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[CrystalGemini]

Yesterday's dinner:

Scallops and roasted king mushrooms with a tarragon cream sauce

Steamed mussels

Vichyssoise

Wasn't super happy with the mussels. First time making them - just felt they were more work (mostly prep) than they're worth.

 

[Easy_G]

Yesterday's dinner:

Scallops and roasted king mushrooms with a tarragon cream sauce

.

Duuuuuude. Dinner will not satisfy me tonight, that's for sure. Awesome job!

 

[Haly]

Awesome! Is that some fried chicken? Also, avocado, red onion, and balsamic is an amazing combo. I don't know what you made the dressing out of, but I've discovered that a dressing of olive oil, dark balsamic vinegar, and whole grain mustard is delicious. The ratio of ingredients is maybe around 6-2-1, respectively. Not sure since I just make it up each time.

Hopefully you keep up the trend of cooking! Some people get bogged down in the labor of it, but hopefully you instead enjoy it and end up wanting to cook each night.

It's a pan fried breaded pork chop. And the dressing was extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper and salt. Really easy to throw together. I sometimes make a dressing out of dijon mustard and lemon juice as well but it's a bit of an effort to whisk it together (I don't have a mini whisk) so sometimes I just stick to the basics.

 

[Easy_G]

It's a pan fried breaded pork chop. And the dressing was extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper and salt. Really easy to throw together. I sometimes make a dressing out of dijon mustard and lemon juice as well but it's a bit of an effort to whisk it together (I don't have a mini whisk) so sometimes I just stick to the basics.

I've found using mustard in a typical vinaigrette makes it very easy to whisk (which you may know already). That dressing I described of olive oil, balsamic, and mustard whisks together with a fork in seconds and doesn't separate.

Also, pork is delicious and not used enough. Have you tried cooking pork shoulder chops? Cheaper than normal and they have a bit more bone to fight through, but the meat itself is so much more flavorful than normal pork chops. Also, pork tenderloin makes for a very easy and tasty roast.


Anyway, I really shouldn't have visited this thread tonight since I have nothing planned for dinner besides bread, cheese, and alcohol. Could be worse I suppose.

 

[Haly]

Also, pork is delicious and not used enough. Have you tried cooking pork shoulder chops? Cheaper than normal and they have a bit more bone to fight through, but the meat itself is so much more flavorful than normal pork chops. Also, pork tenderloin makes for a very easy and tasty roast.

No, never. I'll keep an eye out for it in the future I'm always up for new cuts of meat.

 

[Frank the Great]

I thought I hated pork, but turns out my mother just didn't know how to prepare it properly (it was always overcooked and dry.) Now I fucking love it, I try to get it when I go out to eat, which would have been unthinkable a while ago.

Haven't really experimented with cooking it at home, I really should though.

 

[nakedsushi]

Yesterday's dinner:

Steamed mussels

I love steamed mussels! What did you use for the steaming broth? White wine?

 

[CrystalGemini]

I love steamed mussels! What did you use for the steaming broth? White wine?

Yep! I used this:

Nice fruity wine. Sauteed the leftover tops of the leeks from the vichyssoise (I don't like wasting "throwaway" parts), scallions, pepper flakes, black pepper and parsley. Added wine and chicken broth then reduced.

 

[hitsugi]

I made a caprese with roast tomatoes and pesto for my wife's bday:

Also a chocolate marbled cheesecake:

Money shot after a few slices:

Not pictured: white pizza with shaved potato, leek, bacon, mozz and cotija cheese.. not sure what happened there; we just ate it.

 

[Cosmic Bus]

let's get fat

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Pan-fried brussel sprouts, tossed in a homemade chili-tare, served over a bed of rice.

Gotta say, I'm pretty happy with how that chili sauce came out. It's a tad salty though, so I'll need to lessen the amount of soy sauce next time.

 

[Silkworm]

let's get fat

Damn lovely looking croissants, Cosmic You always have a nice presentation of whatever you share. One of these days I want to take a stab at making some though I'll definitely need to set aside some time to do so.

Steamed mussels

Just curious but what recipe did you follow for the mussels? I saw a recent recipe in Cook's Illustrated which looked pretty easy. I thought I might try it when I visit my parents, since my Mom really likes mussels. The recipe from CI is as follows:

Oven-Steamed Mussels

Published September 1, 2013. From Cook's Illustrated.
Serves 2 to 4.

Why this recipe works:

To even out the cooking of our steamed mussels and prevent overcooking, we move them to the gentle, enveloping heat of the oven, in a large roasting pan, so they aren’t too crowded.

Discard any mussel with an unpleasant odor or with a cracked or broken shell or a shell that won’t close. Serve with crusty bread.


Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch red pepper flakes
1 cup dry white wine
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
4 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 500 degrees. Heat oil, garlic, and pepper flakes in large roasting pan over medium heat; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add wine, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves and bring to boil. Cook until wine is slightly reduced, about 1 minute. Add mussels and salt. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil and transfer to oven. Cook until most mussels have opened (a few may remain closed), 15 to 18 minutes.

2. Remove pan from oven. Push mussels to sides of pan. Add butter to center and whisk until melted. Discard thyme sprigs and bay leaves, sprinkle parsley over mussels, and toss to combine. Serve immediately.

 

[meow]

let's get fat

First time wandering in here but this looks amazing!! How?!

 

[Cosmic Bus]

With a lot of time and counter space.

Croissants in a nutshell: a fairly stiff dough rolled into a large square with a smaller square of butter in the center. It's folded up like a letter, rolled out lengthwise, folded up again, rolled out, etc... This creates hundreds of extremely thin layers (slice a slab of croissant dough in half and it looks like a stack of paper) that expand in the oven as moisture in the butter creates steam. You can cut the sheet into whatever shapes you want, but it's traditional to use either long triangles or rectangles and roll them up. Braided croissants are really pretty, too.

Fun fact: France has a law that designates only croissants made entirely with butter can be straight; if they have margarine or shortening, they have to be curved/crescent moon-shaped.

 

[nakedsushi]

Daamn, nice croissants Cosmic Bus. Those are one of those things I think I want to try to make, but when I look at the instructions...naaaah. Too much work.

 

[CrystalGemini]

Steamed mussels

Just curious but what recipe did you follow for the mussels? I saw a recent recipe in Cook's Illustrated which looked pretty easy. I thought I might try it when I visit my parents, since my Mom really likes mussels.

I usually use a mix of recipes and kind of tweak it to my liking. I like foodwishes videos on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4z2gmtUzHE

The cooking is super easy. It's more the prep I found time consuming. Plus the mussels I got weren't the cleanest mussels so it took even more time.

 

[Cosmic Bus]

I'VE BEEN SHANKED

Herb crusted lamb shank, berry lambic reduction, melon rye panzanella, roasted onions.

Spoiler

why am I still single

 

[Haly]

Unnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnf

 

[killertofu]

I'VE BEEN SHANKED

Herb crusted lamb shank, berry lambic reduction, melon rye panzanella, roasted onions.

Spoiler

why am I still single

hooooot damnnnnn.

I'd go out with you. Are you female? You know what, doesn't matter.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Forgot to take photos, but I did a test run at bánh mì and loved it. Hangar steak, fish caramel and cilantro. I'm going to quick-pickle my own vegetables, then eventually make another attempt at the sandwiches.

I've recently discovered how fucking amazing Vietnamese food is, and how my natural cooking style closely resembles it. I use garlic, ginger, scallions and fish sauce in practically everything I cook.

 

[Mario]

I'VE BEEN SHANKED

Herb crusted lamb shank, berry lambic reduction, melon rye panzanella, roasted onions.

Spoiler

why am I still single

Looks amazing.

 

[thespot84]

alright i need irongaf to the rescue here.

I have a chopped themed dinner tomorrow. My basket includes prosciutto, firm tofu, and tomato paste. Any ideas?

I'm thinking some kind of take on ketchup and fries, making my own ketchup and frying the tofu. Still no idea what to do with the prosciutto though...

 

[Etrian Oddity]

First thing that came to my mind:

Salad

• Cut tofu into tiny cubes, coat in cornstarch and deep fry till crispy
• Shred prosciutto into bite-sized bolts
• Use some of the tomato paste for the foundation of a dressing or vinaigrette; make sure to use proper liquids and spices to achieve a texture that isn't too thick, as well as a flavor that isn't too tomato-y but has just enough hints of it for umami
• Bowl full of spinach or lettuce, maybe throw some shredded carrot and onion in there
• Salt, pepper, a lil olive oil.

But then again, I'm a little odd.

 

[Haly]

Is the prosciutto thin sliced?

 

[Kenka]

For some reason, visiting this thread has a rather negative effect on my mood, while I first expected it to be uplifting. Could it be that I am horribly jealous of your talents ?

That must be it. I have to catch up to restor my honour. YOU started it all, GAF ! En garde !

 

[Haly]

Tofu makes me think Chinese and I know of two dishes where you could feasibly use those ingredients together.

1) Stinky Tofu

Obviously you can't properly impart that stinky smell in such short a time but the basic principle is the same. Deep fry it with a coating of flour to make it crisp. Make a tangy and spicy dipping sauce. Here you can use the tomato paste where you would normally use canned tomatoes so you wind up with something like an Asian shrimp cocktail sauce. And, to incorporate the prosicutto, role up a slice (or cut a cube if it's a slab) and press it into the top of the tofu post frying (or prefrying, some variations do this with shrimp).

2) Mapo Tofu

Replace the ground beef/pork with minced pan fried prosciutto. Add tomato paste when making the sauce to add a little extra bit of saltiness and sourness. Kind of a cheat because the typical flavors will totally drown out the tomato paste.

Maybe focusing on the tofu is the wrong way to go about it... I think if you can figure out what to do with the tomato paste you can just add the other two after. A tofu chili with bits of prosciutto, for example.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh daaaaaaaang, mapo tofu is definitely the way to go. Didn't even think of that.

 

[Rouh]

Cosmic, isn't the berry reduction kind of in the acidic side/overpower the taste? or does it marry the red meat well?

Anyway, that picture+the croissant=amazing!

 

[Antiwhippy]

So is there a good burger recipe that goes well with brioche?

I'm about to make some brioche and decided to make some burger bun style brioche along with a loaf.

 

[n0n44m]

So is there a good burger recipe that goes well with brioche?

I'm about to make some brioche and decided to make some burger bun style brioche along with a loaf.

I always use brioche buns for burgers nowadays, they don't tear when you're biting into them and they are very chewable

I like them with any style of burger to be honest ... I always use large patties though, because the bread itself fills you up as well so I'll just make 1 really big burger

I made a burger with gorgonzola and sauteed onions a few weeks ago, that was nice. Yesterday I just had american cheese, pickles, tomatoes, diced onions and coleslaw ... great as well. (pic)

Have one bun left, so tonight I'll probably try to make a jucy-lucy

 

[Antiwhippy]

Hmm, I was afraid that a brioche would be too rich and sweet for a burger, but I guess I have nothing to fear then.

Now I just need to figure out how to grill a good patty. I'm pretty clueless in that department.

I think I'd want to try a jalapeno burger.

 

[n0n44m]

I make mine using 160 ml milk, 80 ml water and 40 g butter, 1 egg, 5g yeast, 5g salt 15g sugar and 375g flour. That makes 4 buns. Real brioche recipes probably use more butter and eggs, so those would be a bit more "enriched" I think ?

The key to a decent patty is just decent meat. I buy mine at a local supermarket, so it's not the greatest but they use the exact right coarseness to make burgers from (i.e. nice thick strands of minced beef).

Other supermarkets I've tried had way to thin minced beef, which is useless for making patties as they'll probably fall apart, unless you compress them so hard they'll resemble hockey pucks

I usually put on a tiny bit of olive oil, worcestershire sauce, black pepper grind and some chili flakes. (skip everything but the pepper if you have quality meat from your local butcher!) Then I loosely form a ball, shape that a bit with some more pressure.

Heat up a pan with some oil, salt the patty on one side, drop the patty in (salted side down), flatten it with a spatula for a few seconds, salt the upper side, flip it after a minute, flip it back after the 2nd minute, turn down the gas and then cook it for another 2 minutes per side for 6 minutes in total (that's just about well done).

Grill is basically the same (sear over coals, then cook next to coals with lid on) , the only issue is that when your meat falls apart in a pan you can recover most if it, but on the grill it drops into the coals ...

 

[CrystalGemini]

1) Stinky Tofu

Obviously you can't properly impart that stinky smell in such short a time but the basic principle is the same. Deep fry it with a coating of flour to make it crisp. Make a tangy and spicy dipping sauce. Here you can use the tomato paste where you would normally use canned tomatoes so you wind up with something like an Asian shrimp cocktail sauce. And, to incorporate the prosicutto, role up a slice (or cut a cube if it's a slab) and press it into the top of the tofu post frying (or prefrying, some variations do this with shrimp).

NNNOOOOO....... If you strain tofu and leave it in the refrigerator to dry overnight there is no need for flour - not a fan of the combination at all. Tofu crisps up very nicely by itself.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Mmm, sounds good. I suppose a butcher would have better mince?

Excited to give it a try though. For my toppings I guess that I'll just put some lettuce, jalapenos and cheddar.

 

[Haly]

NNNOOOOO....... If you strain tofu and leave it in the refrigerator to dry overnight there is no need for flour - not a fan of the combination at all. Tofu crisps up very nicely by itself.

I'm assuming it works like Chopped and he doesn't get prep time!

 

[Tom Penny]

Dinner

 

[Cosmic Bus]

Cosmic, isn't the berry reduction kind of in the acidic side/overpower the taste? or does it marry the red meat well?

Anyway, that picture+the croissant=amazing!

I was vaguely concerned about the acidity, but cooking down for an hour with the drippings from the lamb and a little corn starch slurry kept it pretty smooth. The flavor was deep and interesting without being too intense, and it was an excellent pair with the gamey meat.

 

[thespot84]

thanks for the help guys. I ended up playing it mostly safe and went with a caprese slider w/ prosciutto and french fries (fried tofu) with homemade ketchup.

Presentation needs some work. I've had map tofu and it was awesome, so I'll be trying that soon regardless.

EDIT: regarding the frying, I had the afternoon, so I set the tofu on paper towels and drained for a while with a pot on top for weight, then coated with cornstarch and fried. They turned out pretty good. I did coat them early and fry right before dinner as I had to move kitchens halfway through, so in the future i'll probably coat and fry closer together, to avoid some clumping action

 

[Antiwhippy]

I make mine using 160 ml milk, 80 ml water and 40 g butter, 1 egg, 5g yeast, 5g salt 15g sugar and 375g flour. That makes 4 buns. Real brioche recipes probably use more butter and eggs, so those would be a bit more "enriched" I think ?

Hmm, do you by chance have a recipe for this brioche? The brioche I want to make would take too damn long.

Also how many buns is that?

 

[Maklershed]

Dinner

What are those things at the top? Taquitos?

 

[Metroid Killer]

Holy Crab! That's a whole lot of crab...

I'm back from Japan, and I already miss all the good food. Even their fast food is on a whole other level compared to what we get in Denmark. I didn't take that many photos as this was my 5th time in Japan and most of it is just gonna look like a repetition from earlier albums. I did however visit a handful of Pastry shops which is something that has never been a goal of mine in any of the earlier trips.

Been to a lot of fine shops. Pierre Hermé, Sadaharu Aoki amongst others. Unfortunately the shop I wanted to see the most, Hidemi Sugino, was closed the day I got to it :/ Also I really wish I could eat more, when visiting these shops, you wanna try as much as possible, but after two pieces of cakes it would be unfair for your tastebuds to go on.

I got to make my own pastry one of the nights as well. Simple spongecake with azuki beans filling, chocolate icing and green tea powder. Very simple, but pretty good considering I was living out of my suitcase.

Good to be back!

 

[PhiLonius]

All those pastries look delicious.

 

[n0n44m]

Hmm, do you by chance have a recipe for this brioche? The brioche I want to make would take too damn long.

Also how many buns is that?

This makes four really large buns.

- Pour 160 ml milk & 80 ml water in a pan, add 40 g butter. Slowly let that heat up to about 50 degrees C, stir a bit to have the butter melt nicely.

- Meanwhile, break an egg and have that ready somewhere. Now put 6g salt, 375g flour, 15 g sugar and 5g instant-yeast in a bowl.

- Mix the dry ingredients around a bit, then pour in the hot milk/water/butter mixture while continuing to mix (I use an electric hand mixer). Quickly add the egg as well, so it thickens up the dough due to the heat.

- Continue to mix for about four to five minutes, it should look very smooth by then. Put it on a floured surface, and divide into four (or more) pieces. Now stretch those out until they are rectangles, then fold each side double, twice. (some more stretching might be needed)

- Now use both hands, and shape them into balls by pushing the center upwards with both thumbs, thereby stretching out the sides and mixing the layers of dough together. Continue doing that until you have a nice smooth ball, then put it on a baking sheet and flatten it slightly until it has the shape you want.

- Cover the balls (wet towel, cling wrap, bowls, whatever) to avoid drying them out, then leave them at room temperature for at maximum one hour. They will *considerably* grow in size.

- Meanwhile heat up the oven; I have a baking stone and set mine to [convection] 180 C. I bake them in about 20 minutes.

They grow even more in the oven ... this was the last batch

For true brioche I guess you should put some egg wash on top of the buns before baking right? Also, don't forget to toast the insides of your burger buns. If you want less oversized buns, I think you're safe to divide this into 8 portions, and flatten the balls some more so you still have quite a bit of "surface" on the buns.

By the way I ended up making that Jucy-Lucy burger recipe last night.

this patty looks huge it is stuffed with american cheese ... damn messy but tasty. Took me quite a bit of intense exercise today to get rid of the guilt hehe

 

[Antiwhippy]

Man, those buns look great. I'll try it today and see how it turns out.

How fast do you set the hand mixer to?

 

[Antiwhippy]

Hah, at first I thought I messed up because the buns weren't as rich as a regular brioche is, but the mild richness complemented the burger very well. Would definitely recommend n0n44m's recipe. It was delicious.

Turned out my butcher had some nice, thick mince so the burger patties came out nice. Put in cayenne pepper and chili oil because I like it spicy. Topped it off with some pickled jalapenos and cheese, on a bed of cos lettuce.

The burger were indeed huge but it was just right for me. Too big for the rest of my family though.

It was a fun recipe to tackle.


burgertime by Antiwhippy, on Flickr

 

[Metroid Killer]

----~ Season's Sweet ~---- (September)

Plum Semifreddo

I've never had semifreddo before, but assumed it was similar to frozen mousse. And it is, but slightly thicker, because of the beaten eggs. I feel that plums are really good for such a semifreddo, they sorta acted like chewy, plum-tasting ice cubes, inside the cream. Good stuff!
The crunchy almonds, and the crust with a bite were a great contrast to the cold and soft upper part of the dessert. I used some tasty yellow plums for the semifreddo and while they add a lot of plum taste to the dessert, a red variety of plums would have made the presentation even better.

~Recipe~

Ingredients

Praline Crust
200 g digestive crackers (blended to fine crumbs)
3 tbsp butter
100 g almonds
110 g sugar
60 ml water​

Plum Semifreddo
110 g sugar
2 eggs
250 ml cream
250 g plums, pitted and chopped
2 tbsp sugar
​

Directions

Praline Crust
- Prepare a pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Cook water and sugar in a saucepan over high heat. Stir as the sugar dissolves and bring it to a boil.
- Add the almonds and turn heat down to medium. Keep stirring. After 8 or so minutes the sugar will crystalize around the almonds, continue stirring and the sugar will eventually melt once again.
- Move the almonds on to the pan and seperate them from each other. Cool at room temperature. Once cooled, chop them up into desired pieces.
- Prepare a (25cmx10cm)loaf pan by lining it up with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic extend out over the edges.
- Stir the cracker crumbs and butter together in a medium bowl, then press it firmly into the lined pan. Sprinkle with the glaced almonds and press them lightly into the crust. Place in freeze while making the semifreddo.

Plum Semifreddo
- Beat eggs and sugar in a medium heatproof bowl for 5 mins. Then place bowl in a hot waterbath and continue beating until the mixture has reached a temperature of 60°C. Cool in fridge for 20 mins
- In another bowl beat the cream to stiff peaks and fold it into the eggs.
- Stir together the plums and the bit of sugar and gently fold them into the cream. Pour into the pan and freeze overnight.​

 

[Metroid Killer]

----~ Season's Sweet ~---- (September)

Plum Eclairs

These were fun to make, and I was very happen to find a pastry that made my fresh ripe plums really shine. Choux Pastry is one of my favorite pastry dough as it's simple and quick to make, and it doesn't contain sugar which means that even a sugary filling wont make your teeth fall when making choux pastry desserts. For some reason I have never made eclairs though, but after thinking what to make with plums and coming up with plum custard, suddenly the dots connected.
I was surprised how much the custard actually taste of plum as the plums I was using were rather subtle in taste, but it really came through as well as in the icing. You can use any variety of plum, but red/purple plums will yield a more impressive visual look.


~Recipe~

Ingredients

Choux Pastry
Yields ~20 eclairs
100 g butter
250 ml water
130 g flour
3-4 eggs​

Plum Custard
Fills ~10 eclairs
250 g plums, pitted and puréed
2 eggs
250 ml water
125 ml cream
2 tbsp cornstarch
½ vanilla bean
​

Plum Icing
250 g plums, pitted and sliced
150 ml water
300 g powdered sugar​

Directions

Choux Pastry
- Preheat the oven at 200°C. Prepare a baking pan with parchment paper.
- Cook water and butter in a saucepan.
- Once the butter has melted and the water comes to a boil, add the flour while beating(use a wooden spoon or mixer)
- Once the mixture has combined and comes off the saucepan and spoon, take it off the heat to cool for a couple of minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time, and beat well each time. Once the dough gets this shiny, wet appearance (around the 3rd or 4th egg) it's ready.
- Scoop up the dough in a piping or plastic bag, and pipe your desired sized eclairs on the baking pan. Remember that coux pastry almost doubles in size (length and wide) when baking in the oven
- Bake at 200°C for 25 mins or until they become golden. DON'T open the oven before they are done, as that will let the steam out of the eclairs making them collapse.
- You can let them cool off inside the turned off oven, half open, but they'll make it if you take them out due to another batch waiting to be baked. Make sure to cut the piping hole open as you take them of the oven. This will let the steam out and have them be ready to be filled.

Plum Custard
- Add liquids and cornstarch in a pot and mix carefully. Scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean and add both seeds and the empty bean to the pot. Cook over low heat.
- Remove vanilla bean. Beat eggs slightly and add to the mixture, add plum purée.
- Cook until the custard turns thick and let it cool for 15 minutes in fridge before piping.

Plum Icing
- Heat water and plums in a small saucepan for 15 mins or until the structure of the plums have dissolved. Drain through a sieve and discard the pulp.
- Take a couple of tbsp of sugar and mix a couple of tsp of the still hot plum liquid. Then alternate between adding sugar and liquid until you have reached your desired amount and consistency.​

 

[CRS]

Bravo. Teach me your pastry ways.

 

[Metroid Killer]

Bravo. Teach me your pastry ways.

It requires a strong stomach and high metabolism

 

[Keen]

No-Waste Tacos de Carnitas


Ingredients:

Done: