What did you cook today?

[y66]

Continuing the Italian theme: pasta all Genovese. A little rich perhaps but I did shovel snow today. Next time I'll cook the bacon first and drain the fat.

[y66]

Fixed this last night. Not bad. Will make it again. Next time I'll start the day before and let the chicken marinate overnight.

 

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2015/02/01/magazine/01eat/01eat-articleLarge-v2.jpg

Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Kate S. Jordan.

[hrothgar]

Made this over the weekend

 

http://www.salon.com/2010/08/07/ratatouille_weapons_grade_style/

[mgoetze]

Cooked one of our staples today, stuffed zucchinis.

 

Take 2 medium Zucchinis (better straight than crooked), cut into 4 parts each (discarding the ends), hollow them out with a teaspoon, leaving a floor. Dice the removed flesh finely.

 

Heat up olive oil in a large pan, fry 500g minced meat (I usually go all beef but today it was half&half), add in 2 diced onions and the diced zucchini flesh. Continue cooking on high heat and season generously with salt and pepper. Add 500g of juicy diced tomatoes and optionally a bit of concentrated tomato paste, turn down to medium heat, and let reduce.

 

Put the zucchini containers in an oiled baking form, fill with sauce and surround with the remaining sauce. Take 200g fresh mozzarella, put a thin disc on each piece of zucchini, dice the remaining mozzarella and sprinkle the sauce with it. Bake for ~20mins at 200°C and serve with rice.

[hrothgar]

Dinner party tomorrow

 

http://www.imafoodblog.com/index.php/2009/11/01/r2r-thomas-keller-s-french-onion-soup

http://www.accidental-locavore.com/2011/01/recipe-for-duck-confit-with-brussels-sprouts-cook-along/

http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/flan-creme-caramel

[mikeh]

Made this over the weekend

 

http://www.salon.com/2010/08/07/ratatouille_weapons_grade_style/

made this over the weekend, myself.

 

It was ok, but no better than ok. That may be because of the tomatoes....all I could get were 'vine-ripened' tomatoes from Mexico, and you just know that while they remain attached to the vine, to a minor degree, in the store, they 'ripened' only in transit.

 

We grew some spectacularly sweet yellow tomatoes last year....we pureed some and froze them and regrettably used the last of them two weeks earlier....we froze them uncooked and the taste was well preserved.

 

We have a friend who is doing controlled experiments with various seedlings this year, so will be planting from her shortly, and I may revisit this at the end of the summer. Our growing season is such that getting a good crop is a crapshoot, without a greenhouse, but last year was the best in a decade, so I am hopeful. California's misery appears to be giving the NorthWest better summers.

[hrothgar]

made this over the weekend, myself.

 

It was ok, but no better than ok. That may be because of the tomatoes....all I could get were 'vine-ripened' tomatoes from Mexico, and you just know that while they remain attached to the vine, to a minor degree, in the store, they 'ripened' only in transit.

 

We grew some spectacularly sweet yellow tomatoes last year....we pureed some and froze them and regrettably used the last of them two weeks earlier....we froze them uncooked and the taste was well preserved.

 

We have a friend who is doing controlled experiments with various seedlings this year, so will be planting from her shortly, and I may revisit this at the end of the summer. Our growing season is such that getting a good crop is a crapshoot, without a greenhouse, but last year was the best in a decade, so I am hopeful. California's misery appears to be giving the NorthWest better summers.

 

I've found that if I can't get good fresh tomatoes, canned is the best bet.

I've had good luck with Muir Glen Organic.

 

The following turned out phenomenally well

http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/flan-creme-caramel

 

I pretty much followed the recipes, with the following tweaks

 

1. I substituted raspberry lambic for the water in the caramel and added some nam phrik

2. Added a trace of vanilla to the custard base

3. Topped with some malden salt

[Zelandakh]

I made some toast. That's about the closest I ever get to cooking.

[mgoetze]

Dice 2 onions and some garlic and sauté in butter. Add in some parsley and chives. When the onions are nice and translucent, sprinkle with flour, then after the flour has been sweated, 200ml cream, 200ml milk and the florets from 500g of broccoli. Cook until the broccoli reaches the desired consistency, then add 150g diced cooked ham and 300g cooked mini penne. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

 

In retrospect, the parsley was a mistake, should have left that out. I'm not a big fan of raw ham but the dish would probably have been more flavorful with raw ham or bacon added earlier in the process. Still, it was a reasonably tasty and not all too laborious meal.

[blackshoe]

Dice 2 onions and some garlic and sauté in butter. Add in some parsley and chives. When the onions are nice and translucent, sprinkle with flour, then after the flour has been sweated, 200ml cream, 200ml milk and the florets from 500g of broccoli. Cook until the broccoli reaches the desired consistency, then add 150g diced cooked ham and 300g cooked mini penne. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

 

In retrospect, the parsley was a mistake, should have left that out. I'm not a big fan of raw ham but the dish would probably have been more flavorful with raw ham or bacon added earlier in the process. Still, it was a reasonably tasty and not all too laborious meal.

Sounds pretty good. Maybe thyme would have worked better than parsley?

[mgoetze]

Sounds pretty good. Maybe thyme would have worked better than parsley?

The parsley was interfering with the taste of the broccoli, they didn't blend well and I don't imagine thyme would do much better... just let the broccoli do its thing I think.

[blackshoe]

Ah, good point. I was too focused on the ham. B-)

[Cyberyeti]

I didn't cook this one, my dad did when I went to visit him, best fish soup I've ever had:

 

Fish soup with harissa and dried limes

 

2-3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped (we used 4 and the garlic squeezer)

40g (50g) fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1-2 tbsp olive oil

A knob of butter

2 onions, finely chopped

1-2 tsp sugar or honey

1-2tsp ground turmeric

1-2 (2.5) tsp harissa

2-3 dried limes, pierced twice with a skewer

1 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 litre fish stock or water

900g firm, skinned fish fillets, eg sea bass, cod tuna, salmon, cut into

bite-sized pieces

Bunch of fresh coriander, finely chopped

 

1 With a pestle and mortar pound garlic and ginger with ½ tsp salt to form

a thick, almost smooth paste

2 Heat olive oil and butter in a heavy-based saucepan and soften onions for

2-3 minutes. Add sugar/honey with garlic and ginger paste and cook for 2

minutes, until fragrant.

Add turmeric, harissa and limes and stir for 1min, then stir in tomatoes and

fish stock.

Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes

3 Season the liquid well with salt and pepper and add fish. Cover the pan

and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, until the fish is cooked.

Check seasoning, stir in half the coriander and ladle soup into bowls.

garnish with rest of the coriander and serve immediately

 

As we like well spiced food I think he used a bit more garlic, ginger and harissa than the basic recipe (the bracketed quantities).

 

This served 3 just with some bread as a main course, would do 4-6 as a starter.

 

Edit: the measurements are English teaspoons (tsp) or tablespoons (tbsp), if cooking in the US check whether the measures are the same, coriander = cilantro I think.

[Vampyr]

I will try this; it is very different to my normal fish soup.

 

If you don't have fish stock, diluted fish sauce (nam pla) works very well, I find.

[hrothgar]

I didn't cook this one, my dad did when I went to visit him, best fish soup I've ever had:

 

Fish soup with harissa and dried limes

 

 

Looks good. I had never heard of dried limes before. can't wait to try them...

[Cyberyeti]

Looks good. I had never heard of dried limes before. can't wait to try them...

 

I don't know where you'd get them from, my dad got his from an Iranian deli, I found an oriental food supermarket on the web that stocks them near where my sister lives, but nobody in my town does.

[Vampyr]

I don't know where you'd get them from, my dad got his from an Iranian deli, I found an oriental food supermarket on the web that stocks them near where my sister lives, but nobody in my town does.

 

It seems you can get them by mail order.

[blackshoe]

That does look good. B-)

 

From the Wikipedia article on "fish sauce": Ketchup originated as a fish sauce from China. Worcestershire sauce is "a related product" because it is fermented and contains anchovies. Huh. Ain't the Internet fun? ;)

[mgoetze]

Ah, good point. I was too focused on the ham. B-)

Ham and parsley is no problem, for instance when we eat asparagus, we do so with cooked peeled potatoes, cooked ham, and a large amount of melted butter with lots of parsley swimming in it.

 

Hm... when does asparagus season start again? Shouldn't be too far off...

[mike777]

I know nothing bout cooking but I love asparagus. the problem is grilling is .......not so hot results....and in general the quality of asp. is often poor very poor ....at my local stores

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great thread

[y66]

I cooked shrimp the Mark Bittman Way for dinner a few nights ago. So easy ... so good.

 

For the amusement and edification of WC cooks, from Dwight Garner's review of Marco Pierre White's updated cookbook:

 

He resembled Jim Morrison, Sweeney Todd and Lord Byron. He wielded a cleaver the way Bruce Lee wielded nunchucks. He seemed as if he popped supermodels into his mouth like ortolans. (If the British tabloids are correct, he more or less did.)

 

His book began this way: “You’re buying ‘White Heat’ because you want to cook well? Because you want to cook Michelin stars? Forget it. Save your money. Go and buy a saucepan.”

[helene_t]

Baked chocolade roulade for Easter. Ate three pieces of it and also licked the dough bowl. As a concequence I spent half an hour on the toilet :(

[beatrix45]

An old fashioned dish from Charlestown, South Carolina. Shrimp and Grits.

 

1/4 lb sliced bacon

1/2 lb frozen shrimp - uncooked and unshelled - jumbo sized (21 to 24 per pound)

1/2 an onion chopped

a green pepper chopped

clove of garlic - chopped

butter

flour

milk or cream

hot sauce - to taste

grits or polenta

 

Cut bacon into pieces and fry until soft. Add onion, green pepper and garlic. Fry until bacon is crisp and onions begin to brown.

 

Pour off part of the liquid bacon fat and replace with butter. Saute thawed shrimp for a few moments (some fancy versions even leave the shells on). Add enough flour to make a roux. Cook until very light brown. Add milk or cream to make a smooth buttery sauce (also, hot sauce to taste) and cook on low heat until sauce is done and shrimp are cooked through.

 

Serve over freshly cooked grits or polenta.

 

You can make the dish a little more heart healthy (but not quite so tasty) by using milk and less fat. Don't completely leave out all the butter, though. It marries well with the grits/polenta.

 

If you thaw frozen shrimp in cold water in the sink, you can easily finish the whole dish in about 30 minutes start to finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mgoetze]

I've been teaching myself to cook Chinese food (i.e. real Chinese food not the stuff commonly labelled as such in Europe/USA) lately. Today I made this stir-fry beef with scallions:

 

http://www.foodparadisetv.com/food/vlogs-clips/beef-with-scallions/

 

If your soy sauce is as salty as mine, don't add any additional salt.

 

My favourite recipe I've made so far (check out the entire channel) is this chicken with cashew nuts:

 

[Vampyr]

I made roast beef with roasted potatoes, carrots and onions, pan-fried broccoli, creamed spinach and baked sweet potatoes. Neither of my dining companions cared for the creamed spinach. I liked it but it was too much work for one person.