What's cookin', good lookin'?

[LWulf]

I make half chicken / half beef meatballs, and I make them very small - about the size of a nickel. I chop and caramels shallots to go in the mix, and I even add a splash of cream. I'm guessing you need to keep the fat content down? But adding the shallot can help with flavour and moisture, and keeping the size small would mean less cooking time which could help moisture content. Maybe you could add a little parm to the mixture. Another thing might be finely chopped mushrooms. If you can get them to give up their liquor while they are cooking in the meatball, that would be yummy

Thanks for the suggestions C N C, actually I can't metabolize beef and you might say that's true for any milk products (thus cheese) too and I generally prefer sweet onions caramelizing them with a clove or two of fresh garlic, but I could try out the shallots. Otherwise...

I've just always just tried to eat low fat foods in general.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

I made a frittata tonight, really enjoyed it. Bacon, purple potato, red and yellow sweet pepper, yellow squash, asparagus, onion, mushroom, and cheese. I made it with duck eggs, and really liked it. So easy. I'll be making them more. I liked that I was able to use up little bits of things I had kicking about in the fridge to a tasty result...

 

[LWulf]

Pretty much any meat can be convince to be a meat ball. .

Also. If you are feeling very lazy or harried and in a rush, if you get your favourite ( sorry not low fat) pork sausage, open the end of it and then squeeze out lumps of filling in to a hot frying pan you can egg irregularly shaped pork meat balls in a fraction of the time. This is fantastic if you have hungry children visiting for example, or need to make sausages go a long way, six sausages suddenly feed many people not just three.

In the festive season I had some unexpected people call in at lunch time and wait hopefully to be fed and I did this adding some dried fruits.

While I CAN eat pork, I have a fixation that when I eat it, I develop a bad body odor. It happen more than once because I really love bacon, well I really love hamburgers too but beef... um, hurts? So, thanks to you too, but I won't go in that direction.

By the way, it might be interesting for you to note, I've done wonders with 100% chicken franks as a replacement for meatballs (sliced the short way) and as a replacement for bacon (sliced the long way) for either bacon pancakes, or a BLT sandwich.
As a single man, I've found many short cut recipes that work in a pinch while using alternative ingredients, though I don't recommend using them for the duration.

 

[LWulf]

I made a frittata tonight, really enjoyed it. Bacon, purple potato, red and yellow sweet pepper, yellow squash, asparagus, onion, mushroom, and cheese. I made it with duck eggs, and really liked it. So easy. I'll be making them more. I liked that I was able to use up little bits of things I had kicking about in the fridge to a tasty result...

sounds yummie

 

[seela]

I'm moving forward with my ABC cooking again. I first cooked L for Latvia a long time ago, but forgot to take a picture of it. Then J was gone a lot and I had lots of work so the whole ABC thing was put on the back burner.

But yesterday I cooked Latvia again and today it was Mozambique's turn.

The Latvian thing is buberts, basically just a custard with cream of wheat that's traditionally topped with berries. I used strawberries and blueberries the first time I made it, but this time around I used oranges. Both versions were good. It was really difficult to find something Latvian that I was even remotely interested in that wasn't too much like Polish and Lithuanian food which I eat all the time, but considering buberts is the only ABC thing I've cooked twice besides the Ethiopian dishes, it can be considered a success.

For Mozambique I cooked piri piri shrimp and coconut rice tossed with spring onion and cilantro and seasoned with a squeeze of lime. This is something I'll be playing around with more. The sauce was really good and really simple.

 

[LWulf]

For Mozambique I cooked piri piri shrimp and coconut rice tossed with spring onion and cilantro and seasoned with a squeeze of lime. This is something I'll be playing around with more. The sauce was really good and really simple.

The rice and shrimp looks tasty seela

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Yes, as always, looks scrumptious, seela

I'm making a beet/carrot/goat cheese casserole for a friend, who has been asking me to make it for her. Golden and red beets this time, and regular (orange) carrots.

I recently saw a beet dish that called for grating the beet, and then chopping the greens and adding them into the dish as well. Naturally I didn't take a screen shot, and now I can't remember where I saw it... If anyone has ever made such a thing, I would appreciate a recipe.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Peach cobbler!!
Nom nom nom...

 

[seela]

I recently saw a beet dish that called for grating the beet, and then chopping the greens and adding them into the dish as well. Naturally I didn't take a screen shot, and now I can't remember where I saw it... If anyone has ever made such a thing, I would appreciate a recipe.

I've made several dishes using this method. I'm not quite sure what you're after here. Hot, cold? Soup, salad?

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

I've made several dishes using this method. I'm not quite sure what you're after here. Hot, cold? Soup, salad?

I would be happy with any of those recipes. I really like the greens, but by the time I cook them down there is nothing left. I just hate throwing them away. Any recipe that calls for the greens in addition to the root I would like to try.

Elle - the food at your restaurant looks delicious!

 

[seela]

I would be happy with any of those recipes. I really like the greens, but by the time I cook them down there is nothing left. I just hate throwing them away. Any recipe that calls for the greens in addition to the root I would like to try.

Elle - the food at your restaurant looks delicious!

You can't go wrong with chłodnik or chaładnik or šaltibarščiai. It's the same pink soup I had in Minsk.

Some notes on the recipe: I don't blend the beets, at least not all of them, but grate them after cooking instead and chop the tops. If you blend some of the beet you get a stronger color, but I still like to have a bit more texture in my soup so I never blend all of the beets. I use butter milk and only a little bit of yoghurt instead of using all yoghurt, but I'm sure it works with this recipe as well. If you can get your hands on sorrel, that goes really well with the soup.

Depending on the country it's served with a side plate of boiled potatoes or potato pancakes, and in Minsk it was served with potato croquettes but that's not traditional.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[seela]

Both these look good.

I am confused with the piri piri prawns I have seen it a lot in advertising for foods ( sauces made up, or recipes etc) and thought it was piri piri like Portuguese chicken. I did not realise it was a separate cuisine entirely. Now I think Seela again is teaching new things and feel ashamed at my lack of curiosity to have investigated this before.

Mozambican (is that what the adjective for Mozambique is?) food has a lot of influence from Portuguese cuisine and the sauce is used all over Southern Africa and I think in parts of Asia as well. Piri piri is a separate sauce, also called peri peri or pili pili, and IIRC it means the peppers you use for the sauce.

The sauce is often paired with chicken though. That's what I'm gonna try next.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[IrisAlthea]

Yes, as always, looks scrumptious, seela

I'm making a beet/carrot/goat cheese casserole for a friend, who has been asking me to make it for her. Golden and red beets this time, and regular (orange) carrots.

I recently saw a beet dish that called for grating the beet, and then chopping the greens and adding them into the dish as well. Naturally I didn't take a screen shot, and now I can't remember where I saw it... If anyone has ever made such a thing, I would appreciate a recipe.

Hm, the only recipe like that I found in my stash is a yellow beet ice cream with candied beet green.
I've never tried it but I guess I saved it out of curiosity because it seems decidedly strange.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Hm, the only recipe like that I found in my stash is a yellow beet ice cream with candied beet green.
I've never tried it but I guess I saved it out of curiosity because it seems decidedly strange.

Yellow beets are abundant here, and buttermilk is really available. I was considering trying seela's soup with them instead of the red ones. I like the sound of beet ice cream and candied greens too!

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Never make olive oil ice cream - check

 

[IrisAlthea]

Yellow beets are abundant here, and buttermilk is really available. I was considering trying seela's soup with them instead of the red ones. I like the sound of beet ice cream and candied greens too!

For 4-6 persons

Boil 1 liter (just over 4 cups) of water, 4 dl (bit mor than 1.5 cup ) sugar and 2.5 dl (1 cup) of chopped yellow beets, until the beets are soft, strain and let cool.

Boil 2.5 dl(1 cup) cream with the mashed beets.
Whisk 125 g sugar and 4 eggyolks and then blend in the cream and beet mixture.
Let the kombination simmer while you keep mixing with a wooden spoon until it binds.
It's ready when you can blow on some of the mixture on the spoon and have it "shape like a rose" (concentric rings that stay put for a while, would be my way to describe it).
Cool the mixture down as fast as you can with a waterbath for example and freeze like you would any ice cream, ithe in an ice cream maker or in the freezer with frequent stirring.
Serve on a bed of chopped chocholate and with candied beet greens on top.

 

[IrisAlthea]

For 4-6 persons

Boil 1 liter (just over 4 cups) of water, 4 dl (bit mor than 1.5 cup ) sugar and 2.5 dl (1 cup) of chopped yellow beets, until the beets are soft, strain and let cool.

Boil 2.5 dl(1 cup) cream with the mashed beets.
Whisk 125 g sugar and 4 eggyolks and then blend in the cream and beet mixture.
Let the kombination simmer while you keep mixing with a wooden spoon until it binds.
It's ready when you can blow on some of the mixture on the spoon and have it "shape like a rose" (concentric rings that stay put for a while, would be my way to describe it).
Cool the mixture down as fast as you can with a waterbath for example and freeze like you would any ice cream, ithe in an ice cream maker or in the freezer with frequent stirring.
Serve on a bed of chopped chocholate and with candied beet greens on top.

Oh and for candied anything,
250 g of sugar
0.5 cup of sugar
0.5 tbsp of glukose
0.25 tsp of white destilled vinegar 12%
Boil for about 10 minutes. It should be thickening, lightly yellow and break if you pour a drop in a glass of cold water.
Dip whatever you want candied in it.

 

[seela]

For 4-6 persons

Boil 1 liter (just over 4 cups) of water, 4 dl (bit mor than 1.5 cup ) sugar and 2.5 dl (1 cup) of chopped yellow beets, until the beets are soft, strain and let cool.

Boil 2.5 dl(1 cup) cream with the mashed beets.
Whisk 125 g sugar and 4 eggyolks and then blend in the cream and beet mixture.
Let the kombination simmer while you keep mixing with a wooden spoon until it binds.
It's ready when you can blow on some of the mixture on the spoon and have it "shape like a rose" (concentric rings that stay put for a while, would be my way to describe it).
Cool the mixture down as fast as you can with a waterbath for example and freeze like you would any ice cream, ithe in an ice cream maker or in the freezer with frequent stirring.
Serve on a bed of chopped chocholate and with candied beet greens on top.

I've had beet ice cream before, but made of red beets. I'll definitely bookmark this for future reference, thanks.

 

[IrisAlthea]

I've had beet ice cream before, but made of red beets. I'll definitely bookmark this for future reference, thanks.

You can get a nicer look here:
http://www.skanskan.se/article/20110522/SKANESBASTA/110529923/-/gulbetsglass-och-brackekorv-i-topp

Now I'm probably going to have to try this myself.