegar. Boiled it to reduce by 50-70%.
At dinner time, you combine the dashi & tonkotsu broth in a big pot and simmer. A little bit of tare goes into each bowl as you serve.
archanonymous
Dec 21, 20 5:01 pm
@ WG - Broth includes meat which renders out its fats and proteins into the liquid. Stock is made with bones and scraps.
Wood Guy
Dec 21, 20 5:25 pm
Duds, that sounds like a lot of work but I'm sure it's worth it. I know I enjoy asian soups of all sorts, and have wondered what made them so good.
Arch, thanks, that makes sense. I guess what I make is in between, mostly bones but with some meat scraps as well, cooked until I can crush the bones easily, anywhere from one to three days. Sometimes more than one batch from the same bones.
apscoradiales
Dec 21, 20 5:45 pm
"...I steamed up every window in the house and the dog was going nuts over the smell..." LOL!!!
tduds
Dec 21, 20 6:12 pm
It's a lot of time but less effort than I thought it'd be. That said, I'm doing this as a birthday present to my wife because she loves ramen and we've been missing it during the pandemic times since it's one of the few things I can't easily re-create at home. I dunno if I'd do this for just any old dinner.
b3tadine[sutures]
Dec 23, 20 10:11 pm
Vegan Flour less Chocolate and Blueberry Cake, gluten-free and no refined sugar
Sriracha Tahini Fudge, vegan, gluten-free and no refined sugar
Vegan Baklava, gluten-free and no refined sugar
Wood Guy
Dec 24, 20 8:27 am
Those all look tasty, b3. I can't recall having chocolate and blueberries together--does any blueberry flavor come through? I'm a sucker for fudge and mixing heat with chocolate. I'm also a sucker for baklava, and yours looks amazing, not slimy with sugar--what did you use for a sweetener if not corn syrup or honey?
b3tadine[sutures]
Dec 24, 20 11:19 am
The blueberries get pureed so the flavor is subtle, but it's rich. The baklava is made with date syrup, and thickened. There's sweetness, but not an overwhelming sweetness. The fudge, only 5 ingredients! I am making a tiramisu today, that is also using unrefined sugar, and is vegan and gluten-free.
b3tadine[sutures]
Dec 24, 20 7:33 pm
I tried the baklava today, good, not super sweet and sticky, but good. I'm mostly making and giving it away.
Wood Guy
Dec 25, 20 12:18 pm
Sounds good to me. I love dates but don't recall having or seeing date syrup. We get maple syrup from local farmers and go through a few gallons a year. That shocks some people but we use it as a concentrate to flavor carbonated water, on cereal, etc.. It would probably make a decent baklava as well.
Wilma Buttfit
Dec 23, 20 11:55 pm
This thread is inspiring. I'm impressed.
I tried to make rummy marshmallows and they were just ok. I need practice.
why_not_architecture
Dec 24, 20 12:42 am
I am recently addicted to my New Baba Ganoush, which is now almost everyday side dish for dinner. I came up with this recipe and find it easier to make, more flavorful and more fiber. With enough fresh garlic is perfect anti-viral:)
New Wave Baba Ganoush:
Cut the eggplant horizontaly ~3/4" slices, sprinkle sea salt on both sides, let them rest vertically 1 hour to get the juices out. Squeeze by hand each slice (do not rinse), coat with olive oil both sides, put aluminum foil on top of a tray and bake in oven at 425 F until both sides have some brown. Flip midway. Put the baked egplant (with the skin!), olive oil, garlic paste to taste but should be strong, black pepper and mayonnaise (1 1/2 cup +/- for 3 eggplants) [no tahini] in food processor and pulse until the skin is broken to small pieces. Do not make it too smooth! Taste for salt and pepper but should be slightly more than what you like as it will be absorbed. Add chopped pecans 1 cup for 3 eggplants. This need to be refrigerated for atleast 1 day before serving. Next day adjust again for salt, black pepper and if needs more mayo add that too.
Let me know if you try it and what do you think.
Wood Guy
Dec 24, 20 8:23 am
I enjoy baba ganoush when done well. Unfortunately, most of the time the texture is too much like snot, and the flavor is not strong enough to make you think otherwise. Keeping it chunky and adding pecans instead of tahini probably helps the texture? Eggplants don't grow reliably here but we often make a baba-like dish with zucchini.
proto
Dec 24, 20 10:54 am
Christmas Eve menu: roast boneless leg of lamb [local]; lemon garlic green beans; Yukon gold garlic mashed taters; trifle [raspberry base]
Happy holidays, y’all!
citizen
Dec 24, 20 9:30 pm
That sounds amazing. What can I bring? =O]
atelier nobody
Dec 24, 20 8:50 pm
As a single architect, I am whole-heartedly in favor of architects marrying chefs.
x-jla
Dec 24, 20 9:52 pm
We don’t play.
x-jla
Dec 25, 20 7:55 pm
merry Christmas!
x-jla
Dec 25, 20 8:21 pm
.
bowling_ball
Dec 25, 20 8:31 pm
No pics but we cooked our first turkey ever today. Now dropping it off to the family in exchange for side dishes. Merry Christmas!
b3tadine[sutures]
Dec 25, 20 10:49 pm
Vegan Christmas
Vegan Tiramisu
randomised
Dec 26, 20 9:36 am
Another vegan Christmas here:
Bigos hunter’s stew with sauerkraut and a variety of mushrooms Polish “Greek Style” fish (with baked selery disks instead of white fish) rolled in sushi nori seaweed sheets finished in a carrot sauce in the oven Mushroom filo croquettes traditionally served with a red beet soup Different grilled veggies from the oven, baked potatoes, rucola salad, homemade bread and store made soy/nut balls.
Vegan spicy banana tomato cake for dessert and Portuguese red wine.
I cut the tomatoes for the rucola salad and poured the balsamic vinegar and virgin olive oil over the salad...
randomised
Dec 26, 20 9:55 am
*plates “Indigo Storm” by Faye Toogood!
x-jla
Dec 26, 20 10:29 am
Made 2 Stromboli. One with prosciutto and dates, and the other with cheese, salami, and Capicola. Definitely need to work out today.
Wood Guy
Dec 30, 20 5:49 pm
Someone resurrected a kelp thread, which made me think of this: https://atlanticseafarms.com/c.... Most weekday mornings I make some variation of eggs and toast, with lacto-fermented veggies on the side. The fermented kelp doesn't taste quite like Japanese seaweed salad, but not far off, and the kim-chi is as good as any I've had. Lots of health benefits to eating lacto-fermented veggies.
x-jla
Dec 31, 20 12:48 pm
the wife has covid, and being she’s Columbian I made her chicken and potato soup with Sazon and bay leaf. It’s the cure.
x-jla
Dec 31, 20 12:49 pm
You can put Sazon on an old shoe and it would taste good. That msg is yummy
Wood Guy
Dec 31, 20 1:19 pm
I'm sorry to hear she has Covid, but agree that Sazon is tasty stuff. The myth around MSG is pervasive. (Cue someone claiming they're "allergic"...)
randomised
Dec 31, 20 2:57 pm
Ah crap x-jla! As losing sense of taste is one of the symptoms it probably doesn’t matter what you cook for her anyways...
x-jla
Jan 2, 21 3:03 pm
She did lose her taste and smell, but is feeling better. No more fever for 2 days.
tduds
Jan 16, 21 12:12 pm
Opened a very generous birthday gift from my in-laws last night. Dee-licious.
Should we start a "Whatcha drinking?" thread?
Wood Guy
Jan 16, 21 3:58 pm
Absolutely! Or here is fine, up to you. I love a good Scotch, in small quantities. My wife can drink it neat but I need ice or water. We've been learning about wine for the last few months--it's been a fun distraction. We kicked it off with this movie, not bad: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2204371/.
Non Sequitur
Jan 16, 21 6:54 pm
I’ll be having a 14y glenlfiddich soon.
Non Sequitur
Jan 16, 21 6:56 pm
Tduds, you need to fully circumcise the top of the bottle. No need to keep part of the foil wrapper up there.
Wood Guy
Jan 17, 21 9:30 am
Non, I used your circumcision comment on my wife last night when we opened a bottle of wine. It would have been hilarious if I hadn't needed to explain it. I laughed, anyway.
Non Sequitur
Jan 17, 21 11:06 am
Very good WG. It’s a comment I make often (less so now because COVID), but I mentioned to a buddy a while back on a 18y bottle and I was shocked, then angry, that the label on an expensive battle was a sticker. Not foil. A glued on sticker. Left white paper marks on the neck. Real sloppy circoncision job that night.
Non Sequitur
Jan 17, 21 11:08 am
My keyboard decided to use the French word. I’ll leave it.
Dokuser
Jan 16, 21 3:02 pm
What's cooking?...good lookin'
bowling_ball
Jan 16, 21 11:59 pm
Not gonna lie, I've eaten McDonalds two days in a row. Not proud of it but since this is my confessional, please go easy on me.
citizen
Jan 17, 21 12:07 am
"Miss, I'd like my fries the same temperature as the surface of Mercury." Straight-out-of-the-fryer = delicious.
Wood Guy
Jan 17, 21 9:32 am
BB, I typically eat fast food once or twice a year, but in the year of Covid it's been more--when I'm out at lunchtime I just don't trust most of the mom-and-pop shops, even when I can find one, to follow safe practices, based on observation.
SneakyPete
Jan 20, 21 2:21 pm
They also seem to have forgotten the 'fast' part, with drive through lanes backing up into traffic.
apscoradiales
Jan 19, 21 4:47 pm
Fish, rice and mushrooms...last Friday's lunch.
citizen
Jan 19, 21 5:04 pm
Beige and beautiful!
apscoradiales
Jan 19, 21 5:31 pm
Yep, at least three different shades of beige.
Wood Guy
Jan 21, 21 9:36 am
I remember in elementary school, once a week we'd have what I called "yellow lunch." While pretty colors can make a meal seem appealing, your beige lunch looks pretty tasty too!
citizen
Jan 20, 21 2:13 pm
Because food can be funny, and I don't know where else to post this after some 30 Rock viewing.
Liz Lemon in a busy NYC deli, hoping to order off-menu for clueless boyfriend: "He'll have a catfish po'boy and diet Raspberry Fanta."
Jack Donaghy ordering for his supermodel-thin date: "The lady will have a cup of hot water with a chicken bone in it, and a bowl of salted ice cubes."
tduds
Jan 20, 21 2:36 pm
This is a great little pantry meal:
Ricotta dumplings, red sauce, herb oil, pecorino romano.
I often buy ricotta for a recipe that needs, like, 1/4 cup, then I'm stuck with a nearly full jar of cheese that's going to expire in a week. What to do? Mix it with flour, an egg, salt, herbs & lemon zest. Bam you got dumplings (aka Gnudi). Boil em like you'd make gnocchi. They also freeze for months.
Similarly, I took all the about-to-wilt herbs from our garden at the end of summer and steeped them in warm olive oil. Divided into small containers and into the basement freezer. A little drizzle on top of pasta dishes brings a fresh pop of basil & oregano that reminds me of summer.
This sauce wasn't from the garden, just some leftover sauce from last week. I do have about a gallon of garden roma tomato sauce divided & frozen in the basement. Can't wait to use that through the rest of winter.
I hate wasting food, so I totally dork out on little saving tricks like these. Also it tastes great!
apscoradiales
Jan 20, 21 3:37 pm
Too small of a portion, imo.
tduds
Jan 20, 21 3:58 pm
I like myself at the size I am.
randomised
Jan 20, 21 5:00 pm
Too small portion? That plate's like half a meter diameter!
apscoradiales
Jan 20, 21 5:51 pm
20 dumplings only! Tiny portion.
randomised
Jan 20, 21 6:00 pm
Tiny? Those dumplings are at least the size of an egg of the Canadian goose!
tduds
Jan 20, 21 7:35 pm
You're both wrong, but they are very filling little things.
randomised
Jan 21, 21 3:45 am
I know, was just pulling aps’ leg...
apscoradiales
Jan 21, 21 10:51 am
___ | ___
bowling_ball
Jan 20, 21 10:00 pm
Does anybody hunt here? I ran into a couple deer on my run tonight and I thought "hmmm, looks tasty!"
archanonymous
Jan 21, 21 10:02 am
I have hunted, but not actively anymore. And I could never do large mammals.
Most memorable meal of my lifetime though was foraged berries and asparagus, fresh caught trout, and a couple of grouse we bagged while backpacking deep in Colorado wilderness. Cooked over an open campfire with just salt and wild herbs as seasonings. It is seared into my brain.
Wood Guy
Feb 5, 21 8:32 pm
I've had a hunting license since I was 12 but have never actually hunted. When we moved to our farm I wanted to be closer to the food we eat and I debated between taking up hunting or raising meat animals. Decided to go with raising pigs, and eventually chickens, turkeys and maybe rabbits. Currently pausing those activities because it requires a lot of time for the reward, and it can be kind of gut wrenching. I'd like to take up hunting when I'm older and have more time. Or maybe just walk in the woods more.
x-jla
Jan 20, 21 11:05 pm
Just some chicken tacos, avacodo sauce, homemade salsa from various peppers, tomatoes, onion, etc...very tasty and spicy
x-jla
Jan 20, 21 11:08 pm
Word
x-jla
Jan 21, 21 11:16 am
That salsa will have mfers thinking they have covid the next day...my esophagus feels like I ate fire ants.
Wood Guy
Feb 5, 21 8:26 pm
There's only one flavor you taste on both its way in and its way out...
apscoradiales
Jan 22, 21 3:39 pm
One of the benefits of retirement.
You get to cook your own lunch; it's much yummier and cheaper than eating out all the time while working.
Garlic pasta...lots of olive oil, some hot pepper seeds, parsley, cherry tomatoes, and linguine with some spaghetti.
Wood Guy
Feb 5, 21 8:25 pm
Mixing linguine with spaghetti? My Sicilian FIL would roll in his grave! Looks beautiful, though.
I mastered how to make hot and sour soup since my favorite place to eat it is closed due to covid. I do it faster than and am less fussy. I use beef stock. no egg. But never cut short apple cider, hot sauce, vinegar, and soy sauce. It's really great in cold weather. There are tons of guide videos, pick your pick.
citizen
Feb 4, 21 4:13 pm
Even the culinary-challenged can muster something decent, if simple.
x-jla
Feb 4, 21 11:20 pm
Grilled chicken asada tacos, homemade salsa with fire roasted peppers, tomatoes, lime, etc...
curtkram
Feb 5, 21 6:24 pm
if only your political and cultural views could rise to the level of your tacos....
citizen
Feb 5, 21 8:19 pm
^ Wrong thread.
Wood Guy
Feb 5, 21 8:23 pm
Yeah let's try to keep this a place where we all share a love of food and/or cooking. I have to get bloodwork tomorrow morning so no dinner tonight--these posts are making my stomach growl!
x-jla
Feb 5, 21 5:24 pm
lunch for my son...beats school lunch
tduds
Feb 8, 21 2:06 pm
My sister-in-law is a professional chef. For my birthday this year she got me a slick boning knife - and with it came a lesson in breaking down whole chickens. We had a couple brews and turned about 10 birds into parts + stock.
I feel like I've gained a new superpower.
citizen
Feb 8, 21 2:09 pm
Oh, the avianity! ;o]
Everyday Architect
Feb 8, 21 2:11 pm
I took a home-economics-style course in high school (don't recall the name other than it was not "home ec," but essentially the same without the stigma of the name). Cooking was part of it and we learned hands-on how to cut up a whole chicken as part of the course. I remember enough of it to agree with the superpower feeling, but I'd have to get a refresher on it if I wanted to wield the power properly.
Wood Guy
Feb 8, 21 3:31 pm
Ooh, nice knife! That's one thing on my wish list. I have a good quality Henkels boning knife but it's lightweight, made more for fish I think. My world opened up when YouTube taught me how to break down chickens! I love knowing *just* where to put the knife to separate the leg, etc.. Need more practice, though.
tduds
Feb 8, 21 4:05 pm
The leg joint hack is amazing! There's a litlte bit there that you'd think was a bone, but no! Just poke it with the knife tip and the whole thing falls right off.
tduds
Feb 8, 21 4:06 pm
That & different ways of using gravity to make cuts pull away (rather than using extra force with the knife) were the best lessons
of the day.
x-jla
Feb 8, 21 6:47 pm
Slow and low...slow and low...some Sunday gravy in the pot yesterday...10 hours....very very rich. San Marzano tomatoes, pork ribs, chops, sausage...eventually served over rigatoni, paramsean, and fresh basil (was too busy eating to take pics)
tduds
Feb 8, 21 6:57 pm
From a few days back: Tortilla Soup. It's all about the toppings (and the beer pairing of course).
x-jla
Feb 9, 21 1:44 pm
my son did good on test, so gets his favorite...rib eye tacos, Mexican Au jus, cilantro, limes...and some for me too
I cook a fancy dinner twice a year for my wife - on the anniversary of our first date in November, and Valentine's Day. This year I thought it'd be fun to seek inspiration in an older tradition. Her being the pagan-loving tree-hugging hippie she is (& also an Irish redhead), I took queues from the old Celtic festival of Imbolc, which occurs around the 1st-2nd of February. Had a lot of fun researching historic and local ingredients & recipes, and she was absolutely wowed by the theme. Great success!
Not pictured: A gin + lemon cocktail to kick things off.
The main: Lamb shank braised in milk + herbs. Celeriac and pea shoot "Colcannon" with thyme + caraway. Onion + parsnip cream.
Dessert: Rosemary bannoch w/ lavender Meyer Lemon curd. Garnished with dried Lavender and Marigolds.
Non Sequitur
Feb 18, 21 7:43 pm
Lemon curd pastries is the fastest way to get into my pants.
x-jla
Feb 18, 21 11:41 pm
Looks beautiful
Wood Guy
Feb 19, 21 11:12 am
Man you're on another level. And I'm with Non on lemon curd pastries.
citizen
Feb 20, 21 2:59 pm
Applied with a spatula or serving spoon, Non?
x-jla
Feb 19, 21 12:00 pm
not much of a breakfast person, but was craving this, so made some before my site visit:)
x-jla
Feb 19, 21 12:07 pm
Tomatoes, onion, poblanos, lime, ancho chilli powder, salt, pepper, cumin for the sauce...then I like to remove sauce from pan, put some olive oil without washing it, and fry some corn tortillas gives them good flavor...and some fried jalapeños to wake me up. Get the corn tortillas from a great little local Mexican market...
x-jla
Feb 20, 21 4:04 pm
Barbacoa....
tduds
May 23, 21 11:28 pm
Our garden is erupting with delicious greens right now. We can barely keep up!
I made a simple little salad with baby romaine, mustard greens & celery, sourdough croutons, parsley, and roast chicken thighs. Yum.
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....
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.
Love pine nuts. Pinole cookies are
*pignole cookies are my favorite
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.
just hooked my kid up with some chicken cutlets.
Looks good! What do you use for batter?
Just use milk and egg, then a mix of flour ,bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and a little dried parsley.
yep! and olive oil with some butter.
This weekend did some meatballs with raisins and pine nuts, sauce from scratch, cooked for like 8 hours....some broccoli rabe (favorite vegetable of all time).
Damn, made some banging Barbacoa tacos and homemade salsa with roasted poblanos, Anaheim’s, etc...fried corn tortillas, avacado sauce....the other day...forgot to take pics.
Classic. Looks great!
Oh man, that looks good. Someone just gave my MIL a leg of lamb that we'll have for Christmas--I hope she makes something like that.
We're having lamb tonight. The season of feasting begins (see below). I'm so excited.
Agree on Broccoli Rabe. My favorite use of it is Broccoli Rabe with home made orecchiette and fennel sausage.
It's really a perfect vegetable.
And very healthy
I roasted some Brocolli Rabe (aka brocollini and other names) for dinner last night, and though of this thread. Not really photo-worthy but like many vegetables, Rabe takes well to roasting.
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.
It’s a more complicated equation rando. Need to take into account depletion of top soil, embodied energy of transport, embodied energy of chemical herbicide production and its usage impact, etc. An acre or permaculture land is not as destructive as an acre of monoculture land, and it has a greater carbon sequestration potential and overall lower impact in terms of harvest and management.
*pesticide
Forest farming is really interesting. Anyone experiment with this method?
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?
I like the idea, but don’t have much firsthand experience being I live in a desert climate. It seems that there is maybe more potential for livestock. In Spain, they raise their best pigs in pine forests, from what I remember...
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.
Just to throw my two cents (Canadian - which is about 0.000001 American at the current exchange rate), I do not trust any organic food, unless it was grown by me. Too many shady people/farmers/corporations claiming "organic" - unless I watched it being planted and grown with my own eyes, it's all a pack of lies to me. In addition, I'm not paying 20 dollars for a tomato they claim is organically grown - f that! Same with "locally grown" fruits and veggies at farmers markets. If you kook carefully, you will find boxes behind the stands with label "Produce of Mexico". Or guys selling "locally grown" bananas! Yeah, right - grown in Timmins, Ontario or Laval, Quebec!!! That will be the day!
Show me the $20 price for an organic tomato. Seriously. I want proof. It must be tiring to go through life with such a huge chip on your shoulder. You sound paranoid and out of touch.
Aps, I trust "big organic" only slightly more than "big conventional" ag. But my wife and I buy most of our food from local farmers, many of whom we know personally and some who have become friends or clients. It's hard to grow enough food to feed yourself--I know, I've tried--but it's possible in many places to know where your food comes from. On the rare occasions we buy exotic food like avocados or citrus, we try to buy direct from established farms with a reputation for quality. It costs more than what you find at the grocery store, but that's why we make it a luxury, not a staple. Nobody needs to drink orange juice every morning, even if TV ads say you should. "Cheep food" is often a false economy.
And so instead you get your lamb all the way from Australia...you don’t trust your neighbours and local community, but eat what’s grown at the other end of the earth, something doesn’t add up here ;-)
I'd pay $20 for locally grown banana if it came from Timmins.
I'm waiting for climate change so that they can grow them there!
Climate change is here, but bananas won't be for a lot longer. Every banana we eat is a clone of a single plant and extremely susceptible to mounting pest and disease pressure. Eat 'em while you can!
And chocolate :(
Really? I didn't know that about chocolate. Boo.
Unfortunately
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2018/01/01/is-chocolate-going-extinct-whats-being-done-to-prevent-this-disaster/amp/
randomised,
if they had lamb in the local store from Quebec or Ontario, I'd buy it, but since they don't...
There is a farm in Ontario that has them, and a whole bunch more stuff that they raise or plant themselves, but they're like 6 hour driving distance away and 6 hours back....and we're not supposed to be driving around due to the virus. They make good sausages, cabbage rolls, soups, gravies, smoked meats, and the prices are reasonable - but that's because you deal with the wholeseller...retailers would demand a Kings Ransom for one sausage, so f that!
Yesterdays project: Ramen prep. Just over a gallon of rich, creamy tonkotsu broth, and in the background: 2 quarts of kombu dashi, plus a soy based tare. All told took about 10 hours. I steamed up every window in the house and the dog was going nuts over the smell.
Check back in next weekend for the finished product!
How do you make the broth? We save any meat bones to make broth/stock (I'm not sure if there is a difference). We also keep the feet from butchered birds to make a creepy-looking but tasty broth.
This was my first time making ramen base. It's a little more complicated than what I usually do.
For my "normal" broths, I love to save veggie clippings and parmesan rinds in the freezer & once a year turn it into the most amazing parmesan broth. And a couple times I've taken the turkey carcass from thanksgiving and made soup out of that. Those are pretty straightforward - boil it for a few hours with your favorite aromatics & then strain.
For ramen, you're making three parts. First is the broth (tonkotsu for this weekend) - which is a *ton* of bones & fat & bits. I got about 4lbs of pork trotters, 1.5lbs chicken feet, and a pound of pork belly (plus 2 more pounds to braise for serving). Plus one onion, about 6oz of cremini mushrooms, a head of garlic, and 2" ginger. I sauteed the non-meats for a few minutes then added the meat parts, covered with water and boiled for about 8 hours (topping off whenever the water level got below the solids), then strained. Part 2 is the Dashi: Soaked dried kombu in cold water for 2 hours, then slowly brought it up to almost a simmer (don't boil! It ruins the taste), removed the kombu and added dried shiitake. Steeped for another 45 minutes on barely a simmer, then set aside. Part 3 is Tare, which is a flavor bomb. Chicken broth, soy, mirin, more ginger, brown sugar, and rice vinegar. Boiled it to reduce by 50-70%.
At dinner time, you combine the dashi & tonkotsu broth in a big pot and simmer. A little bit of tare goes into each bowl as you serve.
@ WG - Broth includes meat which renders out its fats and proteins into the liquid. Stock is made with bones and scraps.
Duds, that sounds like a lot of work but I'm sure it's worth it. I know I enjoy asian soups of all sorts, and have wondered what made them so good.
Arch, thanks, that makes sense. I guess what I make is in between, mostly bones but with some meat scraps as well, cooked until I can crush the bones easily, anywhere from one to three days. Sometimes more than one batch from the same bones.
"...I steamed up every window in the house and the dog was going nuts over the smell..." LOL!!!
It's a lot of time but less effort than I thought it'd be. That said, I'm doing this as a birthday present to my wife because she loves ramen and we've been missing it during the pandemic times since it's one of the few things I can't easily re-create at home. I dunno if I'd do this for just any old dinner.
Vegan Flour less Chocolate and Blueberry Cake, gluten-free and no refined sugar
Sriracha Tahini Fudge, vegan, gluten-free and no refined sugar
Vegan Baklava, gluten-free and no refined sugar
Those all look tasty, b3. I can't recall having chocolate and blueberries together--does any blueberry flavor come through? I'm a sucker for fudge and mixing heat with chocolate. I'm also a sucker for baklava, and yours looks amazing, not slimy with sugar--what did you use for a sweetener if not corn syrup or honey?
The blueberries get pureed so the flavor is subtle, but it's rich. The baklava is made with date syrup, and thickened. There's sweetness, but not an overwhelming sweetness. The fudge, only 5 ingredients! I am making a tiramisu today, that is also using unrefined sugar, and is vegan and gluten-free.
I tried the baklava today, good, not super sweet and sticky, but good. I'm mostly making and giving it away.
Sounds good to me. I love dates but don't recall having or seeing date syrup. We get maple syrup from local farmers and go through a few gallons a year. That shocks some people but we use it as a concentrate to flavor carbonated water, on cereal, etc.. It would probably make a decent baklava as well.
This thread is inspiring. I'm impressed.
I tried to make rummy marshmallows and they were just ok. I need practice.
I am recently addicted to my New Baba Ganoush, which is now almost everyday side dish for dinner. I came up with this recipe and find it easier to make, more flavorful and more fiber. With enough fresh garlic is perfect anti-viral:)
New Wave Baba Ganoush:
Cut the eggplant horizontaly ~3/4" slices, sprinkle sea salt on both sides, let them rest vertically 1 hour to get the juices out. Squeeze by hand each slice (do not rinse), coat with olive oil both sides, put aluminum foil on top of a tray and bake in oven at 425 F until both sides have some brown. Flip midway. Put the baked egplant (with the skin!), olive oil, garlic paste to taste but should be strong, black pepper and mayonnaise (1 1/2 cup +/- for 3 eggplants) [no tahini] in food processor and pulse until the skin is broken to small pieces. Do not make it too smooth! Taste for salt and pepper but should be slightly more than what you like as it will be absorbed. Add chopped pecans 1 cup for 3 eggplants. This need to be refrigerated for atleast 1 day before serving. Next day adjust again for salt, black pepper and if needs more mayo add that too.
Let me know if you try it and what do you think.
I enjoy baba ganoush when done well. Unfortunately, most of the time the texture is too much like snot, and the flavor is not strong enough to make you think otherwise. Keeping it chunky and adding pecans instead of tahini probably helps the texture? Eggplants don't grow reliably here but we often make a baba-like dish with zucchini.
Christmas Eve menu: roast boneless leg of lamb [local]; lemon garlic green beans; Yukon gold garlic mashed taters; trifle [raspberry base]
Happy holidays, y’all!
That sounds amazing. What can I bring? =O]
As a single architect, I am whole-heartedly in favor of architects marrying chefs.
merry Christmas!
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No pics but we cooked our first turkey ever today. Now dropping it off to the family in exchange for side dishes. Merry Christmas!
Vegan Christmas
Vegan Tiramisu
Another vegan Christmas here:
Bigos hunter’s stew with sauerkraut and a variety of mushrooms
Polish “Greek Style” fish (with baked selery disks instead of white fish) rolled in sushi nori seaweed sheets finished in a carrot sauce in the oven
Mushroom filo croquettes traditionally served with a red beet soup
Different grilled veggies from the oven, baked potatoes, rucola salad, homemade bread and store made soy/nut balls.
Vegan spicy banana tomato cake for dessert and Portuguese red wine.
I cut the tomatoes for the rucola salad and poured the balsamic vinegar and virgin olive oil over the salad...
*plates “Indigo Storm” by Faye Toogood!
Made 2 Stromboli. One with prosciutto and dates, and the other with cheese, salami, and Capicola. Definitely need to work out today.
Someone resurrected a kelp thread, which made me think of this: https://atlanticseafarms.com/c.... Most weekday mornings I make some variation of eggs and toast, with lacto-fermented veggies on the side. The fermented kelp doesn't taste quite like Japanese seaweed salad, but not far off, and the kim-chi is as good as any I've had. Lots of health benefits to eating lacto-fermented veggies.
the wife has covid, and being she’s Columbian I made her chicken and potato soup with Sazon and bay leaf. It’s the cure.
You can put Sazon on an old shoe and it would taste good. That msg is yummy
I'm sorry to hear she has Covid, but agree that Sazon is tasty stuff. The myth around MSG is pervasive. (Cue someone claiming they're "allergic"...)
Ah crap x-jla! As losing sense of taste is one of the symptoms it probably doesn’t matter what you cook for her anyways...
She did lose her taste and smell, but is feeling better. No more fever for 2 days.
Opened a very generous birthday gift from my in-laws last night. Dee-licious.
Should we start a "Whatcha drinking?" thread?
Absolutely! Or here is fine, up to you. I love a good Scotch, in small quantities. My wife can drink it neat but I need ice or water. We've been learning about wine for the last few months--it's been a fun distraction. We kicked it off with this movie, not bad: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2204371/.
I’ll be having a 14y glenlfiddich soon.
Tduds, you need to fully circumcise the top of the bottle. No need to keep part of the foil wrapper up there.
Non, I used your circumcision comment on my wife last night when we opened a bottle of wine. It would have been hilarious if I hadn't needed to explain it. I laughed, anyway.
Very good WG. It’s a comment I make often (less so now because COVID), but I mentioned to a buddy a while back on a 18y bottle and I was shocked, then angry, that the label on an expensive battle was a sticker. Not foil. A glued on sticker. Left white paper marks on the neck. Real sloppy circoncision job that night.
My keyboard decided to use the French word. I’ll leave it.
What's cooking?...good lookin'
Not gonna lie, I've eaten McDonalds two days in a row. Not proud of it but since this is my confessional, please go easy on me.
"Miss, I'd like my fries the same temperature as the surface of Mercury." Straight-out-of-the-fryer = delicious.
BB, I typically eat fast food once or twice a year, but in the year of Covid it's been more--when I'm out at lunchtime I just don't trust most of the mom-and-pop shops, even when I can find one, to follow safe practices, based on observation.
They also seem to have forgotten the 'fast' part, with drive through lanes backing up into traffic.
Fish, rice and mushrooms...last Friday's lunch.
Beige and beautiful!
Yep, at least three different shades of beige.
I remember in elementary school, once a week we'd have what I called "yellow lunch." While pretty colors can make a meal seem appealing, your beige lunch looks pretty tasty too!
Because food can be funny, and I don't know where else to post this after some 30 Rock viewing.
Liz Lemon in a busy NYC deli, hoping to order off-menu for clueless boyfriend: "He'll have a catfish po'boy and diet Raspberry Fanta."
Jack Donaghy ordering for his supermodel-thin date: "The lady will have a cup of hot water with a chicken bone in it, and a bowl of salted ice cubes."
This is a great little pantry meal:
Ricotta dumplings, red sauce, herb oil, pecorino romano.
I often buy ricotta for a recipe that needs, like, 1/4 cup, then I'm stuck with a nearly full jar of cheese that's going to expire in a week. What to do? Mix it with flour, an egg, salt, herbs & lemon zest. Bam you got dumplings (aka Gnudi). Boil em like you'd make gnocchi. They also freeze for months.
Similarly, I took all the about-to-wilt herbs from our garden at the end of summer and steeped them in warm olive oil. Divided into small containers and into the basement freezer. A little drizzle on top of pasta dishes brings a fresh pop of basil & oregano that reminds me of summer.
This sauce wasn't from the garden, just some leftover sauce from last week. I do have about a gallon of garden roma tomato sauce divided & frozen in the basement. Can't wait to use that through the rest of winter.
I hate wasting food, so I totally dork out on little saving tricks like these. Also it tastes great!
Too small of a portion, imo.
I like myself at the size I am.
Too small portion? That plate's like half a meter diameter!
20 dumplings only! Tiny portion.
Tiny? Those dumplings are at least the size of an egg of the Canadian goose!
You're both wrong, but they are very filling little things.
I know, was just pulling aps’ leg...
___ | ___
Does anybody hunt here? I ran into a couple deer on my run tonight and I thought "hmmm, looks tasty!"
I have hunted, but not actively anymore. And I could never do large mammals.
Most memorable meal of my lifetime though was foraged berries and asparagus, fresh caught trout, and a couple of grouse we bagged while backpacking deep in Colorado wilderness. Cooked over an open campfire with just salt and wild herbs as seasonings. It is seared into my brain.
I've had a hunting license since I was 12 but have never actually hunted. When we moved to our farm I wanted to be closer to the food we eat and I debated between taking up hunting or raising meat animals. Decided to go with raising pigs, and eventually chickens, turkeys and maybe rabbits. Currently pausing those activities because it requires a lot of time for the reward, and it can be kind of gut wrenching. I'd like to take up hunting when I'm older and have more time. Or maybe just walk in the woods more.
Just some chicken tacos, avacodo sauce, homemade salsa from various peppers, tomatoes, onion, etc...very tasty and spicy
That salsa will have mfers thinking they have covid the next day...my esophagus feels like I ate fire ants.
There's only one flavor you taste on both its way in and its way out...
One of the benefits of retirement.
You get to cook your own lunch; it's much yummier and cheaper than eating out all the time while working.
Garlic pasta...lots of olive oil, some hot pepper seeds, parsley, cherry tomatoes, and linguine with some spaghetti.
Mixing linguine with spaghetti? My Sicilian FIL would roll in his grave! Looks beautiful, though.
Pasta and "saft".
Rigatone,
"Saft"....beef stew pieces, chicken legs, onions, garlic, celery, carrots, chicken broth, parsley, salt, pepper, hot pepper seeds, paprika...
I mastered how to make hot and sour soup since my favorite place to eat it is closed due to covid. I do it faster than and am less fussy. I use beef stock. no egg. But never cut short apple cider, hot sauce, vinegar, and soy sauce. It's really great in cold weather. There are tons of guide videos, pick your pick.
Even the culinary-challenged can muster something decent, if simple.
if only your political and cultural views could rise to the level of your tacos....
^ Wrong thread.
Yeah let's try to keep this a place where we all share a love of food and/or cooking. I have to get bloodwork tomorrow morning so no dinner tonight--these posts are making my stomach growl!
lunch for my son...beats school lunch
My sister-in-law is a professional chef. For my birthday this year she got me a slick boning knife - and with it came a lesson in breaking down whole chickens. We had a couple brews and turned about 10 birds into parts + stock.
I feel like I've gained a new superpower.
Oh, the avianity! ;o]
I took a home-economics-style course in high school (don't recall the name other than it was not "home ec," but essentially the same without the stigma of the name). Cooking was part of it and we learned hands-on how to cut up a whole chicken as part of the course. I remember enough of it to agree with the superpower feeling, but I'd have to get a refresher on it if I wanted to wield the power properly.
Ooh, nice knife! That's one thing on my wish list. I have a good quality Henkels boning knife but it's lightweight, made more for fish I think. My world opened up when YouTube taught me how to break down chickens! I love knowing *just* where to put the knife to separate the leg, etc.. Need more practice, though.
The leg joint hack is amazing! There's a litlte bit there that you'd think was a bone, but no! Just poke it with the knife tip and the whole thing falls right off.
That & different ways of using gravity to make cuts pull away (rather than using extra force with the knife) were the best lessons of the day.
Slow and low...slow and low...some Sunday gravy in the pot yesterday...10 hours....very very rich. San Marzano tomatoes, pork ribs, chops, sausage...eventually served over rigatoni, paramsean, and fresh basil (was too busy eating to take pics)
From a few days back: Tortilla Soup. It's all about the toppings (and the beer pairing of course).
my son did good on test, so gets his favorite...rib eye tacos, Mexican Au jus, cilantro, limes...and some for me too
valentine dinner, salmon, asparagus, basil purée, saffron rice.
I cook a fancy dinner twice a year for my wife - on the anniversary of our first date in November, and Valentine's Day. This year I thought it'd be fun to seek inspiration in an older tradition. Her being the pagan-loving tree-hugging hippie she is (& also an Irish redhead), I took queues from the old Celtic festival of Imbolc, which occurs around the 1st-2nd of February. Had a lot of fun researching historic and local ingredients & recipes, and she was absolutely wowed by the theme. Great success!
Not pictured: A gin + lemon cocktail to kick things off.
The main: Lamb shank braised in milk + herbs. Celeriac and pea shoot "Colcannon" with thyme + caraway. Onion + parsnip cream.
Dessert: Rosemary bannoch w/ lavender Meyer Lemon curd. Garnished with dried Lavender and Marigolds.
Lemon curd pastries is the fastest way to get into my pants.
Looks beautiful
Man you're on another level. And I'm with Non on lemon curd pastries.
Applied with a spatula or serving spoon, Non?
not much of a breakfast person, but was craving this, so made some before my site visit:)
Tomatoes, onion, poblanos, lime, ancho chilli powder, salt, pepper, cumin for the sauce...then I like to remove sauce from pan, put some olive oil without washing it, and fry some corn tortillas gives them good flavor...and some fried jalapeños to wake me up. Get the corn tortillas from a great little local Mexican market...
Barbacoa....
Our garden is erupting with delicious greens right now. We can barely keep up!
I made a simple little salad with baby romaine, mustard greens & celery, sourdough croutons, parsley, and roast chicken thighs. Yum.