Voodoolily's Snacktastic Recipe Thread!!

[Pennilenko]

Are you using the immersion circulator to cook the steak and then searing it, or searing first then cooking in the circulator?

[MisterNoisy]

Are you using the immersion circulator to cook the steak and then searing it, or searing first then cooking in the circulator?

The former.  Immersion circulator to 132F then about 45s per side on a rocket hot skillet followed by a five minute rest.

Perfect steaks every time.

[Sky]

But I already get perfect steaks every time with my grill or cast iron pan?

 

[Samwise]

I haven't tried steaks yet, but grilling on my new kamado has been fucking amazing.  We used to grill chicken on a Weber when I was a kid and it'd always be charcoal on one side and bloody in the middle.  Every single piece of chicken I've put on the kamado has come out perfectly cooked all the way through and juicier than I would have thought possible.  It's magical.  I'm looking forward to doing burgers and steaks on this thing.

[MisterNoisy]

But I already get perfect steaks every time with my grill or cast iron pan?

 

I hear yas, but the Anova pretty much idiot-proofs the process, especially when you're cooking for a large group.

[Count Nerfedalot]

The garden surprised me with an early harvest today, including a tomato, a cucumber, a yellow squash and 3 zucchini including one that was 14" long and 3" diameter which was just finger-sized 3 days ago! I also did a lot of culling in the herb garden (picking off flowers and shearing back the longer stems to promote more leaf growth) so we have oregano drying in the dehydrator and cilantro on the kitchen table waiting its turn in the dehydrator, and basil, thyme and dill flowers in vases and baskets, so the house smells wonderful but I'm constantly hungry!

The Countess used the tomato in Hot Browns for lunch, yummy! But what to do for dinner with a zucchini nearly the volume of a football? As it turns out, mini-zucchini pizzas based on this recipe http://damndelicious.net/2014/06/04/zucchini-pizza-bites/. I'm allergic to garlic, so I used leftover homemade spaghetti sauce (ground beef and mushroom) from the freezer instead of the marinara, added fresh mushrooms with the pepperoni and substituted chopped fresh basil, thyme and oregano for the Italian seasoning. Fantastic! Possibly a little herby for some tastes, given the double whammy of the fresh herbs on top of mostly the same in the sauce, but that was fine given my already herb-saturated senses. But if you're trying this at home remember that fresh herbs are much more potent than dried!

[justdave]

But I already get perfect steaks every time with my grill or cast iron pan?

 

I hear yas, but the Anova pretty much idiot-proofs the process, especially when you're cooking for a large group.

And works for a lot of things that aren't steaks. :j

[Bunk]

My first attempt tonight at cooking something vaguely Ethiopian (which is odd, since I have an Ethiopian restaurant three blocks away and I've never gone).

Chicken thighs in berbere spice over lentils with onion, garlic, ginger, onion, tomato, and more of the spice.

I made enough for two meals. Then ate the whole thing.

[apocrypha]

I made enough for two meals. Then ate the whole thing.

It was good then? 

Only Ethiopian food I've ever eaten was a violently hot lentil curry with eggs in it that a colleague brought in to work once. It was great. But oh so hot.

[Sky]

I'm a 'murican. Grilled some cob corn and chicken last night. So fast, easy and awesome. Wish I had done some green beans to go with, though.

Love this time of year, as farmer's markets start to really get rolling.

[Signe]

My sister picked up a couple of tomatoes from a local farmer the other day.  She slices them thick, put fresh basil leaves on it, salt, pepper and drizzles a bit of olive oil on it.  They were big, red and you could smell the tomatoes and basil all over the house.  I love that smell.  It reminds me of our veggie gardens when I was little. 

What has been disappointing this year so far are melons and stone fruit.  Other than a couple, they've mostly been tasteless and sometime mealy.  Summer is my favourite season for fresh fruit and I've been largely disappointed.  :(  Everything seems washed out and bland.   

[Sky]

The melons here have been amazing! Best watermelon in years.

I didn't plant a garden this year and really miss gorging on fresh-picked tomato and basil (with some evoo and  local mozz, of course!).

[Paelos]

I made enough for two meals. Then ate the whole thing.

It was good then? 

Only Ethiopian food I've ever eaten was a violently hot lentil curry with eggs in it that a colleague brought in to work once. It was great. But oh so hot.

I ate Lamb Tibs last night. Ethiopian food is fantastic. A great combination of spices and meats that remind you of Indian but without all the dairy.

[Yegolev]

I've settled on what might be seen as a compromise, but is really good for my schedule: two Blue Apron meals a week.  It's also good for not eating a bag meal or random vegetables every night (which I'm fine with but ...).  I do still have the local food box show up at my house, and therefore I still have lots of random vegetables slowly mouldering away, but two nights a week I get out my $19.95 Victorinox and a cutting board and follow directions to victory.  The biggest benefit to me is that I don't have to plan meals, which I really hate doing.  I can also avoid stocking the pantry with too much food.

[Sky]

I was thinking about the Blue Apron to help my fiancee learn to cook. The only kitchen utensil she knows how to use is the phone.

I worry about the recipes, they tend to be a bit foodie; and while I'm ok with experimentation, she's not. Pretty much straight classic American diner menu. She doesn't even like me making asparagus or using avocados (!!!).

I'm with you on planning. Cooking I don't mind, but having to come up with variation, esp when the person who CANT COOK keeps on with 'I'm so tired of these veg sides'...how about some suggestions!? She's getting better, though, brought home the fresh corn and green beans!

[Rasix]

We tried a few of the services.  Blue Apron was completely decent. I don't love some of their packaging, but the meat was top quality and the dishes turned out pretty well.

We've done Plated a couple times.  They're about the same, although we've liked the recipes a bit more. It's good in that my son can help and it gets him to try more foods, since he's had a hand in making it.

Sun Basket was OK. The packaging was a lot more eco-friendly and the ingredients as a whole were better. The recipes were a bit exotic and one of them really didn't turn out so well.  Also, they shipped the wrong type of chicken with one of the recipes.

My wife does not like cooking. She doesn't like planning meals. This takes care of it for 2-3 nights a week. That's a win.

[Yegolev]

Blue Apron definitely falls on the foodie side but is generally edible and frequently delicious.  It can teach you quite a bit of the basics, I think, since there are associated videos for when you don't know exactly what "small dice" means or if the instructions are too terse.  They like to have you reuse pots/pans, which is something I was always bad at.  You might even learn to sub things, like how I've been instructed to sub chicken breast anytime thighs are provided.  Which was a good call, really.

Protip: they always send too much garlic.  I'm overrun with garlic.

[Ard]

Protip: they always send too much garlic.  I'm overrun with garlic.

Heretic, there's no such thing 

[Bunk]

I've been instructed to sub chicken breast anytime thighs are provided.  Which was a good call, really.

Even more of a Heretic!

[Sky]

Breast !+ thigh!!! Dude!

She's got this weird digestive thing where if she eats any strong garlic or onion, her breath will smell strongly of it for three days after. We've tried a bunch of solutions, but even the strongest minty stuff just makes it smell like mint garlic. As someone from the 'can't have too much garlic' school, this suuuuucks. I will eat a whole roasted head of garlic with a little evoo over a cracker.

The pots/pans thing is another tough one, I cook almost everything in a cast iron pan, except acidic stuff which goes in my enameled cast iron pan.

[Xanthippe]

But what to do for dinner with a zucchini nearly the volume of a football?

Ah, the zucchini curse. One day it's tiny and the next time you look at it, it's a foot long. My old standby for those, last night's ingredients in ()

Cook up a pound of ground meat (ground chuck) with a chopped medium onion, and whatever else sounds good (mushrooms).

Toss in spices (Argentine steak rub), turn down the heat.

Cut the zuc in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and make a little u-shaped valley inside each half, and place in a large rectangular baking dish (cut in half if you need to). You can toss the stuff you scooped out into the meat mixture if you want (I gave mine to my chickens).

Put the meat mix into the zuc sides, and top with grated cheese (sharp cheddar). Bake at 350F until the zuc is done (30 min).

Not a recipe for vegetarians: the zuc part itself isn't very flavorful, but the meat mixture is.

[Xanthippe]

She's got this weird digestive thing where if she eats any strong garlic or onion, her breath will smell strongly of it for three days after. We've tried a bunch of solutions, but even the strongest minty stuff just makes it smell like mint garlic.

Eating parsley or drinking milk might help with the garlic gasses from digestion.

[Signe]

My dad had the garlic breath, too.  Nothing seemed to help.  He used to drink a gallon of milk a day    so that didn't work on him either. 

I also cook with cast iron and enameled cast iron.  I have a really big one that I used for shepherd's pie.  I use it for the ground lamb, onions and veg first.  Then I make the mash and pile it on top, crisscross with a fork all over the mash so it gets crunchy, sprinkle with paprika and throw the whole thing in the oven for 45-60 min.  I have to say, however, that I was pulled in by the red copper thingy pan and got one cheap at Bed and Bath and Beyond (not the Gotham one) and I kind of love it.  It's super cute and great for eggs and sticky things.  I like the colours! 

I also keep a 12 inch cast iron pan for skillet baking like sticky buns and pineapple upside down cake because they're good for both stove top and oven.  It's also what I use for Clafoutis, which is one of my favourite things.  I haven't made desserts in donkey's years, though.

[apocrypha]

Courgettes (zucchini's) are also good made into fritters - grate them, squeeze out moisture, mix with some flour and seasoning and cheese if you want, shallow fry until crispy. Yummy.

[Bunk]

Mom always used the ones that ended up football sized for zucchini bread. I like that idea of stuffing it though.

[Samwise]

She's got this weird digestive thing where if she eats any strong garlic or onion, her breath will smell strongly of it for three days after. We've tried a bunch of solutions, but even the strongest minty stuff just makes it smell like mint garlic.

Eating parsley or drinking milk might help with the garlic gasses from digestion.

Supposedly it's not just a byproduct of digestion that you're burping up; the garlic stuff goes from your gut all the way to your bloodstream.  Mouthwash etc doesn't help because once it's circulating in your system you end up exhaling it from your lungs.  Parsley, fennel, and lemon are all supposed to help in neutralizing the effect but I can believe that it might work differently for different people.

[Sky]

Sam is wise.

[Trippy]

It's not a supposedly. Have none of you eaten enough garlic that the smell is coming out of your pores?

http://www.breathmd.com/garlic-breath.php

[Yegolev]

I mean that the recipe calls for 2 cloves and they send you the whole clump.  I assume there is a word for the clump but it's 5pm.  So, you can really go to town with the garlic if you choose.  It's in contrast to how they otherwise send you pre-measured everything.

Those particular thigh meats did not turn out well in a chicken parm-a-like.  You guys can substitute canned sausages if you want, I don't fucking care.  That's my main point.  Once you get in the groove, it's easy to replace things and you will still end up keeping much less on hand.  Replace those pork chops with tenderloin if you want.

[apocrypha]

The clump of garlic cloves is called a head, and as soon as you break open the head the cloves will start to sprout or rot, unless it's been really dried too much, which makes it very harsh tasting. Garlic is easy enough to grow that it's probably easier for them to just send a whole head than to deal with complaints about manky cloves.

[Chimpy]

Of course garlic goes into the bloodstream, that's why vampires hate it. They prefer blood to be unflavored!

[Sky]

Holy fucking fish wraps. Went to the market to get some salmon and saw they had some massive swordfish steaks. Bought a whopping one (and convinced a couple women to buy them, too). Grilled it, chopped it up and put it in wraps with spring mix/spinach/cuke/tomato/carrot/swiss and some homemade olive oil lemon mayo.

Been digging the food processor, the mayo is just the latest experiment. Make peanut butter all the time, my own hamburger mix (3/4 chuck 1/4 pork sirloin), etc. At one point I said 'man, this is friggin' great mayoi!' and she said 'are you in the kitchen by yourself eating mayo??'

[apocrypha]

Homemade mayonnaise is amazing, I really need a new food processor, ours is a bit shit, but good ones are expensive.

We've had a perfect summer for plants this year - periods of scorching sun alternating with heavy rains, so our garden is bursting with herbs. Marjoram, thyme, sage, bay, mint, rosemary, hyssop, chives. It's great at this time of year because they all need to be pruned hard so I'm using them in huge handfuls. Did pork leg roasted on a bed of shallots and herbs yesterday with gravy made in the roasting tin while the meat rested. Fabulous, and leftovers for days now.

Oh, and mash made by baking potatoes then scooping the flesh out and mashing with butter and roasted garlic. I am never going to be a skinny man again 

[Sky]

I got a decent but basic Cuisinart on Prime Day for $65 after deal stacking :)

I didn't do my garden this year, pretty bummed about it (cats were happy about the wild catnip growing amongst the weeds, though). Apples were terrible this year, I was just at the orchard yesterday and they're barely hiring any help. Sucks being a small farmer!

My current go-to potato recipe is red potatoes in 1" chunks, tossed in a bowl with olive oil and rosemary then covered in plastic wrap and microwaved for 10 minutes. Then pop them in the oven to brown, usually finish with the broiler because I'm impatient. Nice browned exterior and super creamy interior (from the microwave step).

[Nebu]

My current go-to potato recipe is red potatoes in 1" chunks, tossed in a bowl with olive oil and rosemary then covered in plastic wrap and microwaved for 10 minutes. Then pop them in the oven to brown, usually finish with the broiler because I'm impatient. Nice browned exterior and super creamy interior (from the microwave step).

Amazing with eggs for breakfast or with poultry for dinner.  So versatile.