What Have You Cooked Recently?

[8reallybigbirds]

Does anyone have ideas on what to make with a garden-fresh eggplant? It looks like I’ll have one ready to go in a couple of days.

lately i've been really been enjoying grilled veggie pasta with eggplant, peppers, and zucchini. The eggplant gets soft and turns into a nice creamy sauce when you mix it in. Grilled chicken if you need your protein fix, little bit of lemon juice in there to make it sing.

 

[Stan]

lately i've been really been enjoying grilled veggie pasta with eggplant, peppers, and zucchini. The eggplant gets soft and turns into a nice creamy sauce when you mix it in. Grilled chicken if you need your protein fix, little bit of lemon juice in there to make it sing.

I love eggplant. I especially love it in Thai green curry with that spicy pepper + coconut milk those flavors are sooo good together.

 

[8reallybigbirds]

I love eggplant. I especially love it in Thai green curry with that spicy pepper + coconut milk those flavors are sooo good together.

SOMEDAY i will master the green curry. It's so good.

 

[Stan]

Tempura chicken with orange sauce. It's too hot to run the oven, today. Better to just turn on the fryer for about five minutes, and the wok for ten.

You have a fryer at home? Jealous.
I have some fryer questions. How large is this fryer? Like a countertop version? Or do you have access to a big commercial style fryer?
How often do you need to fry things to make it worth the investment on countertop space and oil? Is it as messy as frying on the stovetop?
I like frying things but a few things hold me back, especially the amount of oil that gets wasted if we're only frying stuff one night. You'll cook like three pounds of fish or chicken or whatever but then you have 5 cups of oil that we usually just toss.
How often do you need to replace the oil or clean the unit? I'm guessing the oil once added has a pretty finite shelf life.

SOMEDAY i will master the green curry. It's so good.

If you get prepared curry paste from an Asia mart I think the rest of it should be within reach for a home cook. The curry paste is the hard part that calls for ingredients that are more difficult to source.

 

[OrionBalls]

You have a fryer at home? Jealous.
I have some fryer questions. How large is this fryer? Like a countertop version? Or do you have access to a big commercial style fryer?
How often do you need to fry things to make it worth the investment on countertop space and oil? Is it as messy as frying on the stovetop?
I like frying things but a few things hold me back, especially the amount of oil that gets wasted if we're only frying stuff one night. You'll cook like three pounds of fish or chicken or whatever but then you have 5 cups of oil that we usually just toss.
How often do you need to replace the oil or clean the unit? I'm guessing the oil once added has a pretty finite shelf life.

If you get prepared curry paste from an Asia mart I think the rest of it should be within reach for a home cook. The curry paste is the hard part that calls for ingredients that are more difficult to source.

I have a small countertop unit. I use peanut oil, and strain and refrigerate the oil after every use. It lasts a few months without going rancid, that way.

 

[souschef]

Does anyone have ideas on what to make with a garden-fresh eggplant? It looks like I’ll have one ready to go in a couple of days.

Eggplant antipasto is great

https://www.oliviascuisine.com/eggplant-caponata/

 

[There She Glows]

Does anyone have ideas on what to make with a garden-fresh eggplant? It looks like I’ll have one ready to go in a couple of days.

I really enjoy miso glazed eggplant.

 

[souschef]

I really enjoy miso glazed eggplant.

Eggplant's great. I'm almost heading to the market to buy some. I like them diced along with some mushrooms, sauteing them with butter and a little thyme

Ratatouille is always a good call... Just make sure if you're preparing a large batch of eggplant to soak them in water with a little lemon as you cut, they go black fast

 

[McMitch]

I've been trying to utilize the fruits of my Cheese Run, a wash-rind cheese aged for about half the time limburger would be. I made cacio e pepe the other day, mixing about a quarter of the cheese into the sauce (and catching the knuckle of my thumb on the cheese grater when I was shredding the parmesan). Today I made pork chop sandwiches (lemon pepper + fried in butter) and put slices of the cheese on top. 10/10 both times, would Hooligan again.

 

[Polystyrene Glioblastoma]

I cooked a sardine casserole in lieu of tuna.

I know it sounds terrible, but it was good. Added peas, cheese, jerk seasoning, ranch powder, and it was good.

 

[GenociderSyo]

Grilled up a nice steak with a wood smoker to give it some extra taste.

 

[PositiveMonk]

Grilled up a nice steak with a wood smoker to give it some extra taste.

I tried using woodchips on my grill the other day and I was much happier with it than any other time I've tried smoking methods.

I made refried beans and used them for bean burritos. I was a little disappointed with them, they weren't very flavorful. Not sure how I could have improved them, maybe using bacon fat instead of veg oil or using a better salsa?

 

[There She Glows]

I made refried beans and used them for bean burritos. I was a little disappointed with them, they weren't very flavorful. Not sure how I could have improved them, maybe using bacon fat instead of veg oil or using a better salsa?

Bacon fat helps and a half a teaspoon of msg. I add some finely diced bell pepper, onion and garlic. And I prefer maya coba beans to pinto beans, I think they have better flavor + texture.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

"Blackened chicken" with shrimp and grits and mustard greens and pinto beans. I found out that my "blackening" isn't correct. I'd sear blackening seasoning on it, but I didn't do the whole thing, with butter and a pan on high heat, etc., so it's not really blackening. The seasoning won't stick to my shrimp and I've decided to just blow that part of it off in the future, season the chicken and sear it the way I like but the shrimp can be plain shrimp for all it matters.

Cheese grits are aggravating to me because, as someone that DID NOT grow up eating grits, sometimes they are very good and most of the time they suck. i came to the theory that what made the difference was possibly that on the good times it was a coarser grain (cheese might matter too). (People also claim it genuinely matters if it's ground with a stone mill, which I'm guessing restaurant grits are.) I bought the fanciest grits I could at Walmart, which was still instant trash, but I do see a very real difference, it's thicker and was actually acceptable today. Combined with the mustard greens and the pinto beans it was a very good dish unto itself, each ingredient contributing a complimentary texture as well as flavor (chewy/fibrous green, creamy pinto beans, crumbly grits).

 

[Stan]

Cheese grits are aggravating to me because, as someone that DID NOT grow up eating grits, sometimes they are very good and most of the time they suck. i came to the theory that what made the difference was possibly that on the good times it was a coarser grain (cheese might matter too). (People also claim it genuinely matters if it's ground with a stone mill, which I'm guessing restaurant grits are.) I bought the fanciest grits I could at Walmart, which was still instant trash, but I do see a very real difference, it's thicker and was actually acceptable today. Combined with the mustard greens and the pinto beans it was a very good dish unto itself, each ingredient contributing a complimentary texture as well as flavor (chewy/fibrous green, creamy pinto beans, crumbly grits).

I really like a bowl of grits with cheese on top for breakfast but your teeth feel scummy afterwards.
Idk about stone mill vs other milling styles, that's likely just marketing, but you don't want the instant grits, that's trash, and the quick 5min grits are not too nice either, you want those "traditional" grits that haven't been parboiled or fooled around with and which call for a 30 min cook time. Then top them with all the peeled boiled shrimps and cheese. MMm.
Pro tip: corn grits can be cooked effortlessly in a high-end rice cooker on the "porridge" setting. I imagine it works in POS cheap rice cookers too so long as you watch it and get it off the heat in time.

 

[ita]

I've been trying to utilize the fruits of my Cheese Run

The event where everyone chases after a wheel of cheese down a steep hill? That’s awesome. I recently worked my way through a cheese wheel gifted to me. I added small chopped up bits to my salads, melted some of it with sharp cheddar for fondue, and ate cubes of it with Hawaiian rolls and apple slices. Good shit.

 

[McMitch]

The event where everyone chases after a wheel of cheese down a steep hill?

... No.

 

[AnOminous]

I've been trying to utilize the fruits of my Cheese Run, a wash-rind cheese aged for about half the time limburger would be.

I made a sous vide porterhouse with a cast iron finish, topped with a Blue Stilton sauce. The recipe called for double cream but I thought that was a little overkill since I'd already sous vided it in butter and garlic and then finished it in beef tallow. So I used sour cream instead.

 

[Neodanthril]

my hibiscus has been blooming quite well so I have had a healthy supply of hibiscus tea on hand, and since it is summertime I try to keep lemonade in the fridge. My mother came over and decided to mix the two and discovered a delicious summertime drink. It's not a new thing but it is new to me and quite tasty. If you don't have fresh hibiscus you can buy dried hibiscus leaves online.spics use it a lot and they call the dried leaves flor de Jamaica

 

[WhatInTheActualFuck]

I made a sous vide porterhouse with a cast iron finish, topped with a Blue Stilton sauce. The recipe called for double cream but I thought that was a little overkill since I'd already sous vided it in butter and garlic and then finished it in beef tallow. So I used sour cream instead.

Sounds awesome! I've switched to just using a blowtorch to finish my sous vide meats. You get super fine control over the process and can also get all of the fat cap(s) on the sides of a steak nice and crispy. There's also the appeal of people weirding out a bit watching you break out the fucking blowtorch that you keep under your kitchen sink and spark it up indoors.