What Have You Cooked Recently?

I finally got all of my fermented peppers processed into hot sauce this weekend. I had roughly 17 pounds of habaneros from 4 plants and I fermented about 15 pounds worth. It was all Louisiana style, but some of them I fermented straight and some I mixed with fruit. Most of the fruit combinations were fermented as mash, with the exception of the papaya and mango mix. I grated the papaya and ataulfo mangoes and fermented them with the peppers in half gallon jars. The mashes were: blueberry, raspberry, habanero; blackberry, raspberry, habanero; blackberry, raspberry, banana, habanero; blackberry, raspberry, mango, banana, habanero. For the mashes, I used cling wrap to suspend a fermenting puck on top of the mash to limit the oxygen. For the finish, I used white wine vinegar at a ratio of about 2:1 mash to vinegar.
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To celebrate getting all of that done, I made some treats yesterday and today.
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Choux puffs with lemon pastry cream. I ran out of pastry cream, so I used some raspberry spread I had to fill the last two. I should have practiced my piping technique before attempting these recipes.
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Strawberry swirl cake. The recipe called for a cup of Greek yogurt but I replaced that with a 2:1 ratio of kefir to cream cheese. I blended the swirl mixture, but that cut down the strawberry flavor. Next time, I'll dice the strawberries and do an even ratio of kefir to cream cheese.
 
@New Ghostface well done, this looks scrumptious.

We were going to make saag paneer tomorrow but the fucking store stopped stocking paneer. I'm so fucking pissed. I'll just make steaks with duck fat potatoes and green salad with oil, lemon, and garlic vinaigrette. FUCK this.
Thank you for the compliment. The choux reminds me of Yorkshire pudding that my family made as a Christmas side dish. Coincidentally, the same website I used to help with the choux also has a recipe and how-to guide for paneer. It can be made from cow milk, instead of the traditional buffalo milk, with the addition of cheese-grade calcium chloride. Here's the link to that page. Paneer recipe/guide
 
Patatas bravas as a side/appetizer with million-dollar chicken - all courtesy of Chef John. I tried cooking the tomato paste with shallots and garlic as a simple sofrito before I mixed it with the rest of the brave sauce. I stuffed the chicken with the remaining shallot, lemon, rosemary, tarragon, thyme, etc. Also made an herb butter to rub under the skin.

Edit: it was delicious and no one can have any. God, tarragon pairs so well with chicken.

Second edit: it's a hell of a way to make toast, but my God, the toast ...
 
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Steamed two cups of rice and then deboned and diced two chicken leg quarters and made chicken fried rice. The chicken turned out super tender, not sure if it's because they were leg quarters (dark meat), or if it's because I sprinkled a little baking soda on the diced chicken before I chilled it in the fridge, or if it's because it wasn't overcooked, or just a combination of all those factors.

Cooked the diced chicken with a little vegetable oil and some diced onion and ginger, then added the rice, garlic powder (don't have fresh), sliced carrots... normally I'd have to add eggs but the prices for those are just ridiculous. Soy sauce of course. Used 4 teaspoons of Carolina Reaper powder, and in the end I portioned the rice out into 6 lunch-sized containers, so, it's pretty spicy.

If I was gonna fancy it up a little I might have added scallions and maybe some cashews. But it's just supposed to be a week's worth of cheap lunches.
 
Grilled up some quesadillas tonight. Not simple fast food style quesadillas, I went all out. They came out great, and I definitely want to make them again.
Diced adobo-seasoned chicken breast, sliced mushrooms, some salsa, and Taco Bell 7-layer cheese mix.
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I finally got all of my fermented peppers processed into hot sauce this weekend. I had roughly 17 pounds of habaneros from 4 plants and I fermented about 15 pounds worth. It was all Louisiana style, but some of them I fermented straight and some I mixed with fruit. Most of the fruit combinations were fermented as mash, with the exception of the papaya and mango mix. I grated the papaya and ataulfo mangoes and fermented them with the peppers in half gallon jars. The mashes were: blueberry, raspberry, habanero; blackberry, raspberry, habanero; blackberry, raspberry, banana, habanero; blackberry, raspberry, mango, banana, habanero. For the mashes, I used cling wrap to suspend a fermenting puck on top of the mash to limit the oxygen. For the finish, I used white wine vinegar at a ratio of about 2:1 mash to vinegar.
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To celebrate getting all of that done, I made some treats yesterday and today.
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Choux puffs with lemon pastry cream. I ran out of pastry cream, so I used some raspberry spread I had to fill the last two. I should have practiced my piping technique before attempting these recipes.
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Strawberry swirl cake. The recipe called for a cup of Greek yogurt but I replaced that with a 2:1 ratio of kefir to cream cheese. I blended the swirl mixture, but that cut down the strawberry flavor. Next time, I'll dice the strawberries and do an even ratio of kefir to cream cheese.
Uh why the HOT peppers, my stomache/asshole!
 
Uh why the HOT peppers
I've always enjoyed spicy food, and I was tired of paying for peppers, so I decided to grow my own. I get a far better yield per area from habaneros, serranoes, jalapenos, and cayenne than I did from bell and even sweet pepper varieties. It took me a while to build up a tolerance to the habaneros, but once I did, I found a lot of different ways to enjoy them. I use them in stews and soups, in salads and salsa, as hot sauce and spreads, and even incorporated into baked goods.

Such as this apricot/prune/habanero French bread
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The hot sauce can go on almost anything, but I find it particularly pleasant on burritos, tacos, fajitas, enchiladas, baked/grilled meat, salads, and, especially, breakfast dishes.

Such as this frittata
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An example of my recovery regime these days:

Breakfast
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4 eggs over easy, slice of bread with baked beans cheese and chili sauce, lamb sausage and bacon, blue cheese gravy

Breakfast part 2
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Fresh baked cookies, coffee, cigarettes, injectable B12

Lunch
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Lamb steak x 2, baked potatoes, blueberry jam, pickle, coleslaw
 
Ribeye steaks, duck fat potatoes, and steamed broccoli on Monday because they were out of paneer and ngl I didn't feel up to cheesemaking this week, lol. Still SO mad my dinner wishes were thwarted by the store.
Tteokbokki Tuesday, usually I make it with pork belly or fish balls but we really just wanted it plain this time around.
Today, I'm making golden curry potato croquettes, served with a green salad with radish, and with lemon/olive oil/garlic as a dressing.
I'm making pasta tomorrow, there's a few sauces that are go-tos in our household but my husband requested the one I make with aromatics and herbs/crushed tomato/crumbled sausage/carrots/mushrooms/celery/habaneros. Will set some aside for the kids prior to adding habaneros, of course. I find that the fruitiness of the peppers works beautifully in pasta sauce, I'm sure someone's nonna would haunt me forever for it, but it'll be worth it.
 
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