La Cucina 2020 - Pandemic Edition

Due to the shelter in place orders that are in place in nearly every state in the US and in most countries many of us are staying at home and possibly cooking more than we ever have before—especially if the near complete absence of flour and yeast in stores or online is a gauge. These restrictions will likely extend into the late spring or summer, so this thread is an opportunity to post and share some of your favorite recipes, particularly new ones that you've tried and loved.

Some questions for the avid cook:

1. How has your cooking changed in the face of the pandemic?

2. Have you purchased new kitchenware or tried making any new foods, e.g. bread or other baked goods? If you've bought or received an Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or similar device, how do you like it?

3. What ingredients or kitchen items have you had difficulty locating? Have you found a source where they can be purchased, for reasonable prices?

4. Are you using a delivery service to have supermarket items or meal kits sent to your front door? If so, what has your experience been?

5. What cookbooks do you routinely use, and which are your favorites?

6. Lastly, have you had to maim or kill anyone to get that last roll of kitchen towels or bag of flour that you so desperately need?

I was originally going to make pan fried zucchini buns for lunch today, but instead I made my favorite new recipe, Jalapeño Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas, which I've made four or five times since I first tried them at the end of last year.



Ingredients:

3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
salt and ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, minced
2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced (wear gloves)
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 tablespoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 (28 ounce) can green enchilada sauce
7 flour tortillas
8 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Season chicken breasts with 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Place into a baking dish.

3. Bake in the preheated oven until the chicken is no longer pink inside and the juices run clear, about 45 minutes. Allow chicken to cool, and shred with 2 forks. Set chicken aside.

4. Heat butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion and jalapenos until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes; stir in the cream cheese in chunks, and allow cream cheese to melt and soften. Stir in cream cheese, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, chili powder, and cumin. Mix in the cooked chicken meat; remove from heat.

5. Pour half the green enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Lay tortillas out onto a work surface, and place chicken mixture in a line down the center of each tortilla; sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of Monterey Jack cheese per tortilla. Roll up the tortillas, and place into the sauce in the dish, seam sides down; pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas. Sprinkle remaining 4 ounces of Monterey Jack cheese over the top.

6. Bake in the preheated oven until the filling is hot and bubbling and the cheese has melted, 30 to 35 minutes.
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Notes: I greatly prefer chicken thighs to breasts, so I use four medium sized boneless, skinless thighs in this recipe. Instead of baking the chicken on medium heat for 45 minutes (too long!) I cook them in a 425 F (220 C) oven for 8-10 minutes on each side. I use two jalapeño peppers in the filling, and another one to garnish the enchiladas. I dial down the heat whenever I make these for family, guests or work colleagues, usually by using only one jalapeño pepper and leaving out or cutting in half the cayenne pepper. I can easily get eight very full tortillas out of this recipe; I doubt that you can eat more than one at a single sitting! Finally, I usually have to use two baking pans to fit all eight enchiladas in.

These enchiladas are very easy to make, and absolutely addictive!

God bless you for starting this thread! Please post a whole bunch more recipes.

1. My biggest cooking change is that I depend on grocery shopping for inspiration. I visit different markets two or three times a week to see what's fresh, interesting, or on sale. So my joy in cooking is dwindling.

2. Our microwave broke two weeks into the lockdown. Tea is actually better now that I have to boil the kettle. I have not missed the micro much. Maybe I won't replace it.

3. I'm having trouble finding unbleached flour and yeast, and no-added-salt products. Chicken has been very scarce. We only eat red meat about once a week. Plenty of that.

4. I am fortunate in that my rural supermarket will take my list and credit card between 8 and 11 a.m. on Wednesdays, go get my stuff, put it in my trunk, and I'm good to go. Their selection is not sexy, but except for #3, they've been stocked pretty well.

5. Cookbook, schmookbook.

6. No maiming or killing. I did speak harshly to a lady who dove in and grabbed the last pork roast I tried to get before lockdown in early March.

Super quickies:

Spaghetti with chives:
Chives are up in the garden, and they are juicy and tasty this time of year.
1. Wash a bunch of chives, blot on a towel, and snip them up finely. If I were a measuring kind of person, I'd say there were about 3 TBS in there.

2. Toast a handful (1/4 cup) of toasted sesame seeds, pepitas (pumpkin seeds) or walnuts.

3. Mix chives and nuts with about one-half to a full cup of grated Parmesan cheese. I keep an old Kraft Parmesan cheese container on hand to shake this all up in. Then you can keep leftover in the fridge.

4. Toss cooked wholewheat angel-hair spaghetti with olive oil and sprinkle the chive/nuts/cheese mix on it. You can serve it on a bed of baby spinach if you want.

Wholewheat pita pizzas (great if you like thin-crust pizza):
1. Brush the pitas with a little olive oil and bake about 5 minutes in the oven at 350.

2. Spread no-salt-added crushed tomatoes over the pitas instead of sauce, and top with whatever. (I like kalamata olives, diced onion, mushrooms, goat cheese.) Bake about 15 minutes.

Couscous salad:
I've also got mint in the garden right now.
1. Put scant 1/4 cup olive oil, juice from 1 lemon, cut-up red pepper, leaves from a sprig of spearmint, a small bunch of cleaned parsley leaves (any kind) in the food processor and chop coarsely. The parsley bunches are big at my market, so I usually use half a big bunch per recipe.

2. Mix in two cups of cooked, fluffy couscous (this also works with rice or barley).

3. I like to add a little nutmeg, just a sprinkling. You get too much, and it kills all the other flavors.

Mmm, those chicken enchiladas look good, though I'd make them with black beans. Do you know the casserole cookbook Cover and Bake? It's from from the Cooks Illustrated folks so there are always eight million steps, but the results are great.

1. I'm cooking more because I'm home more. When I'm at the office I often have a big, protein-y lunch and then just eat something small for dinner or a bowl of cereal or yogurt. Now I'm more inclined to eat a sort of vacant lunch—cheese and crackers, often—so I feel like I need to eat healthier for dinner. My husband doesn't cook much, so it's usually on me, which is making me crankier as the weeks wear on. But I also feel like I need to use every scrap of produce or perishables, because there's this sense of scarcity even though at this point it's not so bad.

2. No new devices... we're at maximum device saturation, I think.

3. The first couple of weeks, fresh produce was scarce, but that's eased up. But we weren't looking for much beside that—I'm the kind of shopper who buys imperishables in bulk, and staples like flour/sugar/pasta I'll buy a new batch when the old one is maybe 2/3 gone... I hate to run out of ANYTHING. Probably from when I was a single mom and the only supermarket was across town and I couldn't just duck out to the store. I shop like a Depression lady. And my husband brackets—if he's not sure which of something I want, he'll buy both, or a couple of different brands, so we always have an extra two or three dish detergents, different grades of maple syrup—you get the picture. I had a 24-pack of toilet paper in the closet when this all started.

4. I tried a Whole Foods delivery once and it was useful, but also a pain—I had to wait a few days for a delivery slot, and there were endless substitutions popping up all that time. My husband went to Fairway, the big really good supermarket near us, two weekends ago in person, masked up and doing his best to maintain six feet between him and everyone else, and got all the good stuff, produce and fish and good cheese (because I'm a snowflake and hate supermarket cheese).

5. I have a zillion cookbooks, and use them for inspiration and sometimes a cooking project, but weeknights I tend to go with Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian or Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, but often more as jumping off points. I also like my Martha Stewart Living Cookbook and Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours and I still pull out my Silver Palate books all the time. But I also just get stuff off the internet, because that's what it's for.

6. Nah, cf #3. The only thing we've had trouble finding is, weirdly, Vitamin C. But my husband and I both ordered some online and they both came at once so now we have Vitamin C to last a while.

1. I am definitely cooking more- I would usually go out with friends once a week and go to my brother's every other Friday and invite family for dinner...now I have to cut down recipes made for a large group.

2.No, I use the same stuff but my nephew bought an instantpot

3.Let me see- for lunches- cans of tuna, my delivery service let me order lots of yogurt but cut down on my chocolate order.

4.I used a great delivery service in the first two weeks of self-isolation-but they are now overwhelmed and I can't get an order. The second delivery service moved my first order so that I am getting it four weeks after I ordered. I have found more success with groceries that allow me to order online and pick up ( the clerks puts the order right into my car trunk.)

5. Ina Garten 's Cook Like a Pro, The Very Best of Recipes for Health by Martha Rose Shulman, The Scent of Orange Blossoms Sephardic Cuisine from Morocco by Kitty Morse and Danielle Mamane and of course the "Smitten Kitchen ": Cookbooks and website

6. No, I was lucky in that I had stocked up on basics and chicken in the weeks before the pandemic.

Almond and Walnut ( or I use filbert )Macaroons ( from the cook book “ The Scent of Orange Blossoms” by Kitty Morse and Danielle Mamane)
2 cups almond meal or flour
1 cup walnut meal ( I use filbert )
1and a half cups sifted icing sugar ( I forgot to to sift it once and the cookies were still ok)
3 large egg whites ( I use extra large eggs)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
Place fluted paper cups on a baking sheet ( 35 are good)-when I didn’t have any paper cups I just put sheets of parchment paper on 3 baking sheets)
In a large bowl mix together almond meal, walnut meal and 1 cup of the icing sugar.
Sprinkle the rest of the icing sugar on a large plate
In a large bowl ( my big stand mixer bowl) using the stand mixer to beat the egg whites and vanilla until stiff peaks form.
( I take out the eggs and wait until they are at room temperature and put the bowl and beater in the fridge until they are cold)
Using a spatula, gently fold the nut mixture into the egg whites. With your fingers knead lightly to obtain a homogenous dough. (in these times you can use a spatula and or big spoon)
Fashion balls 1 inch in diameter roll each ball in the sugar and set it inside a paper cup ( or on the parchment paper.)
Bake until the macaroons turn light gold ( 20 -25 minutes). Remove from oven and let cool. Store in a tightly sealed container for up to 2 weeks

1. I used to cook a week's worth of food on Sunday. But I did a substantial grocery shop three weeks ago and have been slowly every two days cooking one more dish from that initial list. I did go through all my cupboards and list all the "staples" in the house to build recipes from. I had an awful lot of arborio rice and so have made risotto twice already. I have one bag of mystery grains that I will cook if things become truly dire. :)

2. No new gadgets and not many new recipes either.

3. I can find most anything I need, for a price. Eggs have gotten a LOT more expensive and I have to buy a bunch of bananas instead of two. I haven't had trouble finding toilet paper, but haven't looked for yeast so that is probably out-of-stock.

4. I started looking into restaurant suppliers that were making home deliveries, but couldn't manage to find enough items I wanted to eat to meet the minimum purchase since they have limited options (no broccoli, for example) and as a single-person vegetarian household I just couldn't manage it. The various meal services - Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, etc, I do not find cost effective. I like grocery shopping, so it's not worth it to pay more for prepackaged ingredients just to avoid the store. These services were extremely helpful the summer I had foot surgery, though!

5. I mostly cook from the half-dozen Moosewood cookbooks I own. I was just beginning to explore Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian and Ottolenghi Simple before the "Pause" and in the interest of limiting grocery store trips have reverted back to the simpler Moosewood recipes with fewer specialized ingredients, trying to use up the staples in the house.

6. Nope.

1. Meals have changed in that I'm taking more time with them and making more since the household has increased by one (home from college) and everyone is home for dinner. There's more time for slicing and dicing, braising and sauté-ing.

2. I picked up an Instant Pot back in January, but haven't used it during this pandemic. I have plenty of time to do things slowly. And the Boredom Baking has begun. Quiche and cinnamon rolls last week, banana bread today. I've become quite good at making naan, so that's fun.

3. Chicken has been hard to find, as has flour. I had just opened a new jar of yeast in February, so we've still got plenty of that. My local grocery store is largely restocked (have not looked down the paper goods aisle) and so while they are sometimes out of my favorite brand, they do have the item.

4. No, I've reduce the usual number of trips to grocery shop to once a week, but as I'm healthy (and bored) I don't feel comfortable asking someone else to risk their health for my milk and eggs. I've found that shopping on a midweek mid-morning means that the store is largely empty, even Costco.

5. It's less individual cookbooks than the usual collection of recipes gathered over the years. And the internet for meal ideas and new recipes.

6. No, but it's frustrating to see that most people aren't wearing masks and there's always someone who thinks those directional arrows on the grocery store floor don't apply to them.

I'm glad to see Club Cucina back! I still regularly make recipes from threads past, especially Cariola's lentil soup recipe, which the kids love.

1. I've gone back to my college days and have been growing sprouts. I wasn't sure how easy it would be to access fresh produce especially with minimal grocery store expeditions.

Last week I had hu*mung*ous amounts of mung bean sprouts, which I used in a peppery, vinegar-y pork stirfry as well as egg foo young.

This week I'm eating huge-ly amounts of alfalfa sprouts. The two best suggestions on the internet so far have been avocado toast (toast, avocado mush +EVOO, sprouts, tomato & egg on top); and adding a half cup or so of raw sprouts to top my chicken vegetable soup. The soup turned out a bit too salty for me. The sprouts on top are heaven; they really add a fresh zing to it.

I'm starting radish sprouts today, but the seeds are rather old, so we'll see how they do.

Because I live in a creek bottom where the deer are voracious, I've also started an inside kitchen garden.

>8 RidgewayGirl: Do you have a favorite naan recipe? I tried one for the first time last week, but they turned out a bit blah and way too thick.

I'd also love to see Cariola's lentil soup recipe.

>9 streamsong: I found some old kale and pea seeds and threw them in the kitchen garden. We'll see. Kale is coming uo, but squirrels are digging to bury treasures.

Where do you get get sprout seeds? That sounds like fun!

I have a handful of dried organic cannellini eans. Not enough for a pot of soup. Think those would sprout?

I'm excited because my seeds finally showed up. It's still pretty cold here, but my weekend project is to make little newspaper pots and start the tomato and eggplant seeds inside. I haven't been this stoked for anything in a while.

>11 nohrt4me2: you can get seeds to sprout at health food stores or order online. They are becoming a bit scarce as many people are buying them out. They are very easy to grow.

I'm sorry, I have no experience with cannellini beans for sprouting. But this website mentions it - https://foodtolive.com/shop/organic-cannellini-beans/

Worth a try! In 5 days or so you can have fresh crunchy sprouts.

>12 lisapeet: Love your beautiful seeds. It feels like planting hope, doesn't it? I had not heard of newspaper pots. I'll have to give them a try.

I have lettuce and spinach planted in pots inside and both are doing well.

Does anyone have an idea/recipe for what I can do with a 28-oz can of tomatoes with basil? Preferably some kind of soup or stew rather than a spaghetti/marinara sauce (I'm not a fan of red sauces). I bought the wrong thing by mistake. :(

>14 ELiz_M: Yes. I am planning to make Indian-Spiced Tomato and Egg Casserole again next week, which calls for a 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes that are broken up as they are being cooked, along with 2 T of chopped basil. It's a variation of shakshuka, as it includes potatoes and Indian spices.



I'm sure that I have other recipes that call for a 28 oz can of tomatoes; I'll check my Pinterest board of Interesting Recipes now.

>14 ELiz_M: Here are three more recipes I've made and enjoyed that require a 28 oz can of tomatoes:

Greek Chicken Stew with Cauliflower and Olives



Shakshuka



Moroccan Lentil and Vegetable Stew

This is arguably cheating, since this recipe came from Jane (janemarieprice), another member of Club Read, but it has become my favorite pasta dish, which I make at least twice a year, Almond, Dill and Sardine Bucatini, which is also known as pasta con le sarde, a classic Sicilian dish:



INGREDIENTS:

One 4½-ounce tin sardines in tomato sauce
⅓ cup good olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 teaspoons Espelette, divided
3 tablespoons fresh chives, finely chopped
Kosher salt, to taste
½ pound bucatini
½ cup roasted and salted Marcona almonds, roughly chopped
¼ cup finely chopped dill, plus more to garnish
1 lemon, finely zested and juiced
Flaky salt, to finish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

2. Lay the sardines on a paper towel and, working one at a time, use a sharp paring knife to fillet each fish from head to tail. Remove and discard the fish bones and reserve the sardine fillets and tomato sauce.

3. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and garlic, and cook, stirring often until aromatic, about 2 minutes. Add 2 teaspoons of the Espelette and continue to cook until the garlic is soft and translucent (without browning), 2 minutes more. Stir in the chives, half of the sardines and the remaining 1 teaspoon of Espelette; remove from heat and season with a pinch of salt.

4. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until almost al dente, 7 to 8 minutes. Drain and reserve 1 cup of the pasta water.

5. Add the reserved tomato sauce to the sauté pan and return to medium-high heat. Add the pasta, almonds and dill, and thin out the sauce with ½ cup of pasta water, cooking 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in ¾ of the lemon zest and the remaining sardines. Cook until the sauce is mostly reduced, another 2 to 3 minutes. Taste and adjust the sauce consistency and season with pasta water, salt and lemon juice.

6. Divide the pasta between 2 bowls and sprinkle the remaining lemon zest over top. Garnish with a pinch of flaky salt and dill, and serve.
___________________________________________

Notes: You should be able to find Goya Sardines in Tomato Sauce in the International Foods section of your local supermarket, although you can use sardines in olive oil. Marcona almonds (from Spain) are harder to find, at least for me, so I order them from Amazon, although it's hard to keep from eating them from the jar, as they taste much better than California almonds, IMO. An acceptable substitute for Espelette peppers is hot paprika. I usually make a double batch of this, and since I couldn't find bucatini locally I used linguine instead. This is a quick and easy pasta, and I'll have another bowl of it for lunch shortly.

1. How has your cooking changed in the face of the pandemic?

Don't think it has all that much -- just more of it. We used to go out once or twice a week, and Tuesday dinner was always at my mother-in-laws, and with no social functions . . . means more cooking.

2. Have you purchased new kitchenware or tried making any new foods, e.g. bread or other baked goods? If you've bought or received an Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or similar device, how do you like it?

No, but I did pull the bread machine out of storage -- I use it only to make pizza dough and I hadn't done that for a year or so.

3. What ingredients or kitchen items have you had difficulty locating? Have you found a source where they can be purchased, for reasonable prices?

Frozen peas! My daughter loves them, and they are handy to throw into rice, soups, and curries. I have one pre-pandemic bag left. I thought I might be low on flour, but then I found a bag, and reorganized my pantry and found I actually had lots already, so I'm set for flour for a long, long time.

4. Are you using a delivery service to have supermarket items or meal kits sent to your front door? If so, what has your experience been?

No -- I did look into it and they've asked that only seniors and health care workers use the delivery service. In theory, there is a pick up service available, but the time slots are never available. So I go once a week, and wash my hands like crazy. The store wipes down the buggy before passing it along to you.

5. What cookbooks do you routinely use, and which are your favorites?

I have many, but I usually just go on the internet

6. Lastly, have you had to maim or kill anyone to get that last roll of kitchen towels or bag of flour that you so desperately need?

I'd just go without.

>15 kidzdoc: Oooh, that should work! Perfect as I've been looking for egg dishes to replace my usual brunches out. :)

>16 kidzdoc: The problem isn't the can of tomatoes -- that was needed for a Caribbean stew. The problem is I accidentally bought Organic Crushed Tomatoes with Basil in Tomato Puree and the basil won't work in my stew. So now I have to go out, again, to the grocery store for plain canned tomatoes. :(

>19 ELiz_M: Excellent! Please let us know how you like it, Liz. I need a few ingredients to make it, which I'll pick up from Publix first thing tomorrow morning.

>19 ELiz_M: Mmm, my son and I were talking about shakshuka last time he was here. I wonder if my husband would like that...

>13 streamsong: The pot maker is the most low-fi tool ever, and I love it. My version is probably even simpler than the one I linked to, but it came from the same company about 25 years ago. Not exactly any moving parts to break!

I found frozen peas, so I feel better.

And now I'm off to try to make okonomiyaki -- Japanese street vendor savoury pancakes. (No frozen peas req'd)

The lockdown hasn't really changed my cooking (I'm disabled, and don't get out that much in normal times, so my cooking at home vs eating out ratio isn't really different). My little grocery store was initially low on meat in general and now is just practically sold out of chicken, low on flour. Not sure on yeast, since I have plenty. The fancy grocery store didn't seem low on anything really. Eggs have been plentiful, while my friend in the UK hasn't seen any for a month.

I receive SNAP (food stamps), and unfortunately you can use those with a delivery service. Super helpful since many people receiving these benefits have unreliable or no transportation. My state gave everyone on SNAP the maximum amount for their household size, which increased mine hugely. I had a moment of indulgence and bought some fancy cheese but I'll let the rest of the extra roll over and use it gradually.

What HAS changed my cooking is becoming a devotee of Asian dramas. There's just so much delicious food on those shows.

I've been making this Korean spicy 'braised' tofu (it's not actually braised as we understand it):
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/dubu-jorim

Before the virus took off I started making ricotta from scratch so I could buy a full gallon of milk (since it's about twenty cents more than a half gallon). I don't normally buy ricotta, the regular grocery store kind here isn't good. The homemade stuff though I can just eat by the spoonful (and I do). I use this recipe, and I like to add lemon zest or finely chopped chives to it:
https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-homemade-ricotta-cheese-cooking-lessons-fr...

I've been making a lot of mapo tofu as well, culled from a few recipes.

<23> Homemade ricot'!!! You are my mind if person! Thanks!

Thanks for starting this up again!

1. How has your cooking changed in the face of the pandemic?

I think the only thing that has changed is that I'm eating out less.

2. Have you purchased new kitchenware or tried making any new foods, e.g. bread or other baked goods? If you've bought or received an Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or similar device, how do you like it?

Nope. Tried and true. I may try a new recipe here and there, but it has to be one I have the ingredients for on hand, or easy substitutions.

3. What ingredients or kitchen items have you had difficulty locating? Have you found a source where they can be purchased, for reasonable prices?

Nutritional yeast! They are now selling it at Your DeKalb Farmer's Market in containers twice as big as I usually buy.

Frozen spinach, many frozen vegetables. Fresh broccoli & greens have been available though.

4. Are you using a delivery service to have supermarket items or meal kits sent to your front door? If so, what has your experience been?

No - I used my grocery (Kroger) online shop service once, but now they're scheduled two weeks out, so I just make a trip once a week.

5. What cookbooks do you routinely use, and which are your favorites?

I use a family of recipes I've aquired over the years, and add from the internet or cookbooks from the library. Right now familiar is good.

6. Lastly, have you had to maim or kill anyone to get that last roll of kitchen towels or bag of flour that you so desperately need?

No. And I scored a 24-pack toilet paper today, so I'm good for several more weeks.

From Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian

INGREDIENTS

3 tablespoons peanut oil or 3 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
1 teaspoon fennel seed
2 good-sized shallots (1 1/2 oz.) or 1 small onion, peeled and cut into fine slices (1 1/2 oz.)
1 garlic clove, peeled and cut into fine slices
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and cut into very fine slivers
1 lb green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1⁄4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne*
1⁄2 cup water**
1 1⁄4 teaspoons salt
2 ounces tomatoes, chopped (1 small)
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS

Put the oil in a large frying pan and set over medium-high heat. When very hot, add the whole cumin and fennel seeds. Stir for a few seconds.

Quickly add the shallots, garlic, and ginger. Stir for about a minute, or until lightly browned.

Add the beans and stir for another 2 minutes.

Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne and stir a few times.

Add 1/2 cup water and the salt and bring to a simmer. Stir and cover. Turn the heat down to low and cook gently for 5 minutes.

Add the tomato and cilantro. Stir, cover, and cook for another 4-5 minutes, or until the beans are tender.

*I used half the amount of cayenne and found it still a little too spicy -- so vary according to the quality of your cayenne and your preferences

** The end result is rather soupy, I recommend using half the water and adding more if necessary.

Question: I got a really nice looking red pepper and bunch of asparagus in my last Kroger order. I usually make a strata with this.

Other ideas for asparagus-red pepper combo? Need advice soon cuz they're fresh now.

>27 nohrt4me2:
Asparagus & red pepper

- grilled, drizzled with olive oil and a dash of salt & pepper
- frittata
- quiche
- Stir-fried in a sauce and made into a curry or a pasta, depending on what other ingredients you have on hand
- roasted in the oven
- mixed in with some fried potatoes, and then scrambled egg to make a breakfast scramble

>28 Nickelini: Yes to all of those suggestions! I vote for an asparagus and red pepper quiche.

Liz's comment in >19 ELiz_M: reminded me of two of my favorite egg based recipes, tortilla española (also known as tortilla de patatas con cebolla caramelizada (tortilla with potatoes and caramelized onion)), which is the recipe I've made the most in the past two or three years, and Caramelized Onion, Mushroom and Gruyere Quiche with Oat Crust, which I became absolutely addicted to three or four years ago but haven't made in a couple of years. I'll make another one next week.

Tortilla española is served in practically every restaurant in Spain, and it is different from the tortillas mexicanas that we're used to eating in North America. I started making them after Bianca, a close friend from LT's 75 Books group, and I spent two weeks together in Spain (Barcelona, Sevilla, Ronda, Granada) three years ago, as we had it practically every day. It's most often served as a tapa at room temperature, but it can be heated straight from the pan or slightly warmed, it tastes great when reheated in a toaster oven or microwave, and it is appropriate at any time of the day. It's one of the most basic recipes in Spanish cuisine, as it contains only eggs, potatoes and an onion (although some traditionalists leave out the onion), along with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I just made another tortilla española, which I had for brunch:

  

You can find dozens of recipes for tortillas españolas online or in cookbooks, but this is how I make mine:

Ingredients:
1 kg of peeled potatoes (waxy potatoes, such as red potatoes, work best)
1 large Vidalia sweet onion
8 extra large eggs
~1 liter of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Thinly slice potatoes (roughly 0.3 cm), and pat them dry.
2. Cook in ~1 liter of EVOO* in a deep skillet on medium low heat for ~20 minutes, until most of the potatoes are partially caramelized. Stir occasionally.
3. Cut onion into thin (julienne) strips, and cook in 2 T of EVOO on medium heat in a separate 12 inch nonstick skillet for 10-12 minutes, until they have become nicely caramelized; Stir frequently.
4. Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl, whisk thouroughly, season with salt and pepper.
5. Let cooked onions cool for 1-2 minutes, then add to the eggs.
6. Transfer cooked potatoes into a colander set on top of a small plate to collect olive oil. Let sit for 5 minutes, then add to the eggs and onion.
7. Let the mixture rest for 20 minutes. During this time it will be transformed from a runny to a semisolid state.
8. Add 2 T of EVOO to your 12 inch nonstick oskillet and spray liberally with olive oil based cooking spray; warm skillet on medium low heat.
9. Once the skillet is warm add your mixture to it.
10. Cook on medium low heat for 6-8 minutes; you should see brisk bubbling of the olive oil at the edges of the tortilla. Shake the handle of your skillet back and forth occasionally, to see if the tortilla is sticking to the bottom of the skillet. If it is, add another T of EVOO and use a flat wooden spatula to loosen the edges of the tortilla.
11. Here's the hard part: Remove the tortilla from the stove, cover it with a plate that is slightly larger than the skillet and flip the tortilla onto the plate. It will be runny and probably a bit messy at this point.
12. Add another T of EVOO and cooking spray to the skillet, then slide the tortilla back into the skillet. Wipe excess moisture from your plate.
13. Cook on medium low heat for another 6-8 minutes, again until there is brisk bubbling of olive oil around the edges of the tortilla. Check again to ensure that the tortilla isn't sticking to the skillet.
14. Remove skillet from the stove, and flip your tortilla once more onto the plate.
15. Serve immediately hot, or later at room temperature.

*You can reuse the EVOO multiple times to make tortillas. I let it cool to room temperature, and then strain it into a dark bottle that I label and keep in a darkened cabinet space.

This is a recipe that is best seen before you try to make it for the first time, and here's a short YouTube video by Omar Allibhoy, a Spanish chef and friend of the British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, that shows his method of making a tortilla española: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JceGMNG7rpU

The tortilla I just made, which you can see in the photos, is good but a bit overdone for my liking, as I like the center to be a bit runny; I should have cooked it on a lower setting (I used medium rather than medium low heat) for longer, but I hadn't made one in two months, so I was slightly out of practice. Practice is a key word in making these tortillas, along with a bit of bravery during the flipping process! An easier way to make these is to halve the recipe, and cook the tortillita (small tortilla) in a 10 inch skillet, which is much easier to flip. I get 8 large slices from my tortilla, so there is only one egg per slice.

I haven't yet been able to find Deborah's lentil soup recipe, but I have one of my own that I absolutely love, Detox Crockpot Lentil Soup. I normally make this in my slow cooker, as the name implies, but yesterday I noticed at the bottom of the instructions that it could also be made in the Instant Pot, cooking it on the Soup setting for 30 minutes with a quick release, rather than cooking it in the slow cooker on high for 5-6 hours, or a low setting for 7-8 hours.



INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE CROCKPOT (OR INSTANT POT):

2 cups butternut squash (peeled and cubed)
2 cups carrots (peeled and sliced)
2 cups potatoes (chopped)
2 cups celery (chopped)
1 cup green lentils
3/4 cup yellow split peas (or just use more lentils)
1 onion (chopped)
5 cloves garlic (minced)
8–10 cups vegetable or chicken broth
2 teaspoons herbes de Provençe
1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)

ADD AT THE END:

2–3 cups kale (stems removed, chopped)
1 cup parsley (chopped)
1/2 cup olive oil – rosemary olive oil or other herb infused oil is delicious
a swish of sherry, red wine vinegar, or lemon juice to add a nice tangy bite

INSTRUCTIONS:

Place all ingredients in the crockpot. Cover and cook on high for 5-6 hours or low for 7-8 hours.

Place about 4 cups of soup in a blender with the olive oil. Pulse gently until semi-smooth and creamy-looking (the oil will form a creamy emulsion with the soup). Add back to the pot and stir to combine. Stir in the kale and parsley. Turn the heat off and just let everything chill out for a bit before serving. The taste gets better with time and so does the texture, IMO!

Season to taste (add the sherry, vinegar, and/or lemon juice at this point) and to really go next level, serve with crusty wheat bread and a little Parmesan cheese. It’s called Detox Balance. 😉

NOTES:
Instant Pot: Place same first group of ingredients in the Instant Pot and cook on the soup setting for 30 mins with a quick release. Follow the same blending instructions and then add kale and parsley.
___________________________________

I used a winter squash that I purchased last year in place of butternut squash, and the remaining sherry I had (roughly half a cup), topped the soup with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and had it with hot store bought Tandoori flatbread. I love the taste of this soup, and you can get at least eight full sized servings from this recipe (you'll need a 6 quart crockpot, slow cooker, Instant Pot or Ninja FOODI).

I bought two large bags of precut kale last week, so I'll have to go through my Favorite Recipes and Interesting Recipes boards in my Pinterest account this weekend and next week.

1. How has your cooking changed in the face of the pandemic?

It hasn't, really; I just have to do more of it, especially as one week in 2 there are 6 of us (3 stepkids). In normal times we are rarely all together for 3 meals a day other than at the weekend, even in school holidays. One thing that has changed is that whereas I try to buy on the basis of what we want to eat for the next few days, because we can't be sure what will be in stock, I'm now cooking on the basis of what we buy, and I'm enjoying doing it that way round. I don't think that will be carried over after confinement ends, though, as when my husband and I are both out at work all day, a meal plan for the week saves a lot of day-to-day stress.

2. Have you purchased any new kitchenware or tried making new foods?

No new kitchenware, but I started a sourdough culture which I've now made 3 batches of bread from. I'm really pleased, as I've never succeeded with a starter in the past - it's always ended up a soggy, stinking mess which never got to the bread-making stage - but this time it's working like a dream. We're also enjoying all sorts of things made with the discard; there's a sourdough banana bread in the oven now, and we've had sourdough pancakes, sourdough Yorkshire puddings (sacrilegious, but very good), sourdough added to the dough of bread made with commercial yeast,...

3. What ingredients have you had difficulty locating?

Yeast! Which was part of the reason for the sourdough starter. And flour. Bread flour we have had no problem getting from our local bakery (if they don't have small packs in stock, they weigh from their own supplies into paper bags), but all-purpose flour has been tricky, and has been limited at times to one bag per customer (as I said, there are 6 of us half the time, so one small bag of flour doesn't go far!) My husband, who does the shopping (he needs to get out; I'm happy at home) has been under instructions to buy flour whenever he saw it, so we now have a couple bags in stock.

4. Are you using a delivery service?

We're using a delivery service we've used for years, not a supermarket, an association of local producers. We have always liked them for the quality and variety of their produce. Their business is booming, so we now have to place orders 10 days ahead instead of 2 days, and some things have run out by the time the delivery actually comes, but I am delighted for them, and hope that they will keep a lot of their new customers when things calm down again.

5. What cook books do you routinely use?

We are big fans of Rukmini Iyer's three Roasting Tin books. Her recipes are so simple - stick everything in a roasting tin and let the oven do the work - but delicious, and they never fail. We've been using these books for over a year, and we haven't tried a single dish we didn't like.

6. Have you had to maim or kill anyone to get that last bag of flour?

My husband might have done ;-) Maybe that's how he comes home with flour every time?

I find that I have some soggy vegetables in my fridge- so I am following the advice of my brother ( an excellent cook).
He suggested that I chop up vegetables from my fridge that are getting soft, add them to a pot of water and vegetable stock, boil, then cover and simmer for a while? I'll try an hour. Then take my immersion blender, blend and viola-veg soup. Oh,and then divide into containers and freeze- I'll let you know if I like it!
I have used from my fridge- celery, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, some thyme, part of a yellow pepper, tomatoes, a lot of celery, and veg stock.

I made " Canadian War Cake"- it is very good and doesn't use any eggs! -from Recipes for Victory Great War Food from the Front and Kitchens Back Home in Canada edited by Elizabeth Baird and Bridget wrench
( the war is the First World War)
Canadian War Cake ( page 90) the recipe is for two loaves-
3 cups sultana raisins ( 750 ml)
2 cups dark brown sugar ( 500 ml)
2 Tbsp butter ( 30 ml)
1 tsp ground cinnamon ( 5 ml)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 cups boiling water
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp hot water
3 cups all purpose flour

Line two 8 x 4 inch loaf pans with parchment paper , set aside. Heat oven to 325 F ( 160C)
Chop the raisins coarsely.
In a medium saucepan combine the raisins, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, salt and cloves. Pour in the boiling water: bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool to room temperature. Mix together the baking soda and hot water and stir into the raisin mixture.
Stir the flour into the raisin mixture about one quarter at a time. Divide the mixture into the two baking pans-smooth the tops.
Bake in the oven in the centre of the oven until golden brown on top, firm when lightly touched and a tester inserted into the centre comes out clean- 50 to 60 minutes- (My loaf was done in 50 minutes)
Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes, turn out onto racks-right side up and let cool.
Warp and store in room temperature for 4 days or freeze in airtight container for up to one month.
(I actually only made one loaf and just cut the amounts in half)

I've done quite a bit of cooking in the past 1-1/2 weeks, as I'm on a 2-1/2 week staycation that was supposed to be spent in London, so I'll have to catch up here. Today is Cinco de Mayo, of course, and after a conversation with a friend this morning I remembered that I had a great and easy recipe for Tomato-Poached Fish with Chili Oil and Herbs, courtesy of Alison Roman of NYT Cooking, which is perfect for making fish tacos:



Ingredients:

¼ cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 small shallot, thinly sliced into rings
1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
1 pound small, sweet tomatoes, halved
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 teaspoon fish sauce (optional)
1 ¼ pounds fluke, halibut or cod, cut into 4 equal pieces
1 cup cilantro, tender leaves and stems
½ cup mint, tender leaves and stems
Limes, halved, for serving
Tortillas, toast or rice, for serving (optional)

Instructions:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet (use one with a lid) over medium-high heat. Add garlic and shallots and cook, swirling the skillet constantly until they are starting to toast and turn light golden brown, 2 minutes or so. Add red-pepper flakes and swirl to toast for a few seconds. Remove from heat and transfer all but 1 tablespoon of the chile oil to a small bowl.

Add tomatoes to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing occasionally, until they burst and start to become saucy and jammy, 5 to 8 minutes. Add fish sauce (if using) and 1 1/2 cups water, swirling to release any of the bits stuck on the bottom of the skillet.

Cook until the sauce is slightly thickened but still nice and brothy, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Season the fish with salt and pepper and gently lay the pieces in the brothy tomatoes. Cover the skillet and cook until the fish is opaque and just cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes (slightly longer for a thicker piece of fish, like halibut).

To serve, transfer fish and brothy tomatoes to a large shallow bowl (or divide among four bowls). Drizzle with reserved bowl of chile oil, more olive oil and the crispy shallots and garlic. Top with cilantro and mint, and serve with limes for squeezing over the top. Serve with tortillas, toast or rice, if you like.
_________________________________

I used two frozen swordfish fillets from Publix that I had in my freezer, grilled three white corn tortillas in a flat skillet on medium high heat, and used one of the swordfish fillets to make tacos:



I followed this recipe to the letter, except that I cooked the rather thick swordfish fillets for 10 minutes. Don't leave out the cilantro and mint, as they take this recipe over the top. These tacos can be made in less than an hour, and they taste amazing.

>30 kidzdoc: I'll post Cariola's recipe here when I get a chance. I'm going to make the soup you posted and use swiss chard in place of the kale since our garden has so much of the stuff.

One further change that I might try to keep is just shopping once a week. It's become easier over time and as Rachel said, it's entirely possible to make a meal out of what's on hand. I've been just keeping the pantry stocked with the things we use and that allows for a lot of flexibility.

>35 RidgewayGirl: Sounds good, Kay. Please let me/us know what you think of it.

I've also only been going to the supermarket once a week. I took advantage of Publix's special hours for hospital staff and went at 7 am on Friday, when there were far more associates than customers in the store. I probably won't go back until next Friday morning, as my refrigerator is still brimming with fresh fruits and vegetables from last week.

>34 kidzdoc: Oh nice! I have all of those ingredients, including some frozen swordfish, except... what's that you say? Don't skip the cilantro and mint? Darn it. But I can put those on the list for my next shopping trip, since the frozen fish isn't going anywhere.

This makes me think that if my local garden center is open—I can't tell from their website—one of each of those herbs might be a good investment in my culinary life this spring/summer.

>37 lisapeet: You could skip the cilantro and mint, but I think you would be missing out. It's very easy to make this, though, and if it was me I would probably go ahead and make it anyway.

I'm glad that swordfish is no longer an endangered species, especially in North America, so that I can have it without feeling guilty. I won't have it more often than once every two or three months, though.

If I didn't spend so much time traveling, especially during the spring and summer, I would definitely grow my own herbs. I'll almost certainly do that after I retire.

Fish & Vegetable Soup
from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home



5 dried shiitake mushrooms*, soaked in 1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 large onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger root
2 Tbsp veg. oil
1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks
4 cups water
1 1/2 lbs cod filets, cut into bite-sized chunks
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp dark sesame oil
3 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 3tbsp water
1 red pepper, cut into matchsticks

thinly sliced scallions for garnish

*I used a 1 oz package of mushrooms, because I love them so.

1. Soften the mushrooms in the boiling water; discard stems & slice the mushroom caps. Reserve the liquid.
2. In soup pot, saute onions, garlic, ginger in oil until translucent.
3. Stir in carrots and saute for five minutes.
4. Add the four cups of water, mushrooms & soaking liquid. Cover & bring to boil.
5. Once soupd begins to boil, add fish & cover.
6. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, and dissolved cornstarch. When soup returns to a boil add it to the broth with the red pepper.
7. Simmer 2-3 minutes until it thickens.
8. Serve topped with scallions.

>38 kidzdoc: I have perennial herbs in a small raised kitchen garden. They do just fine without much care at all. The garden is in full sun until about 4 p.m., so they don't wilt from the heat.

Weeding and thinning, and adding a layer of new topsoil every spring is all I do. I only have to water only if we get a bad dry spell.

The chives, lavender, thyme, and French tarragon have been in there for 20+ years. Sage needs to be replaced about every three years. Spearmint, peppermint, and catnip are in sunken clay pots (they will take over the garden of you don't contain them).

I am thinking of putting in a few asparagus crowns.

Also have some escaped hops coming up in the back yard. I may try to corral that and put it on a trellis somewhere. It needs sun.

I do grow a few annuals like basil, rosemary, and parsley. Nasturtiums are pretty in there.

>40 nohrt4me2: Oregano is also one that will take over a garden if you leave it alone.

>40 nohrt4me2: Nice! I had a bed of oregano, thyme, and sage that ended up getting old and raggedy and I hoed it under a few years ago. Starting from scratch this year—literally, since I'm not sure if our garden center is open, so I'm doing oregano, thyme, and basil in planters from seed. I've only gotten the oregano in—it's still a little cold here, and in fact hailed yesterday—but I think the other two will go in next weekend. I got a little mint plant from my neighbor so that's going in a pot too.

I cooked for another person besides me and my husband for the first time in months today. A good friend came over with her dog, and we ate outside, six feet apart, and it was really enjoyable. I still haven't bought outdoor furniture after 16 years here—for a long time it was an expense I just couldn't swing, and then I didn't because I hadn't been keeping the yard very nice for the past few years, but I think it's time this summer. Anyway, we made do—I just dragged a bunch of kitchen chairs out and we ate on our laps. I cooked straight out of the fridge, finishing up a bunch of stuff we had: stuffed peppers with brown rice, spinach, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and a little grated cheese on top, with a spinach salad alongside. She had baked lemon cardamom cookies, which were delicious. And wow it was nice to have company. I love my husband but we tend to run out of things to talk about lately—unsurprisingly, I guess—and it was fun to have a lively conversation with a good friend.

>41 RidgewayGirl: Yes, it will. Ditto marjoram.

>42 lisapeet: I hear of more people doing that. Good idea!

>39 ELiz_M: Mmm...

>40 nohrt4me2:, >41 RidgewayGirl:. >42 lisapeet: Thanks for that great advice!

A good friend of mine at work, a Cubana physician assistant who is a superb cook, shared her recipe for chicken and chorizo paella with me late last year, after a conversation about it. I finally purchased a paella pan last week, so I decided to give her recipe a try this weekend:



This is the recipe that Casey gave to me:

Chicken/Chorizo Paella

Ingredients:

chicken thighs (2-4 bone in)
chorizo (1/2 lb)
short or Medium grain rice (2 cups)
1 medium onion (chopped)
2 tablespoons garlic (minced)
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/2 cup white wine
3 cups +/- 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 red pepper (chopped)
parsley

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees; put oil in a large oven proof skillet over med-high heat, cook chicken until pieces are deeply brown (5-10 minutes) - should release easily from pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. Remove chicken from pan. Cook onion, garlic and chorizo (about 3-5 minutes), until softened. Add 2 cups of rice, stirring until glossy and smells toasted. Add paprika (stir until fragrant), less than 1 min. Stir in wine and scrape up the brown bits.

3. Pour 3 cups of stock over the rice and tuck in the pieces of chicken. Transfer to oven and cook for about 15 minutes (add 5 minutes until rice is dry and tender), if rice is dry and not tender add 1/4 cup or less of chicken broth and cook for another 5 minutes.

4. When rice is ready, stir in red pepper and add salt/pepper as needed. and place back into oven (turn oven off) and let sit for 5-15 minutes.

5. When ready to eat you can opt to put the pan back on the stove and cook on med-high heat to crisp the rice (2-3 min) - I skip this step. Sprinkle parsley on top.
_____________________________________________

I prefer Portuguese chouriço (pronounced "shoe-REE-zoo") over Spanish chorizo, as it has less paprika and is not as overpowering as I find chorizo to be, so I used it in this paella. An alternate to chouriço would be linguica, another Portuguese sausage, which is not as spicy. Publix, my preferred supermarket in Atlanta, always stocks Gaspar's chouriço and linguica. I added a pinch of saffron fronds, crushed between my fingers, to the chicken broth stock; similar to the stock I use when making risotto I let it come to a boil, then turned it to low so it would be just below the boiling point. Because of that I used four cups of stock; I use store bought low salt chicken stock, although I make my own shrimp stock if I use it in seafood risotto or crawfish étouffée. Being a good Georgian I always use Vidalia sweet onions, except when I want to use or the recipe calls for red onions. I did not add any salt or pepper at any stage in the recipe, and the paella tastes perfectly fine without it.

The only quibble I have with Casey's recipe is the cooking of the chicken in step 1. I focused on getting the skin to be a dark brown color, and cooked the chicken thighs for 20 minutes, instead of 5-10 minutes. Not surprisingly the thighs were on the dry side. I would suggest either broiling them with your oven rack set as close to the top heating element as possible, and/or increasing the cooking temperature to 500 degrees, or higher if your oven will allow it. Casey didn't mention what kind of oil or how much to use; I used extra virgin olive oil, of course, not my best one but a good one, and put in two tablespoons before I added the chicken. I did let the rice cook for an additional 5 minutes in step 3; otherwise I followed Casey's recipe to the letter. Oh, I almost forgot: I used arborio rice, although I did order authentic Spanish bomba rice by mail, which I'll use the next time I make paella.

The rice was absolutely perfect, and it's incredibly tasty without the chicken or chouriço. There is enough rice for 5-6 servings, so you could use one or two additional 1-2 chicken thighs. I would strongly advise not using chicken breasts, which would probably be dry as cotton using this recipe, and I would be cautious if you use boneless skinless chicken thighs. Having said that this recipe is fantastic, and it turned out surprisingly well given that this is the first time I've ever made paella.

On the recommendation of Erik (Oberon) from the 75 Books group I purchased the Kindle edition of Paella!: Spectacular Rice Dishes from Spain by Penelope Casas, a Spaniard who lives in the United States, which has several dozen authentic Spanish paella recipes. I'll definitely give several of these a try in the coming months, as I want to learn how to make authentic paella valenciana, paellas de mariscos, and especially paella negra, a Catalan specialty I fell in love with the first time I had it in Barcelona. ¡Salúd!

ETA: I have several other recipes to share here, and I'll plan to post one a day for the rest of the week.

I kept seeing recipes for Cacio e Pepe online, and when this BBC article about the elusive dish came across my feed to day, I thought I'd tackle it. Ours turned out perfect, and I'll make this as an appetizer for future dinner parties

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200512-cacio-e-pepe-italys-beloved-3-ingredien...

>15 kidzdoc: I made the Indian-Spiced Tomato and Egg Casserole on the weekend. Thank you for the link, it was a good use of basil tomatoes that otherwise I would have left in the cabinet until the expired.

I think the particular blend of garam masala I have is not to my taste -- too heavy on the cloves? Also, as I was making the casserole for one, I decided to make the whole recipe up to the halfway point. I poured the sauteed mixture into two bread pans (instead on a 9" square pan), and put one in the freezer. For the half that I baked (with three eggs), I forgot to set the timer and over-baked (the yolks were not runny at all). :(

A good recipe, but I think I prefer my brunch egg dishes with cheese.

I successfully made a loaf of No Knead Bread on Sunday, using King Arthur Artisan Bread Flour. My first attempt, using White Lily All Purpose Flour, a low protein flour, produced a doughy and inedible flat mass. It's a very simple recipe, which requires very little time on your part to make; the yeast does practically all of the work.



No Knead Bread

YIELD One 1 1/2-pound loaf

TIME 1 hour 30 minutes, plus about 20 hours' resting time

Here is one of the most popular recipes The New York Times has ever published, courtesy of Jim Lahey, owner of Sullivan Street Bakery. It requires no kneading. It uses no special ingredients, equipment or techniques. And it takes very little effort — only time. You will need 24 hours to create the bread, but much of this is unattended waiting, a slow fermentation of the dough that results in a perfect loaf. (We've updated the recipe to reflect changes Mark Bittman made to the recipe in 2006 after publishing and receiving reader feedback. The original recipe called for 3 cups flour; we've adjusted it to call for 3 1/3 cups/430 grams flour.)

INGREDIENTS
3 1⁄3 cups/430 grams all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for dusting
1⁄4 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran, as needed

PREPARATION

Step 1
In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons/390 milliliters water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

Step 2
Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

Step 3
Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

Step 4
At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Glad your second attempt turned out well! My husband makes this in the cast iron kettle. It comes out almost like a foccacia. It is really hard not to eat it all up with gobs of butter while it is still warm. Add some cheese, kalamata olives, and a green salad, and supper is ready.

>48 nohrt4me2: I'll be right over.

>49 lisapeet: Haha! Better hurry because it doesn't last long.

I have been doing things with whole wheat spaghetti, toasted nuts, and goat cheese lately. I have fresh sage in the garden that enhances all those flavors. I got some baby kale to chop up to add to the mix.

Tried to get a spaghetti squash, but the kids who do my shopping keep putting in butternut. Anybody have some ideas for that??

>50 nohrt4me2: Yeah my grocery has had them swap pepperoni for salami!?

>51 janemarieprice: I am learning to deal with the odd unexpected substitution. I figure as I get older, way worse things are going to go wrong. But, damn, I got a LOT of butternut squash.

>50 nohrt4me2: Roasted: https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/butternut-squash-with-ginger-tomatoes-and-lime-...

And chick pea salad: https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/warm-butternut-squash-and-chickpea-salad/

Risotto: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016517-risotto-with-roasted-winter-squash

Soup: https://gardeninthekitchen.com/butternut-squash-turmeric-soup/

>50 nohrt4me2: I have a few friends who adore this, and I keep saying sometime when I need a cooking project this is going to be it: Smitten Kitchen’s Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette

I love Smitten Kitchen! I have her two( so far) cookbooks and have also found great recipes on her website.

Striped Bass with Braised Fennel and Tomato Confit via Battersby: Extraordinary Food from an Ordinary Kitchen



We made this dish this week and found it a great success. As with most chef-y cookbooks, it seemed overwhelming at first - lots of ingredients and steps. But once you read through it a couple of times it boils down to roasted tomatoes, braised fennel, pan seared bass, and a sauce made with the braising liquid. The tomatoes and fennel took a long time, but mostly just in the oven so not entirely crazy but also not for a weeknight.

Those interested can find the recipe on Google Books: Striped Bass...

Crispy Pork Belly with Asian Salad



Another good one for the weekend. We have been doing a meat CSA for a few years now and occasionally get excellent small portions of pork belly. The pork needs to be brined overnight and then cook in the over for a couple hours, but active time is pretty short. Wonderful fatty meat and crispy sink paired very well with the salad (napa cabbage, basil, mint, cilantro, chives, and green apple) that had a lot of acid and freshness.
Crispy Pork Belly
Asian Salad

BTW, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is currently $1.99 in ebook format right now... that seems like a good investment to me.

>30 kidzdoc: Darryl, I finally made the lentil soup recipe that you so kindly posted. Yum! Very good - even though I had to futz with the ingredients a bit. No dashing out to the store for a bit of this or that - that's the basics of my pandemic cooking. Making do and using google to see what I can substitute. Thanks for posting it!

I made a raspberry tart for our Sunday dinner and it was both simple to make and delicious. It's full of exaggerated raspberry flavor and not too sweet.

https://www.chowhound.com/food-news/152178/easy-raspberry-dessert-recipe/

It's an easy recipe. I skipped the step of chilling the rolled out pastry crust and it did fine.

Here's my version, which could have looks more elegant.

I made Eggplant Pecorino for Thanksgiving dinner, using a recipe from the episode of Cook's Country that I watched on PBS with my mother three weekends ago:



Eggplant Pecorino

Sauce
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup finely chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 anchovy fillets, rinsed and minced
¾ teaspoon table salt
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Eggplant
3 (10- to 16-ounce) eggplants
½ cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, for frying
4 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (2 cups)
4 ounces fontina cheese, shredded (1 cup)

BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Do not use eggplants weighing more than 1 pound each or the slices won't fit in the baking dish. Use a rasp-style grater to grate the Pecorino Romano; shred the fontina on the large holes of a box grater. Depending on the size of your eggplants, you may not need to use all three to get the 20 slices needed to assemble the casserole.

INSTRUCTIONS
1. For the sauce: Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic, anchovies, salt, pepper flakes, and oregano and cook until onion is softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes and their juice, and sugar; increase heat to medium-high; and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in basil and oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. (Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 48 hours.)

2. For the eggplant: Cut stem end off eggplants and discard. Cut ¼-inch-thick slice from 1 long side of each eggplant and discard. Using mandoline or slicing knife and starting on cut side, slice eggplants lengthwise ¼ inch thick until you have 20 slices total (you may not need all 3 eggplants).

3. Place flour in shallow dish. Beat eggs in second shallow dish. Line baking sheet with triple layer of paper towels. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat to 350 degrees (to take temperature, tilt skillet so oil pools on 1 side). Working with 3 or 4 slices at a time (depending on size of eggplant), dredge eggplant in flour, shaking off excess; dip in egg, allowing excess to drip off; then place in hot oil. Fry until lightly browned on both sides, about 1½ minutes per side. Transfer to prepared sheet. (As eggplant slices cool, you can stack them to make room on sheet.)

4. Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread 1 cup sauce in bottom of broiler-safe 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Starting with largest slices of eggplant, place 4 eggplant slices side by side over sauce in dish. Spread ½ cup sauce over eggplant, then sprinkle ½ cup Pecorino over top. Repeat layering 3 times to make 4 stacks of 4 slices. Place remaining eggplant slices on top. Spread remaining sauce over top layer of eggplant, then sprinkle with fontina.

5. Bake until bubbling around edges and center of casserole is hot, about 30 minutes. Broil until fontina is lightly browned, 1 to 3 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes. Serve.

6. To make ahead: Casserole can be assembled through step 4, without fontina, and refrigerated for up to 24 hours. When ready to cook, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle with fontina, and continue to bake as directed in step 5.

Moqueca (Brazilian fish stew)

Wikipedia's description

My recipe is cobbled together from several websites. I was inspired to search for a Brazilian recipe since the #foodandlit challenge on Litsy is doing reading & recipes from a different country each month in 2021. January is Brazil.

Marinade ingredients
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon bottled malegueta peppers (or other spicy peppers as your taste dictates)
1 & 1/2 lb. firm white fish fillets

Some recipes add shrimp as well.

Chill in refrigerator a minimum of 20 minutes (up to 24 hours.)

Cook 1-2 cups rice
- brown rice, cook while prepping vegetables
- white rice, cook while simmering stew

Prep vegetables
1-2 chopped onions
1 diced bell pepper (or 1/2 red bell, 1/2 yellow)
Add other vegetables as desired (I used 2 carrots, 1 Japanese eggplant, & a bit of leftover broccoli.)

Additional ingredients
Dende (palm) oil (I used olive oil)
1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz)
1 can coconut milk (14 oz)
cilantro

Cooking
Saute vegetables til soft. Top with fish & marinade. Add tomatoes. Top with coconut milk. Simmer 15-20 minutes until fish is cooked. Add cilantro last 2-3 minutes.

Serve over rice. 6 servings.

>61 markon: What a coincidence! One of my friends at work is a nurse practitioner from Rio de Janeiro who is a fantastic and eager cook, and is one of the people I routinely talk with about food (while the nurses look at the two of us with wide eyes and half opened mouths). On Thursday Tatiana shared her recipe for moqueca with me:

Brasilian Moqueca

• 2 inch thick fillets of a firm white fish (grouper, snapper, corvina, halibut), 1 filet per person
• shrimp (optional)
• lemons/limes
• yellow, red, orange bell peppers
• fresh cilantro
• fresh tomatoes
• 1 large yellow onion
• 6-8 cloves crushed garlic
• salt/pepper to taste
• Red palm oil (Dende oil)
• 1 can of coconut milk per 5 fillets of fish
• Olive oil
• Corn starch for thickening sauce

1. Season the fish with a generous portion of lime/lemon and a lug of olive oil. Then season with salt, pepper and crushed garlic. Add fresh chopped cilantro if using shrimp, season those separately.
2. Remove seeds from bell peppers, and dice into bite sized pieces. Dice onions into thin pieces. Slice tomatoes into thin, circular pieces.
3. Use a pan deep enough for layering. The stove should be off. Add a lug of olive oil to the bottom. Then layer onions/garlic on the bottom, add diced bell peppers, then sliced tomatoes. The bottom of the pan should be covered in these vegetables.
4. Add salt/pepper to taste.
5. Now add the fish and any residual marinade.
6. Add another layer of diced vegetables in the following order: onions/garlic, bell peppers, and sliced tomatoes, and another light sprinkle of salt and pepper.
7. Add 2-3 tablespoons of red palm oil, then 1 can of coconut milk.
8. Note: If making in advance, transfer covered pan into the fridge to cook later.
9. When ready to cook, cover pan and turn heat to high. Once the stew starts boiling, reduce heat to medium high. Cook covered for about 15 minutes, then uncover for remaining 15-20 minutes.
10. Add shrimp once fish is nearly finished cooking. Total cooking time is about 30-40 minutes. The fish should be flaky and thoroughly cooked.
11. To thicken sauce: use a large spoon, remove about ½ cup of the stew and place in a glass measuring cup. Add about 1-2 tsp of cornstarch and mix with a fork to thicken sauce. Add thickened sauce back into moqueca and stir. Repeat as necessary until sauce is desired consistency (not too runny).
12. Lastly, taste sauce and add any further salt, pepper or fresh lime. Add 2 tbsp of the red palm oil and a bunch of fresh cilantro. Let it rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with rice, yucca, salad, or any sides you enjoy.
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I plan to try this recipe next month, so hopefully we can both report on how this stew turned out.

Last year I made another recipe that Tatiana shared with me, Feijoada à Brasileira, a national dish in Brasil. Her recipe is for a pressure cooker, and I made it in my Instant Pot:



Brasilian Black Beans and Rice (Feijoada)

Ingredients:
* 1 pack of black beans
* 1 pack of smoked turkey neck bones
* 1 large turkey or chicken sausage (any sausage you like)
* 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
* 1 onion, diced

Instructions:
1. Soak black beans in water for 3-4 hours.
2. In Instant Pot, sauté onions and garlic using oil until golden.
3. Add beans (use water used for soaking) and whole sausages and neck bones.
4. Cover with water to fully cover contents.
5. After pressure cooker starts to simmer/builds pressure, cook on medium heat for 20 minutes.
6. Remove sausage and neck bones. Cut up sausage into slices and debone neck bones.
7. Add sausage and deboned neck bones to pot of beans and simmer additional 20 minutes (until beans tender).
8. Add salt to taste at the end.
9. Serve with rice and collard greens on the side.
____________________________________________

Notes: I did add the water that I soaked the beans in to the pot, but I only covered it about 3/4 of the way, so that the stew wouldn't be overly soupy, which was an excellent decision. My Instant Pot doesn't have a medium setting for pressure cooking, so I cooked the stew on high for 15 minutes. By that time the beans were creamy and tender, so I skipped the second cooking stage altogether. Since I'm Creole at heart if not by birth I added 1 tsp of powdered cayenne pepper, to give it an extra kick. Despite the limited number of ingredients the feijoada is rich and complex, and tastes fabulous.

Ooh, Battle of the Moquecas! I’m down.