Quick meal of sirloin steak strips with fennel and mushroom, basil and cracked pepper cream sauce and shaved pecorino Have half the steak left, so that's tomorrow's breakfast with soft fried egg and a fresh pink tomato and avocado salsa.
First attempt at slow cooker bread is... Apparently successful? At least not a failure. Spoiler: Big picture I stuck it in the broiler for about five minutes, which is why the top is golden. I think the crust's thickness is really uneven, but we'll see if that's an actual problem.
It turns out the crust was thicker on the sides, and really thin on top. That only really caused a mild inconvenience when cutting it, but that's it. In other news, I just made peach and mint iced tea. I might take a picture if I can figure out how to make it #Aesthetic, because otherwise, well, it's iced tea. The recipe I used is some amalgamation of various stuff from all over the internet along with some personal modifications and help from Chiomi. You probably shouldn't follow it to the letter, but here's what I did: Spoiler: not that long, but rambly (Or, 'Alix is a cooking blog writer now apparently') I'm using measurements in cups so it's more understandable to most people on this forum, but I should say that those are actually 250 milliliters, or a third of an ounce over a US cup. This probably doesn't really make any difference, though. So, first of all, you have to make a peach syrup, which is the main thing I directly took from another recipe (source, because credit is important). You should do that first because it's going to take hours to cool down. So, you start with three peaches. Adjust for the size of said peaches, but I used small-ish flat ones and it came out just fine anyway. Dice them - you can peel them if you want, the peels add a slight bitter aftertaste, but you'll be putting it in tea anyway so I personally didn't bother. Definitely don't leave the pits, though, cyanide tea is probably not that great. Put the peaches in a saucepan with a cup of water. Put it on medium to high heat, and after a while (IDK, when the water looks a bit hot), add a cup of sugar and stir until it's dissolved. Once it starts to boil, turn the heat down, cover*, and let it simmer for twenty minutes. *(This goes on a separate line because it's long) I recommend a glass lid for easier observation and heat adjustment. However, the lid I had was too big to fit the pan, and so water dripped out of it instead of falling back in. This probably reduced volume, which you might need to take into account for what follows. Once that's done, mash the peaches. I don't have a potato masher, so I just used a whisk and a lot more effort. Then, strain it through a wire-mesh strainer. I had a conical one (which I think works really well for this) and used the previously mentioned whisk to further puree the mixture and push things past the strainer faster. This does work, but be warned that you're likely to end up with some weird plant-matter goo in the end result (you'll probably get that anyway, but there will be more of it). You can mostly solve that later, which I'll get to. You can then transfer it into a jar or something like that. It's going to take a while to cool down to room temperature, and you don't want it to crystallize or something. I had a bit over a cup of syrup, so I put it into the one-cup jar I had and just drank the leftover syrup in water. Now, the tea itself. I used black tea, green apparently works too - you're using both peaches and mint so it's not like you're committing any pairing heresies. I had regular cheap tea bags from the supermarket, which means shorter steeping times and, if hot-brewing, lower temperature, because the tea in those is practically dust. I personally went with room-temperature brewing, because I had the time, and I don't trust myself not to oversteep hot tea. I put four cups of water in a glass container (use something with a relatively wide neck and a stopper or lid), and six tea bags. That's going to make pretty concentrated tea, but the volume will end up doubled at the end, meaning you'll get something pretty light and refreshing, and you should probably use the same ratios no matter which brewing method you use. Now, the mint. You're going to let it steep along with the tea - if you're using hot green tea at standard, non-"WTF, North Africa" brewing temperatures and times, I'm pretty sure you're gonna have to leave the mint in longer than the tea. I didn't use hot water, and used black tea anyway, so this wasn't a problem. I had fresh mint leaves from my garden, but if you don't have one... Can you even buy mint in a store? Whatever. Anyway, I have absolutely no idea how much you should put in, I personally just went "That's probably enough" at some point. So, once the tea bags and mint were in the water, I just put something to cover the container, and let it stay in a corner for three to four hours. That doesn't sound like very long, but remember: most bagged tea is basically dust. After that, I just removed the bags and removed the mint by straining it into a pot for the next step. As a warning, though: if you do something like that, make sure the water you're using isn't chlorinated - it's going to affect the taste. Use a water filter or bottled water if you need to. So, now, you've got the tea, and the syrup I'm gonna assume you were patient enough to let cool to room temperature before doing anything else. Get a large enough container for two to three liters of liquid, either something you can mix things in or something you can shake. Put in the tea first, and then add the syrup and mix. As I mentioned before, there might be some weird stuff floating in the syrup - that's mostly a look and texture issue, but once it's added to the tea and thus in something less viscous, it's easy to get rid of most of it: just strain through a fine mesh. After that, add more water, until it gets to eight cups. Put it in a pitcher or bottle depending on your opinion of how long it's going to take to empty it, refrigerate, and you're done!
I made a huge batch of cheese and pesto rolls today. I make these for school lunches, but I always have to make extra as they somehow seem to evaporate when they come out of the oven. The dough is simple: * 1kg plain flour * 600ml water * few tablespoons of olive oil * big dessertspoon of yeast * big dessertspoon of sugar * salt, some Mix (I use a stand mixer) for 15 minutes until you have a nice soft stretchy dough. Cover and leave for about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, make the pesto: * 2 huge bunches of basil * 3-4 cloves garlic * couple of eschalots / scallions / green-onion-things * 1-2 thai green chiles * goodly squeeze of lemon juice * salt * olive oil * Grated cheese - strong cheddar and (optionally) parmesan, about 14 ounces / 400g Using a stick blender, combine everything but the oil until you have a paste-like substance with no obvious large bits. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil - just enough to mellow the flavour and make it a bit sloppy, you don't want it swimming. Stir through about half the grated cheese. Preheat the oven to 200c / 375f When the dough has risen, divide into about 20 portions, roll each portion into a flat strap maybe 6"x 1" (15 x 5cm), and spread with the pesto mixture, leaving the last little bit of one end clear. Roll up into a spiral and use the un-pestoed end to seal. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets, well spread-out, and leave to rise again for about half an hour. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, and bake for 20 minutes or so, until light brown. These freeze amazingly well, if any survive that long.
Bento for after today's swim! * Blueberries * Cucumber with spring onion and balsamic vinegar dressing * Hard boiled egg * Bread rolls with avocado and smoked salmon * soy sauce for dipping
My fake-indonesian chicken wings are completely inauthentic but really tasty. A couple of Asian ingredients that may be tricky to find in some places, but they're not dealbreakers. Chicken wings Lime juice - about one lime per person Grated zest of one lime Soy sauce Palm sugar* Fresh chilli, finely chopped - I use a thai green one, but anything will work Coconut oil A few few bay leaves, lime leaves, curry leaves* Preheat the oven to 200c / 375f Throw the herbs in the baking dish, pile the chicken on top. Try to keep to a single layer. Combine chilli, lime juice+zest, soy sauce and palm sugar - you want to balance salty/sour/sweet until no one flavour dominates. Mellow it down with a tablespoon of coconut oil, pour over the chicken and bake. Cook for an hour or so, turning a couple of times throughout to ensure wings brown on both sides. When sauce starts to get sticky and the chicken is properly brown (even a bit black on exposed bits), serve with rice and green veggies. * Palm sugar: substitute the darkest-brown sugar product you can find. Maybe even brown sugar plus a little molasses, I dunno. * Lime leaves, curry leaves. I can't think of a useful substitute - leave 'em out if you can't get them, it won't matter much.
I made pie dough from a friend's recipe today, and then I made a kielbasa and cheese quiche! I had never made pie crust before ever so I rolled it out and put it in the pie plate a little weird, as you can see, but it turned out delicious anyway! Spoiler: Large image
My mom and i cooked new potatoes with garlic scapes last week and it was pretty good! Today we're going to cook more new potatoes and garlic scapes and pettipan squash and smoked salmon :3
I seem to have found myself in possession of some shiitake mushrooms. I've never cooked with them before; does anyone have any suggestions?
Made wraps today! Filling: tzakziki, chicken liver and onion mixture (cooked the night before because it's Too Warm to cook at daytime), tomato, cucumber and avocado. Turned out pretty fantastic, it's fresh had loads of protein and iron and with the meaty bit prepped the night before and kept in the fridge it's blessedly cool on top of everything.
I like shiitakes in soups. Udon dishes are especially good, but might be too warm for this time of year. Mmm. Udon with broth + carrots + shiitakes + kamaboko + a poached egg... hooooooooooooo boy does that sound good. i might have to get some udon for myself at some point soon and make that.
I have combined a tin of salmon and a ripe avocado to create a flavorful paste. It appears to hold up well with refrigeration. It is a bit umami-heavy to sustain a sandwich on its own, maybe some cucumber or gherkin would help. It is delightful as a furigane-like flavouring, mixed into plain rice.
