What are you having for dinner? (wanna share your recipe?)

[Friday]

Anyone have a good tried-and-true recipe for cow or calf liver? Appreciate any, but am especially interested in pâté.

All of mine involve soaking in milk to extract the ick… so I haven’t made them in over 10 years. IE no longer tried & true. But? I wouldn’t look seriously at any recipe that did not involve soaking in milk for at least a day, in advance. As I wasted about 5 years attempting to purge them in other substances to such lesser results that I gave up.

GOOSE liver, on the other hand? <swoon> Is so soaked in “happy” endorphins as geese have to be fed separately, they have such a joygasmic experience every feeding time (yes, mammals would hate the process, but avians adore it)… no purging of toxins & unhappy is needed for knee-melting fois gras.

 

[Rose White]

Oatmeal cookies. Yes they were dinner. I threw the recipe away. I had had it for a long time. Scrawled on a Scattergories answer sheet that I had saved as a pad of paper from a trashed game. Had the recipe for years and tonight I kind of messed up the recipe and thought “I never liked this recipe anyway.” Threw it away. Daughter took the trash out. Then I got back from my dog walk and had one. Then I couldn’t stop the cookies flying into my mouth. They tasted better than ever before. So I’m going to try to remember my messed up version of the recipe.

1 1/4 c. Flour
1/2 t. Salt
3/4 t. Baking soda
1/2 t. Cinnamon
3/4 c. Butter
3/4 c agave syrup
1 egg
2 t. Vanilla
1 3/4 c. Rolled grains
1 c. Raisins

Drop by Tablespoon on a parchment lined baking tray. Freeze until hard (I did this because I was worried about them spreading… I like a thin cookie but I wanted to fill the tray this time.). Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes until they are well browned. Store in a jar. Makes around 4 dozen. They stay soft because of the agave. I probably could have reduced the agave a bit more but I had already added it before realizing I was low on my rolled grains (mix of oats, spelt, wheat, and barley.)

The main change, in case you’re curious, was about half the usual amount of rolled oats (calls for 3 cups in the original.). Also baked twice as long (by mistake) as I normally would and it provided a lovely depth of flavor without burning (maybe because of the freezing?)

 

[Friday]

I feel like the character from GHOSTS that won’t stop talking about cod
>.<

Except what I reeeeeeeally want is mousse?!? IDFK. Cat food cravings, maybe El Gato slept on my head, last night? I adore fish, but usually eat it bbq or sashimi.

I’m just going to use my super easy go-to salmon mousse recipe (that I also sub out the dairy) & sub out the fish.

But if I had more moxie? I’d make one of these: With fresh cod, since salt cod isn’t a thing in my area. And importing it, at 3x the cost of fresh Icelandic cod? Just seems silly.

Three Fish Mousse | Great British Food Awards

Using a pastry brush, lightly brush a 1.2 litre ring mould with the oil. Place the cod, bay leaf, lemon and peppercorns in a pan. Cover with cold water and...

www.greatbritishfoodawards.com

 

[Quassus]

Made beef stew tonight. It smells so good because I'm starving lol. New diet changes! Fighting off all my cravings for sweets. My kids hate stew but they will have to deal with it or dig out some leftovers.

 

[Teasel]

Made lasagna, shouldda started making it hours earlier!

 

[Rose White]

Found a recipe that I think I can work with for chicken livers. I didn’t throw the food away. But…
I often like the dish the day I made it more than later—maybe because I’m putting so much effort into it and looking forward to it?
And I can’t tell if I’m getting used to chicken liver taste and beginning to just accept it more.

Here’s what I did:

Sliced up some onions and cooked till golden.
Added a few cloves of minced garlic.
Added 1-2 lbs. chicken livers.
Cooked on medium low about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Added a bit of white wine and heavy cream and thyme. Simmered briefly.

I ate with a hunk of Italian bread boule (is that the same as a bread bowl? Seems too soft.)

I liked it well enough, better than all my past attempts. The onions, wine, and cream do an incredible service to the palatability.

The hard part is when to stop cooking. Ideally the livers have a soft creamy center, but it’s so hard to know when that happens!! I think, like the perfect jammy egg yolk, time and experience are everything with chicken livers. It’s *so* easy to overdo them into a crumbly hard texture, and I got close. I made too much so I feel certain that the leftovers will veer into chalky territory since they will be heated again. (ok maybe future tripping a bit with the certainty thing)

But it’s okay. Because It think I’m on the path with this recipe. I remember watching a tv chef competition show where they cooked chicken livers and the judges talking about how difficult it is to do right.

Knowing that I got a boost of bio-available iron makes me pleased, except doesn’t the calcium in the heavy cream cancel it out? (Not really because the amount of calcium in the heavy cream is negligible since it was such a small amount.)

Anyway, my liver adventure continues!!

 

[Friday]

My favourite sauces for oysters

3 great , easy sauces for oysters - a classic mignonette, Tetsuya's oysters with Japanese Dressing and a Cucumber Lime Granita.

www.recipetineats.com

I used to have oysters (half shell) for breakfast every morning when I lived the the quarter (NOLA). Desire Oyster Bar was just kitty corner to my apartment. (One of those weird quarter addresses where one has to go though 2 bars, 1 of which your mail is delivered to, cross a roof, and utilize a fire escape to get to).

I MISS those breakfasts!

Snicker. Often still in my PJs.

But every once in awhile I get ahold of a mess of oysters still in winter water.

Yesterday was my last day to set up breakfast. (Above). Tonight will be the precursor to oysters Rockefeller (oysters in sorrel sauce with bacon). When I find THAT recipe? (I have it saved around here, somewhere! Too. Lazy. To. Type.) I'll link it.

Bye bye oysters! See you next fall!

 

[Friday]

El Pollo Loco style chicken

It's essentially cuban pork, with chicken & pineapple, instead of pork & oj.

- Bone in chicken (whole, halves, quarters, or pieces).

- Pineapple juice
- Lime
- Vinegar
- Yellow Food Coloring
- Neutral oil

- Garlic
- Mild green peppers/chills

- Oregano
- Smoked paprika
- White Pepper
- Salt

Marinate 24hrs & BBQ or broil!

 

[Rose White]

Yellow Food Coloring

May I suggest turmeric? A little goes a long way, industrial turmeric has very little flavor, and if you want to add extra you get more of that blessed curcumin that everyone wants for lowering our ever-present inflammation. Bonus points for grating fresh turmeric to add. (Use the fine grating side of a box grater—are box grater one of the best kitchen tools or what?). (Also store turmeric tubers (available at your natural grocer) in the freezer so they don’t shrivel.)

It's essentially cuban pork, with chicken & pineapple, instead of pork & oj.

Sounds amazing! Am bookmarking. And good to know that Cuban pork is almost the same thing!

 

[Friday]

May I suggest turmeric?

Alas... it interacts really badly with my mom's meds.. and tastes REALLY STRONGLY to about half of us (& like nothing at all to the other half?). I've even had to remove tumeric from my Indian dishes. A little extra asfoetida & green mango helps make up for the bitter metallic ascerbic missing from curries.

The Annato & Saffron that forms the basis of my bakers gel coloring works just fine, though. Annato is a bit tart, and saffron a bit floral, but neither goes badly with the citrus base.

 

[Rose White]

asfoetida & green mango

Oh my goodness, I bought a chunky chaat masala mixture that has green mango and asafoetida. It was okay but not having worked with asafoetida before, I couldn’t get past the stink. The chunky chaat is typically mixed with fruit (similar to like a Tajín or chamoy) so you don’t even cook it, which was surprising to me because supposedly the asafoetida stink goes away when you cook it, so having a dish which has it and is specifically uncooked was surprising to me.

 

[Rose White]

I made Jamaican beef Pattie’s based on this recipe.

Curried Jamaican Beef Patties Recipe

These flaky Jamaican meat patties are filled with curried ground beef, onion, garlic, and Scotch bonnet pepper, plus a slew of aromatic herbs and spices. Formed into half-moon shapes, the patties are cooked until golden in the oven—eating them is almost as good as an actual trip to Jamaica. Almost.

www.seriouseats.com

Did it on three separate days! One day to make the short crust dough (stored in fridge), one day to make the meat (stored in fridge) and one day to assemble and bake. Better to assemble with cold meat anyway so as not to melt the butter in the dough. They look so pretty! Haven’t tasted yet. But feeling proud. Will freeze for future meals.