The Cooking Thread

[leggo PE]

No but Mrs pbr went through a scoby kombucha phase for a while. It's all black magic to me, so I just stick to converting sugars to booze.

I’m gonna stay away from making my own kombucha, since there are only a specific few (two) brands I like and only a few flavors within them that I favor. I have heard, and do believe, that trying to make your own kombucha taste as good as store bought is not so easy.

All that being said, I am sure Mrs. pbr’s kombucha was lovely!

 

[leggo PE]

I’m gonna make a farrotto (risotto like thing using farro) with roasted honeynut squash with crispy sage leaves for dinner. New recipe! From my new favorite cookbook, Weeknight Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach. I’ve also never had honeynut squash before, but it seems kinda like a mini butternut, maybe sweeter?

 

[Supe]

Made beef tongue tacos yesterday (I always order it, but this was my first time cooking it).

You can definitely tell it was from a local farmer with grass fed cows, because the beef flavor was very forward/less mild and it was much richer/fattier than what the local taco trucks/Mexican restaurants tend to serve around here.

8 hours in the crock pot with some bay leaf, peppercorns, and garlic. Served on some fresh tortillas (Walmart sells pre-formed, uncooked flower tortillas that cook in just a few seconds, and they're my new favorite), with red onion, cilantro, a touch of El Yucateco green hot sauce (my favorite by a mile for tacos) and lime juice, and it was awesome.

You really need the red onion and lime juice with beef tongue to cut through the richness of it, otherwise, it would just taste like eating pot roast on a tortilla.

I may try a quick pickle red onion to see how that tastes in comparison to fresh, but some pickled radishes would be good too.

 

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

Needed to step away from PM tasks and decided to put a mirror finish on ALL THE EDGES. @Supe thought you might appreciate this. Developed a burr with a Naniwa 1000/3000 traditional, then a Naniwa 5000 ceramic (it's what I have), and finished on a King 8000 for a mirror finish!

 

[BlueBlueprintPE PMP]

Needed to step away from PM tasks and decided to put a mirror finish on ALL THE EDGES. @Supe thought you might appreciate this. Developed a burr with a Naniwa 1000/3000 traditional, then a Naniwa 5000 ceramic (it's what I have), and finished on a King 8000 for a mirror finish!

I nearly sliced the tip of my index finger off Christmas Eve cutting a loaf of homemade Italian bread. I had to throw the entire loaf away because it all had drops of blood from pulling my hand away quickly .... suffice it to say, my knives are still extremely sharp. I probably should've gotten stitches, but super glue worked pretty well. thankfully I'd made 4 loaves of bread, so the one sacrificial loaf was not missed!

 

[leggo PE]

I nearly sliced the tip of my index finger off Christmas Eve cutting a loaf of homemade Italian bread. I had to throw the entire loaf away because it all had drops of blood from pulling my hand away quickly .... suffice it to say, my knives are still extremely sharp. I probably should've gotten stitches, but super glue worked pretty well. thankfully I'd made 4 loaves of bread, so the one sacrificial loaf was not missed!

And you’re not posting about this too the Baking thread?? Or wait, did you? My memory is mush.

 

[Supe]

Needed to step away from PM tasks and decided to put a mirror finish on ALL THE EDGES. @Supe thought you might appreciate this. Developed a burr with a Naniwa 1000/3000 traditional, then a Naniwa 5000 ceramic (it's what I have), and finished on a King 8000 for a mirror finish!

Any idea what the blade angle is on that?

 

[leggo PE]

So I didn’t bake this past weekend, but I did create an all vegetarian small plates meal from one of my newest cookbooks, Weeknight Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach, of Dinner, A Love Story fame.

Enough about that. Please let me implore you to make yogurt flatbreads, and if you have it in you (an Instant Pot and a large food processor help immensely with this process), make some homemade hummus using dried chickpeas. Eat together, and marvel at how a simple few ingredients can turn into something so fantastic.

Here’s a very similar recipe for the yogurt flatbread from one of my other favorite food bloggers/cookbook authors. Honestly, to match the recipe I used, just up the baking powder to 2 tsp and use 1.25-1.5c plain yogurt, and eliminate the water. Don’t be intimidated, these are so freaking easy to make!

https://smittenkitchen.com/2020/04/layered-yogurt-flatbreads/

 

[leggo PE]

Also, should you do this, a less involved way to shape the flatbreads is simply roll into balls and then roll flat (with a rolling pin) to maybe 1/4” thick, then fry up in the olive oil in a cast iron pan for 2 min per side.

 

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

Any idea what the blade angle is on that?

Exact angle? No... It's whatever I can replicate on all the stabby stabbys by hand haha. I'm guessing...15 degrees on all (at least, that's what I shoot for). They're all 80/20 ratios though. Except the traditional Japanese ones, of course. Those are 100/0 with a teeny tiny micro bevel.

I have to say the ceramic whetstones don't cut as fast, but gosh...they are way more convenient since they're splash n go.

 

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

Made beef tongue tacos yesterday (I always order it, but this was my first time cooking it).

PapaSquare describes it as "the only food that tastes you back."

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Enough about that. Please let me implore you to make yogurt flatbreads,

I used to make a mean Indian curry, and I always made naan to go with it. That's the first time I found out that yogurt was used in some bread recipes. I cooked the naan on my pizza stone at about 500 degrees. It's no Tandoor, but the naan was fantastic.

 

[leggo PE]

Flatbreads in general are soooo easy to make! It’s like a dirty little secret.

 

[leggo PE]

Homemade sourdough pizza a la Mr. leggo last night and sweet & spicy tofu w/ udon noodles tonight!

Yum!

 

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

Made stir fry tofu n tempeh, it was heckin' good. Also, a bit of furikake on rice always makes it look fancee!

 

[Supe]

Made both French onion and beef soup this weekend. French onion was OK, I should have gone heavier on the dry sherry and gone with a little more flour to thicken. The beef soup was also OK. I tried making the stock just by simmering on the stove as opposed to the pressure cooker, but IMO, it just wasn't as flavorful as previous iterations. Maybe if I had let it go a full 24 hours or something and not just 12, but I'll just do it in the instant pot again next time. I definitely need to buy a big stock pot though, the dutch oven isn't big enough, so I'm having to split it between the dutch oven and a regular pot.

 

[leggo PE]

I, too, made a soup that was okay, but not great. It is a curry butternut squash soup, from Cookie + Kate — I have her cookbook and normally love her recipes. I nearly doubled the recipe because my butternut squash was so big, but it ended up being a pretty light soup once puréed — I was expecting a thicker texture, though I couldn’t say exactly why. I’m hoping the soup might taste better today, now that it’s sat in the fridge overnight, especially because I have a crap ton of it as leftovers! Also, for me, it needs a carb — either a pita/naan/flatbread situation, or rice, or I even considered potentially adding cubed potatoes TO it, to bulk it up, or maybe some separately cooked udon noodles. Lunch today will see it served with a naan-like pita.

 

[Supe]

I deliberately didn't eat the beef soup, because I KNOW it will be better today after sitting overnight in the fridge. I made a double batch because Mrs. Supe annihilated it last time.

 

[leggo PE]

New recipe for dinner tonight, from someone who usually never fails me (Angela Liddon): Golden French Lentil Stew served with a long-awaited serving of leggo sourdough. It is a fairly basic recipe in terms of ingredients but does have a little cashew cream added to it, yum! The cashews have been soaking since this morning.

 

[pbrme]