What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

At over 200 posts, What's Cooking EDF #4 was becoming a bit unwieldy I think. Let's use this one going forward. New (and old) posters are encouraged to contribute recipes and pictures, ask questions, or begin discussions!

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower with Shrimp in Mustard Cream Sauce

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2167/...a08c4a3269.jpg

All in all, this was a pretty simple dish. I mostly based it off of this recipe and just added in some shrimp to poach at the last minute. But I made a couple of mistakes. At the time I didn't know that "double cream" was heavy cream reduced by half. I used just regular heavy cream and it resulted in a pretty milky consistency. I also forgot the lemon ... it really needed a little acid but I was too lazy to get up and add it in at the end. The leeks were great with the cream though... I've almost never cooked them before so it was nice to find something new to work with in the future. Next time I will put in 3x as many

Here is a picture (not my own) of romanesco cauliflower before it was cooked. Very strange. When I saw it I had to buy it.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

CSC made romanesco for one of the ICOOT challenges. I've still never seen it in a store.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

hopefully i'll get involved in this EDF cooking thread... I am an avid chef, and my parents owned a restaurant, yet I am so lazy about furthering myself culinary-wise.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

I made this recipe yesterday and it was awesome. It's an Apple Tart Tartin and you should have all the ingredients allready (I'm assuming most people have apples in their houses).

http://www.homebasics.ca/viewrecipe....3&search=1

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

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hopefully i'll get involved in this EDF cooking thread... I am an avid chef, and my parents owned a restaurant, yet I am so lazy about furthering myself culinary-wise.

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Please do. Would like to see some of your dishes.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

Honey Herb Crusted Lamb Loin Chips with Cipolline Onions

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2315/...51a078b810.jpg

I was drawn to this recipe because of its recommended methodology. Usually I focus more on the ingredients, but this one had an interesting way of imparting some extra flavor so I figured why not.

The result was something really flavorful and simple. We finally bought some lamb loin chops from the farmers market and they were unbelievably tender and fresh. We had some from the grocery store down the street a couple of days ago and it wasn't nearly as good. I was was particularly happy with the browning here. I've been "cleaning" my stainless steal skillet with barkeepers friend and have noticed that things have not been sticking at all lately. Also, I let the meet sit out for 45 min or so and come to room temperature and this really helped I think. Usually I only let it sit out for 10 min or so.

The recipe can be found here: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/h...polline-onions


ingredients

* 8 loin lamb chops (6 to 7 ounces each)
* Salt and freshly ground pepper
* 1 1/2 tablespoons pure olive oil
* 1/2 pound cipolline onions, blanched and peeled
* 2 cups water
* 1 cup garlic shoots or scallion greens, cut into 1/2-inch lengths
* 1 tablespoon honey
* 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
* 1/2 tablespoon minced flat-leaf parsley
* 1/2 teaspoon minced tarragon
* 1/4 teaspoon minced thyme
* 1/4 teaspoon minced rosemary

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°. Season the lamb chops with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet. When the oil is almost smoking, add 4 of the chops and brown on both sides over moderately high heat, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the chops to a rimmed baking sheet and repeat with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of oil and the remaining chops.
2. Add the onions to the skillet and cook over moderately high heat until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Add
1 1/2 cups of the water, cover and simmer over low heat until the onions are tender, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic shoots, cover and cook for 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, cover and remove from the heat.
3. In a small bowl, mix the honey with the mustard, parsley, tarragon, thyme and rosemary. Brush the honey mustard on the chops and roast them for 7 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of a chop registers 125° for medium-rare meat. Transfer the chops to a warm platter and cover loosely with foil.
4. Set the baking sheet over 2 burners on moderate heat. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the baking sheet. Add the pan juices to the onions and reheat them. Set the lamb chops on plates and serve with the onions and pan juices.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

what'd you eat with teh lamb chops? there had to be more, right?

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

looks awesome as usual BK... i bet those onions were delicious...

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

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what'd you eat with teh lamb chops? there had to be more, right?

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Yea. We had the croquettes and greens from the Pumpkin challenge thread. Wouldn't have been nearly enough by itself.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

Anyone have a good recipe for Beef Fried Rice? I had chinese food the other day and I could eat like a ton of beef fried rice it's so good.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

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Anyone have a good recipe for Beef Fried Rice? I had chinese food the other day and I could eat like a ton of beef fried rice it's so good.

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you'll need a wok.

ingredients:
day old rice (white asian rice)
cubed beef
green onions
onions
egg
vegetable oil
sesame oil
fish sauce
soy sauce

-- get wok hot and add oil. throw in beef and cook till browned but not completely well done. 4-5 min.

-- add onion and cook till tender (translucent) 2-3 min. do not add the green onion.

-- add rice and mix together. then add soy sauce/salt and pepper / fish sauce to taste. another 1 minute

-- toss around. then move rice to the side of the wok. leave a hole at the bottom of the wok. drop scrambled egg into the middle and cook it. once that's done mix in the green onion and toss for one more minute.

serve hot.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Anyone have a good recipe for Beef Fried Rice? I had chinese food the other day and I could eat like a ton of beef fried rice it's so good.

[/ QUOTE ]

you'll need a wok.

ingredients:
day old rice (white asian rice)
cubed beef
green onions
onions
egg
vegetable oil
sesame oil
fish sauce
soy sauce

-- get wok hot and add oil. throw in beef and cook till browned but not completely well done. 4-5 min.

-- add onion and cook till tender (translucent) 2-3 min. do not add the green onion.

-- add rice and mix together. then add soy sauce/salt and pepper / fish sauce to taste. another 1 minute

-- toss around. then move rice to the side of the wok. leave a hole at the bottom of the wok. drop scrambled egg into the middle and cook it. once that's done mix in the green onion and toss for one more minute.

serve hot.

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Thanks a lot. Gotta buy a wok now [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

[ QUOTE ]
you'll need a wok.


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I can't imagine this is true.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

I also hope you have a gas burner cause woks don't really work too well with weak electric burners, as far as I know.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

[ QUOTE ]
I also hope you have a gas burner cause woks don't really work too well with weak electric burners, as far as I know.

[/ QUOTE ]
Indeed. The reviews I've read have all suggested that using a skillet for stir-fry is better than a wok on weak tops. If you're going to use a flat-bottomed tool, you might as well go with a skillet. Well-seasoned cast-iron is nice for good heat conduction + non-stick.

note: I am NOT a renowned stir-friar.

http://www.onesuffolk.co.uk/NR/rdonl...LittleJohn.jpg

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

My wok skills are pretty bad. I would love to be good at making stir frys though... so quick and tasty. I can never quite get the timing right. Next time I will cut the veggies thinner so I can just throw them in at the very end and all will be ok.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
you'll need a wok.


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I can't imagine this is true.

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he won chinee foo.. no skirret!

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

Pekin Duck Breast with Chinese Spices and Mushrooms

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2057/...177b15b946.jpg

On saturday morning right before I went to the greenmarket, I opened nymag.com and saw a picture of this ridiculous dish from BLT Market. Pekin duck breast is by far my favorite protein so it wasn't a hard sell. Plus I usually make fruit sauces with duck, so this promised to be a nice departure.

The result was excellent. Everything was really really good, especially the duck. The difference in taste between fresh pekin and grocery store muscovy or mallard is crazy to me and I really liked the heavy dose of five-spice I gave it before browning. I largely followed this
recipe , but feel free to make changes as you see fit. I used fresh muschrooms instead of dried Chinese mushrooms, and different type of greens as well.

One thing that really helped this time - I cooked it on medium low while on the skin side to render out a ton of the fat. The duck skin tastes so good when it is crispy and not "lardy".

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

I know in EDF we're looking for more than one liner responses like "that's great."

But for people like me who are interested in the culinary arts as a hobby, people like you BK are an inspiration.

Seeing your extraordinary work gives me (and I sense, a lot of us who read these threads) something to shoot for in terms of where I'd like to be talent-wise in a couple years.

Keep up the great work, we love reading about it!

Stak

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

I want to start using cast iron cookware. Should I buy Lodge Logic brand via Amazon(I have Prime--free shipping; Seems too cheap to be any good though) or look around on eBay for Griswold or Wagner? I am too lazy to drive to thrift stores looking for bargains.

Right now I grill everything, so I'm not 100% sure which pieces I need to start out. Mark Bittman recommends:

"I bought five, and I could live with four (though I’d rather have six): a small, medium and large cast-aluminum saucepan (total: about $30); a medium nonstick cast aluminum pan (10-inch; $13); and a large steep-sided, heavier duty steel pan (14-inch; $25)."

I mainly want to cook meat (esp. fish) and vegetables. Do I need all that stuff? I will prob. get a dutch oven too for roasts.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

The Lodge brand is NOT too cheap to be any good. It's just so cheap that it's awesome. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Go lodge.

I've heard differing opinions on preseasoned vs not. Cook's Illustrated says the seasoning is worth the $2 difference.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

I'll prob. start with the Lodge Logic Combo Cooker:

[ QUOTE ]
It's a deep skillet, a fryer, a Dutch oven, and the lid converts to a shallow skillet or griddle. This versatile piece of cast iron cookware allows the preparation of almost any recipe. Great for kitchen and outdoor cooking. Includes a 3 qt deep skillet / Dutch oven base, and 10.25 inch shallow skillet / griddle / lid.

[/ QUOTE ]

I pretty much only cook for 1-2 people at a time, so hopefully this should be sufficient and it's a minimal investment to try out cast iron.

I haven't heard great things about their pre-seasoned cookware, so I might try to buy unseasoned.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

My mom gave me a pre-seasoned Lodge Logic cast iron pan recently. I went out and bought a rib eye steak and followed Alton Brown's method for cooking steaks. You can find this on Youtube.

The first time I did it, the steak came out perfectly. I couldn't believe it. This tasted better than any steak I'd ever had, and I did it myself!

I don't know how Lodge compares to other brands, or how pre-seasoning affects quality, but I can't imagine my steaks coming out better. The pan cost only $10.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

me and my girl are inviting a couple people over for dinner tomorrow night. i'm really looking forward to it as we did a whole menu with really cool stuff... will post pics and tr tomorrow. girl is vegetarian and i am not much for meat so it will be completely vegetarian so that made it kinda interesting. here's the menu:

apertifs: cucumber roll, piece of toast with mushroom mousse, thinbread-roll with chevre and honey. also we're gonna make apple mojitos.

entree: sweet potato- and truffle ravioli

main: cabbage and mash potato pudding (we did a trial run of this yesterday and it was both delicious and beautiful)

desert: panacotta w fresh berries

hope it goes well.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

lol forgot to take pictures of pretty much everything

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

[ QUOTE ]
My mom gave me a pre-seasoned Lodge Logic cast iron pan recently. I went out and bought a rib eye steak and followed Alton Brown's method for cooking steaks. You can find this on Youtube.

The first time I did it, the steak came out perfectly. I couldn't believe it. This tasted better than any steak I'd ever had, and I did it myself!

I don't know how Lodge compares to other brands, or how pre-seasoning affects quality, but I can't imagine my steaks coming out better. The pan cost only $10.

[/ QUOTE ]

The beauty is that there isn't any improvement in cast iron with increased cost. Treat that pan well (no soap, don't scour too hard, keep it seasoned) and use it often. And don't cook very acidic foods (tomatoes). The non-stick surface will continue to improve with age. I had a roommate with a really old cast iron pan that had developed a glossy black surface. You couldn't make anything stick even if you tried. My Lodge is about 8 years old. I'm hoping another 20 years of regular use will do the same for me.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

I made a cake last night for Thanksgiving dinner. My wife's grandmother used to make a chocolate cake that had a "tunnel" of fudge running through the center. She stopped making it in the early 1980's and more recent attempts failed because one of the ingredients was no longer available. About 3 years ago, I read an article in the NYTimes about that specific cake. It used a canned frosting as a major component, and it was discontinued. The article explained how to make it from scratch. It isn't my favorite cake by a long-shot, but it is nice to be able to recreate a family memory that appeared to be gone forever. So, I present the Tunnel Of Fudge cake.

My advice - use a stand mixer. If you don't have one, make sure you are using a huge bowl for the hand mixer. Things will fly all over the place otherwise.

The end result is definitely unique - there is a slightly hard cake shell about 1/2 to 1 inch thick and the center is a gooey fudge.

Here's the link to the article Recipe

2 1/2 cups roasted walnuts or walnuts and pecans, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
5/8 teaspoon salt
Nonstick cooking spray
1 1/4 cups butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large egg yolks
4 large eggs
2 cups confectioners sugar
2 1/4 cups bleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup natural cocoa powder

1. Place a heavy baking sheet or pizza stone on a shelf in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. On a large baking sheet, roast nuts in the oven for 10 minutes. Keep watch that they do not burn. Pour into a bowl, and add butter and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Toss well and set aside.

3. Generously apply nonstick cooking spray to the inside of a large Bundt cake pan.

4. In a mixer, beat butter to soften until it becomes fluffy. Add sugar, then the brown sugar and continue to beat until airy. While beating, if the bowl does not feel cool, place it in the freezer for five minutes, then resume beating.

5. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon salt, vanilla and vegetable oil.

6. Beat in two egg yolks. Crack the four whole eggs into a large mixing bowl. With a small knife, cut yolks and barely stir the eggs, minimally blending the whites and yolks.

7. With the mixer on the lowest speed, beat the eggs into the batter in three batches. Mix in confectioners' sugar and the cocoa.

8. In a large mixing bowl, stir flour and walnuts together. Then with a spatula stir the flour-nut mixture into the batter. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan.

9. Bake for 45 minutes. You cannot use the toothpick test because the cake contains so much sugar that the center will not set but will remain a tunnel-of-fudge. You are dependent on a correct oven temperature and the 45-minute cooking time.

10. When removed from the oven, the cake will have a runny fudge core with an air pocket above the fudge. About 30 minutes after taking the cake out of the oven, press the inside and outside edge of the cake bottom down all the way around to minimize the air pocket. Let the cake, still in the pan, cool on a rack for two to three hours. Invert the cake onto a platter and let cool completely.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

My grandmother had a similar-sounding cake. As I recall it (it's been years), it was a dense spongy cake that she would poke holes in and let a rich, fudge-like icing run down into. In my family it was called a "hot fudge cake," and while she wrote down half the recipe at some point it was mostly illegible and incomplete.

I have vivid memories of this cake, and have tried in the past to recreate it. I'll look at your recipe and try again. Thanks for posting it.

On a side note - I wonder if there's a market for a kind of "food detective" business. A chef who comes to your home and helps you try and reconstruct recipes that have been lost or partially lost in families.

Economically it's probably not, but seems like an interesting idea.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

Scallops with Roasted Grapes and Toasted Almonds

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2312/...940aab605e.jpg

I recently went to Degustation in NYC and had a really good scallop appetizer of scallops, grapes, dehydrated cherry tomatoes, and a really light mussel broth. Ever since then I have wanted to make a dish with grapes and scallops.

Roasted some farmers market green grapes with salt pepper and olive oil. Browned some really nice (but small) scallops and served everything with some baby greens, toasted almonds, and a light mustard vinaigrette.

I loved the acidity of the grapes and vinaigrette with the richness of the scallop. Next time we will buy larger scallops and use less lettuce for a better presentation.

Re: What\'s Cooking EDF #5
 

[ QUOTE ]

apertifs: cucumber roll, piece of toast with mushroom mousse, thinbread-roll with chevre and honey.


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This sounds great. especially the thinbread roll with chevre and honey