what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027

I really like roasted parsnips but they are such a damn awkward shape--the top fat part and the itty bitty skinny end make it diffcult to get evenly-roasting pieces.

had some oddly delicious parsnip cake last winter

I'm out. Can't take this parsnip thread. Too triggering.

I had a couple of ideas for pesto variations yesterday — roasted peanuts instead of pine nuts, and mustard greens instead of basil. I got some mediocre mustard this morning and tried that one out -- pretty good, but it needs fresher, more-peppery greens.

my co-worker's ex-husband hunted a deer and gave her a bunch of venison she couldn't use and i'm the leading consumer of meats in the office so i got some and made venison/pork chili and it's the best

niiice

My father in law used to give us venison and it was always good in chili. I don't really like chili tbh but it was ok.

i impulse bought a frozen rack of venison back around the holidays and still need to do something with it

just recently realized how freaking awesome delicata squash is. it's my new kabocha (eg fave winter squarsh). thinkin' of stuffing a couple a la http://beardandbonnet.com/delicata-squash-burrito-bowls/

Venison is awesome with mole. You're welcome.

delicata is great xp, i like it too because you don't have to peel it and it cooks faster than other winter squash

I'm also a fan of delicata. And venison! Had a discussion with a rabbi about kosher venison, which is a thing but v. v. expensive.

yeah delicata is like the french fries of squash in a good way

steely dan of squash even?
ended up making a Killer kale salad -- dino kale sliced v thinly, rubbed with salt and mashed roasted garlic, added some lemon juice and olive oil. threw in some quinoa/amaranth that i'd cooked together mixed it together and plated. topped with 1/2" slices delicata that had cumin and smoked paprika rubbed into the inside (automatic salt and pepper all around, natch) and dressed the top of salad with a simple but yum tahini/apple cider dressing. salad loving housemate was in heaven.

i have some lamb mince - it looked nice at the butcher so i bought it. not sure what to do with it.

my thoughts:

shepherd's pie
mince and potatoes cooked separately not in pie

i mean, do any recipes use lamb mince without being some celtic stodgefest?

go greek imo

you could make meatballs! flavor them however you want (i like parsley, something spicy, onion, garlic, ginger, ??) and eat with rice & vegetable of your choice. or put I guess you could also put them in soup.

shepherds pie with garlicky sweet potato mash

mince is ground meat right?

yep

actually I was looking at this keema recipe earlier, could try that?
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/461642/keema-with-peas

yeah that's right, sorry should have said!

meatballs is prob a good idea, i thought about something like a kofte tho think the spices i'd need might not have survived moving flat a while ago - could prob improvise a bit with szechuan pepper or something maybe as the spicy element.

xpost that keema recipe looks good, prob do have the spices for that. i can obv buy new ones just my cupboards are packed.

oh ok, in that case, keema meatballs?

lately my favorite meal is meatballs as described above + rice w saffron & a small piece of cinnamon + some kind of chopped radish/greens thing. colorful and flavorful but not overwhelming.

that does sound p good. i have saffron i believe. i think the meat should be quite nice so prob doesn't need too much done to it.

trying to impress a new friend of the human female species so am gonna try and pull off homemade ramen noodles, which i've been considering for awhile. http://luckypeach.com/recipes/fresh-alkaline-noodes/
and gonna use a couple bits from that cool recipe someone posted above for "the ultimate rich and creamy vegan ramen" like the soy shiitake tare and the mushroom-scallion oil

I've had an Instant Pot for a week now. I've tried steel cut oats, soft-boiled eggs (one batch overcooked, one batch undercooked -- I'm zeroing in on the sweet spot), pork loin roast, and potatoes and carrots to make hash out of the leftover pork roast. It's an interesting tool, worth the money I think. Going to try yogurt in the next few days.

xposts
Bifteki. I usually make it with ground beef, but sometimes a mix of beef and lamb; all lamb would probably be awesome. Especially if you could grill it over an open flame.

One of my favorite Indian restaurants does their lamb rogan josh with minced lamb. It is reminiscent of a bolognese sauce and is divine.

A lamb burger with feta and/or tzatziki is easy and tasty, too! Lately I really like dill with lamb.

my dad sent me a bunch of fancy beefs for valentine's day (??) and now i have ground beef for the first time in....many years? i never buy it

do i make chili or meatballs or

make yrself a kickass hamburger for a start

ooh yeah

i got some sodium citrate a couple months ago with the intention of making fancy velveeta cheese and then never did, this is as good a time as any for fancy burgs

Nothing says "romantic love" like beef from dad

Once my college friend sent me and everyone he knew 5 lbs of cheddar (each!) for Christmas.

lol

http://rocketlunch.blogspot.com/2011/07/madhur-jaffreys-ground-lamb-with.html <----my favorite

What will sodium citrate do with beef?

housemate bd in a couple days so making the sauce today for something i think she'll love, i used to work at this joint - http://greensrestaurant.com/2015/02/black-bean-chili/. will cook the beans and finish the dish tomorrow.
for tonight we already baked the baking soda for the ramen noodles that i mentioned the other day. i have a backup plan in case of noodle fail, but i hope it works. making a miso-ginger broth for it, and from "the ultimate vegan miso ramen" recipe i cherrypicked the mushroom scallion oil and shiitake-soy tare as other ingredients

courgette sliced thin and fried with garlic, with linguine, basil pesto and italian sausage

in the end, with the lamb, if anyone cares, i did make meatballs - used garlic/onion/parsley/cumin and dusted a bit of paprika picante over the top to give the oil they cooked in a saucey quality. cooked rice with saffron, it was all good!

on friday i made this aligot recipe and cooked two toulouse sausages - big glass of red wine obviously :) https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018430-aligot-mashed-potatoes-with-cheese

what are ilxors favourite fish recipes? most sundays lately i go to the fishmonger, it's the only day of the week i can make it while it's open and i love fresh fish. a lot of the time i just buy a bream or a rainbow trout and cook it whole in the oven with a load of herbs and spices and a few bits of lemon in the cavity, and maybe have some roasted veg alongside it or some greens. i wish i lived in a country where fishmongers were a daily part of life and not something closer to an extravagance.

i still find good butchers and fishmongers a bit difficult - it's hard to balance the impulse purchase with a plan for the week and accompanying veg etc that doesn't lead to waste. but buying what looks nice is sort of the fun of going to an independent store i guess.

freezer space = life is basically how i break it down to an extent

i don't really use my freezer. prob should.

oh man. ur definitely overpaid

don't think it's that, i just don't plan ahead enough to use it!

yes that is a luxury of affluence!

ok anyway so you could bake the trout again with tarragon, white wine and cream. always a treat

tomato, fennel seeds, pimenton, orange slices, saffron, wine thyme garlic - u can make this combination as poachy stewlike or as saucelike as u prefer

often like to whip up a quick mix of whatever's around from yoghurt, crushed garlic, shaved cucumber, lemon/vinegar, radish, mint/dill for white fish. bit of paprika too, if it's salmon you could dust the skin in var spices

with roast fennel or baby gem lettuce, with vermouth thyme rosemary capers lemon etc, cream too maybe

whole dinner of spring veg (potatoes peas etc) and salmon baked in parchment is uniquely satisfying

got into experimenting with fruit segments and fish for a while, orange/lemon/blood orange bright salady accompaniments with red onion and chilli etc

*greek yoghurt that shdve said

https://www.ft.com/content/8dc78fae-4678-11e3-9487-00144feabdc0

forgot this was a p dope-ass take on the old tuna zzzteak

f u i never planned ahead even when i was skint! i buy a few things on sunday for the week but that's about it. i maybe don't really like freezing/defrosting as a thing, it's annoying and i have doubts the food tastes as good as when it's fresh. my freezer is empty apart from ice cream and marks and spencer's brioche burger buns!

all those ideas sound great btw - ta.

haddock or a like fish wrapped in a spring roll wrapper and sauteed is v. tasty and easy

sea bass or another firm fleshed fish crusted with crushed fennel seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns then started in a hot cast iron and finished in oven

i used to do monkfish (back in the day before the price shot up) in sri lankan curry. that was my fave.

or just a simple lime/tarragon butter melted over a hunk of salmon is a good one

miso glazed cod

xposts

HOW TO MAKE PAELLA, when you've been up for 2 days on the vodka and you just remembered you invited your mother for tea:

1. No saffron. I mean, FUCK saffron, it is a very costly way to what, change the colour of the dish? I can't notice any flavour benefit. Just horse a load of smoked paprika in there instead. But not yet.
2. Prolly should start with the chorizo, then everything after that can fry in the oil that comes out of that. Use the nice one your mother gave you that crumbles, not the normal asda shit that cuts into discs. Then chuck the onions in. Season.
3. Chicken. Brown that, obviously we are using thighs cos more flavour and cheaper, who even buys chicken breasts these days? Oh yeah, Him, but you know deep down you are a better cook than him, don't think about him right now, FOCUS. And season.
4. Pepper, just a bell pepper, whatever colour one is in your fridge. Actually those sweet pointy peppers go nice in this, but you never bought them, did you? No worries. Season.
5. Actually just keep seasoning at every step, I'm gunna stop saying that, just take it as a given from now on.
6. Rice, I think I am meant to use longgrain, but I like this arborio stuff, same as I put in my equally inauthentic (but equally well seasoned) risotto. Throw it into the pan dry for a spell, let it crackle a bit before you put your stock in.
7. Oh yeah, chicken stock, you prolly have a freezer full of pots from every time you roasted a chicken. I prolly should've told you at the start to take one out to defrost, if you didn't it's fine, just drop the block of ice into the pan, it'll slow things down but that just means we can smoke a cigarette in the meantime
8. smoke a cigarette.
9. HORSE A LOAD OF SMOKED PAPRIKA IN THERE
10. Now, your mother will constantly tell you that you are meant to let the bottom layer stick onto the bottom of the pan, and then serve it up with crusty bits. I donno about that, it makes the washing up more hellish, also oh shit, we forgot to use the funcy paella pan our mother gave us for Christmas, doesn't matter, she's not coming in the kitchen so we just won't mention it.
11. add the prawns shortly before serving, you took them out the freezer at the same time as the stock, right? Never mind, they can just go in frozen. Those nice chunky ones would be nice, but c'mon you can't afford them, this bag seems to contain the smallest prawns known to mankind, and they still qualify as a luxury.
12. I think that's it? BOOM:
http://i.imgur.com/3dpBc65.jpg
13. you're prolly not even hungry anymore, just give your mother a bowl of it and pour a drink.

I enjoyed this recipe-narrative

Spring makes me want to eat all the radishes