Today I Made:

[freezeblade]

Today (Well, yesterday) I Made: Pizza!

Friends from L.A. were visiting, and wanted a pizza night, specifically they were craving a taste memory of a pizza joint that used to be frequented in Savannah, GA called the Mellow Mushroom (a chain that I personally have never tried before), and a pizza they used to have called the "Magical Mystery Tour."

Magical Mystery Tour Remix:
Herbed crust (unfortunately not home-made this time, purchased from Trader Joe's, which has decent pizza dough)
Creamy Basil Pesto sauce, Shiitake Mushrooms, Jalapenos, Spinach, Feta, "Italian" cheese blend, topped with green onion post-bake.

Came out bloody amazing, and I'll be keeping it in mind when I plan pizzas in the future. Also made a more standard pizza alongside: standard crust, tomato sauce, red onion, bell pepper, bacon, "italian" cheese blend.

[Sableagle]

Today I made a mess.

Really. Raw egg, cherry smoothie, molten chocolate, quark drips, ghee and whatever the heck else has gone everywhere. Cleaning the oven is not going to be easy either.

I think it turned out really well,
really quite surprisingly well
considering that when I started the next one
I found two too many eggs in the fridge.

[dubsola]

That mess really looks like a cake of some sort.

[PAstrychef]

Cooked some chicken thighs and legs sous-vide, then finished them on the grill with some nice sticky bbq sauce I made up for ribs last week. Roasted corn on the cob on the grill too.

[Moo]

Made a low carb cheesecake, chakalaka bread and homemade salsa for having my colleagues over for a braai last night. Forgot to get the salsa out but the rest was real good, and now I have more salsa for me.

[PAstrychef]

Double thick pork chops stuffed with spinach and cheese. The filling exploded out of them because I didn’t cut the pockets correctly, but it just made for a crispy spinachy crust.

[Zohar]

The other day I made Smitten Kitchen's spaghetti pie which turned out really great. I added the broccoli we got in our CSA in addition to some broccoli rabe I got. One of those (guessing the rabe but not sure) had a lot of worms in it that I kept fishing out. I'm... 98% certain I got all of them. Extra protein if not, I guess.

I also made another batch of granola and actually followed the proportion instructions this time, and it ended up much more cluster-y, so I was pleased. And the amount was enough to pretty much fill up our granola container, so I'll try to keep doing that in the future. The recipe was basically mix liquids together - 0.5 cup oil, 0.5 cup honey, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 tbsp vanilla extract, 0.5 tsp salt. Add 5 cups oats, 3 cups "other" (nuts, seeds, dried fruit). Spread and firmly press in a baking sheet and bake at 325 F for half an hour, rotating the pan once. Take out, let cool for an hour or so, then break up into pieces.

I'm mostly writing this down so I can find it if I need to in the future.

[Zohar]

LASAGNA! Vegetarian lasagna with tomato sauce and sauteed spinach and zucchini. Yum yum.

[Moo]

Made cheesy scones this morning, veeeery loosely based on Smitten Kitchen's gruyere and caramelised onion biscuits; also prepped cookie dough to make sugar cookies tomorrow for everyone in the "War room" for the last day of the live Tour De France Racecenter support.

[PAstrychef]

A perfect summer dinner-bacon lettuce and tomato sandwiches and homemade chicken soup.

[Zohar]

Made some Japanese curry last night. Turned out OK, but I had a little too much liquid in there.

[PAstrychef]

Made this chicken schwarma. Cooked up quick, nice blend of textures and flavors. I upped the amount of spices in the marinade and used lime juice instead of lemon-I was out of lemons- in the dressing. Came out very nicely.

[dubsola]

Last week I did a family roast dinner for 10 people. Roast pork (and crumbed chicken for one person) in the porchetta style, gravy, apple sauce, roast potatoes with rosemary, honey glaze carrots, steamed broccoli, braised red cabbage, and apple & rhubarb crumble with homemade custard and (not homemade) ice cream for dessert. It was epic, I had leftovers for days.

Everything turned out great except for one minor quibble - the first time I checked the pork it was 10 degrees under, so I gave it another 20 minutes with the heat turned up to help the crackling, then when I checked it again it was 20 degrees over. It wasn't dry but I think it would have been even more awesome had I only put it in for another 5 minutes or so.

[sardia]

Last week I did a family roast dinner for 10 people. Roast pork (and crumbed chicken for one person) in the porchetta style, gravy, apple sauce, roast potatoes with rosemary, honey glaze carrots, steamed broccoli, braised red cabbage, and apple & rhubarb crumble with homemade custard and (not homemade) ice cream for dessert. It was epic, I had leftovers for days.

Everything turned out great except for one minor quibble - the first time I checked the pork it was 10 degrees under, so I gave it another 20 minutes with the heat turned up to help the crackling, then when I checked it again it was 20 degrees over. It wasn't dry but I think it would have been even more awesome had I only put it in for another 5 minutes or so.

Try removing it from the oven when it's 10 degrees under, and let the thermal carryover heat do the rest. Just tent a foil or lid over it. What temp were you aiming for?

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/201 ... ecipe.html

Sous Vide Pork Chop Temperature and Timing Chart
Texture Temperature Timing Range
Rare: Tender, juicy, and a little slippery 130°F (54°C) 1 to 4 hours
Medium-rare: Tender, juicy, and meaty (my favorite) 140°F (60°C) 1 to 4 hours
Medium-well: Quite firm and just starting to dry out 150°F (66°C) 1 to 4 hours
Well-done: Firm, a little dry and tough, but still moist 160°F (71°C) 1 to 4 hours

[Moo]

quote tag!

Made the shakshuka recipe Zohar gave me a few years ago for a friend this weekend for brunch, she couldn't stop raving about it (thanks Zohar!).

Also, happy birthday!

[Zohar]

Thanks Moo! And I'm glad the shakshuka turned out well!

I completely forgot about the lovely dinner we hosted on Friday. We had six friends over. Alex made challah and a delicious gazpacho. I made fresh pasta with a mushroom carbonara sauce, and a peaches and creme fraiche pie for dessert. Everything was great, but I was particularly pleased with the crust I used for the pie - Smitten Kitchen's recipe from years ago. It was easy to make (though I didn't have a pastry cutter, so I used my hands), rolled wonderfully - which is always the most frustrating part for me in pastry dough - and it baked beautifully.

[pogrmman]

Prickly pear jam! I had a bunch of fruit on my plant, but they mostly got eaten, so I asked my neighbors for fruit. They were all fine with me taking them.

Unfortunately, most of the spineless prickly pears grown as ornamentals here aren’t ripe yet — those fruit are mostly flesh with little seed. But, they’re small. The wild prickly pears, on the other hand, are mostly seed, but they’re very big and quite juicy. Unfortunately, those are at the end of their ripening season and many had been eaten.

I used just over a pound of fruit, burned off the spines, peeled them, then deseeded and chopped them. I squeezed the juice out of the seeds then puréed it all.

This was my first time making jam or canning anything, but it seems to have come out well! All the jars look sealed and the residue in the pot was absolutely delicious. For those who haven’t had it, prickly pear has a delicate, refreshing flavor and a wonderful magenta color (when diluted, it’s about the same color as phenolphthalein).

I’m excited for it!

[Zohar]

Great! I don't think I've ever made jam, but we have great peaches now so I think I should try to make some.

[PAstrychef]

Jams and jellies, or confiture to be all frenchified about it, can be very easy to make. Get the Ball’s Blue Book of recipes and then follow the instructions for times and acid/sugar amounts. There’s a neat book called Small Batch Preserving which is good for people not looking to make 25 quarts of product at a time.

[dubsola]

Ball’s Blue Book

Easily misread.

I actually just remembered, I made kumquat compote on the weekend. It's actually delicious. I wonder if I could jar it up? Was just thinking of freezing it this time as I'm pretty time poor at the moment. I've got heaps, one thing I want to do with it is make some duck, another is to serve it with vanilla icecream. I think it'll be fantastic as it tastes great. I added some leftover spices from some mulled wine.

Try removing it from the oven when it's 10 degrees under, and let the thermal carryover heat do the rest. Just tent a foil or lid over it. What temp were you aiming for?

I should have done that, it probably would have been fine. I can't remember the temp I was aiming for.

[pogrmman]

Jams and jellies, or confiture to be all frenchified about it, can be very easy to make. Get the Ball’s Blue Book of recipes and then follow the instructions for times and acid/sugar amounts. There’s a neat book called Small Batch Preserving which is good for people not looking to make 25 quarts of product at a time.

I was pretty shocked at how easy it was. Unfortunately, because prickly pear is an “unusual” fruit (especially wild ones), there’s not an abundance of recipes out there. I ended up using a mix of what was on the pectin jar (for the pectin amount) plus something I found online (for the acid + sugar amount).

Supposedly, prickly pear has high enzymatic activity that makes it reluctant to set, but boiling keeps that from happening. So I cooked it for about 15 minutes before adding anything else. Aside from that, it was pretty easy — and it seems to have set up nicely (though I haven’t opened any jars yet).

I’m probably going to try making Texas persimmon jam next — they’re just starting to ripen, and a very thick, dark black jam night look neat. Plus, they taste really good — super sweet and almost raisiny. I imagine that’ll be tricky to find a recipe for, though...

[sardia]

I should have done that, it probably would have been fine. I can't remember the temp I was aiming for.

It's meat all from the same cut; you either aim for rare (130F, 54C), medium rare(140F), medium well(150F), or high enough to convert collagen into gelatin(160+).

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/201 ... ecipe.html
I made beef stew today, except I forgot I was out of:
Chicken stock
Gelatin
vermouth or wine

It was still good, but the texture was off. I think I undercooked the mushrooms (was impatient, should have gone low and slow, instead of stirfry). Mushrooms are not friendly for quick evening meals, even with the magic of the pressurecooker. I should have used baking soda or something. I should have salted the beef more, and cut it into smaller pieces after searing to have better salt penetration. I don't think I ever deglazed with alcohol. It's not worth it if you don't drink.

[pogrmman]

I finally tried the jam today, and it came out really, really good. I think it’s way better than any commercial prickly pear jelly/jam I’ve had. The prickly pear flavor is very noticeable, and the lime juice I used to acidify works really well. Plus, it’s a lot less sweet (which I like). I’ve always loved the way prickly pear complements bread and butter, and his was even better because the prickly pear flavors were so noticeable.

The color is great, as is to be expected with prickly pear stuff:

Between the jam, butter, and sourdough, that was a really, really tasty snack.

[Zohar]

Lots of cooking yesterday! I made omelettes with beet greens, onions and cheddar, and some quick flatbread to go with them for brunch. Then I used up potatoes and squash in a version of this recipe, then I made the base for a cheesecake which I'll only bake today.

[Moo]

The official first dish I made in my new oven: Malva pudding for dessert at a braai on the weekend.

Traditional South African baked pudding, soaked in a buttery sugary syrup/sauce as soon as it comes out of the oven. Slightly creamy, slightly caramelly, comforting and heavenly.

[Zohar]

The official first dish I made in my new oven: Malva pudding for dessert at a braai on the weekend.

Traditional South African baked pudding, soaked in a buttery sugary syrup/sauce as soon as it comes out of the oven. Slightly creamy, slightly caramelly, comforting and heavenly.

Oh, so a British-style pudding. Sounds delicious - do you have a good recipe you're willing to share? Also congrats on the new oven, I hope you love it!

The other day I made some cheesecake for work. Just before I left to get groceries Alex asked if I'm making everything for work or leaving some for him, so I just made two instead.

[dubsola]

Malva pudding sounds amazing, I too would be keen to hear what's in it.

[PAstrychef]

The link to the article is a bit wonky-it went to a page claiming there was no article with that name, but when I typed Malva Pudding in the search bar the first return was a Wikipedia entry....
I made schnitzel and spaetzle for dinner. Both deceptive, in that they are really pretty easy and fast, but look like they took all day.

[Moo]

Yeah, sorry about that, I had a trailing "/" that broke the link. Someone was kind enough to point it out via PM but I was offline at the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malva_pudding

I have a few recipes but this one is the easiest, and delicious. I've typed it out as the original is in Afrikaans. It's one of those recipes that ends up being greater than the sum of the parts; don't be put off by the seemingly uninspiring ingredients list.

Spoiler:

Malva pudding
Serves 8-10

Pudding

• 1 cup all purpose or cake flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarb/baking soda
• 1 egg
• ¹/₂ cup milk
• ¹/₂ cup cream
• ³/₄ cup sugar
• 1 tbsp smooth apricot or peach jam (or similarly smooth jam or preserve without an overpowering flavour)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180'C (350'F)
Grease an overproof dish (mine is a rectangular pyrex baking dish, about 15x25cm).
Whisk together the dry ingredients.
Mix together the milk and cream, then beat in the egg and the jam.
Stir the sugar into the wet ingredients, then add the lemon juice.
Add to the dry ingredients and whisk until combined (you don't want any lumps, but don't overmix).
Bake for 30-40 minutes until deep brown and spongy, and a knife comes out clean.

Sauce

• 1¹/₂ cup evaporated milk, or 50:50 cream and milk
• ¹/₄-¹/₂ cup sugar, depending on how sweet you'd like it - I suggest you start with less unless you like your puddings quite sweet or are having it with unsweetened cream
• ¹/₂ cup (¹/₂ lb / 225g) butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ¹/₄ cup brandy or cognac - optional*

While the pudding is baking, heat all sauce ingredients together in a saucepan or in 1 minute bursts in the microwave, until the sugar is melted.

Pour the sauce over the pudding as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Serve with vanilla custard, vanilla ice cream, or softly whipped cream.

*Traditionally, if the sauce doesn't contain brandy, it should be called "Jan Ellis poeding" but I don't find it adds much and I don't always have some in the house.

[Zohar]

It's one of those recipes that ends up being greater than the sum of the parts; don't be put off by the seemingly uninspiring ingredients list.

That looks great, I should get on it soon. Well, maybe after we go through the cheesecake I made and some of our ridiculous amount of peaches (some of which will probably be turned to jam).

[PAstrychef]

Salmon soufflé. Soufflés are great fun, especially once I realized they are basically fancy omelette. We got some beautiful purple cauliflower at the farmers market and roasted it while the soufflé was baking. Tasted like cauliflower, surprise, surprise.

[Zohar]

Friday night I made fresh pasta and tomato sauce which turned out good, but the sauce was still a but watery after more than an hour of bubbling. I d disk true to make my first ever jam! We had tons of peaches and I used PAstrychef's suggestion for the Ball book. Unfortunately I didn't get enough pectin and they didn't set as much as I wanted. But delicious nonetheless. Yesterday we went to friends and in an effort to get rid of more peaches we made a pretty good crumble.

[dubsola]

Fried duck breasts with a reduced kumquat compote (still hard to say fast). The compote was more like a syrup by the time I was finished. It was AMAZING!

Served as part of a buffet with rice, pappadums, fish curry and dal - bit of a weird menu but very fantastic.

[Moo]

Sounds like my idea of a good time!

[PAstrychef]

White chicken chili and cornbread. Twenty minutes in the Instant pot. I did use canned beans. It’s been chilly and rainy here so it was just right.

[sardia]

White chicken chili and cornbread. Twenty minutes in the Instant pot. I did use canned beans. It’s been chilly and rainy here so it was just right.

Why cornbread instead of tortillas? Trying to emphasize the Tex part of Tex Mex?

[Thesh]

Cornbread is a fairly common side with chili; it was the default in my house growing up.

[Moo]

Why cornbread instead of tortillas? Trying to emphasize the Tex part of Tex Mex?

letpeople.jpg (57.37 KiB) Viewed 1921 times

[Thesh]

Stop promoting the myth that there are multiple ways to prepare meals.

[PAstrychef]

I’m one of those people from the northeast, I even like the kind of chili they make in Cincinnati. So it’s cornbread for me. I put the leftovers straight into the freezer so they don’t get too much spicier before we eat them.