What are you cooking?

[yashima]

Forgot to buy or thaw bread, so for our lunch (which is our breakfast) we had the most delicious „Asian Carbonara“ which is from my Asian Vegetarian cookbook: Udon Noodles with some egg yolk + soy sauce and a garnish of Furikake seasoning. This is one of those incredibly fast dishes I can make during my lunchbreak.

Tonight, I made the falafel mix too soft and so rolled them in panko and that came out so incredibly nice and crispy… I think I‘ll never do it any other way now. This came with a side of carrot salad and a yoghurt dip and some sriracha (almost every dish can be improved with sriracha).

No pics. Everything was gone before I thought of it.

[Griffster77]

@yashima

(almost every dish can be improved with sriracha).

True words!

[Guvnor]

Trying to make minestrone soup in my soup kettle.

[Captbnut]

No photos because it went too quickly…

Lamb raan - marinaded then slow cooked lamb (recipe says leg, we used a shoulder). Then shredded, fried until crispy and add a sauce made from the marinade and cooking juice.

Lamb samosas using the samosa maker the eldest got for Christmas. They were really good, with a nice bit of crunch. Not as good as frying, but a lot safer for a 15 year old and probably healthier.

Chicken korma - in case the kids didn’t eat the lamb. They did! Not my cup of tea, but it was a good curry.

[Mintochris]

Some homemade honeycomb action.

[Doctor.Ace]

Our friends see us as foodies but whilst we love eating out we cook most of our meals at home. For Febrary (cf a different thread) we’ve decided to go down a non-meat route except when we have guests with teenage daughters or go out to somewhere that doesn’t have a decent non-meat selection… or forget.

We’re doing this as a bit of an experiment and to try out some new non-meat recipes.

The first seven days includes: Parsnip Spaghetti; Mixed Bean and Chipotle Stew; Vegetable Chilli and Mushroom Risotto and is going wonderfully.

If anyone out there has a favourite non-meat recipe share it on here and we’ll see if we can give it a try.

[Doctor.Ace]

Phil, would you be happy to share your cauliflower curry recipe?

[yashima]

@Doctor.Ace

Mushroom Risotto

One of my favorite dishes to make

A favorite “salad” of mine goes like this:

• get some cooked red beets (I buy them precooked), slice them on a plate.
• Add some greens like rucola or raddicchio (not green but the bitterness nicely complements the beets)
• put some fresh goat cheese or feta on top
• roast some of your favorite nuts (walnuts were on the original dish, I prefer hazel)
• salt & pepper
• liberally add good olive oil (or a nut oil) and a tasty vinegar
• serve with some bread

(first had this in a pub in Edinburgh, has been a staple in our attempts to eat less meat)

• We do vegetarian Thai Curry…
• I also have a really nice recipe for a vegetarian Ramen (with an onion soup)–I can get it together but not from memory. Just let me know if you’re interested. This is from Meera Sodha from her Asian Vegetarian cookbook which I highly recommend. We have adopted a number of dishes from that one.
• Indian food is a great source of vegetarian dishes. One of my favorites is Red Lentil Dhal served with Naan and condiments.
• If you have Lunch or breakfast: Huevos Rancheros make a good meal.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Käsespätzle: If anyone is interested I can post my recipe. it is a bit of work but home-made this is a delicious dish.
• I adopted a bunch of recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbooks. One of my favorites of his is polenta with mushrooms and taleggio.

edit: another one with an actual recipe:

• I make a salad from beluga lentils (shiny round black).
• Mix them with
  • kernels from a pomegranate
  • greens (arugula = rucola, I remembered the English)
  • some pistachios, roasted and crushed (or other nuts)
  • some fresh cheese like feta
  • optional: diced bell pepper
  • season with a bit of cinnamon, cayenne pepper or any other paprika or chili powder–smoky is also fine). Just experiment. I often add a bit of Cumin as well. Or possibly Raz al Hanout.
  • salt, oil and something acidic either lemon juice or a fruity vinegar
  • this is also very good the next day and allows for prepping and mixing later–the pomegranate kernels separated are easily good for a couple of days in the fridge.

[Phil]

@Doctor.Ace

Phil, would you be happy to share your cauliflower curry recipe?

Sure; I think it would have been this:

• 500g cauliflower florets
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 200ml coconut milk
• 200ml water
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp tomato puree / paste
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• zest and juice of 1.5 limes

Aside from the juice of 0.5 limes, put all the ingredients in a large pot or saute pan. Bring to a boil and then simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes, stirring regularly. Serve hot, sprinkled with lime juice.

I think I made it without any limes/juice and it was fine.

---

Bonus very easy and delicious cauliflower:

• 1 large cauliflower
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• a handful of pine nuts

Pre-heat oven to 230C (fan bake).

Cut the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and place in a large casserole dish or baking tray with the turmeric and cumin, a drizzle of olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper. (Sorry – I greatly dislike terms like “drizzle” and “pinch” in recipes, but it’s how it was written, and I didn’t establish any measurements.)

Mix everything together well, making sure the cauliflower florets are coated in all of the spice.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the florets are lightly charred.

Toast the pine nuts in the oven for about 5 minutes, and sprinkle over the cauliflower.

The recipe actually used the cauliflower stalk (cooked separately), a tin of butter beans, and a bunch of other ingredients to create a mash (via food processor), which was served with the florets. I wasn’t such a fan of the mash; I would suggest just cutting up the cauliflower stalk to cook with the florets. (Some people throw them away, but cauliflower and broccoli stalks are delicious!) You might then want a little extra spice, but I couldn’t tell you whether or not excessive spice would be Bad, so use your judgement there. I did like that the recipe also used the cauliflower leaves… it said to bake them on a separate tray, drizzled with olive oil and a pinch of salt, for the first 10 minutes; then remove them from the oven, and serve with the rest once it’s cooked. I did like the leaves, so can happily recommend that, but they were a bit chewy at the thicker ends, so I’d cut them at only the thin parts in future.

[Mintochris]

“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Käsespätzle: If anyone is interested I can post my recipe. it is a bit of work but home-made this is a delicious dish.”

I’d like this. My wife is half Austrian and this is her absolute favourite when we’re over there. I’ve never found the right way to make it for her though.

[Griffster77]

Isn’t it basically macaroni cheese?

[yashima]

I’ll try my best to translate and explain how I make Käsespätzle which are most definitely not Mac and Cheese.

This is for 4 Portions and it will keep in the fridge for a day or 2. Making anything less is going to be almost the same effort so not recommended.

Tools:

You need one of a variety of tools to make the spätzle. This can either be a press, a “sieve” or a “board”

Any of these will do. The easiest will be the one in the middle I guess. I have an improvised version of the first. I had a small wooden cutting board and a metal scraper of the right size in my kitchen already. This is probably the most difficult version to get right. On the other hand my Spätzle were fine the first time I made them.

Over here you can also buy dried spätzle noodles those are fine but not very good for this dish.

Ingredients:

• 5 Eggs
• ~250ml Water
• 500g Wheat Flour (405 or 550, which are both finely ground, 550 is your default over here so just use Wheat Flour, I don’t go for the specialized Spätzle Mehl the 405 variant which is almost more dust than flour)
• Salt
• 250-300g Emmental or “Bergkäse”–use a real cheese, the basic copycat Emmental doesn’t cut it IMO. This is an important ingredient so please get a good cheese.
• 3 large onions (Gemüsezwiebeln, those are the really big kind, but pretty mild, usually twice the size of a standard onion, when in doubt make more onions)
• 1 teaspoon of sugar (for the onions)
• 50ml of white wine or Noilly Prat
• Chives for decoration after cooking

Make the Spätzle dough (more dough than batter):

• Mix the eggs, water, flour and salt to get a smooth somewhat “liquid” dough. Not pancake liquid more like crumpets I think. When in doubt take less water (because you can always add some later). The dough has to be smooth. Or you’ll have little flour pockets in your spätzle later…
• Rest the dough for half an hour at least

Prepare the onions

• Cut the onions into half rings
• Fry for 15 minutes with some salt.
• Towards the end add some sugar to caramelize
• optional: deglaze with white wine

Cook the Spätzle

• depending on your oven preheat to 180° now
• heat a pot of water
• depending on your tools you will put a portion of dough
  • into the press with the dough and press 5-10cm long spätzle into the cooking water
  • onto the sieve and scrape with the spatula so the dough drips into the pot
  • on your board. Hold the board a bit slanted as you rest it on the rim of the pot so the dough flows towards the water. When it hits the edge of the board you shave off single spätzle one by one into the pot. (Spätzle selber machen / Spätzleteig schaben - YouTube minute 4 shows the process)
• each portion of spätzle takes only a minute or two to cook, get them out of the water into a sieve and do the next
• while the next portion is cooking you can begin putting spätzle, onions and cheese into a casserole dish–first a layer of spätzle, then some onions, then some cheese… repeat until all the spätzle are cooked. End with a layer of cheese.
• bake for about 35 minutes
• decorate with chives (if you want) and serve.

Some recipes add a few cocktail tomatoes to lighten this dish a bit. I’d rather have a salad on the side.

PS: it is possible to use spelt flour as well. I don’t think other substitutions would work.

[Captbnut]

Ribs for the smoker tomorrow

Also smoking tomorrow, homemade pastrami which has been brining all week

Blueberry and raspberry ripple ice cream (red, white and blue).

I’ll be passed out in a food coma before Superbowl kick off (at least midnight here), but we’ve not undercatered

[Doctor.Ace]

Spinach and sweet potato hash with zhoug…

[superjaz]

I didn’t get a single picture but I marinated a couple of rib eyes in some olive oil and garlic and onions. A tiny bit of salt to draw out the liquids of the onions. I kind of macerated them using a lil salt first.

I made bacon wrapped shrimp skewers, I roasted over zucchini so the drippins hit the zucchini. A bit overcooked on the zucchini side but still did… plus a sauce. It was all really good. I seared them off and then stuck them in the oven to finish because they were really thick.

Another one I stashed in the freezer for later is probably easily two to three inches. Almost more of like a roast size. Definitely recommend.

I have a lot of ingredients stashed in the freezer for what I have time to make a really nice Valentine’s Day dinner for everyone.

[Griffster77]

I wanna stay up for it but I have 5 interviews tomorrow and there just isnt enough Monster in the world…

[Captbnut]

The finished pastrami

[Gus]

That looks soooooo good!

[yashima]

my partner asks to be sent some…
he’s too daunted to even try make some

[Mintochris]

Halfway through assembly of our German/Austrian extravaganza…

Need to finish this bit and get it in the oven. Looking good so far…went for the middle method and managed to find the larger holed attachment for my potato ricer/press so fingers crossed .