What's cookin', good lookin'?

[desertslave]

Tonight was my turn, mostly from memory (but I forgot fresh ginger, drat!). We made chicken curry with peas and onions.

I think I need to replace some spices. The curry and the garam masala tasted weak. Master wants some chili powder, too, so I think we'll have a shopping trip to Penzey's this week.

 

[vrmmsm]

Advice again please, if you would

I've got a lot of mint, sage, rosemary and tarragon in the garden. What's the best method for freezing? Cooking them first and preserving in ice? Or should I just dry them out and leave them in the cupboard.

I know that I should know this really but usually I just let the plants die out unused and then kick myself for not getting organised earlier.

I'm certainly no expert like some of the other folks here, but I think you actually lose a lot of the flavor of herbs when they are dried vs fresh. Because of that, I would think that frozen would be better.

I didn't go searching for this. I just went to the website to peruse the latest and this happened to be it.
http://www.thekitchn.com/gardening-101-how-to-preserve-fresh-mint-for-later-220864

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Advice again please, if you would

I've got a lot of mint, sage, rosemary and tarragon in the garden. What's the best method for freezing? Cooking them first and preserving in ice? Or should I just dry them out and leave them in the cupboard.

I know that I should know this really but usually I just let the plants die out unused and then kick myself for not getting organised earlier.

I think you have a few options, maybe do small batches by different methods this year and see which works best for you? A few thoughts. Do you have an airing cupboard? That could make drying easy. Also, you could create bouquets garni (rosemary with mint sounds good for lamb) and name your own spice mixtures

Mint makes a great simple syrup, though in truth you could make a simple syrup or just asimple infusion with any of them. Then simply freeze the liquid into ice cubes and pop then into your daily cooking in small doses. And don't forget salts like Endless made a few months back, that might be a good option.

My only other thought is in regards to rosemary. I don't know how much fridge space you have, but when the weather starts to threaten your rosemary you might cut as many sprigs as you have room for, trim about 4 or 5 centimeters of petals so you have enough of the cut end of the stem cleared to just stand them in water in a glass in your fridge. Rosemary keeps a long, long time like this. Beyond a month, as long as you periodically rinse the stems real well and wash away any decaying bits, and keep petals out of the water. You can keep almost any herb this way, the woodier ones just last longer.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[LallyH]

Thanks everyone, for your suggestions.

I usually make sauce with the mint, and I've never really been keen on the flavour when I've used ready dried leaves, so that one is my main concern. I'll try some form of 'wet' storage and see how it works.

I'll try drying the others and see how it turns out. Unfortunately I don't have an airing cupboard with heat any more since our change of boiler, so I'm going to have to think of a plan...

 

[desertslave]

Thanks everyone, for your suggestions.

I usually make sauce with the mint, and I've never really been keen on the flavour when I've used ready dried leaves, so that one is my main concern. I'll try some form of 'wet' storage and see how it works.

I'll try drying the others and see how it turns out. Unfortunately I don't have an airing cupboard with heat any more since our change of boiler, so I'm going to have to think of a plan...

Do you have a gas range with a pilot light? Just park them in there for a few days, when convenient. 3-4 days should dry them sufficiently.

Here, now, I could bake cookies on my dashboard.
(probably won't work if you don't use Facebook)
http://12ne.ws/1Lky7fj

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[desertslave]

Incredible! Are you tempted to try to desertslave?

Here we ate too much junkfood over the weekend which makes me feel very awful. i plan to fast and glug water today and not very excitingly the rest of the week.

I'm thinking about it, just for the novelty. The Jeep would smell lovely afterwards.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

I'm thinking about it, just for the novelty. The Jeep would smell lovely afterwards.

Well? Did you?


Tonight I cooked fried chicken and potato salad and pasta salad and deviled eggs and chocolate cake and secured a few other choice tidbits. You know what that means, right?? Picnic! Wheeeeeeee

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[desertslave]

I haven't tried the cookies yet, but maybe a bit later today.

Meanwhile, a delicious bit of punnage that truly made me LOL

http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz80/desertslave/carrotstewing_zps28rwcdxj.jpg

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

I was going to try the soaking in beer recommended for pork chops with some cheaper cuts of steak next weekend, but I cannot because one of our diners is gluten intolerant. I'm going very, very loosely Argentinian themed with the menu but would prefer not to stump up for fillet for everyone ( particularly as its not my favourite steak). Any other ideas any one has kicking about for marinades?

Doesn't Argentina do an onion stuffed eye of round? Or something like that? Would that work?

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

I haven't tried the cookies yet, but maybe a bit later today.

Meanwhile, a delicious bit of punnage that truly made me LOL

http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz80/desertslave/carrotstewing_zps28rwcdxj.jpg

Poor Stewie!!

 

[midwestyankee]

Poor Stewie!!

Yep, that caused peels of laughter, I'm sure.

 

[seela]

A friend brought me a package of the weirdest pasta I've seen. I was very sceptical, but also a little curious, so I used it yesterday.

The pasta is pretty thick, shaped like leaves and there are different flavors, at least beet, pumpkin, spinach and squid ink. I made a simple lemon and garlic sauce and topped it with a little bit of crumbled feta and parsley.

It was better than I expected. Wouldn't buy the pasta for myself, but it was fun as a novelty thing. The colors all faded when I cooked it, but in a raw form the pasta looked quite lovely.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[seela]

Leaves is nicer than the shape name! Orecchiette, little ears. . I'm not keen on the thickness/stodginess of it. But your coloured ones are beautiful, I'd eat them just for their prettiness!

However, there is a stodgy pasta I adore, its a filled pasta from Sardinia called culugiones. Its very heavy as the pasta is stuffed with mashed potato! The best, in my opinion, have lots of mint in them to, and are eaten either with a tomato sauce or with just melted butter and sage. Its very much comfort food. It reminds me a bit of some Polish dumplings whose spelling I cannot remember Perogy?

I've always thought orecchiette means nuts or something. I only now realized it's interference from Slavic languages, where nut is "orech" or something pretty close to that in many languages. Although the pasta does look a bit like the outer shell of walnuts.

Here it is raw, I still have enough for another batch for two. I think it looks like candy, much nicer like this than cooked.

Yes, the Polish dumplings are pierogi. Pierogi are kind of like pelmeni or ravioli. The pierogi russkie are stuffed with potato and white cheese, those are my favorite. There are also kluski and pyzy in the world of Polish dumplings. They come in many varieties and they both can be stuffed as well, but usually served as is. I would recommend steering clear from potato pyzy (pyzy ziemniaczne) and their Lithuanian cousin cepelinai.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[seela]

Thank you for helping my spelling! I tried several times then went as close to phonetic as I could.

Your favourite sound quite like the sArdinian ones. I'm going to spell very carefully now incase you want to look them up. ( big breath in, call for Gianbattista......)

( Maestro, come si scrive correttamente '' yummy Sardinian pasta' ?

G: Hi Seela, Elle missed an R. It should be....culurgiones. I traveled across Poland as a teenager to somewhere I was told served the best pierogi in the world. It was a small town called Kazimircz Dolny (sp?). They were right; it was well worth the journey.

Yummy Sardinian pasta is easier to remember than culurgiones, but culurgiones sounds nice when you pronounce it. I'll look it up. The Polish pierogi ruskie are usually served with bacon drippings and smetana. It's very heavy, but good.

Hi G! Elle mentioned the trip for pierogi in a post earlier. I wondered what the destination was. Kazimierz Dolny is a really pretty town with an interesting history, but I can't remember having pierogi there.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Yep, that caused peels of laughter, I'm sure.

You have a way of getting right to the root of the joke
And, welcome back! You have been missed! Oh, not by me, but surely by somebody


Seela - your pasta, in raw form, looks rather like cereal awaiting its milk. Hmmmm... it has beets in it, you say? But why would anyone buy you that?

 

[LWulf]

I haven't tried the cookies yet, but maybe a bit later today.

Meanwhile, a delicious bit of punnage that truly made me LOL

(image omitted for brevity)

great pùnagé

****

Made some cottage chips (slightly thicker potato chips with skins left on) tonight.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[MeekMe]

Soba and korokke. Came out pretty tasty. It's not normal for us to have so little in vegetables, but I felt like having some naughty food tonight.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Omg Meeks - that looks totally yum!!

I made myself something weird tonight... I had goats milk brie and dark cherry preserves, so I made a grilled cheese with them. Nom nom nom!! so delicious!

 

[desertslave]

Omg Meeks - that looks totally yum!!

I made myself something weird tonight... I had goats milk brie and dark cherry preserves, so I made a grilled cheese with them. Nom nom nom!! so delicious!

That sounds yummy!

We made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch today, but with a twist from the usual. It was all Master's idea, I just did the actual cooking part. We grilled our favorite sourdough bread (Cracked Wheat from Trader Joe's) and added shredded sharp cheddar and manchego cheeses. It was amazing!