What's Cooking 2017

[cleanshaved]

It looks and sounds good. Let us know how it taste after it gets a chance to age.... If it actually does get a chance to age..

OK, I could not stand it any more. I was aiming for 2 weeks and made it 1.5 weeks.
I had some left over roast lamb legs that was telling me it wanted the tomato relish. Dammm you leg of lamb. Cold meat and relish must go together, who am I to stop them.

There is only one way to know if it's better with age and that is to taste some at different ages. 1.5 weeks is very nice if I may say so myself. This jar is not going to last long.

 

[Intrigued]

OK, I could not stand it any more. I was aiming for 2 weeks and made it 1.5 weeks.
I had some left over roast lamb legs that was telling me it wanted the tomato relish. Dammm you leg of lamb. Cold meat and relish must go together, who am I to stop them.

There is only one way to know if its better with age and that is to taste some at different ages. 1.5 weeks is very nice if I may say so myself.

View attachment 775528

 

[sfeile]

Since I finally got this thing seasoned, I am really liking cooking on it! Had a pork loin that I cut into "steaks". Little olive oil, butter, and some seasonings. Man did they ever turn out JUICY!!!

 

[Rushman2112]

No photos but having had reasonable success with "Mexican Beef" the other, I tried Chicken Fajitas last night.

1. Guacamole - difficult to get ripe avocados here, they are shipped in from Mexico or US and it appears the only thing to do is plan a week ahead, buy then and let them ripen at home before using. That said, I mixed one up with finely chopped red onion, couple of baby toms chopped up, a small chilli, some lime juice, chopped coriander leaf and a teaspoon of sour cream to try and lighten it up. OK, but not as good as if the avo had been riper.

2. Salsa - more baby toms chopped up, another chilli ditto, a grated clove of garlic, lime juice, olive oil and S&P. More coriander as well, chopped both leaf and stalks (so much flavour in the stalks!).

3. Sliced up some chicken breasts, a red pepper (capsicum), a yellow pepper and a couple of small/medium red onions, then marinaded in a spice mix of smoked paprika, cumin, coriander powder, lime juice, olive oil and S&P for about an hour. When it was time to eat, gently heated some chopped garlic in a large saute pan, then increased the heat a bit and tipped in the chicken and pepper mix. Sizzled it around for maybe 8 - 10 mins while I heated some tortillas in a dry skillet.

4. Shredded some Romaine lettuce and dressed with a squeeze of lime juice and some oil.

Put everthing on the table, remembering a cork place mat for the pan, and made a right mess of it all.

I'd say not bad and will likely reappear on the rotation.

There was enough left over for another one tortilla's worth for my breakfast which I topped with a fried egg before rolling up the tortilla: another right mess.

 

[oc_in_fw]

No photos but having had reasonable success with "Mexican Beef" the other, I tried Chicken Fajitas last night.

1. Guacamole - difficult to get ripe avocados here, they are shipped in from Mexico or US and it appears the only thing to do is plan a week ahead, buy then and let them ripen at home before using. That said, I mixed one up with finely chopped red onion, couple of baby toms chopped up, a small chilli, some lime juice, chopped coriander leaf and a teaspoon of sour cream to try and lighten it up. OK, but not as good as if the avo had been riper.

2. Salsa - more baby toms chopped up, another chilli ditto, a grated clove of garlic, lime juice, olive oil and S&P. More coriander as well, chopped both leaf and stalks (so much flavour in the stalks!).

3. Sliced up some chicken breasts, a red pepper (capsicum), a yellow pepper and a couple of small/medium red onions, then marinaded in a spice mix of smoked paprika, cumin, coriander powder, lime juice, olive oil and S&P for about an hour. When it was time to eat, gently heated some chopped garlic in a large saute pan, then increased the heat a bit and tipped in the chicken and pepper mix. Sizzled it around for maybe 8 - 10 mins while I heated some tortillas in a dry skillet.

4. Shredded some Romaine lettuce and dressed with a squeeze of lime juice and some oil.

Put everthing on the table, remembering a cork place mat for the pan, and made a right mess of it all.

I'd say not bad and will likely reappear on the rotation.

There was enough left over for another one tortilla's worth for my breakfast which I topped with a fried egg before rolling up the tortilla: another right mess.

I have to let them ripen for two days here, but then I am much closer to the source. Bananas and avocados both ripen after picking.

 

[Intrigued]

Parmesan Chicken (store bought cheat)
Oven Roasted Potato topped with Cheddar Cheese & Green Onion
Tomato, Cucumber, & Beet Pickled Egg Salad with Basil & Feta Cheese

 

[davent]

I have to let them ripen for two days here, but then I am much closer to the source. Bananas and avocados both ripen after picking.

And as bananas ripen they gas off ethylene which you can apparently put to use shortening your avocado ripening time. Put them together in a paper bag to speed up the avocado transformation.

Smart Tip: To Quickly Ripen an Avocado, Use a Banana

A ripe avocado when you want it... more like the avocado tells you when it wants to be used, always a crap shoot. However of late, since the beginning of the year each week i've been buying bags of six smallish avocadoes for as low as $2cdn per bag, right now $3.59 per bag and they ripen up nicely over the course of the week. Have lost very few in that time span. Always holding my breath when i cut in as there can be surprises, feels and looks perfect and then disgust.

dave

 

[DoctorShavegood]

Parmesan Chicken (store bought cheat)
Oven Roasted Potato topped with Cheddar Cheese & Green Onion
Tomato, Cucumber, & Beet Pickled Egg Salad with Basil & Feta Cheese

View attachment 775953

View attachment 775954

I looock this a lot.

 

[Rushman2112]

And as bananas ripen they gas off ethylene which you can apparently put to use shortening your avocado ripening time. Put them together in a paper bag to speed up the avocado transformation.

Smart Tip: To Quickly Ripen an Avocado, Use a Banana

A ripe avocado when you want it... more like the avocado tells you when it wants to be used, always a crap shoot. However of late, since the beginning of the year each week i've been buying bags of six smallish avocadoes for as low as $2cdn per bag, right now $3.59 per bag and they ripen up nicely over the course of the week. Have lost very few in that time span. Always holding my breath when i cut in as there can be surprises, feels and looks perfect and then disgust.

dave

Yes, we have tried the paper bag method, and it seems to work, but the avocadoes we get are so unripe it takes days. They are also quite expensive at SGD3.50 for one small one (I think CDN is about par with the Sing) so I don't like to buy them too often!

 

[davent]

I've been very spoiled the last couple of months since discovering the bags of six avocadoes. Before that they were treated like a treat, a special occasion food that you could never be sure was going to deliver when you wanted it. Buy two for insurance and if both were perfect it was your lucky day! The bags, we've lost a couple fruit in the many bags we've gone through this year, it's been great!

These are a small Haas, weighed the three i have left and ready to eat and they're 110-135g each. Rarely come across any of the other commercial varieties in the stores in these parts, can't say i've even sampled another variety.
dave

 

[DoctorShavegood]

We're always stocked with avocado's. It goes with everything exempt maybe spaghetti. You can even use it in place of mayo or butter when baking. We buy the avocado oil too. The last brand I bought I didn't like too much though, the oil seemed a bit grassy tasting.

Last market run was 3 avocado's for $2.05.

 

[Rushman2112]

We're always stocked with avocado's. It goes with everything exempt maybe spaghetti. You can even use it in place of mayo or butter when baking. We buy the avocado oil too. The last brand I bought I didn't like too much though, the oil seemed a bit grassy tasting.

Last market run was 3 avocado's for $2.05.

I can just about get one from the cheaper supermakets for that price, and will need to let it ripen for a week. I am so looking forward to my trip to France in 5 weeks time to get some good food at sensible prices!

 

[DoctorShavegood]

I can just about get one from the cheaper supermakets for that price, and will need to let it ripen for a week. I am so looking forward to my trip to France in 5 weeks time to get some good food at sensible prices!

Don't feel bad, there 10 things I can think of, that I want, that I can't get in your area.

 

[EPfarnie]

A good old rolled pork loin roast. Fennel, garlic, cumin and oregano rub... homemade apple sauce with fennel seed, smoked paprika and shot of smoky Lagavulin single malt.

 

[DoctorShavegood]

Burrito and movie night. Home made garden fresh salsa verde on with queso and chili.

 

[Prof. Moriarty]

That looks delicious Aaron

 

[davent]

Great looking loin roast Brett and without saying, always a terrific looking plate Aaron!

For my birthday received a book on 'grain' bowls so time to explore, from that, for this weekend picked out a couple recipes that both turned out to be vegetarian.

Tonight's experiment was 'Sambal Tofu Quinoa Bowls', pretty much describes the ingredients.

White, steamed quinoa. One inch tofu cubes marinated for a bit in soy sauce, honey and Sambal Oelek. Stir fried the cubes until suitably dark and crispy skinned.

Stir fried asparagus and sugar snap peas. I try to resist buying asparagus out of season but figured why not, i'll stick to the recipe first time through although they do have a list of seasonal options. Finally called for frying up cabbage, one of the market stands i buy quite a few vegetables from had a bin of baseball size cabbages so bought of number of those, looked perfect for the dish. Toasted sesame oil to coat the vegetables then toasted seasme seeds and thin sliced scallions to garnish to the bowls.

This one really hit all my marks, multiple textures to sort through, sweet, salty, umami, charred and toasted, every spoonful a new combination of all of the above and more, a hit!

And for our dining pleasure music by Rammstein- Made in Germany although it would appear someone got to the volume control and the impact is much reduced from when i was cooking.

As always support the local producers they've so, so much to offer!













dave

 

[oc_in_fw]

Rammstein is not meant to be played at lower volumes

 

[davent]

Rammstein is not meant to be played at lower volumes

I kept thinking while eating, "something's missing here"... I think you nailed Owen.

dave

 

[oc_in_fw]

I kept thinking while eating, "something's missing here"... I think you nailed Owen.

dave

Do you eat the cabbage hearts, too? I know a lot of recipes have you cut it out, but I like the extra density.