#Adventures in Cooking

[cacchieressa]

Made breakfast tacos this morning - there's also melted cheese under the eggs for a true bacon, egg, and cheese experience.

[jtargaryen18]

Okay, the cooking thing continues lol Was watching Ratatouille with the kids over the weekend and the younger one asked if we could make the titular dish. I said sure. Then I panicked. Yeah, me make something like that? No way... No.

But, this morning I got up and looked up the recipe. The only reason I even tried it is because most of the ingredients are out in my garden. All except the onions and garlic - but the hubby always has those on hand. And eggplant. When I first learned to garden, I learned my region isn't the best for growing eggplant and people try to grow them anyway to keep bugs from eating everything else. It does work, btw. But the squash, zucchini, tomatoes, bell pepper, parsley, and basil? I had those.

It didn't look like much but it was good. 🤷‍♀️

I'll work on presentation next time.

[boreal-sea]

Bought some fresh basil for the first time ever, decided to taste a leaf to see what the deal is. I know this is not how you are supposed to eat basil. I did it for science. Here is my response, in order:

Initial inspection: "Hm, smells really nice. Very sweet, and a bit peppery?"

First chew: "Ew, why is it spiky and rough?"

Second chew: "This just tastes like every leaf I tried to eat as a kid."

Waiting after second chew for a moment: "Oh lord, there's the minty sensation."

At that point I spat it out.

Now. I know basil is not actually meant to be eaten alone whole-leaf like that. You're supposed use a single leaf to season a whole dish as pop of flavor, and I can see this definitely doing that. I'll try chopping up a leaf properly and adding it to my pasta tonight.

[ainawgsd]

Fish for dinner two nights in a row!

I tried making a foux cucumber dill hollandaise (it wasn't really successful) and putting it over a bed of wild rice blend and spinach

[yavieriel]

Someone needs to suffer for convincing people that glass and marble are valid choices for making cutting boards.

If it's marble or glass, it's a pastry board meant for keeping dough cool while working it and you absolutely should not be using anything sharper than a pastry cutter on it.

Cutting boards need to be wood or plastic, soft enough that they don't dull your knives. Stop the knife abuse. Respect your tools!

[missimbalance]

Creative project for today. Let's count it as birthday baking already.

Might post an 'expectations vs reality' comparison later. Might be funny or sad, as it already didn't go as planned at the mixing level.

[sunmontuewrites]

So tasty...

[cacchieressa]

Made pizza for dinner. Turned out well!

[emilysarmstrong]

I love to make manly men who think they're so macho contend with the fact that I, a short, chubby, queer girl clad in bright pink can man a grill better than them

[hxans]

I was feeling like having a vegetarian meal and my husband was like a curry! Make a vege curry! So I went, yeah, ok, that could work.

We've been getting monthly deliveries from a company called wonky box which tries to acquire and redistribute 'wonky' fruit and veg that supermarkets reject. It's all perfectly edible, but will be the wrong size or weord shaped or whatever other excuse.

So anyway it has made it much easier for us to get our 5+ a day, and it meant I had a mix of things that I could dump in the slow cooker for the day to make it.

This one was garlic, potato, leek, carrot, longstem broccoli, chickpeas and lentils. I kept back a cup of chickpeas and lentils and blitzed them up with a splash of coconut cream, to help thicken the sauce. That was more coconut cream along with curry paste, some bay leaves, chopped chilies, plus extra curry powder & mumbai spice mix added after I tasted it and found the flavour too mild, and some coriander.

Served it on some rice, and cheated somewhat by having a tortilla with it instead of making fresh flatbread.

[ir0n-angel]

Spouse is asking for Chicken Cordon Bleu for his birthday dinner and my cookbooks are failing me.

Rather than turn to a random internet search, I thought I'd ask my fellow recipe sharing friend if they have a fave.

Do ya? 🤔

This is an approximation of what I do, though I don't use a cream sauce on top and I sometimes use brie instead of swiss. But yeah, this is relatively easy way.

[writing-relatedactivities]

Finally made a Star Trek cocktail that looks almost like the Star Trek cocktail in my Star Trek cocktails book! The melon liqueur kind of disappeared in this Samarian Sunset, but the other layers worked out!

[yavieriel]

Love a "quick and easy lunch recipe" that starts with instructions for hand making orecchiette.

[lady-sci]

rotisserie chicken tacos with cilantro vinegar slaw and pickled onions!

this turned out better than I was hoping (was expecting fine & it was really good!) and the leftover chicken will definitely become burritos on monday. vibe based recipes are under the cut

slaw: mix lime juice, rice vinegar, a tiny bit of soy sauce, maple syrup, and sriracha in the bottom of a large bowl. Add a bag of coleslaw mix (mine had green & purple cabbage and carrots), 3 green onions (chopped), and half a bunch of cilantro (chopped). Toss to combine & let sit while preparing the rest

chicken: shred cooked chicken. in a skillet heat up some salsa, tomato paste, chipotle in adobo, and taco seasoning with enough water to thin it out. once the flavoring all looks like one thing add your chicken & stir to coat. let it cook until everything is heated through while you warm your tortillas. optional: add a bit of oil and let it get a bit crispy

pickled onions: equal parts rice vinegar, white vinegar to ~3/4 cup, add 1/4 cup water and heat. Add a tsp of salt and a splash of maple syrup and stir until salt is dissolved. Slice onions root vertically and arrange in a jar, pour hot vinegar on the onions & add any extra flavorings you want. I did a clove of garlic, mustard seeds, and Sichuan peppercorns. let sit at least half an hour, I made mine the night before when I had an extra half onion from something else. put on EVERYTHING

taco seasoning: if, like me, you don't actually have that many premade spice blends this is what I cobbled together as a salt-free taco seasoning. 1 tbsp mexican chili powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1tsp cumin, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp onion powder, about 10 grinds of black pepper, 1/4 tsp aleppo pepper.

[missimbalance]

My apple vinegar started smelling of vinegar at last! :D

[ailelie]

Lotus Seeds

Because of MDZS/Untamed/etc fic, I am making lotus seed buns.

Lotus seeds, I've learned, are vaguely sweet in the way raw cashews are sweet and do have a nutty flavor. They are soft like chestnuts, but I'm not sure the flavor is comparable beyond nutty.

The centers of lotus seeds are, as promised by fic, bitter. However, they aren't just bitter. I love bitter. These are medicinally astringent bitter. When you first bite them, they seem fine and then they fill your mouth with more flavor than seems possible by the tiny little bit of green and white. If I had to describe them with a single word, I'd go with astringent over bitter.

Anyway, I am currently boiling a pot of seeds to soften them. Once it boils, they'll simmer for an hour. And then we move on with making the paste for my buns!

This is the recipe I'm using btw: https://www.seriouseats.com/chinese-lotus-seed-buns-recipe