Cookin again
- Thread starter Dannyalcatraz
- Start date
“THURSDAY SOUP”
I.O.W., soup made from leftovers, so named because my paternal Grandmother would clean out the fridge on Thursday nights by serving up all the leftovers...whatever they were.
In this case, the broth is stock made from cooking chicken breast for our dogs.
There’s green onion, celery, spinach, portobellos, mushrooms, garlic cloves, fresh parsley, an egg, and some diced smoked sausage. Seasonings include salt, pepper, bay leaf, tarragon and lemon juice. I added a little extra powdered chicken bouillon. I garnished it with radish sprouts.
It came out OK, but it could have been better. And I know ways I could have improved it. For instance, I SHOULD have sautéed my onions & garlic, but forgot. Similarly, I didn’t have much sausage, and if I had browned it, it would have intensified the flavors quite a bit. Doing it over, I’d reduce the celery to a single single stalk, while doubling the amount of green onion.
I.O.W., soup made from leftovers, so named because my paternal Grandmother would clean out the fridge on Thursday nights by serving up all the leftovers...whatever they were.
In this case, the broth is stock made from cooking chicken breast for our dogs.
There’s green onion, celery, spinach, portobellos, mushrooms, garlic cloves, fresh parsley, an egg, and some diced smoked sausage. Seasonings include salt, pepper, bay leaf, tarragon and lemon juice. I added a little extra powdered chicken bouillon. I garnished it with radish sprouts.
It came out OK, but it could have been better. And I know ways I could have improved it. For instance, I SHOULD have sautéed my onions & garlic, but forgot. Similarly, I didn’t have much sausage, and if I had browned it, it would have intensified the flavors quite a bit. Doing it over, I’d reduce the celery to a single single stalk, while doubling the amount of green onion.
Had Nepalese food for the first time today from a tiny little place called Cafe Mandu in Irving,TX. The menu (above) is small, but there’s still respectable variety.
My two previous attempts to try the cuisine were thwarted by running out of food (at a different restaurant) and the C19 lockdown.
But today, I was in the neighborhood and was able to snag some steamed pork momos and some fried fritters to go. Washed them down with some nice lemonade.
Verdict: everything was tasty and definitely worthy of further experiences! I’ll be going back, and I’ll probably give some of the other, bigger Nepalese places a try as well.
Zardnaar
Legend
Looks nice would try. Everything on the menu looks nice, dumplings and curry are all good.
Dumplings look similar to the Georgian (Caucasus) ones.
Tried something I’ve seen on a few cooking shows by adding a little powdered chicken bouillon to the seasoning for my baby Yukon golds.
Came out pretty good. Good enough for me to continue experimenting with it.
Came out pretty good. Good enough for me to continue experimenting with it.
This is seasoning the spuds for roasting or some other dry cooking method?
I cut them to the desired size, then tossed them with a garlic-infused EVOO and seasonings like black pepper, parsely, and the aforementioned powdered bouillon. I used a heaping teaspoon of it- about leveled 1.5-2tsp.
I then placed them in an 8x8 nonstick brownie pan, and checkerboarded the top with shavings of unsalted butter. I baked them in my preheated toaster oven at 450f for 10 minutes. I took them out, then tossed them, and gave them another 10 at that heat, and I repeated that one more time.
Because I skipped the parboiling prep step I usually use, most of the potatoes didn’t really develop a crispy outer layer.* But they were quite tasty.
* I also skipped the step of sprinkling them with shredded cheese when they came out of the oven. And cooking them in the regular oven spread out on a cookie sheet would probably also have improved the crust.
I don’t know about flavor, but I’ve been told that any of the other yellow skinned potatoes will have similar cooking characteristics.
Ah. So, mostly-dry. I guess if one had something like Better Than Bouillon, one could plausibly whisk that into your seasoning mix. Being that I keep that around (for making pan sauces) I'd probably try that.
I agree with your thinking that spreading them out more, such as on a half-sheet pan, would likely have made for crustier potatoes. I'd think parboiling would be more likely to matter for the interior texture than for a crust, but I know it does something similar for like pan-fried potatoes, so I'm probably missing something.
The parboil with salt & baking soda roughens up the surface of the potato at a near-microscopic level. Then you quickly drain the pot and dry the potatoes in the emptied cooking pan, stirring constantly- it rakes a minute or two.
After the parboil & dry, the potatoes will look almost...fuzzy. That’s beca all those mini-abrasions are juuuuust too small to see clearly.
Then you bake them according to your usual method.
And those abraded surfaces will crisp up like magic!
After the parboil & dry, the potatoes will look almost...fuzzy. That’s beca all those mini-abrasions are juuuuust too small to see clearly.
Then you bake them according to your usual method.
And those abraded surfaces will crisp up like magic!
Y'all ever make something after like a couple years, and find yourself wondering why you stopped making it? That was our experience today, with Pork Chili with Vanishing Apples. I mean, it took two and a half hours of work before it was actually cooking, but it's crazy delicious.
Yeah, all the time.
Sometimes, it’s because of changing taste preferences, sometimes it’s the amount of work. Sometimes I can’t get the ingredients.
We moved about two years ago, and as we were making it, we realized we hadn't made it in our current place, at all. I suspect the amount of work is part of it.
Zardnaar
Legend
Been eating reasonably simple good last week or so. Love that oatmeal.
Lunch bacon and egg pie. It was served with tomato relish. Best B&E pie I've ever had I think delicious. Gave into temptation when I made a booking for mother's day there.
Dinner tonight.
Made some chicken tenders with a potato bake and salad.
Marinaded the chicken and a herb sauce for the potato bake with cheese, bacon and powdered chipotle.
Lunch bacon and egg pie. It was served with tomato relish. Best B&E pie I've ever had I think delicious. Gave into temptation when I made a booking for mother's day there.
Dinner tonight.
Made some chicken tenders with a potato bake and salad.
Marinaded the chicken and a herb sauce for the potato bake with cheese, bacon and powdered chipotle.
This is a handy resource for scouting out cheeses:
I was never a big fan of Parmesan...until I had a really good one.
If you can’t find one, Parrano is a gouda family cheese that has a similar flavor to Parmesan. It melts well, and can be used in a variety of ways. I often shred it on tomato-based or garlicky sauces, and I al use it in charcuterie boards.
Merlot Bellavitano is another cheese that I use in similar ways.
Zardnaar
Legend
This is a handy resource for scouting out cheeses:
I was never a big fan of Parmesan...until I had a really good one.
If you can’t find one, Parrano is a gouda family cheese that has a similar flavor to Parmesan. It melts well, and can be used in a variety of ways. I often shred it on tomato-based or garlicky sauces, and I al use it in charcuterie boards.
Merlot Bellavitano is another cheese that I use in similar ways.
I'll try mst things, feta, camembert and brie is the easily available stuff.
I'm not a massive fan if parmesan either. My sister in law is nuts for it and a local pizza place puts it in shakers for garlic bread.
I used it in a crumbed coating for chicken that was tasty. I like it but not going to go out of the way to eat it.
Usually, the stuff in shakers is low quality Parmesan. Shaved, grated or large crumbles of Parm reveals the true quality. Good Parm will have a complex flavor the cheaper stuff can’t touch.
