Made a herb-roasted turkey breast. Turned out to be rather nice, if taking way too much time. I do hope to use it for sandwiches later, which would save me some time in the morning, maybe.
Also, found out how to make a passable sweet and spicy sauce to dip meat into. Fruit puree+chopped ginger paste+a lot of ground pepper. All of those things can be bought in the store ready-made, so I won't have to waste time slicing and mixing anything.
Made ridiculously nice candy out of raisins, peanuts and cinnamon. Basically, put everything into mixer, and mince finely until it forms rather dense mass. Raisins are sticky enough inside to hold it together. Then roll into small balls - simply for convenience :). It takes about 5-10 minutes to make.
Going to experiment with other fried fruit and nut combination, as well as other spices/flavours. In particular, I suspect that dried plum and dried fig would make a good base, as they too are soft and sticky inside. Plus, dried plum is less sweet and has more rich and subtle taste (I actually like it more than raisins), while dried fig has extremely pleasant taste of it's own. Dried banana can also work.
As for spices/flavours, things I could try adding are vanilla, cocoa powder, nutmeg, five spices powder (yes, it has pepper, no, I don't mind), lemon zest, mint... Any other suggestions?
I would skip adding the lettuce, onions, and cheese it suggests as of the last steps before adding the pico de gallo. It just seems...very american and potentially distracting from otherwise perfect, authentic Mexican tacos.
1) Note to self: Never underestimate just how much bite fresh ginger has. 2) Used tajine for cooking for the first time. It is quite nice - meat becomes very, very tender, and the aroma of spices keeps very well. 3) Quinoa is overrated. Even seasoned, it is still ridiculously bland to me. Pretty much the blandest grain ever. I suppose it is healthy and filling, but seriously, for that price I'd expect something that tastes nice or at least interesting. Otherwise, if I only need something no matter what to serve a meat with sauce over, I'd rather use brown rice. Or black rice - now that's ridiculously expensive but tasty.
Anyway, looks like I've finally reached the level where I don't have to rely on recipes and can experiment on my own. Made a very, very nice ragout from mushrooms, pumpkin and pork, with a touch of rosemary and juniper berries. Used the lid from tajine to cover it. And the end result was awesome.
I've especially liked the pumpkin - it gave off a very interesting flavour, something between potato and apple.
"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
Well actually I've been eating a lot of couscous lately, and so far my best result is a teaspoon of butter, white pepper, a tablespoon-and-a-half of sesame oil, half a teaspoon of salt, the usual water, with a raw egg mixed in.
So I was at my girlfriend's this past weekend, and we made gyros; they came out pretty well, though most of the heavy lifting was done by her dad, who cooked the lamb, and the people who made the tzatziki that I bought at the farmers' market.
"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
So...to break my fast (the fast ended at 7:59 pm last night) I went over to someone's house, and had bagels and cream cheese, banana bread, cheese soufle, and cheese blintz casserole. Then my little sister went to Dairy Queen, and I tagged along, getting a mini s'mores blizzard. Also, drank about 6 cups of water.
So...yeah...that's how I eat when I've been fasting for over 25 hours.
Still trying to experiment with vegetables. There is some progress, for example, turns out that I rather like broccoli. Cooked pumpkin is also nice, and bell peppers are surprisingly good both raw and cooked - fresh, sweet and crispy raw and having an interesting smoky flavour when roasted.
Cooked turnip, however - not so good. I very much like it raw - it has a very appealing sweet and sharp taste, but been very disappointed with my attempts to roast it. It becomes bitter, and acquires that distinctive "cooked vegetable" aroma which I happen to dislike.
1 cup spinach with 1/2 chopped persimmon, pomegranate seeds, cucumber slices, 1 oz walnuts, hard-boiled egg, and light raspberry-walnut vinaigrette plus butternut squash soup and a honey whole grain dinner roll.
It did not came out quite as expected, but turned out delicious nonetheless A few points: 1) Do not try to make it if you don't have a decent food processor. Really. Just don't. Food processor is absolutely essential 2) I've added one kiwi into the filling itself, because I thought there is no point of calling it a kiwi tart if kiwi is used only for decoration. Plus, it made the filling much smoother to process. 3) The filling itself is delicious. Really. One of the best things I've had so far - cool, minty, exotic 4) The crust I've made turned out a bit too sweet even for me (and I have a sweet tooth of unusual size) even though I've used less than required amount of dried fruit. Perhaps something less sweet than dates can be substituted - plum, maybe?
Had a grilled vegetable sandwich, and actually thought it not bad. Considering that I usually hate cooked vegetables, that's something.
On a different topic, a fool-proof way of evenly cooking a thick chop of meat if you hate pink middle (as I do). Sear it on the frying pan to your desired level of crispiness and then put it into a microwave oven for a few minutes.
Been recording what I eat to see what my average daily calories for weight loss, maintaining my weight, and weight gain. Turns out, my average daily calories for weight loss are 1,919 and my average daily calories for weight maintenance are 2600-2800. Does this qualify me for the Big Eater Club?
Okay, I officially fail at cooking. Can't even make a pancake!
That being said, walnut flour is delicious (if ridiculously expensive). Also, I wonder if applesauce can be substituted with a fruit purée - I don't have any applesauce here.
"It is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected.... Whosoever alters them to suit his own opinions, whatever they are, is guilty, to our thinking, of an act of presumption, and appropriates to himself what does not belong to him." -- Charles Dickens
Leigh and I are trying to eat a high-protein diet, and I think we've found the perfect breakfast for it. She made a hash of egg whites, chicken sausage, and sweet potato hashbrowns as the carbohydrate source. There was also chopped onion and bell pepper in it, which I'm going to try swapping out for fried tomato and ketchup.
Made pork chops with fig jam glaze. Actually, the glaze was a spur of the moment idea, but it turned out excellent. A word of caution, though - one will have a lot of trouble cleaning the pan afterwards.
Still pretty much the only one in this thread, it seems :)
Anyway, finally got food processor, and my current obsession is milkshakes. Made the one with frozen raspberry, banana, walnut flour, cinnamon and cocoa powder. Tastes like something between cold cacao and ice cream, delicious, and filling enough to be a breakfast on it's own.
slice a halloumi into 8 pieces and slice half an aubergine into 8 round pieces
fry the aubergine and then fry the halloumi in the auubergine oil
while the halloumi is frying, get a chopped red pepper, two generous tbsp harissa sauce, throw them in a lil pan with a pinch of brown sugar and cook it, if you like onions (i dont) add onions, if you do not, hing (asafoetida) will do probably
get 4 rolls and spread some houmous on that shit
then layer the aubergine&halloumi on the rolls and top with the harissa relish
you are now fucking sorted so eat the damn burgers theyre incredible
yes though halloumi is a kind of specific cheese from cyprus which you can fry and it doesnt melt. and asafoetida is just basically a spice i use to get onion flavours, which i like, without the onion texture, which is the issue i have with onions. its used a lot in indian cooking and especially hare krishna cooking because for some reason krishna thinks eating onions is Way Bad.
Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
Arise, O thread!
Made yaka mein tonight, an apparent fusion of New Orleans and Chinese food.
It turned out quite nice, all things considered. Forgot to al dente the pasta, but it turned out alright. Used a few other tricks, like when cooking the spaghetti, replaced the salt with soy sauce and the olive oil with sesame oil. Made a slight difference, I believe.
Not pleased with it, though. I think the Chinese flavors overpowered the New Orleans flavors. Maybe I should have added twice the spice.
Actually made bread with the device. It was a very plain bread with wholegrain wheat flour, sweetener, salt, water, yeast, raisins, a little bit of olive oil and nothing else, but it turned out quite nice.
Looks like one actually needs refined white flour in order for the bread to form correctly, so one can't really make 100% wholegrain and fancy kind. From what I've read, this can be remedied by adding vital wheat gluten, which makes it possible for the wholegrain flour to act like a white would.
Comments
Also, found out how to make a passable sweet and spicy sauce to dip meat into. Fruit puree+chopped ginger paste+a lot of ground pepper. All of those things can be bought in the store ready-made, so I won't have to waste time slicing and mixing anything.
Going to experiment with other fried fruit and nut combination, as well as other spices/flavours. In particular, I suspect that dried plum and dried fig would make a good base, as they too are soft and sticky inside. Plus, dried plum is less sweet and has more rich and subtle taste (I actually like it more than raisins), while dried fig has extremely pleasant taste of it's own. Dried banana can also work.
As for spices/flavours, things I could try adding are vanilla, cocoa powder, nutmeg, five spices powder (yes, it has pepper, no, I don't mind), lemon zest, mint... Any other suggestions?
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
2) Used tajine for cooking for the first time. It is quite nice - meat becomes very, very tender, and the aroma of spices keeps very well.
3) Quinoa is overrated. Even seasoned, it is still ridiculously bland to me. Pretty much the blandest grain ever. I suppose it is healthy and filling, but seriously, for that price I'd expect something that tastes nice or at least interesting. Otherwise, if I only need something no matter what to serve a meat with sauce over, I'd rather use brown rice. Or black rice - now that's ridiculously expensive but tasty.
Anyway, looks like I've finally reached the level where I don't have to rely on recipes and can experiment on my own. Made a very, very nice ragout from mushrooms, pumpkin and pork, with a touch of rosemary and juniper berries. Used the lid from tajine to cover it. And the end result was awesome.
I've especially liked the pumpkin - it gave off a very interesting flavour, something between potato and apple.
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
Well, Leigh and I made 80% of a 5-course meal for my own birthday.
1st: Spinach salad with red onions and strawberries.
2nd: French onion soup.
3rd: Tuna steaks with a sauce made by sauteeing red onions in butter, then pouring orange juice in.
4th: Cow steaks with broccoli florets soaking in leftover sauce from 3.
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
Cooked turnip, however - not so good. I very much like it raw - it has a very appealing sweet and sharp taste, but been very disappointed with my attempts to roast it. It becomes bitter, and acquires that distinctive "cooked vegetable" aroma which I happen to dislike.
Persimmon is a very popular food for fall in Russia too
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/recipe-raw-kiwi-tart-with-ginger-mint-and-coconut/
It did not came out quite as expected, but turned out delicious nonetheless
A few points:
1) Do not try to make it if you don't have a decent food processor. Really. Just don't. Food processor is absolutely essential
2) I've added one kiwi into the filling itself, because I thought there is no point of calling it a kiwi tart if kiwi is used only for decoration. Plus, it made the filling much smoother to process.
3) The filling itself is delicious. Really. One of the best things I've had so far - cool, minty, exotic
4) The crust I've made turned out a bit too sweet even for me (and I have a sweet tooth of unusual size) even though I've used less than required amount of dried fruit. Perhaps something less sweet than dates can be substituted - plum, maybe?
i get so angry sometimes i just punch plankton --Klinotaxis
I currently don't have a decent food processor, and the old thing I have is inadequate, to say the least.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Halloween-Melon-Brain/?ALLSTEPS
On a different topic, a fool-proof way of evenly cooking a thick chop of meat if you hate pink middle (as I do). Sear it on the frying pan to your desired level of crispiness and then put it into a microwave oven for a few minutes.
That being said, walnut flour is delicious (if ridiculously expensive). Also, I wonder if applesauce can be substituted with a fruit purée - I don't have any applesauce here.
However, one really should peel and chop them before freezing, as it is quite difficult to do afterwards.
Anyway, finally got food processor, and my current obsession is milkshakes. Made the one with frozen raspberry, banana, walnut flour, cinnamon and cocoa powder. Tastes like something between cold cacao and ice cream, delicious, and filling enough to be a breakfast on it's own.
aubergine = баклажан
asafoetida = асафетида
that help?
Oh, and it translated aubergine as eggplant - is that correct?
I'm definitely going to experiment more
Now if only I could find some...