What's Cooking

[GoingMyWay]

Terrific, I'm looking forward to seeing all the goodies you pick up from the cook shop and what you're going to cook sous vide next!

 

[woodbutcherbower]

Quick update on my ‘anyone grow their own vegetables & fruit?’ post. Side salad for tonight. Girlfriend (Alice, sent out into the wilderness to pick stuff = her black nail varnish, not mine).
Not only leaves - she brought in chive and rocket flowers because ‘they looked cool’. I’ve never tasted anything like it. Like I said - growing in the soil, then on the plate minutes later. Unsurpassable.

 

[GoingMyWay]

Great looking salad!  I've never seen rocket flowers before, but I guess you can really only get those if it's homegrown.  Did you put any kind of salad dressing on the salad?

Speaking of garden, we discovered we have a cucumber growing!

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It was there this whole time, right under our noses.  We hadn't noticed it until just today.  We had seen some other baby cucumbers, but I think they hadn't been pollinated so they just died.

This past weekend we made some "fried" boneless chicken thighs in the air fryer with pork panko breading.

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Last night, my wife made kimchi and Spam fried "rice," but with cauliflower rice.

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She used some coconut aminos to season.

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The kimchi and other seasonings really made it hard for me to tell that it wasn't really rice, which is really amazing to me.

Today, my wife made keto french fries in the air fryer.

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I think one version was made with almond flour and the other was made with coconut flour.  I didn't try them, but she said they more like a crunchy hollow bread stick than a fry.  She said they became kind of addicting after a while.  She said they'd be good tossed with some kind of seasoning like a cheese powder to make it almost like a Cheeto or cheese curl.

 

[hdv]

Enjoy the cucumber! If you treat the plant right you will easily get 25 or more cucumbers from one plant. We have them each year and think they are more tasty than what you buy at the shops.

Don't let it grow too big, because that will make them less tasty. It is hard to say how big is too big, because that depends very much on the variety you have. The little snack types are best harvested between 15 and 20 cm. "Normal" cucumbers are best when they are just below 30 cm. Don't let them get too thick either, because that is a sign they are putting all their energy in developing seeds. The wet core of the cucumber, where the seeds are, is what gives some people stomach acid (do you call that heart burn?). Harvest the cucumber before it turns from dark green to yellowish green. Especially when the plant is potted, it is recommended to prune the long stalks when they get too long, to prevent the plant from weakening itself. Good luck!

 

[Cheese]

Quick update on my ‘anyone grow their own vegetables & fruit?’ post. Side salad for tonight. Girlfriend (Alice, sent out into the wilderness to pick stuff = her black nail varnish, not mine).
Not only leaves - she brought in chive and rocket flowers because ‘they looked cool’. I’ve never tasted anything like it. Like I said - growing in the soil, then on the plate minutes later. Unsurpassable.

We grow lots of nasturtiums and they add a peppery flavor to fresh salads along with a nice blast of color.  [smile]  Here's one placed on some shrimp fettuccine with some grated Reggiano.

And here's an Edible Flowers Chart from...wait for it...What's Cooking America.  [smile]
https://whatscookingamerica.net/edibleflowers/edibleflowersmain.htm

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[Sparktrician]

Here it tis...thanks for the inspiration.   Sometimes I just get locked up because of all the options out there and at the same time I'm in the middle of a project and I'm consumed with all of the options and the matters I have to attend to and then something becomes immediately clear...there's suddenly a clairvoyance of thought...this is what I wanted to cook tonight.  [smile] 

So instead of red onion I substituted scallions instead...it was a bit fresher and had a brighter taste.

It was delicious. 

 

That SO reminds me visually of the delicious Thai beef salad known as num tok.  I can flat hurt myself on that stuff!  [big grin]

 

[GoingMyWay]

Enjoy the cucumber! If you treat the plant right you will easily get 25 or more cucumbers from one plant. We have them each year and think they are more tasty than what you buy at the shops.

Don't let it grow too big, because that will make them less tasty. It is hard to say how big is too big, because that depends very much on the variety you have. The little snack types are best harvested between 15 and 20 cm. "Normal" cucumbers are best when they are just below 30 cm. Don't let them get too thick either, because that is a sign they are putting all their energy in developing seeds. The wet core of the cucumber, where the seeds are, is what gives some people stomach acid (do you call that heart burn?). Harvest the cucumber before it turns from dark green to yellowish green. Especially when the plant is potted, it is recommended to prune the long stalks when they get too long, to prevent the plant from weakening itself. Good luck!

Thanks for the gardening tips and advice with the cucumber!

We grow lots of nasturtiums and they add a peppery flavor to fresh salads along with a nice blast of color.  [smile]  Here's one placed on some shrimp fettuccine with some grated Reggiano.

And here's an Edible Flowers Chart from...wait for it...What's Cooking America.  [smile]
https://whatscookingamerica.net/edibleflowers/edibleflowersmain.htm

HA!  I'd never heard of that site before, but it's a great name!

That SO reminds me visually of the delicious Thai beef salad known as num tok.  I can flat hurt myself on that stuff!  [big grin]

Do you have a favorite Thai restaurant in the area?

 

[GoingMyWay]

We finally harvested the cucumber.  I hope we didn't let it grow too big.  It's supposed to be a burpless cucumber, but it sure looks like a  regular cucumber to me.  We haven't cut into it yet.

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We've got a few bell peppers too.

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Last night we made some Greek Meatballs with Avgolemono sauce.

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[hdv]

Enjoy that green fellow! Judging by the colour you picked it a the right time. If you find there is too much of the wet core with the seeds in it, then you'll know you have to pick it earlier next time.  [tongue]

Nice bell peppers too! My seedlings succumbed to the onslaught of snails we seem to experience this year. We now have just three plants left and those are not fully grown. [sad]

 

[Cheese]

So with the Black Mulberry season over, it's now time to harvest the apricots. I added some to a smoothie this morning and am thinking about making an apricot sauce for ham and then some apricot jam. We'll see how motivated I become.  [smile]

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[DynaGlide]

Once again I had to cook for about 35 people up at the Cape. It was an opportunity for me to test out my traveling grill setup. I managed to do 8 racks of ribs at once on my 22" Weber with riser and they were a real crowd pleaser. I did 3 6lb chickens to 200~ degrees on a Weber Smokey Mountain I had on loan for pulled chicken as well.

Matt

 

[GoingMyWay]

So with the Black Mulberry season over, it's now time to harvest the apricots. I added some to a smoothie this morning and am thinking about making an apricot sauce for ham and then some apricot jam. We'll see how motivated I become.  [smile]

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Wow you got a lot of apricots!

Once again I had to cook for about 35 people up at the Cape. It was an opportunity for me to test out my traveling grill setup. I managed to do 8 racks of ribs at once on my 22" Weber with riser and they were a real crowd pleaser. I did 3 6lb chickens to 200~ degrees on a Weber Smokey Mountain I had on loan for pulled chicken as well.

Matt

That's really cooking for a crowd!  The meat looks great!

We cut into the cucumber last night.  There aren't too many seeds in the center so I'd say we harvested at the right time.  My wife said it's the crunchiest cucumber she's ever had.

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We harvested 2 bell peppers to put in our keto friendly Lomo Saltado.

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We didn't have any tomatoes.  This was almost like like pepper beef, but it was good nonetheless.

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[hdv]

Yep, that cucumber is looking great. Well done! If you don't like the seeds, then a teaspoon is the classic way to scrape them out of a length-way halved cucumber and be left with half moon shaped parts. Enjoy!

 

[GoingMyWay]

Thanks for the tip about scraping out the seeds.  My wife didn't mind the seeds at all.

Last night we made pork chops with a lemon caper sauce.

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[guybo]

need to stop meating like this [big grin]

 

[Cheese]

So I had a hankering for some good tenderloin and a quick vegetable dish. While the tenderloin is the star here, the carrots are really to die for because they're so easy and so delicious, they're prepared and cooked in a sheet pan in the oven.

Some small fresh summer carrots all about the same diameter, a little EVOO or better yet some roasted peanut oil which adds some additional flavor, fresh thyme, Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper. Oven at 400 degrees and bake the carrots for about 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle some grated Reggiano over the top and continue to bake for 5 minutes or until they have the texture you desire. I like them soft but not mushy...al dente.  [smile]

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[Cheese]

I hate removing the individual thyme leaves from the thyme stem so I tend to cook using the entire thyme sprig. But that is a real problem & mess if there is any liquid involved. For fairly dry dishes like potatoes or beans, the entire thyme sprig can easily be removed, for wet dishes...not so much.

Here's something I just picked up at Williams-Sonoma. It really does work well for thyme, I'm pleasantly surprised.  [big grin]  I'll also try using it next on fresh rosemary and tarragon. I've got a great chicken in tarragon sauce recipe that I'll cook this week.

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[4nthony]

So I had a hankering for some good tenderloin and a quick vegetable dish. While the tenderloin is the star here, the carrots are really to die for because they're so easy and so delicious, they're prepared and cooked in a sheet pan in the oven.

Roasted carrots are one of my favorite foods and these look amazing. Nice cook on that tenderloin, too!

 

[rvieceli]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] some folks I follow on Instagram make these walnut herb strippers out of their shop in Montana.

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small biz at its best
https://www.tftwood.com/products/herbie

Ron

 

[Cheese]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] some folks I follow on Instagram make these walnut herb strippers out of their shop in Montana.

small biz at its best
https://www.tftwood.com/products/herbie

Thanks for that Ron [member=3192]rvieceli[/member] they also recommend it for parsley so I think cilantro would also work in it.

Here's a small harvest of Cherokee Purple tomatoes. I consider them absolutely the best for BLT sandwiches. This is also the time of the year to pair them with some fresh home grown basil leaves along with some fresh mozzarella cheese to make a Caprese salad...very nummy.

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