What's Cooking EDF? #4

[BK_]

this sweet potato and scallion salad looks really good. i want to learn how to make more non meat dishes like this.

[BK_]

Ok, so cooking is my number one hobby at the moment and I really want to get good. My plan was to make tons of different recipies from all different cuisines, then at some point start improvising more and attempting to understand why certain flavors go well together, others dont, etc. I think I'm ready to start making the transition to the second stage, but I'm looking for advice on how to get there. Anyone know of good sources(books, blogs, websites) for this type of cooking knowledge )("elemental" cooking) I saw the book The Improvisational Chef in the bookstore today - anyone have this? I already watch Good Eats and enjoy it.

[Dids]

A few that I'm pretty proud of as of late:

Steak and Blue Cheese Flatbread



Orange Ginger Chicken



Chicken Breast in Artichoke Cream Sauce

[tshort]

Dids,

Those all look awesome. Would you want to provide some prep details for those?

Especially the chicken dishes.

[nuSFwck]

BK,

This is a pretty cool site to start clicking around on:

http://cookingwithamy.blogspot.com/

[guids]

dids, recipe for artichoke cream sauce pls.

[secretprankster]

Dids,

Avg. time that it takes you to prep each photo for EDF?

[Dids]

Phot prep is short. It's basically "crop, adjust levels, adjust contrast". Maybe 5 minutes. The biggest key is that I work flashless, which keeps from washing out a lot of color. Then you use the levels function to bring back some light, and the contrast to make everything look sexy.

The orange ginger chicken was just marinated in orange juice concentrate and dice ginger for a bit and then grilled. It was topped with a sauce made with the concentrage, balsamic and (very little bit of) apple cider vinegar, honey, ginger, and a splash of seseame oil.

Here's what went into the artichoke sauce (from my blog)

-took canned artichoke hearts and rinsed and drained them
-diced and sweated shallot and onion and some fresh thyme
-added chicken stock to the pan
-added the artichoke hearts, more thyme and then some cream
-let that reduce by about 60% while added more salt, pepper and thyme

[shemp]

[ QUOTE ]
How much do you typically pay for organic Salmon? At the Palo Alto farmer'smarket today I saw pretty much $15-22/pound. I wanted it but that's just too much.

[/ QUOTE ]

What is organic salmon? Is this some sort of special farm raised salmon? Ranch 99 on 35 in Pacifica presently has wild caught salmon steaks for 7.99 (BC). No (wild caught) filets. The Thursday farmer's market in Daly City typically/seasonally has steaks for, last I bought, about $10-12 and filets for ~$15+. I read or heard (I'm repeating something, I'm not any sort of expert) that "line caught" is the most eco-friendly and best for you; personally, I just make sure it isn't farm raised.

[BK_]

[ QUOTE ]

What is organic salmon? Is this some sort of special farm raised salmon? Ranch 99 on 35 in Pacifica presently has wild caught salmon steaks for 7.99 (BC). No (wild caught) filets. The Thursday farmer's market in Daly City typically/seasonally has steaks for, last I bought, about $10-12 and filets for ~$15+. I read or heard (I'm repeating something, I'm not any sort of expert) that "line caught" is the most eco-friendly and best for you; personally, I just make sure it isn't farm raised.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea it looks like it just "organically" farm raised salmon. http://www.grinningplanet.com/2004/0...on-article.htm

i think you are right though - i'm going to start trying to buy wild caught fish whenever possible (copper river falls into this catagory)