Cooking tips and wonderful flavour combinations

nochexxx

harco pronting
any ideas for fennel seeds? i got a whole bag and have never used them before. they smell powerful, so i guess i should go easy.
 
S

simon silverdollar

Guest
it was pretty cheap - about £4 , but for a lot. i don't think you'd need much of it when adding to a sauce. the person i bought it off had some great ideas for what to do with it - like making mashed potato, then adding some chopped up nduja, then putting it all in the oven. Apparently the nduja melts into the mash.

that brocolli reciple looks well nice. i'm big into lemons at the moment. i made avgolemono the other day - the greek soup where you mix beaten egg and lemon juice into chicken stock. unlike anything else i've tasted, but very tasty.
 
S

simon silverdollar

Guest
any ideas for fennel seeds? i got a whole bag and have never used them before. they smell powerful, so i guess i should go easy.

works really well with tomato. particularly nice if you make a Tuscan soup of Cavelo Nero (or whatever else cabbage you can get), white beans, tomato and few fennel seeds and chilli flakes.

also, they're nice thrown into a stir fry.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Fennel seeds work well in curry - I made curry powder out of them, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, turmeric, cinnamon etc, and it turned out nicely. Different from the usual curry powder I make (cor, cumin, cardamom, ginger etc), and all the better for it.

Anyone know good resources for how to mix and match spices in south Asian cooking - I usually guess?
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
it was pretty cheap - about £4 , but for a lot. i don't think you'd need much of it when adding to a sauce. the person i bought it off had some great ideas for what to do with it - like making mashed potato, then adding some chopped up nduja, then putting it all in the oven. Apparently the nduja melts into the mash.

that brocolli reciple looks well nice. i'm big into lemons at the moment. i made avgolemono the other day - the greek soup where you mix beaten egg and lemon juice into chicken stock. unlike anything else i've tasted, but very tasty.

£4? Wow, may pop there next weekend. Mash recipe sounds top.

yeah, i've learned that when i make stuff up, to stick to well-known flavour principles and then work around them. otherwise it's a disaster. broccoli and lemon rind/soy (and ginger if it fits) seems to fit quite well

avgolemono is fantastic! my friend makes it really well - did you put orzo or rice in it to bulk it up?
 

nochexxx

harco pronting
works really well with tomato. particularly nice if you make a Tuscan soup of Cavelo Nero (or whatever else cabbage you can get), white beans, tomato and few fennel seeds and chilli flakes.

also, they're nice thrown into a stir fry.

top stuff, sounds exactly like the kind of nosh i love.

will try and use these fennel seeds modestly guess? will one teaspoon be too much?
 

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
any ideas for fennel seeds? i got a whole bag and have never used them before. they smell powerful, so i guess i should go easy.

Also nice with shredded cabbage half fried half steamed (put in drop of water and drop of oil and cook, adding lid when coloured)
 

ether

Well-known member
Also nice with shredded cabbage half fried half steamed (put in drop of water and drop of oil and cook, adding lid when coloured)

I second that i was just about to post about stir fried cabbage and fennel seeds its mad tasty!

another one i like is too cook carrots in butter, if you chop em up small and steam then in a small lidded pan with just butter they taste flipping amazing.
 

nochexxx

harco pronting
for the record i eat about 3 cabbages a week, so will add fennel next time.

firday night i followed silverdollar's idea and cooked a tuscan stew type thing, but the fennel flavour was so subtle that i was wondering what it was doing in there, i will add more next time, i did cook for about 6 with only one teaspoon of fennel.
 

pajbre

Well-known member
just gonna go whole hog and post a recipe:

shiitake paella:

roughly 2 cups cut mushrooms. ( I like to use shiitake and dry porchini mushrooms. save the Porchini water for later.)
1 white Onion (also you can use half and add shallots) diced
2 Pieces of Garlic Minced
Spices (thyme, Oregano, Tarragon) you can use dry. as long as they are fresh... use a good amount..
1/2 Cup white wine
2 cups short grain brown rice (or wild rice blend)
3 cups Vegetable stock*
Pinch of Saffron
Lemon for garnish..

(to make a really good veggie stock, boil: 5 zucchini, 2 yellow squash, a handful of green beans, and a bunch of parsley for about
an hour and a half in a big pot of water)


I usually make this in a cast iron dutch oven but you can use any oven proof pot or pan with a cover or tin foil to cover.

Preheat oven at 350.
Saute your garlic and onions, add your spices and mushrooms saute until everything is cooked and the onions are lightly carmelized. Add your white wine and deglaze your pan. let the wine reduce a bit more than half. throw in the rice and stir it up. if you have any reserved mushroom water throw it in. if not add a splash of vegetable stock. This helps get some flavor in the rice. Add your 3 cups vegetable stock and season with salt to taste. You can add any other flavorings you choose. The important thing is to get the broth to taste how you want your finished product.. After mixing the stock should be as salty as a soup. Add the Saffron. Cover and bring to boil. after boil simmer for 15 minutes on the stove and transfer to oven for 45 minutes at 350. The trick is to not boil to hard or all the water will evaporate too fast and the rice will be undercooked. If you run into this problem heat some stock in another pan and add it in, stir, and return it to the oven. If there is too much water just remove the lid and put it back in the oven for a few minutes.. Serve with a wedge of lemon.
 

ether

Well-known member
Go well in egg fried rice with lamb or beef.

I've recently been excited about halloumi with roasted tomatoes, rosemary, and green beans. Tastes strangely meaty, works nicely as a veggie tapas...

grilled halloumi is amazing, my mrs oven roasts aubergines and wacks halloumi inside one of my current faves very tasty.
 

nochexxx

harco pronting
impressed with falty dl's sushi skillz.


<object width="400" height="220"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip..._byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip..._byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="220"></embed></object><p><a href="">XLR8R TV Ep. 124: FaltyDL: Garage Beats and Sushi</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user607197">XLR8RTV</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
 

PeteUM

It's all grist
As I write I'm eating a variation of Levi Root's curry goat

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/aug/23/levi-roots-caribbean-carnival-feast

using mutton instead of goat, unbelievably good recipe, better than Patrick Williams or even my mate's mums. Highly recommended.

Just sourced some allspice berries, which I took to be the major obstacle to making this recipe here in East Anglia, so this is going to happen. I always wanted to cook a good goat curry since I was at Treeworgey Tree Fayre and saw a very tall, long-limbed, wild-eyed, black-clad man running from food stall to food stall as they were just setting up shouting "Goat curry!? Goat curry!? as if his life depended on it.
 

nochexxx

harco pronting
Rirkrit Tiravanija

the artists who cooks.


rirkrit_gordon03.jpg

tiravanijapadthai91-96.jpg


Pad-Thai-(a).jpg
pad-thai(b).jpg
 

nochexxx

harco pronting
inspired by viktorvaughn's brawn and pigs head photos over at the offal thread, i decided to up some 'cola duck' photos. no way near as sophisticated nonetheless minimal simplistic gastronomics is always worth noting.


l_09196d6512a747a08b49ae8a83cea087.jpg


l_a763e6b059f54ec8bcda8c493c27bbdf.jpg
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
Just sourced some allspice berries, which I took to be the major obstacle to making this recipe here in East Anglia, so this is going to happen. I always wanted to cook a good goat curry since I was at Treeworgey Tree Fayre and saw a very tall, long-limbed, wild-eyed, black-clad man running from food stall to food stall as they were just setting up shouting "Goat curry!? Goat curry!? as if his life depended on it.

Great story! I can send you some allspice if you have any problems getting them. I had the curry twice in two weeks, it's soooo yummy.
 

PeteUM

It's all grist
Great story! I can send you some allspice if you have any problems getting them. I had the curry twice in two weeks, it's soooo yummy.

It's on the stove! Takes a while, doesn't it? Think it might be fearsomely hot too. Thanks for the offer of allspice, that's very kind. I had to try a few places but I found some in the end. Had to use mutton too because the goat meat the butcher had was frozen, but I might make it again soon with all these ingredients lying about and next time it'll be a proper "GOAT CURRY!!!"
 
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