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What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
This week was rather interesting - did some 2 week lactofermented hot sauce of shishito peppers, garlic, and a few habaneros, blended with fresh garlic and some left over oil from when I made garlic confit (can you tell I like garlic?). Turned out really good, very garlic forward and not too spicy. (No recipe - it was a 6% by weight brine and ziploc bag weight to keep peppers submerged, drain and then additional garlic, oil, and salt to taste)
Also did some Levain copycat cookies off the serious eats recipe (https://www.seriouseats.com/super-thick-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe) for a friendly cookie off, which won. Second place went to a modified Gideon's recipe that I can't share the exact details of, but browned and smoked butter made them damn good.
Lastly, did some Tandoori chicken that I've been trying to dial in the flavors of. Swapping to buttermilk to marinade was part 1, and part 2 was using Kissan's masala from Canada instead of the US version. Couldn't tell you why but that made the difference.
That leaves me with a full bottle of buttermilk left over though, if anyone has any suggestions on what to do with it.
6% by weight? Extra salty?
Did you ferment all of the ingredients?
When you bottled (if you bottled), is there anything you added to preserve after bottling? Or is that the 6% salt?
I ferment peppers with 3% but I haven't made a sauce out of them yet. And I store them in the fridge. Use them in lots of stuff from refried beans to salads.
Extra salty indeed - I had done a previous batch that developed some harmless yeast on top at 4% that gave it some off notes even after scooping the top bits off, so this round I wanted to try a higher salinty to keep a slight twang but not a full ferment.
Nothing added after bottling (except a negligible salt to taste of like 1-1.5 tbsp for 1.25lbs of peppers+garlic pre-ferment), but they're always refrigerated and eaten in ~1-2 months.
Aside from the usual fried chicken and buttermilk pancakes, I believe there are several cheeses you can make from buttermilk. You could add some to coleslaw or potato salad for a nice tang.
Stella Parks also has a wonderful granola recipe that I've made several times now that needs buttermilk. I make an orange and cardamom version sometimes.
I made kenji's chili verde with pork because i was looking to make chili but figured i always make the same thing so ill try something new. Holy smokes this stuff is so good and really low on calories so its been awesome for tracking. Its so flavourful and i have some really nice cheese over top of it that with some sour cream is just a face full of flavour. And i always use any excuse to make tortillas. I also shredded up some of the chunks of meat and left others whole so its a really nice mix of textures. Really happy with it, gonna be sad when it's done.
Link?
https://www.seriouseats.com/chile-verde-with-pork-recipe
Thank you!
Kenji's chili verde is my go-to recipe in the fall when I've got more garden tomatillos than I know what to do with and the weather is cold enough for heavier dishes to appeal. It freezes well, and the ingredients are relatively inexpensive with homegrown produce, so it's perfect for a few month's worth of once-a-week meat dishes.
I'll also make up the chili verde without meat and freeze it because it makes a great salsa for chips or a sauce for other dishes.
I've been enjoying the consistency, i can definitely see it working as just a salsa. Really good idea. Maybe ill deep fry some tortillas for one last good night of chili today haha
Not cooked myself but had a phenomenal lamb steak in Wales recently along with a few local drinks from the Wye Valley Brewery which were lovely.
Thank you The Triangle in Rhayader. It was great.
This place is about an hour away from family I've got over that way, hopefully I can convince them to take a trip out there for a treat :)
Lucky family. It's a lovely area. Fingers crossed you can get them to visit.
Fabada asturiana (a Spanish bean stew with assorted meats). Not homemade this time but a convenient can picked up from a Spanish deli. It was a little bland, which was surprising considering the inclusion of things like chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage) and smoked ham, but still overall a good flavour. I was blown away by the texture of the beans, they were incredibly creamy! Definitely given me plans to cook some.
I visited friends for the weekend and made meatballs with cheesy mash, garlic butter mushrooms and a red wine and red onion sauce. Added some green beans on the side because dinners usually feel incomplete to me without some green veg, that was pretty nice.
I also made some curry goat with rice n' peas (I know it's meant to be served with plain rice but humbug to that). One friend thought it was just right but the other unfortunately couldn't cope with the heat levels, which I felt a little guilty about! I only put a single scotch bonnet in and kept that on my plate to eat; I'll admit it was a freak of nature though - the hottest one I've eaten in years.
I've just had breakfast but your post is making me hungry already.
Been meaning to try fabada asturiana so that is moving up the list of things to try and goat curry is a favourite of mine but I don't have it often.
I actually bought two tins/ brands of the fabada asturiana (Litoral and El Gaitero) and I've just had the second one now for a late breakfast/ early lunch.
El Gaitero was the better of the two in my opinion, but if you spot another kind and like it even more let me know! As much as I'm sure homemade will be better, it's tasty enough that I'll probably keep buying tins for the convenience.
Avocado toast with soft poached eggs. Splurge on a really nice loaf of sour dough and some olive oil you like the flavor of - they both really shine in this dish. Slice the sour dough thick. Drizzle some olive oil on the bread. Toast the bread. Poach the eggs while the bread is toasting. Halve your avocado and make multiple cross hatch cuts while its still in the skin. Squeeze the avocado out onto your toast and spread it out evenly. Drizzle some more olive oil on top of the avocado. Put your poached eggs into a bowl and scramble them up with a fork until you've got a bowl of thick yellow sauce with small white chunks in it. Spoon the eggs over the toast. Salt/pepper to taste.
So. Good.
Those dang millenials were onto something... MUFA's from the avocado and the olive oil. Fiber from the avocado (and the sour dough if you went with a multigrain option). Protein from the eggs.