Catch-all fooding post
Jul. 7th, 2013 10:13![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starladyIt's been a while since I've done one of these, which I'm sure means that I'm forgetting some things. Oh well. I've put the summer recipes at the top.
# Lebanese Style Stuffed Eggplant - I didn't use bambino eggplants, just medium globe ones, and that was not really a problem. The problem, as usual, came from a failure mode that I was not expecting, because I was dead certain that the rice was going to be undercooked, especially since the lid for my pot didn't snugly cover the eggplants until about halfway through the cooking process. But what actually happened was that the sauce got burned all to hell and I spent two days cleaning the pot. The thing to do, I think, is to turn off the burner while stuffing the eggplants and only turn it back on when one actually puts the stuffed eggplants in the pot. It may also require adding more water or stock to the sauce partway through--and I would definitely attempt to check the sauce as it goes along to avoid my debacle, especially because the eggplants really need the sauce when they're reheated.
# Cubed, Hacked Caprese - It may be heretical, what with the red wine vinegar and the white beans, but oh, it is good, especially on toasted bread drizzled with olive oil and sea salt. I definitely added the full 5 Tbsp red wine vinegar and thought about adding another one.
# Lobster and Potato Salad - I had lunch withshveta_writes while I was home in New Jersey and I made this recipe vegetarian, i.e. without the lobster or shrimp, and it was delicious. I will say, I could probably have scaled up the other ingredients by maybe 1/3 to 1/2 to make up for it, because I had a lot of delicious dressing left over, but oh, it was so good.
# Mango Slaw with Cashews and Mint -shveta_writes asked me to bring a fruit salad, and I made this. It is also delicious, even though, being in New Jersey, I couldn't find the proper kind of cabbage and had to substitute boring normal cabbage, which was still quite tasty.
# Shakshuka - I have made this a frightening number of times this year. It is so, so good, and so easy. One note I have is that rather than buying whole tomatoes I just buy a 28oz can of crushed tomatoes and use them as is. Also, I highly recommend serving this with harissa and toasted pitas.
# Fork-Crushed Purple Potatoes - Speaking of potatoes, these are tear-jerkingly good. I never know whether "a shallot" is 1/2 of what's inside an actual shallot or a whole one of them; I went with the previous definition and it was still very shalloty, but delicious. I would also say not to use more than 4Tbsp olive oil, otherwise the olive flavor starts to whack out the balance of the dish.
# Spring Asparagus Pancetta Hash - I'm not very familiar with the concept of a hash. This one was pretty tasty.
# Italian Stuffed Cabbage - It was pretty tasty, though I eat meat so rarely at home these days that by the end of eating this batch I was like, "this has been rather a lot of meat." Also, I made mashed potatoes with them and accidentally bought white sweet potatoes, which was a weird flavor mix.
# Martha's Macaroni and Cheese - My dad asked me to make mac and cheese while I was home, and I went with Smitten Kitchen because I figured it would be both tasty and fairly normal, as a recipe. My bet paid off when both my father and sister liked it, which doesn't happen very often.
# Beer Cheese Soup - My family are from Wisconsin, and this traditional food of my people is still the best way I know to use up the crappy beer that people leave behind after you have a party. I messed with this recipe a fair bit, though: I used all cheddar (no "American cheese food"), and I definitely think you should use either light cream cheese OR light sour cream, though not both. Don't skip the popcorn. The popcorn is essential.
# Carrot Soup with Crisped Chickpeas and Tahini - I didn't have tahini, but this was still pretty good.
# Lentil Soup with Sausage and Chard - Delicious.
# Blood Orange Margaritas - This is now wildly out of season, but you can bookmark it for next winter, when these are super tasty.
# Lebanese Style Stuffed Eggplant - I didn't use bambino eggplants, just medium globe ones, and that was not really a problem. The problem, as usual, came from a failure mode that I was not expecting, because I was dead certain that the rice was going to be undercooked, especially since the lid for my pot didn't snugly cover the eggplants until about halfway through the cooking process. But what actually happened was that the sauce got burned all to hell and I spent two days cleaning the pot. The thing to do, I think, is to turn off the burner while stuffing the eggplants and only turn it back on when one actually puts the stuffed eggplants in the pot. It may also require adding more water or stock to the sauce partway through--and I would definitely attempt to check the sauce as it goes along to avoid my debacle, especially because the eggplants really need the sauce when they're reheated.
# Cubed, Hacked Caprese - It may be heretical, what with the red wine vinegar and the white beans, but oh, it is good, especially on toasted bread drizzled with olive oil and sea salt. I definitely added the full 5 Tbsp red wine vinegar and thought about adding another one.
# Lobster and Potato Salad - I had lunch with
shveta_writes while I was home in New Jersey and I made this recipe vegetarian, i.e. without the lobster or shrimp, and it was delicious. I will say, I could probably have scaled up the other ingredients by maybe 1/3 to 1/2 to make up for it, because I had a lot of delicious dressing left over, but oh, it was so good. # Mango Slaw with Cashews and Mint -
shveta_writes asked me to bring a fruit salad, and I made this. It is also delicious, even though, being in New Jersey, I couldn't find the proper kind of cabbage and had to substitute boring normal cabbage, which was still quite tasty.# Shakshuka - I have made this a frightening number of times this year. It is so, so good, and so easy. One note I have is that rather than buying whole tomatoes I just buy a 28oz can of crushed tomatoes and use them as is. Also, I highly recommend serving this with harissa and toasted pitas.
# Fork-Crushed Purple Potatoes - Speaking of potatoes, these are tear-jerkingly good. I never know whether "a shallot" is 1/2 of what's inside an actual shallot or a whole one of them; I went with the previous definition and it was still very shalloty, but delicious. I would also say not to use more than 4Tbsp olive oil, otherwise the olive flavor starts to whack out the balance of the dish.
# Spring Asparagus Pancetta Hash - I'm not very familiar with the concept of a hash. This one was pretty tasty.
# Italian Stuffed Cabbage - It was pretty tasty, though I eat meat so rarely at home these days that by the end of eating this batch I was like, "this has been rather a lot of meat." Also, I made mashed potatoes with them and accidentally bought white sweet potatoes, which was a weird flavor mix.
# Martha's Macaroni and Cheese - My dad asked me to make mac and cheese while I was home, and I went with Smitten Kitchen because I figured it would be both tasty and fairly normal, as a recipe. My bet paid off when both my father and sister liked it, which doesn't happen very often.
# Beer Cheese Soup - My family are from Wisconsin, and this traditional food of my people is still the best way I know to use up the crappy beer that people leave behind after you have a party. I messed with this recipe a fair bit, though: I used all cheddar (no "American cheese food"), and I definitely think you should use either light cream cheese OR light sour cream, though not both. Don't skip the popcorn. The popcorn is essential.
# Carrot Soup with Crisped Chickpeas and Tahini - I didn't have tahini, but this was still pretty good.
# Lentil Soup with Sausage and Chard - Delicious.
# Blood Orange Margaritas - This is now wildly out of season, but you can bookmark it for next winter, when these are super tasty.