The food and drink forum blog thread.

[Lumpy]

Sort of a fake paella (?) or Mediterranean rice dish.



I just made it up, pretty much. Add stuff to pot, stir it around, add more stuff. Went into the pot in this order:

Olive oil
4 skinless chicken thighs (brown on both sides, like 8-10 minutes total)
1 pound Premio Hot Italian sausage, remove casing and pinch off small bits. Brown for a couple minutes. Stir and add:
large onion, diced
Spices (approx): 2 tbs smoked Paprika, 1 tbs ground black pepper, pinch of dried basil and dried thyme, 3-4 dried bay leaves.
1 large green pepper, chopped into small pieces
4-6 large cloves of fresh garlic, chopped
Brown all that for 2 minutes, then add:
1 large can diced tomatoes with liquid
2 cups rice
4 cups water
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
small jar pitted olives
Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes. Then add:
1/2 pound frozen shrimp
Stir and let sit for 10 minutes.

It took me a while to realize how important prepping everything ahead of time is. In the past, I'd still be washing and chopping stuff when it was time to be adding it to the pot. So the early ingredients would get overcooked (green peppers etc). Now I have almost everything washed and chopped first, ahead of heating up the pan. Better results that way, and cooking is not so frantic.

[RAGER]

That's kinda like a gumbo too.

Timing IS key. It's hard to get people to understand that.

[RAGER]

Ive been krauting everything. Just added some cauliflower kraut to my pasta salad for lunch for a little zing.

Now I'm gonna start kimchi-ing everything. Haven't done a white kimchi in years.

[Muffin Man]

What about these airlock jobbies - I've never seen 'em but they look like the trick for small batch's?

"Fermentools uses airlocks to keep the outside air away from the submerged food, thus producing carbon dioxide and lactic acid.  Carbon dioxide is heavier than air and will be trapped in the container. The more carbon dioxide that is produced, the more air that is pushed out and kept out of the container via the airlock."

https://www.fermentools.com/

Think I got the pic link here (yep):

[RAGER]

Those are cool. I just have never used them. I tend to it the old ways. You don5 have to use an airlock. You just have to fuss with your batches a little more.

[Muffin Man]

Ok thanks. I've only used the water sealed lid/pot, which is super easy. But when I start fiddling with smaller batch and/or test recipes I'll give those a try.

Have you tried Bubbies Kraut? Nice mild, al dente product. Really basic recipe but I wonder how to achieve it.

[RAGER]

Those krauts are usually pretty young. Never had bubbies.

Head of cabbage, two tablespoons kosher salt maybe a little more. Smash , smash, smash until you get a good amount of liquid. Every  morning smash it down again. It'll start to "fluffy". That's when you know it's fermenting. Do that a few days. Taste it and see where yer at.  I use cambros.  I have several small to large with lids.

GO!

[renfield]

+1 more for mis en place. It really takes the stress out of the timing.

[sleestak]

Just like the Boy Scouts say: be prepared.

[RAGER]

But Semper Gumby

[renfield]

Yo this Panini restaurant in my town has some pretty crazy sandwich recipes.

"Roast beef, coconut chutney, mango chutney, sweet peppers, onion, jalapeno, cheddar, topped with blue berries"

"Mango chutney, hummus, fire-roasted sweet peppers, avocado, tomato, sun-dried tomato, red onion, provolone, swiss, american & goat cheese, mayo"

You know what would really complement this goat cheese? American cheese!

https://themenustar.com/webspace/menus.php?code=royalcupcafe.com

[mortlock]

I will fuck someone up if they get blue berries anywhere near my roast beast.

[RAGER]

I will fuck someone up if they get blue berries anywhere near my roast beast.

And why everybody got to put fruit on pork??!!?

[Jor el]

   Maybe if we say the words "Pork" & "Fruit" 3 times - Bolt will appear.

[RAGER]

Made romesco this morning because I bought a jar of roasted peppers to keep them n hand then made  harissa. So I thought I'll be damned if the rest is gonna go to waste. So I made romesco. Shrimp, asparagus , calcots, flatbread and romesco tonight. I put a tblsp of harissa in it.

[Muffin Man]

I'll sneak this in before you show us how its done.
Been wanting a meatball pasta dish for 3 weeks and this one came through fine on a cloudy cold day.

[RAGER]

That looks delicious. I love that pasta shape too.

Had these little delights yesterday. Beef and lamb meatballs in a bright garlic gravy sauce with liberal amountsxa gran padano.

[Muffin Man]

My gravy is more-less hit or miss. I overcooked the last one in the cast iron and ended up caramalizing/burning? it, but it came out dark/perfect.

Last of the country peasant type cabbage/chicken dish. Comforty!

[RAGER]

Charred harissa chicken with peppers and onions on quinoa. Fried artichokes with yogurt and berbere.

[Muffin Man]

Those are mighty fine looking. The artichoke dish looks coffee table book awesome to me.

[RAGER]

Last night was marinated pork in Asian type of thing grilled over rice with a marinated Brussels sprouts and shroom thing. Killer.

Sometimes I just wing it.

[RAGER]

Where dem nudes muffin man?

[Muffin Man]

hahaha

Turkey was a little little overdone. The convection really makes haste of it and the only thermo I had was a candy thermometer. Came out at 170. But its still fine! Not over seasoned and a nice hint of smoke (liquid) and molasses. The bourbon, even though shorting the recipe comes through, a nice whiff of it on the palette. The legs came off with the thigh attached, pulled right off. Tender juicy dark parts. Overall Not Ruined! Interested in how cold turkey breast sandwiches taste this week, I didn't get into those yet, just ate around the edges tonight.

The stuffing came out real good! Cubbed up bread I had and oven dried the day before - seed, potato, cranberry sourdough. Totally forgot to add the fennel but its butter, celery with leaves, Vidalia (called for yellow), chopped sage and thyme. 10oz chopped oyster, poultry seasoning, garlic powder (called for minced). Man, this was smelling gooood, like an oyster stew base I guess. Folded in bread, 2eggs, chicken stock, buttermilk (needed something for more liquid). One of the best stuffings ever! Not that seasoned really, pretty mild but the oyster is present. Good balance actually. Mmmm

All amateur fun.

Spatchcocking the turkey was.no.fun since I had too small scissors. Got it but had to hack away with a serrated knife to get through (ugh). Then, pan too small for 16lb bird. Still, not bad. Seems spatchcock is the way to go but next time I'll wood roast it whole. Or maybe La Caja China if I pick up one.

peoplethings ham program on the calendar! I'll ask him what the trick is. I can get good ham so looking fwd to it.

[RAGER]

That all looks great.

[peoplething]

that turkey looks awesome.

cooking it spine up is a the best/easiest way to cook it.