The Cooking Thread

[LyceeFruit PE]

The recipe is from Alison Roman's Nothing Fancy cookbook. Here's a link on some blogger's website to the recipe:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.stephaniedickison.com/articles/alison-roman-recipe-ricotta-stuffed-shells%3Fformat%3Damp

sO i THINK i NEED TO FIND THAT COOKBOOK

 

[LyceeFruit PE]

also did not realize i was in caps lock when i typed that but too lazy to retype. so yelling it is 

 

[leggo PE]

*looks at it*

I remembered I don't really like mushrooms (they always taste...musty to me?), but I want to try more and I think something like this will def make me enjoy them.  Or at least give me an excuse to eat stuffed shells again.

I used a mixture of 1 lb crimini, and half pounds each of oyster and shiitake mushrooms, to attempt to keep costs down. I like mushrooms and it worked out really well!

Though buying all the cheese was $$!

 

[leggo PE]

sO i THINK i NEED TO FIND THAT COOKBOOK

Everything I have made from it has been super good! Except for the cheesy seeded breadsticks, but I say that was my own fault for not putting enough liquid in the dough (I should have known better!). 

I highly recommend this cookbook!

 

[LyceeFruit PE]

Everything I have made from it has been super good! Except for the cheesy seeded breadsticks, but I say that was my own fault for not putting enough liquid in the dough (I should have known better!). 

I highly recommend this cookbook!

It's showing as backordered thru my local bookstore. I'll check the other bookstore plus the library.

 

[JayKay PE]

I used a mixture of 1 lb crimini, and half pounds each of oyster and shiitake mushrooms, to attempt to keep costs down. I like mushrooms and it worked out really well!

Though buying all the cheese was $$!

CHEESE IS SO EXPENSIVE.  It's why my mom doesn't make her 20-lb lasagna as much, since it takes like 4 containers of ricotta and gets sooooo expensive.  I might try this recipe this upcoming Sunday, if I have grocery money in the budget to splurge on cheese and mushrooms.  I want to try new things, but don't want to pay too much like in a restaurant?  Does that make sense?  Like, if I taste it while I make it, maybe it will endear me more to it?

And ditto to @LyceeFruit PE.  I want to try and find this cookbook and try it out a bit before maybe buying it.  I got a dessert cookbook for Christmas, I saw it at Costco and mentioned it to my sister.  It...has a lot of really pretty pictures, but the recipes aren't anything super dramatic/exciting?  I'll look through again, but it was all instagram recipes instead of solid desserts.

 

[LyceeFruit PE]

There are 18 people in front of me for the Nothing Fancy cookbook. And 12 on her other one. 

So I'll just sit here and wait til it's my turn lol 

 

[JayKay PE]

There are 18 people in front of me for the Nothing Fancy cookbook. And 12 on her other one. 

So I'll just sit here and wait til it's my turn lol 

*places hold through libby*

I am number 10 for nothing fancy and number 2 for the other one.  Maybe we have more copies?

 

[LyceeFruit PE]

*places hold through libby*

I am number 10 for nothing fancy and number 2 for the other one.  Maybe we have more copies?

We have 2 copies of Nothing Fancy and one for the other. My library has 4 branches 

OOOO I still have my library card from the last town I lived in PLUS MaineCAT! OOOOO 

 

[JayKay PE]

We have 2 copies of Nothing Fancy and one for the other. My library has 4 branches 

OOOO I still have my library card from the last town I lived in PLUS MaineCAT! OOOOO 

Library crowd-source that cookbook!

 

[leggo PE]

It's a very popular cookbook... It was backordered on Amazon (I got my copy through an independent bookstore) in mid-December and just got restocked like, yesterday.

 

[LyceeFruit PE]

Library crowd-source that cookbook!

I did!

It was available thru MaineCAT 

17 libraries across the state have it (2 of them being my library system)

it was only available now at 3 of them. And 3 have it as "local use only" lol

 

[Violator]

We just purchased a bunch of wings from Wing Stop and called it Dinner and Snacks!

 

[ChebyshevII PE PMP]

We just purchased a bunch of wings from Wing Stop and called it Dinner and Snacks!

 

[LyceeFruit PE]

I picked up the book this week. The shear amount of fennel is disappointing. I cant stand fennel. Im happy that i didnt pay for this book. Im going to copy 15 of the recipes and will probably make like 4.

 

[Supe]

I finally took a whack at my Nana's beef soup recipe.  I really wish we had it written down before she passed, but I'm in the ballpark for a first attempt going from memory/scratch.  It would good enough for me to overeat, anyways.

-Big package of soup bones from BJ's.  Roasted in the oven at 450 until browned on both sides over a bed of carrots, onions, garlic, and celery.

-Took roasted items, tossed into instant pot, filled with water, pressure cook high for 2 hours.

-Drain pressure cooker contents through cheese cloth, making sure to really squeeze the bag.

-Brown some bone-in chuck on the stove.

-Into a giant pot goes the beef chuck, large can of diced tomatoes, half a big can of crushed tomatoes, small can of tomato paste, salt, pepper, seasoned salt, bay leaves, and Hungarian paprika.  Simmer contents on medium-low for what seems like an eternity.  

-Add carrots, onion, and celery late in the game.  Cook until the carrots are tender.  I made a mistake and thought there were green beans in her recipe so I added them too.  I was wrong, will omit the green beans next time.

-Pull the beef chuck remove the bones.  Coarse chop the fall-apart beef, return the beef and the bone marrow to the pot.

-Serve over egg noodles with an extra dash of seasoned salt.

One thing is that this recipe HAS to be better the next day.  In fact, I'm not even sure my Nana ever served it the day it was cooked.  First reason is that a lot of grease/fat floats to the top of the pot on this one, from both the bone broth and subsequent cooking of the meat.  She always let this solidify and then scraped it off to make the soup a little less oily.  The other reason is that some magic happens with the melding of the flavors when it sits.  When I started with just the bone broth, which smells kind of funky, I thought it was going to be a disaster and that I was all wrong.  Once the tomatoes and everything started going in, I still thought it was going to be a disaster, as all the constituents sort of float around on their own.  It's not until much later in the cooking does everything start to really break down, and you get this intensely red broth.  I ate a bowl hot, it was good, not great.  It sat on the stove for a while mostly cooled down at that point, when I snuck another taste (or 12).  THERE it was, that "this tastes like Nana's soup" moment.  

I do need to experiment a little more with the tomato aspect.  Something seemed just a bit off, and I'm wondering if she may have used an actual can of plain tomato sauce in lieu of crushed tomatoes, purely from a textural perspective.  I may try that next time instead.

 

[JayKay PE]

  I ate a bowl hot, it was good, not great.  It sat on the stove for a while mostly cooled down at that point, when I snuck another taste (or 12).  THERE it was, that "this tastes like Nana's soup" moment.  

I do need to experiment a little more with the tomato aspect.  Something seemed just a bit off, and I'm wondering if she may have used an actual can of plain tomato sauce in lieu of crushed tomatoes, purely from a textural perspective.  I may try that next time instead.

As someone who has had to deal with a lot of 'older recipes', cheaper ingredients + time always end up getting closest to the result.  I remember my mom would make soup (tomato, chicken, beef, whatever) and she would start in the morning and by around 1pm I'd be on 'skim the surface'-duty, in-between running outside like an idiot and playing in the dirt.  For tomato flavoring, my mom and grandma always used tomato paste with seasoning instead of crushed or diced tomatoes.  I think they only threw that in if it was the last resort.

 

[Supe]

I had tomato paste in there, but distinctly remember the chunks of tomato in the soup.  I don't believe she used basil/oregano like most of the stuff comes pre-seasoned with now, but I know for sure it had thyme and paprika, so those went in.  Time is definitely important though, this pot probably had a good 6 hours of cook time on it, in addition to the two hours for pressure cooking the bone broth.  

Unfortunately, Mrs. Supe is now obsessed with the soup, and over half the giant-ass pot is already gone.  

 

[JayKay PE]

I had tomato paste in there, but distinctly remember the chunks of tomato in the soup.  I don't believe she used basil/oregano like most of the stuff comes pre-seasoned with now, but I know for sure it had thyme and paprika, so those went in.  Time is definitely important though, this pot probably had a good 6 hours of cook time on it, in addition to the two hours for pressure cooking the bone broth.  

Unfortunately, Mrs. Supe is now obsessed with the soup, and over half the giant-ass pot is already gone.  

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  YOU'VE TRICKED YOURSELF INTO BECOMING THE SOUP KING.

Aka: Mrs. Supe is how I am with any soup made by my mom.  I once ate a huge 12 qt thing of tomato soup, which was then refilled with bone brother/chicken soup.  Which I then ate.  I feel like I should have lost weight, since I was only eating (drinking?) soup for like 2 weeks, but it was so dense in deliciousness that I might have gained...

Time = the most important thing with homemade soups.  We never had a pressure cooker, and my grandma def did not, so all soups would be simmering for houuuuurs until they were ready.  Additional sampling made the volume decrease/become more flavorful.  Please remember to sample/eat throughout! 

 

[Supe]

My Nana had an old school pressure pot.  Beat up old thing, seat and quarter turn to lock, with a single little thumb screw to bleed off pressure if you needed to.  Went on the stove, and it was in God's hands whether or not you blew up your house.  Looked just like this but with a black plastic handle.