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#i put a nice fresh spring onion in with the potatoes and cooked them in veg broth
recapitulation · 1 year
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meal ideas!
low energy ("do not ask me to do any prep work at all, so help me god")
mozzerella cheese wrapped in pepperoni ("pizza tacos"!)
hummus and pretzels or naan (putting the naan in the microwave for like 10 seconds...heavenly)
canned chili (with shredded cheese and sour cream if you have it! boom done!)
instant miso soup (warm and lovely! put tofu in it for protein!)
cheese and cured meat, olives, canned fish, crackers, dried fruit, or whatever easy "charcuterie" type items you like
alternate bites of apple and spoonfulls of peanut butter (mixing honey or chocolate chips to the peanut butter is my favorite)
a "deconstructed sandwich": bites of lunch meat, pickles, cheese, cherry tomato, etc (I love roast beef and white cheddar for this)
yogurt and granola or fruit
put frozen potstickers + frozen edamame in the steamer/rice cooker, chill elsewhere with a timer set, then boom
tortilla chips + canned refried beans + cherry tomatoes + cilantro + jarred salsa con queso (or warm shredded cheese on top of the chips in the microwave for 30 seconds)
bagel + cream cheese + lox
microwave scrambled eggs (add things like green onion, soy sauce, or anything else you like!)
cottage cheese and fruit (mixed together or just on the side)
bowl of shredded rotisserie chicken + buffalo sauce + a bit of mayo + green onion (use a kitchen scissors to cut them right in!)
medium energy ("I'll boil water but don't ask me to chop shit")
boiled eggs and fresh veggies (put a little salt on top of the eggs!)
buttered noodles (my go-to nausea meal, it has never failed me. ideas of things to add: frozen peas, imitation crab, roasted garlic)
baked potato with toppings (I like cheese, bacon, broccoli, green onion, and sour cream)
quesadilla (add some canned beans, cilantro, or avocado!)
pot roast (requires a lot of time but not a lot of actual work. I love it with peas!)
cuban sandwich (bread, swiss, pickle, mustard, ham... my favorite thing to panini-ify by far)
pan-fried tofu with scallion sauce (this sauce goes well with everything and tofu is no exception)
pancakes or waffles! (I love mine with jam)
ham, pickle, and cream cheese roll-ups
fried eggs (with toast and lots of butter...so comforting)
fruit smoothie (bananas, frozen strawberries, yogurt...or whatever!)
I hate salad but could write essays on this copycat olive garden salad (throw it in a bowl! chopping required if you use onion)
spaghetti (controversial maybe but angel hair > spaghetti noodles)
pasta salad (olives broccoli fresh mozerella... those little mini pepperonis... yeah)
stir-fried thai garlic shrimp (I like using the mini frozen salad shrimps, it's easy! use jarred minced garlic to avoid chopping!)
tuna mayo onigiri
slow cooker ribs
buffalo chicken wrap (or any number of other wrap options! shred pre-cooked rotisserie chicken to make it easier)
if your local grocery store sells pre-cooked gyro strips, that can turn into an easy wrap with store-bought pita & tzatziki with tomatoes and onions!
couscous and chickpeas
tortellini + pasta sauce + spinach
high energy ("I don't mind chopping some things up!")
stuffed shells with spinach
chicken and roasted garlic (oh my god.....one of my all time favorites)
beef tacos (I like mine with cilantro and onion, and when I'm feeling especially high energy I love a tomatillo salsa)
chicken alfredo
tom kha gai (a thai soup and my absolute favorite! you just need access to galangal)
lasagna! (freezes well and then boom! low energy meal for later)
pad thai! (not as hard as you'd think, as long as you have access to tamarind paste!)
potstickers! (this is a lovely group activity if you want to cook with housemates!)
rice and beans
bang bang shrimp (ogughfhgfuh I love it. you can also do bang bang tofu!)
minestrone soup (so many nice veggies!)
fried rice (put whatever you have on hand in there! broccoli, peas, carrot, and beef is my favorite combo)
broccoli cheddar soup
spring rolls and peanut sauce
skewers (such as beef, onion, zucchini, bell pepper... you don't need a grill, oven works!)
roasted turkey with garlic parmesean asparagus
pork chop with mashed potatoes
panang curry
chicken gnocchi soup (use store bought gnocchi or make your own if you have a high energy day!)
bibimbap (super customizable depending on what veggies you like best)
butter chicken
plus! things that have helped me meal plan:
whenever you think of a meal you'd like to make, take 3 seconds to google search it, take a screenshot of the image results, and put it in a "food ideas" folder. instant visual menu!
the concept of "meal prepping" makes me recoil but I've learned that it can simply mean preparing shredded chicken, boiled eggs, or some other simple protein that you can customize throughout the week. shredded chicken can turn into wraps, salads, pasta dishes, etc... you don't have to meal prep yourself into the same meal all week!
when I have difficulty working up an appetite, I'll scroll through my favorite restaurant menus! there might be some foods I can't make at home, but many times they're very simple to recreate because the ingredients are literally listed!
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seatanger01 · 2 years
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Salads & Soups
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We’ve been doing a weekly produce box with a local farm, and I used some of this week’s produce to do a big veggie dinner.
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Top is garden salad with romaine, carrots, cucumbers, blueberries, pecans, and a creamy poppyseed dressing.
Bottom is garlic toast, country-style green beans and potatoes, and sauteed beets, greens, and squash.
Everything was just so fresh and flavorful— one of my favorite ways to eat.
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ofcloudsandstars · 3 years
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Quick things to do to celebrate Imbolc
Okay since my Yule post was popular I made an Imbolc one since most of us are still going to be locked down lol.
1. Clean and Cleanse your space I know BOO right?? But this is the holiday for cleaning and cleansing. (Even if you hate doing this, this is like the one time a year you have a reason to do it). Time for deep cleaning!!  You know that layer of snowy dust behind your bookshelf? Time to open windows and tackle every corner. Scrub off that spot of dirt you have been putting off scrubbing. Time to steam and vacuum your carpets. Wash your bedsheets and add rosemary or juniper oil to the soap. Smoke cleanse your room with Juniper (or Rosemary). Sweep out old energy, old habits, unwanted spirits. Throw out things that do not spark joy. The time is upon us!
2. Bath Magic Along with cleansing your space, it's also the time to cleanse yourself! This is the day to have a ritual bath, the type that looks instagram worthy where you have a bunch of candles and you sit in a hot tub full of colorful soap very pleased and covered in bubbles. If you don't have a tub you can make a special scrub to anoint your entire body with and rinse it off in a shower. This is the time for face masks, feet soaks, those things you glue on your nose to painfully peel off later and fill you with a sense of relief/disgust of what was dwelling in your pores all this time, skin exfoliants, bath jellies and body creams.
Tip: I like to celebrate the eves of sabbats, so I tend to do the cleaning and cleansing stuff the evening before so there’s less of an overwhelming pressure to do everything at once. Especially since cleaning can get draining sometimes. On the day is usually spellwork, nature walks and feasting.
3. Candle Magic This is the sabbat for candles. Not just to look at how pretty they are burning on your altar rejoicing that the winter days are probably like 1 hour longer than before, but to set intentions for your dreams and aspirations!! First take a moment to meditate and ground yourself, then focus on your goals or anything you would really like to accomplish this year, big or small. When you visualizing it coming to be, then light your candle! This is also a great time for candle scrying. You can read your candle flame which can dance fiery omens of the obstacles ahead of you. Here is a helpful but general page for candle scrying.
4. Burning Bayleaves and Barrier Breaking Often when our candle spells keep going out or we receive omens that the obstacles before us are a little more difficult than anticipated, then it's time for Barrier Breaking! Write down anything you feel is holding you back on a small piece of paper. Make sure to get a fire proof dish ready. With that paper think about the obstacles before you or anything holding you back and visualize the sensation of those obstacles coming undone or you being free from it's chains. Make sure you hold on to that feeling as you light it on fire with your spell candle then set it aside on the fire dish to burn completely.
Sometimes this step may call for shadow work as the obstacles that can be holding us back isn't external but internal issues. You can divine with tarot cards to figure out the nature of this obstacle if you aren't aware of it consciously.
Lastly, Burning Bayleaves helps with wishes. You can burn them to help overcome obstacles or to bring luck and set intentions in your life. Just write what you need on the leaves, burn it with your spell candle and set it aside on the dish. Beware as some bayleaves have natural oil in them so they can ignite in a fiery whoosh!! That is usually good luck and shows that your intentions will have no problem being manifested, however, if you are not in the most fire safe area I would not recommend this activity. If you are comfortable doing fire magic and have a safe set up then you can partake in this tradition.
6. Cleansing ALL of your magical tools As this sabbat feels like a gentle awakening and fresh start, you can lay out all of your magical tools and give them a serious cleanse. You can play a cleansing frequency on youtube which could help or ring bells over to disperse any energy hanging on. If you have a smoke bundle or incense you can clease with that and bless your items.
7. Play some Music! Listening to music always helps to set the mood of the day. Here is a playlist for this sabbat!
8. Make a Feast So for a Feast for 1 it's usually just like a festive dish with a side of veggies and a nice dessert. Think about what you'd like as your main dish. For this sabbat I’ve always made an Imbolc Shepards Pie recipe. Reasons being is that I lived someplace where this time of the year was blizzard season though we were halfway done with Winter. So the pie represented the top being the potato mashed "snow" and the meat/beans layer underneath was spicy and represented the earth stirring. (Plus its cute that it's called Shepards pie cause there is a sheep/lamb theme going on but I digress..) Anyway I moved to England and this time of year feels like... very early Spring.. Like it's not really spring spring but it's like.. early pre-spring. (Seasons here in this climate are weird haha but the sabbats make sense here since the traditions were founded in this climate). So the symbolism of the Shepards Pie is a bit lost. However there are a lot of other options such as Cauliflower or Celeriac soup with cheese (or cheese less if you are vegan), winter onion soup, if you are a meat eater than lamb and sage stew (I feel like stews are a big theme here but it fits as it's winter and there is that 'fire in the belly' symbolism that fits with getting sustenance and warmth from a chalice-bowl object). Side dish can be roasted parsnips or stuffed white cabbage (it depends on the main dish). Dessert depends on if you are into cake or tarts but I always either have cheesecake or a milk sponge cake like tres leches. If you live in a snowy area a dessert I used to make would be a warm brownie with vanilla icecream as it's like "snow melt" on earth with life stirring within. Etc.
I know with lockdown and such no one is going to be seeing anyone extra in their lives anytime soon and no one may have the energy to cook a lot, but here is a list of recipes with a feast mood board to check out for ideas.
Have a lovely luminous Imbolc!!
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Check out the Master Post to see what this wacky project is all about and get the cookbook to join in the fun!
Last week I celebrated the humble potato quite by accident.  Let me explain.  I found myself at a local bakery to get honey butter (yes I’ll cook my way through this book but I can’t be bothered to mix honey and butter together), and I simply had no choice but to get some fresh bread.  Cracked pepper swiss to be exact.
So now I had a whole loaf of Fancy Bread that I needed to figure out what to do with, other than the general direction of “eat it” obviously.  So I got some deli chicken and ham, only it was late at night and the deli was closed, so they only had pre-packaged bags of the fancy deli ham, the sort that tastes of despair.  So now I had things to make a sandwich, might as well make some soup to go with!
Cheesiest Potato Soup from Ferelden!
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Difficulty: 2/5.  I would rate it as more difficult if I’d grated my own cheese, simply because I absolutely hate grating cheese, but I was lazy and bought pre-shredded cheese.  I did have to bust out my newly acquired Antivan Crow blender (it’s a Ninja for anyone still confused by my ongoing blender saga), and it performed quite nicely.
Ingredient cost/accessibility: 2/5.  Good sharp cheddar (not the store brand dry little shreds) is a little pricier than some cheese, but still very common in the scheme of things. 
Taste: 4/5.  This recipe reminds me a lot of a beer cheese soup I’ve made a couple times before, which I have to say I like a bit more than this one, but this is a close second.  It’s a cheesy potato soup, what’s not to love?  I did substitute the cayenne for smoked paprika because I can barely handle any spice, and this amount of pure unadulterated cheese was already going to be a Bad Idea, so I wanted to soften the blow with a smoky flavor rather than spice.  Totally the right call for me, but you do you of course.   Also, full disclosure guys... I added bacon.  Like, a whole pack of bacon.  I chopped it up and fried it until crispy, removed and set aside, sautéed the onion in the drippings and made the soup as directed, took the picture, then added the cooked bacon back in.  #no regerts. 7/5 with bacon.
Suggested pairing: Since this reminds me so strongly of the aforementioned beer cheese soup, this really put me in the mood for a beer.  Any refreshing beverage would be great though.  And of course the fancy bread sandwiches I made to go with the leftover soup throughout the week.
Suggested pairing: Alistair/Anyone.  Because we all know his OTP is Alistair/Cheese <3
But oh we’re not done!  Because I can’t accurately estimate how many cups of diced potato a whole potato will produce, I ended up with an extra largish potato and a half already peeled and ready to go.  I hate wasting food and I realized that I not only had extra potato, but that sliced fancy ham as well, so what better time than to whip up Anderfels Ham and Scalloped Potatoes!
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I’m sorry guys, there was just no way I could make a pile of scalloped potatoes look sexy.  They were saucy and greasy and not terribly photogenetic, but incidentally it was these very same qualities that made them taste pretty sexy.
Difficulty: 2/5.  Simple enough that I could make this completely on the fly with zero prep when I realized my sudden potato abundance.  I guess it depends on how comfortable you are with making a rue though.  I could make one in my sleep I’ve made so many, so this was no big deal.  I will say it needed about a half an hour more cooking time than the book said, even with my over enthusiastic oven.
Ingredient cost/accessibility: 2/5.  In general I tend to resent how expensive deli sliced lunch meat is, having grown up on the cheap stuff, but you only need a few slices so it’s not too bad.  I would definitely recommend springing for a quality ham.  My favorite part was the layer of ham at the bottom that got almost kind of crispy against the pan, yuuum.  Though I did make my first substitute of necessity/convenience during this DA cooking project when I was in the middle of making the soup and decided to make this too, around midnight mind you because I work nights and am an actual vampire, and the only thing I didn’t have was Gruyère cheese.  It’s apparently a type of Swiss cheese, which of course I didn’t have either, but since it only needed to be sprinkled on top and wouldn’t affect much I just used parmesan and called it good.  And verily it was good.
Taste: 5/5.  I just had a little when I made the soup to try it fresh and saved the rest for leftovers, mostly because I simply could not consume any more cheese in one sitting and not die.  I wasn’t super impressed at first.  I left the cayenne in this recipe and I was predictably like “waaah it’s spicy”.  But after letting it sit in the fridge and the flavors had mingled and I reheated with a bit of cream to keep it from getting dried out, holy Maker this was soooo good!  I’ve only ever had scalloped potatoes from a box, and now I can never go back again!  I ended up enjoying this even more than the soup!
Suggested pairing: Same as the soup, beer or pop/sparkling water, something refreshing to cut the richness.
Suggested pairing: Like I say, this is not a sexy food... so Blackwall.  Oh buuuurn!!!!!!
And last but not least, because I’m a complete lush, the Apple Ginny from Ferelden.
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Difficulty: 4/5.  Not difficult at all in theory, but damn it all if the honey didn’t want to stick to the shaker rather than end up in the actual drink.  So frustrating!  Maybe I should make some honey simply syrup...
Ingredient cost/accessibility: 2/5.  Just gin in this one, I used Wild Roots and would recommend any of their line of alcohol.  The apple juice, lime and honey shouldn’t be too difficult to find.
Taste: 5/5.  I know I said I wasn’t the biggest gin fan, but my mind has officially been changed!  This is so good, it’s honestly one of my favorite cocktails now.  It’s sweet but the gin is still present, and it’s super easy to drink.  
Suggested pairing: I have somehow headcannoned that gin is Fenris’ spirit of choice, when he isn’t drinking wine of course, and we all know his fondness for apples.  And with the honey... Fenders <3
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nonbinary-renfri · 3 years
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inspired by this post by @elliestormfound
It’s Lambert’s turn to cook dinner tonight for the witchers wintering in the keep and he’s feeling rather inspired, after Geralt and Eskel went ice fishing and came back with four lovely large trout. Going down to the root cellar while the other two witchers were taking care of the gutting and cleaning and de-scaling of the fish out in the yard, Lambert picked out some onions and some potatoes and some garlic. He also took a container of the goat milk butter they’d started making after Eskel had insisted on getting the keep its own mini goat herd. The animals themselves were stinky, ungrateful bastards, but even Lambert would admit having the fresh milk was nice. Once they finally figured out this goat cheese thing, it’d be even nicer.
But for now Lambert’s heading back upstairs with a basket full of potatoes and onions and garlic and is greeted by some absolutely beautiful fish fillets laid out on the kitchen counter. A lesser man- such as many high-class chefs with their fancy restaurants in the cities- might shed a tear at the sight of such divine knife work. Lambert is so glad Eskel let Geralt do the filleting this time.
He dices onions and garlic and preps the potatoes, washing them and piercing them in several places with a knife. The wood-stove is already lit, doing its best to spread fingers of warmth through Kaer Morhen’s cold stones. Opening up two of the burners, Lambert plunks down a pair of heavy iron saucepans onto the stove. He makes two batches of an onion-butter sauce, one with garlic and one without. While that’s simmering, he seasons the fish with rock salt that he’s fairly certain Vesemir collects and grinds himself, and then divides the fillets out evenly between two baking pans. Lambert pours the sauce over the fish before sliding them, along with the potatoes, into the large oven to slow cook.
With some time to kill, he washes the dishes he’s created so far and then starts poking around in the kitchen cabinets. He finds things he knew were there, like shelves filled with jars of different spices and a section dedicated to baking supplies, and things he didn’t, like glass bottles of apple cider in a bottom cupboard. Lambert uncorks one and sniffs it, and, yep, that is apple cider and it’s still fairly fresh too, probably squeezed and bottled by Vesemir this past autumn. He doesn’t think the old man will mind awfully if Lambert commandeers some of it; it’s for a good cause, and it’s not like Vesemir won’t also get a share of it.
Putting a larger pot on the stove top, Lambert mixes up a hot drink made with apple cider, a splash of squeezed fruit juice, and spices. Sticks of cinnamon and dried orange and lemon slices float in bubbling amber liquid as it simmers on the burner. Dinner will be done before the wassail is, but that’s alright; they can have it as a nice follow-up afterwards.
Lambert glances up from stirring the drink as Vesemir enters the kitchen. The old witcher is carrying a basket with fresh broccoli from the winter garden, tiny bits of ice glimmering on green buds from being washed outdoors in the cold. Taking a deep breath in, he smiles appreciatively. “It smells delicious.” Yellow irises find the bottles of apple cider out on the countertop. “Ah. I see you got into my juice stores.”
“For a good cause, old man.”
Vesemir’s nostrils flare as he leans towards the pot. “Yes, indeed. An after-dinner treat?”
How does he always know these things. “Yeah,” Lambert admits.
“Would you be willing to trust me to watch over your handiwork for a bit? I thought I would add broccoli to the menu tonight, but the table in the hall could really use a wipe down before we sit down to eat.”
“Sure, I can go do that. Stir the pot on the stove occasionally and don’t fucking burn my food, okay?”
Vesemir acquiesces with a nod and waves the younger witcher out the door.
The table is rather dusty and bread crumb-covered from a multitude of meals, so Lambert wipes it down with a dry cloth and then a wet one. He also takes the opportunity to set the table, putting out plates and silverware for all the witchers, though not in the pompous, shitty way a noble household would. Just a fork and a knife, thank you very much. The butter dish and the ceramic howling wolf salt and pepper shakers Eskel had brought back one winter go on the table too. Vesemir keeps his eyes on the broccoli he has searing on the stove as Lambert comes in and out of the kitchen, pretending not to notice as the younger snags napkins for the table that he knows will be neatly folded beside their plates. And he thinks they don’t know that he cares.
Eventually all the food is done cooking and the old witcher lets Lambert take care of the plating of things, helping him carry the platters of roast potatoes and fish and broccoli into the hall. The smells must reach the other witchers in the keep as Geralt and Eskel quickly appear at the door, dressed in clean clothes with cheeks pink-flushed and the slightly spicy-sweet scent from the witch hazel soap they keep in the hot springs wafting off of them.
“Wow, that smells good,” Eskel comments. Geralt’s nostrils flare in agreement and the two are quick to take their usual seats at the table, eagerly eyeing the spread in front of them.
As soon as Vesemir fills his plate, the rest of them are free to dig in as well. Scenting the air, mouth partway open, Geralt gravitates towards the fish without garlic and scoops a good chunk onto his plate. Eskel takes a smaller piece from the same pan and a similar one from the other as well. Like Vesemir, Lambert takes a big serving of the fish with garlic. They all take potatoes and cut them open, steam wafting into the air from the well-cooked soft white insides. Goat butter melts quickly from the heat and they sprinkle rock salt on top of potatoes now drenched in gold. Broccoli joins the rest of the food on their plates and they eat in silence for a while, too hungry from the day’s work and grateful for a good meal to have the wherewithal to interrupt it with conversation.
Eventually though, as Vesemir and Geralt go back for second servings of their preferred fish and Eskel takes more broccoli, they find themselves able to take their concentration enough off the food to talk.
“Thank you for making dinner, Lambert,” Geralt says, because sometimes he can be a polite bastard. Lambert suspects it has something to do with all that time the white-haired man spends around a certain uppity sorceress.
“Yeah, thanks,” Eskel parrots, talking through a mouthful of potato because he doesn’t have a questionable influence in his life to teach him courtly manners. “’S delicious.”
Vesemir nods in agreement. “Quite.”
Resisting the urge to shrug off the praise, Lambert pretends the tips of his ears aren’t turning red. “Mhmm. Yeah. Uh. You’re welcome, I guess.” He remembers the wassail he has simmering in the kitchen still, and takes the excuse to flee the room. “Hot drinks, for after dinner. Should be done, so I’ll, uh, go get them.” Getting up and walking away, he waits until he’s completely out of eyesight of the others, because Vesemir would somehow fucking know if he didn’t, before he lets the bubbling warm feeling in his chest spill onto his face. He smiles the entire walk back to the kitchen.
Returning with a big wooden pitcher full of hot wassail that drifts the sweet scents of apples, citrus, and spices into the air with curls of steam, he pours it into the mugs gathered at the far end of the table, placing one in front of each witcher.
Vesemir, the madman, doesn’t even blow on his before gulping down a large mouthful. He swallows and immediately goes back for a second, humming his approval.
Slightly more cautious, Eskel blows on the surface of his drink before trying it. His face changes to a contemplative look and then he nods, seemingly in approval.
Geralt takes a sip from his mug with an unreadable expression. Lambert watches him carefully, knowing the other witcher can’t stand to drink apple cider on its own. Taking another sip, Geralt lets out a quiet grunt.
Lambert’s voice gets ahead of his head. “So? Is it good?” Shit shit shit way too pushy, what, do you need validation or something-
Shrugging, Geralt says, like he’s simply stating a fact, “Everything you make is good.”
There is a pleased yet embarrassed heat rising in Lambert’s cheeks, because Geralt doesn't say nice things when he doesn't mean them. “Fuck you.” Dammit, why can’t he be the kind of person who just goes speechless in moments like this.
Geralt doesn’t reply, but he’s smiling in that tiny way he thinks is unnoticeable, with the very corners of his lips and the tilt of his eyebrows, or something. The white-haired witcher doesn’t go back for seconds of the hot drink like Eskel does, or fourths like Vesemir, but he finishes the mug that Lambert poured for him, which is compliment enough in the younger’s opinion.
It’s a good night, he thinks, as they finish their drinks and Geralt and Eskel take the dishes back to the kitchen to scrub them clean. Even better as they all pile into the study, with it’s warm wooden walls and bearskin rugs a ballast against the winter’s chill. They quickly have a fire burning bright in the hearth, and the room becomes cozy and comfortable. Vesemir settles into his armchair with the old bestiary he’s currently annotating and the three younger witchers tangle together in a pile on the fur splayed before the fire. They wrestle lazily for a bit before sprawling out drowsily, serene and drifting somewhere close to sleep.
In the early hours of the next morning the armchair is empty, bestiary shut neatly on the accent table beside it, and the fire has reduced itself to cold ashes. Lambert wakes up to white hair tickling his nose and his feet tangled with Eskel’s, the other man’s calves laying on top of Geralt’s knees. Soft fur brushes his chin from the bearskin that had been spread over the three of them sometime in the night, keeping them warm beneath it with their combined body heat long after the fire had died out. There’s no window in this room but Lambert has a feeling it’s still not late enough for them to need to get up, so he lies there with his eyes closed, simply enjoying the weight and warmth of his brothers beside him.
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femchef · 4 years
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When our pastry intern first started working with us this past spring, I made breakfast - fancy toast with ricotta+labna, fresh peaches and raspberries, honey, fresh granola - and when she asked me if I ate like that everyday I responded very flatly that sometimes I just eat a hotdog.
Which is true - I tend to seesaw between pretty food and living on hotdogs and twizzlers, which. Maybe isn’t very good, but ya know, sometimes that’s just how it goes.
Anyway - last Saturday, she and our pastry boss were talking about how down and gray they were both feeling and they made the decision that they needed to eat some leafy greens at SOME point everyday, and that it might as well happen during lunch at the restaurant when access to fresh food is most plentiful.
The result of this decision was an hour spent on Saturday making a very easy dressing because actually our restaurant was out of a lot of ingredients and she got creative and made her own very delicious version - and more importantly, the decision to make something green and nourishing and filling for our lunches carried over into the rest of the week.
So - here are five salads we put together that were satisfying and very delicious:
Monday: A Very Southwestern Green Goddess Salad
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Grilled chicken, avocado, chopped boiled egg, romaine lettuce and pea shoots, cherry tomatoes, bacon, pistachios, and a delicious variation on the green goddess dressing - replace parsley with a bunch of cilantro, replace tarragon with green onions, and replace the sardines with fish sauce and capers (also substitute half the lemon juice for lime and add the zest of both).
Tuesday: Blackberry Citrus and Beef
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Baby rocket, shoots and sprouts, mint and basil, blanched sugar snap peas, spiralised cucumber and toasted pecans all tossed in a blackberry+grapefruit vinaigrette with Dijon mustard, warm roasted apple slices and beef tenderloin, peppered goats cheese, orange segments, and a 3-minute egg.
Wednesday: Greek Chicken Chopped Salad:
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Kale, spinach, oregano, mint, and dill all chopped and rubbed down with lemon zest and juice, olive oil and salt and pepper and left to soften and marinate - tossed with baby rocket, parsley, shoots and crumbled feta cheese. Sliced cucumber, cherry tomatoes, peppadew peppers, sugar snap peas and grilled chicken - all tossed together with more of that green goddess dressing and raw chopped pecans.
Thursday: Roasted Eggplant and Sweet Potato
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Roasted eggplant with minced garlic, red onion, olive oil and cider vinegar beaten together, warm pita slices, roasted sweet potato and fennel with ginger, cardamom and rosemary, baby rocket, minced Fresno peppers, minced ginger root, cherry tomatoes, carrot and tomatillo all sliced paper thin with baby rocket greens. Lots of toasted nigella seeds, dried sumac and freshly grated nutmeg.
Friday: Somewhat Spicy Beef Salad
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Chopped kale, spring mix, cinnamon-toasted skinless almonds and black sesame seeds tossed with orange zest and juice, salt and pepper, fish sauce, sesame oil, and mirin. Thinly sliced pear and radishes, with sugar snap peas, red bell pepper and orange segments all tossed in minced Fresno peppers, minced ginger, minced garlic, lime zest and juice and orange juice. Everything is tossed together and served with cooked beef tenderloin scraps and chopped green onions.
I dunno if we will keep up with the salads all the time, but - even if we don’t get fancy with it, we will try to keep some dressing and easy salad bits on hand. It’s been a really nice, energetic week at work, in no small part because everyone working in the back is trying to take better care of themselves and each other.
Remember to take care of yourself - drink some water, take your meds if you’ve got them, and eat something dark green and nourishing from time to time if you can manage it (even if that’s drizzling some ranch dressing over a chunk of iceberg lettuce and stuffing it in your mouth over the sink at home don’t judge me).
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Sunday, 14th July 2019 – The Yeatman, Vila Nova de Gaia
Sunday night was the blow out meal of the weekend, a 2 Michelin-starred tasting menu in what might be the best hotel in the area, the Yeatman. First, however, we stopped off for a drink in Porto before getting a taxi across to Vila Nova de Gaia. In our search for a good place to get a drink, we stumbled upon the Livraria da Baixa, another of the ex-bookshops that have become other things over the years. There seems to be quite a bit of that going on in Porto. We had yet another porto tonico, and this one was different again. The barman asked us which one we liked best, but they were all good in their own ways.
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After we’d finished our drinks we headed to the Intercontinental and asked the concierge to find us a taxi to the Yeatman. It didn’t appear, after all, to be the sort of place we wanted to fetch up in looking all sweaty and dishevelled! Also, we wanted to get there a little early so we could have a second round of drinks in Dick’s Bar up there. We’d heard it had excellent views. The taxi pulled up and several uniformed doormen appeared to hold doors open and point the way for us.
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It’s very nice! We were escorted in, shown to the restaurant, and asked if we could start the evening in the bar. We were soon installed in a table on the terrace overlooking the river and it is certainly reasonable to say they have a view. As well as the river, and Porto opposite, you get a view of the gardens and the swimming pool – the latter appeared to be full of seagulls using it as a giant birdbath. Perhaps they have a better class of seagull at the Yeatman. Who knows!
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Armed with a port cocktail each we dragged our attention away from the seagulls, and towards the view. The weather was not as clear as we might have liked, but the vista is still pretty impressive, even without sunshine and blue skies. I rather imagine in fine weather it would be gorgeous.
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The port cocktails were pretty good too!
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We decided it was best not to have a second round, and instead moved across to the restaurant to start dinner. There is only the tasting menu (at €170 per person), but if, as we did, you reserve online, this is emailed to you along with your confirmation so you can let the restaurant know if there is anything you don’t eat. In our case it was the pork option, so we let them know and then relaxed into the evening, knowing we’d be well looked after. I should also say that the restaurant has great views, but we weren’t on a window table (I assume those probably go to people actually staying at the hotel), so I only got a photo at the end of the evening.
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The first thing that happened, given the Yeatman is part of the Taylor’s port group, was that we were offered a glass of white port as an aperitif while we looked at the menu to make sure it was still to our liking, and we checked the wine list and decided on that or the matching wines chosen by the restaurant for an extra €75 for 6 different wines).  The wines in question can also all be bought through the Yeatman Wine Club so it was really easy to establish what we’d had for once. The aperitif was a glass of Churchill’s Dry White which is rather more sweet than the name implies, though it still has a good, dry finish and peppery notes that would probably mean it’s good with cheese too. It worked very well in the heat, well chilled as it was, even if taking a good sniff of it left condensation all over the glass!
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Before the first course of the tasting menu arrived, our first glass of wine was delivered, a Filipa Pato 3b Rosé (https://www.theyeatmanwineclub.com/en/espumante-filipa-pato-rose-3b) or more precisely perhaps Filipa Pato & William Wouter 3B Metodo Traditional Rosé, Bairrada, Beiras, Portugal, fresh, elegant, sparkling and just the thing with the parade of amuse bouches that arrived next.
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First up, however, was a pair of cool towels for us to freshen up with, which were much welcomed.
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The first morsels of food started to appear! And they were good! The first items was described as a Cocktail of apple, spinach and kale (manzana, espinacas y col) and was served with a very fresh bowl of oyster, jalapeños and apples with was fresh from the apples, tasted of the sea and packed a lively punch from the jalapeños.
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It was soon joined by a tiny selection of “fish and chips” with two tangles of thinly chipped potato, and a piece of batters fish each. It was both fun and fabulous, and it was quite clear that the kitchen and the chef know what they are doing and have a sense of humour.
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The cocktail was delicious (and may be the only way to deal with kale in a way that makes it palatable rather than like trying to eat crispy cardboard)! It was also a slightly alarming shade of green, with sweetness from the apple overlaying a slight cabbage-y bitterness.
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The next round was barbeque chicken, and again demonstrated both humour and skill with a chicken sandwich, a smoked chicken oyster in panko breadcrumbs, and a chicken liver mousse, and superb even to those of us who normally avoid chicken (mostly for fear of how it might have been raised, though I rather suspect that the Yeatman is as concerned about provenance as Lynne and I are).
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The final round of amuse bouches was tuna-based with a bonito “nitrogeno” that was tartare-style…
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And a tuna “sandwich”, with fish roe and mayonnaise wrapped in a nori seaweed sheet. It was a fun thing, full of flavour and it came with its own little dramatic reveal from inside a scroll of paper that the waiter then opened at the table. I was liking this place, because although there is a formality to the Yeatman, there is also a great deal of playfulness, and the staff could not be friendlier.
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The sommelier brought the next wine, an Ilha do Pico Arinto 2017, from the Azores and fermented in oak vats for 6 months. The result is incredibly drinkable, especially with seafood, which is where the menu started. It doesn’t look as if it often escapes from the Portuguese speaking world, which is a pity because I really enjoyed it and would like to drink more of it.
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It went brilliants with the Gamba Blanca (crayfish) with crab and clams. The crab and clams were in the form of a neat little beignet, and we were encouraged to use our hands to eat it rather than being wussy and using cutlery, neat though the cutlery was.
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There was a sauce with it that needed to be scooped up and smeared on the beignet, and it was a positive pleasure to do just that. The dish was described as including chawanmushi, a traditional Japanese appetiser of steamed savoury egg custard and usually full of things like prawns, fish cake, mushrooms and so on so I assume that was what was holding the crab and clam mix together.
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The crayfish came separately, carrying on the egg custard theme but being decorated with what the French would probably call mimosa style eggs, coriander and a traditional broth. It was a most excellent portion of shrimp, prawn, crayfish, whatever you want to call it.
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We had moved, oenologically, onto a new white wine, this time a glass of Anselmo Mendes Parcela Unica 2016, made from Alvarinho grapes. We got the expected peach, citrus and minerality from it, which went well with the shrimp, and also with the cuttlefish that was brought out next. These were tiny cuttlefish served  two ways, with fried rice and with a gloriously unctuous spicy Hollandaise sauce. The first pieces were served an a plate possibly made from a dried cuttlefish, which just made me laugh…
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It also tasted good, especially dredged through the spicy Hollandaise sauce.
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The other pieces came on a plate decorated with octopus shapes. It seemed a lot of trouble to go to, but then it’s that sort of place.
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We knew we’d moved on from fish when the waiters brought us some butter in a very stylish box…
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There was also a dish of olive oil, the oil a lovely shade of golden yellow that instantly made me want to dunk some bread in it.
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That was made possible when the loaf of sourdough was put in front of us.
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We had reached what would usually be the suckling pig course, but the restaurant swapped things round and served us the national beef first. It was a small but perfectly cooked piece, the iron of the rare meet working brilliantly with the roasted spring onion, the Jerusalem artichoke puree, and the rich, deep civet sauce. The meat would probably have fallen apart with just the application of a spoon, but we used our knives, cutting small pieces to try and make it last as long as possible. With it was drank a mighty fine, deep Maria João Private Collection 2008 from the Dão, and made possibly from Alfrocheiro, Aragonez, Touriga Nacional, and Jaen grapes (at least the 2010 was), with notes of chocolate, toasted cocoa, spices and dried red fruits that I definitely picked up.
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If the beef and wine combination was good, the replacement for the suckling pig, which came next was sublime. It was the same accompaniments or mango, coconut and chilli, but served with two perfectly cooked pigeon breasts, the skin beautifully seasoned and crsip. We drank a Boavista Reserva 2015. I’ve seen the wine described as “deep ruby colour. Complex, deep, intense and seductive hints of both red and black fruit, plus tobacco, spices and dark chocolate”. I see no reason to disagree with that assessment.
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The last of the pigeon was gone, and it was on to the home straight for a dessert or two, starting with wild strawberries (in different textures), including a soup served in a wonderfully complicated drinking vessel. This definitely was essence of strawberries in all their wonderful forms, and it was a brilliant way to complete an excellent meal. Especially with a glass of Adega de Favaios Moscatel Colheita 1999, a sweet white moscatel instead of a port, but made with much the same levels of care, commitment and, dare I say it, obsession to create an ideal dessert wine. The Moscatel Galego grape produces a clear, bright, golden coloured wine, with citrus freshness and honeyed sweetness that matches fruit as well as chocolate. It’s a wonderful wine.
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There was also São Tomé chocolate (with toasted corn, toffee, and whipped cream) which came along with the terrifyingly well-stocked petit fours trolley. We resisted the temptation of an offer to let us have a piece of everything on the trolley because I think we’d have needed to be put of trolleys to be taken out to the foyer if we’d done that.
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I did weaken and have a tiny doughtnut, and a pastel de nata though, along with a cute little meringue.
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We turned down the offer of infusions or coffee and were presented with a copy of the menu each in a lovely sealed envelope, along with a list of the wines we’d drunk. It was a lovely evening, and we were more than happy to get a taxi back to the Intercontinental instead of trying to walk to the metro (which would be doable, but who wantes to after a meal like that, right?)
Food 2019 – The Yeatman, Vila Nova de Gaia Sunday, 14th July 2019 - The Yeatman, Vila Nova de Gaia Sunday night was the blow out meal of the weekend, a 2 Michelin-starred tasting menu in what might be the best hotel in the area, …
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livingcorner · 3 years
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The Ultimate Guide to Harvesting, Curing, and Storing Garlic
You waited seven, maybe nine months, for all that homegrown garlic to finish growing. Now that you’ve dug it all up, you want to savor it for as long as possible until the next garlic crop is ready.
This is when curing becomes your friend.
You're reading: The Ultimate Guide to Harvesting, Curing, and Storing Garlic
Curing is the process of letting your garlic dry down in preparation for long-term storage. Curing and storing garlic allows you to enjoy the flavor of your summer harvest well into winter.
One of my favorite things about garlic is that it still stays fresh long after it’s been plucked from the ground without traditional preservation methods. No pickling, no canning, no freezing. Just a simple head of garlic that looks and tastes the same as the day you pulled it.
Does garlic have to be cured?
Garlic does not need to be cured. It’s edible right out of the ground.
But if you want it to stay fresh in the pantry for a good long while, you have to take it through the process of curing—essentially just letting it dry. As the garlic dries, the skin shrinks and turns papery, forming a protective barrier against moisture and mold.
In this dried down state, under optimal conditions, cured garlic can store for several months after harvest (which means you can use the garlic cloves from your garlic harvest as seed for the following year’s crop).
Related: Get Your Garlic On: Planting and Growing Garlic the Easy Way
You don’t have to cure your entire crop, either.
Garlic that you want to eat right away can be used right away, straight from the garden. I usually set aside a couple of bulbs I can use up in three to four weeks (especially bulbs that may have been damaged during harvest, but are otherwise edible).
Garlic that you want to store should be moved to a dry, shady, airy place once they’re harvested to begin curing.
How to cure your garlic crop
First, determine whether your garlic is ready to harvest using this simple trick.
Garlic stops growing once the soil temperature reaches 90°F so if you have a hot, early summer, your garlic will mature faster (though it’ll also have smaller bulbs).
Once you’ve pulled all the bulbs out of the soil, lay them out one by one on an elevated surface (like a large table or shelving rack) that gets filtered or indirect light. This could be under a tree, on a covered porch, or in a well-ventilated garage.
There’s no need to clean off all that dirt for now—you’ll tidy them up when you trim them.
If you don’t have a table to spare, you can DIY one out of 1×6 planks (or fence boards) laid across two sawhorses. Or, build a large frame out of 1×3 lumber, stretch and staple a piece of hardware cloth or chicken wire across the frame, and prop it up on sawhorses or cinder blocks.
Foolproof tips for curing your garlic
Don’t pile them on top of each other. The key to proper curing is providing good air circulation between the bulbs.
Read more: Straw Bale Gardening | Easy, Inexpensive, Accessible | joe gardener®
Don’t spread them out in the sun. Garlic is susceptible to sunburn and can literally cook under the sun, which deteriorates flavor. So you want to minimize the amount of direct sunlight it gets during the curing process.
Don’t wash your garlic. After all, the point is to dry them out!
Don’t remove the leaves while the garlic is curing. The bulb continues to draw energy from the leaves and roots until all that moisture evaporates. Keeping the leaves intact also helps to prevent fungi or other lurking garden contaminants from spoiling the garlic before it’s fully cured.
Can you hang garlic to dry?
If you’re short on space, you can cure your garlic vertically by gathering the garlic into bunches, tying the leaves together with twine, and hanging them from their stems to dry.
You can even braid (plait) your garlic for storage, just like the beautiful ones you see in Italian restaurants.
Braiding only works with nimble softneck garlics, and I find it helps to remove the scraggly bottom leaves first for a smoother braid. Braid the garlic while some of the leaves are still green and pliable, and hang the bundle to dry in a shady spot (like a pantry or a corner of the kitchen).
How do you know when garlic is cured?
Garlic is usually ready for long-term storage about a month after harvest. But curing can take as little as two weeks in warm, dry climates, or as long as two months in rainy, humid weather.
Large bulbs (and bulbs with large cloves) generally take longer to cure. During this time, the flavor continues to mellow and improve.
Curing is complete when the roots look shriveled and feel stiff like a bottle brush, and the leaves are completely brown and dried.
Disclosure: All products on this page are independently selected. If you buy from one of my links, I may earn a commission.
The best way to store garlic
Once the garlic is fully cured, clean it up by removing the leaves at the neck and trimming the roots (with a pair of scissors or pruners) to 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch long. More dirt will dislodge and a couple layers of bulb wrappers may flake off, giving you a nice and neatly packaged bulb.
Remember not to remove too many wrappers in case you expose the cloves.
If you braided your garlic, you saved yourself an extra step and can simply snip a bulb off the braid when you need it.
Set aside your most beautiful heads of garlic with the biggest cloves to use as seed garlic the following season.
Stash the garlic in mesh bags, woven baskets, old terracotta pots, brown paper bags, or even cardboard beer/soda cases—as long as the container is breathable and the environment stays dry.
I’ve even heard of people storing garlic in old pantyhose by hanging it from the ceiling, putting a knot between each garlic head, and scissoring off a knot when needed—but really, who has pantyhose lying around these days?!
Temperature, humidity, and ventilation all play important roles in determining how well your garlic will store. A “cool, dark place” is the general recommendation, and it doesn’t get any easier than a spare cupboard or closet shelf at room temperature.
But if you want to maximize the longevity of your garlic?
Keep it between 50°F and 60°F, around 60 percent humidity, in low to no light with good air circulation.
Garlic tends to sprout at colder temps (thus, no refrigerators!) and dry out in warmer temps.
Lower humidity may cause dehydration (especially in Rocamboles, which are more finicky than other varieties), while higher humidity may bring in fungus and mold. Light is not a factor in storage, as long as you keep your garlic away from direct sun.
All that said, there is no exact science to storing garlic. Sometimes I store my garlic in wire or wicker baskets in the pantry, and sometimes (on a big harvest year) I save and reuse nylon mesh bags (the kind that potatoes and onions come in), sort my garlic into them, and hang them in a well-ventilated utility room.
How long does garlic last?
Once it’s cured, a whole bulb of garlic (with no blemishes or bruises) will last several months in storage. Softneck garlics tend to have a longer shelf life than hardneck garlics.
In general, Silverskins and Creoles are the longest-storing garlic (often keeping up to a full year), followed by Porcelains, Artichokes, Purple Stripes, Rocamboles, and lastly, Asiatics and Turbans, which have the shortest shelf life (up to five months under the most optimal conditions).
Cultivar Average Shelf Life Silverskin 1 year Creole 1 year Porcelain 8 to 10 months Artichoke 8 to 10 months Purple Stripe 6 months Rocambole 6 months Asiatic 3 to 5 months Turban 3 to 5 months
If you’re lucky, you’ll be breaking out fresh cloves in winter and perhaps even through the following spring!
As soon as you remove the paper wrappers, break the bulb apart, or peel the cloves, however, the quality starts to decline quickly.
Individual unpeeled cloves will keep for about three weeks on the counter. Peeled cloves will keep for up to a week in the fridge. And chopped garlic will only last a day or two, so if you have leftover chopped garlic, it’s best to freeze it to retain freshness.
Common questions about harvesting and storing garlic
How do you harvest garlic scapes?
Garlic scapes appear in late spring to early summer on hardneck garlic plants. They are 100 percent edible and delicious! And they should be harvested to help promote bulb development below ground.
To cut the scape, wait until the stalk is fully formed and grow above the rest of the plant. When it starts to curl and spiral, cut the stalk as close to the base as possible without cutting any leaves off.
Read more: Squash Overload: 5 Ways to Use Up Summer Squash and Zucchini
Garlic scapes keep well in a plastic bag for two to three weeks in the fridge. They can also be stored upright in a jar of cool water on the counter (the way you’d display flowers), where they’ll last for a few days.
Can you store garlic in the refrigerator?
Storing whole garlic bulbs long-term in the fridge (at 35°F to 40°F) is not recommended because holding garlic at those temperatures stimulates sprouting (in the same way garlic sprouts when it’s planted in the cooler soil and cooler weather of fall).
If you’ve already peeled the cloves, however, you can keep them in the fridge for up to a week before they start to lose moisture (and eventually decay).
For more tips on storing your produce and helping them last longer, download Garden Betty’s Fruit & Vegetable Storage Guide.
Yes, garlic is quite versatile when it comes to freezing it. You can freeze whole bulbs that have cured, individual cloves (peeled or unpeeled), or chopped garlic. While it won’t retain its crispness after thawing, it still has all the flavor of fresh garlic.
When stored for too long, garlic will either sprout or shrivel. Neither makes the garlic harmful if you eat it, but they’re an indication that the garlic is past its peak in flavor and quality.
It’s time to discard (or compost) the garlic if the cloves have browned, turned soft, or shrunken in size.
Why is my garlic sprouting?
Sprouted garlic is the first sign that the garlic is about deteriorate, either from being old or being exposed to too much moisture or cold.
You can still eat sprouted garlic if the flesh is smooth and firm. The young green shoots are slightly bitter but can be chopped and used alongside the cloves when you cook. Just don’t try to put a bunch of garlic shoots in recipes where they’re the star of the dish (like garlic bread), as the difference in flavor could be noticeable.
Can you plant garlic that has sprouted?
Sprouted garlic (as well as garlic that’s still intact) can be planted in the fall for harvest the following year.
Simply plant the unpeeled garlic clove (sprouted side or pointy side up) about an inch deep in well-draining soil. Allow 2 to 3 inches of spacing between each clove and keep the plants consistently moist (but not waterlogged) while the shoots are growing.
Though the shoots are somewhat bitter when they start to sprout, they actually turn milder and sweeter as they grow. This makes those tall, tender garlic shoots a delicacy in spring when they’re picked as immature plants called green garlic (also known as spring garlic or baby garlic). There won’t be a divided bulb on the end of the green garlic, but the entire plant at that point is edible.
Or, wait for the leaves to start dying off as the crop matures so you can harvest fully divided bulbs in summer.
More posts you might find helpful:
How to Choose the Best Garlic Varieties For Your Garden
How to Grow, Harvest, and Use Green Garlic In Spring
7 Secrets to Harvesting, Curing, and Storing Onions
200+ Deer-Resistant Plants and Flowers For Your Garden
This post updated from an article that originally appeared on July 14, 2011.
Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden
source https://livingcorner.com.au/the-ultimate-guide-to-harvesting-curing-and-storing-garlic/
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ssportlive4 · 3 years
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Pan fried salmon with green beans and sauce. Pan-fried salmon topped with a tangy green sauce and pomegranate molasses. Let's start with that irresistible green sauce then. What do we have in it?
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Rub the Salmon fillet both side with salt and pepper, drizzle with a little Arrange the potato galette on the plate, followed by green beans, place the salmon on top and drizzle the sauce over. Pan-seared salmon steak with a moist, medium-rare center and crisp skin can be tricky. The skin can stick, the salmon can easily overcook, and the layer of.
Hey everyone, I hope you are having an incredible day today. Today, we're going to make a special dish, pan fried salmon with green beans and sauce. It is one of my favorites. For mine, I'm gonna make it a little bit unique. This is gonna smell and look delicious.
Pan fried salmon with green beans and sauce is one of the most favored of recent trending meals in the world. It's simple, it is quick, it tastes delicious. It is enjoyed by millions daily. Pan fried salmon with green beans and sauce is something which I have loved my entire life. They are fine and they look fantastic.
Pan-fried salmon topped with a tangy green sauce and pomegranate molasses. Let's start with that irresistible green sauce then. What do we have in it?
To get started with this particular recipe, we have to prepare a few ingredients. You can have pan fried salmon with green beans and sauce using 10 ingredients and 11 steps. Here is how you can achieve that.
The ingredients needed to make Pan fried salmon with green beans and sauce:
{Prepare of Samon 300 g (4 medium pieces).
{Get of Greenbeans 200 g pack (about 2 cups).
{Take of Oyster Sauce (or any home made thick sauce).
{Make ready 2 of medium Spring onions.
{Get of Spices:1 teaspoon garlic paste,half teaspoon blackseed.
{Take of Spices:1 teaspoon salt,half tspn tumeric,.
{Take 5 tablespoons of cooking Oil.
{Get of Fresh squized Lemon(or just slices to decorate).
{Prepare 1 cup of Water.
{Get 1-2 of medium Carrot.
Delicate, blushing salmon with a vibrant, punchy green sauce. I encourage you to embrace a freestyle way of cooking, and use this recipe as a. Smart timing makes this sheet pan supper easy and keeps your dish count down. Briefly microwave the potatoes first to help them cook up perfectly tender with the salmon; add the green beans last to.
Steps to make Pan fried salmon with green beans and sauce:
If doing a white sauce: the sauce ingredients are 2 tspn white flour,2 tdpn semolina flour,half cup milk,quater cup water,some salt about half teaspoon,butter 2 to 3 teaspoon..
Then you can heat milk and butter.then take some warm milk that you heated out let cool briefly in a bowl and mix in the flour bit by bit.this way to stop the flour lumping up..then put back on medium low heat,while stirring,in order for sauce to thicken gently..once sauce is thick...its ready to drizzle over.
For ingredients used,(see the first pic above) For the green beens and fish see the pics here. Alighn green beans,then chop off the ends of green been.and then slice at centre to half.then rince in collander.cover and set aside.prep the samon fish:.
Remove from plastic then rince and thenslice into halve or quaters if pieces are very large.make some slits (not too deep).then use the spices you put together (see ingrd list and pic) to form paste and marinate the fish and cover and set aside about 1 or 2 hour.you can carry on with other bits such as other preps or clearing up etc, meanwhile..
Marinate the samon: you can add the choped sliced spring onions in the marinated. fish. cling film cover and place in the fridge.
Here making the sauce:you would need to work fast..as milk warms up not boils add to the flours and stir fast and if any flour makes lumps you will need to sieve and put back in pan to simmer..about 2 mins..stir frequently for flour not to form lump until thickens.
Making the sauce:half cup milk,quater cup water,2 or 3 table spoons butter,2 table spoons plain flour and 2 tabespoons semolina flour.(here forgot to add butter,so had to put back on stove and add later).
Pan fry the samon:some oil about 4 tablespoon.just enof to cover all pan andcabout quater height of the sammon fish so that they cook thru.note that samon can easily be seen when cooked,but we need outers to turn white and inner to keep a nice peach colour and look beautifully flaked.so keep watch when to turn over otherwise will end up chewey and loose its taste etc.(at this point can add some lemon juice over the half cooked samon side).
Meanwhile you do samon you can add some water in pan enof to cover bean and boil briefly to soften the beans..try to make them fully cooked(quite soft,)can thinly slice carrots and add to pan.
Here oyster sauce was used(used instead of white sauce),briefly warmed thru and simmered ready to pour over the arrangement of fish and veggies.
For the samon:look for the beautiful color in the middle,it shiuldnt turn white and should see the flakes !! bismillah enjoy.
Not sure if you've noticed, but I've been obsessed with quick and easy sheet pan meals recently. Rinse and trim the green beans. After playing with several iterations of the idea, here's where I ended up: I start by salting the green beans and blasting them, along with a split garlic. Our salmon fillets are topped with a sauce that is so, so flavorful! Made with lime juice, capers, caviar lime pearls, sliced Lay a large enough piece of foil that can fold over and seal the salmon into a pack on a baking pan or smaller baking container.
So that is going to wrap this up for this exceptional food pan fried salmon with green beans and sauce recipe. Thanks so much for reading. I am confident that you will make this at home. There's gonna be more interesting food at home recipes coming up. Don't forget to save this page on your browser, and share it to your family, friends and colleague. Thank you for reading. Go on get cooking!
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juilojio753 · 3 years
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Steelhead trout with spicy tomato and caper sauce. This simple preparation of steelhead trout calls for a sauteed, lemon-kissed mixture of garlic and onion to be brushed atop the fish as it grills on a bed of lemon slices. Grilled Cod with Spinach and Tomatoes. Rainbow Trout with Buttery Lemon-Caper Cream Sauce..on Yummly
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We serve it with a creamy butter sauce infused with shallots that complements the trout without Difficulty Level: Easy. In a pan, heat olive oil; cook spice-coated salmon Dice tomatoes, shave shallots and thinly slice jalapeño. In a bowl, combine tomatoes, shallot, ground coriander, jalapeño and sour cream; mix until combined.
Hey everyone, hope you are having an amazing day today. Today, I will show you a way to make a special dish, steelhead trout with spicy tomato and caper sauce. It is one of my favorites food recipes. For mine, I'm gonna make it a bit unique. This is gonna smell and look delicious.
This simple preparation of steelhead trout calls for a sauteed, lemon-kissed mixture of garlic and onion to be brushed atop the fish as it grills on a bed of lemon slices. Grilled Cod with Spinach and Tomatoes. Rainbow Trout with Buttery Lemon-Caper Cream Sauce..on Yummly
Steelhead trout with spicy tomato and caper sauce is one of the most popular of current trending meals in the world. It is easy, it is quick, it tastes yummy. It's appreciated by millions daily. They're nice and they look wonderful. Steelhead trout with spicy tomato and caper sauce is something that I've loved my whole life.
To begin with this recipe, we must first prepare a few ingredients. You can have steelhead trout with spicy tomato and caper sauce using 7 ingredients and 3 steps. Here is how you cook that.
The ingredients needed to make Steelhead trout with spicy tomato and caper sauce:
{Take 2 of steelhead trout fillets, deboned and descaled.
{Make ready 1 of large shallot, chopped.
{Prepare 4 cloves of garlic, chopped.
{Prepare 1 tbsp of Cholula hot sauce.
{Get 250 g of whole cherry tomatoes.
{Get 2 tbsp of capers, drained.
{Prepare 4 tbsp of unsalted butter.
Tender, flaky trout sautéed to perfection, served on a bed of aromatic rice, and topped with a simple but delicious sauce of tomatoes and capers—what On a serving platter place a mound of cooked rice, top with fillets and then the caper sauce. Garnish the platter with lemon slices and additional. Serve the fillets with pasta and tomato sauce on plates. Smoked Steelhead Trout with Tomato Sauce.
Steps to make Steelhead trout with spicy tomato and caper sauce:
Add a splash of olive oil to a large pan on medium-high heat. Season the trout with salt and pepper and lay the fillets in the pan, skin-side down. Fry for 4 minutes, then flip and fry for 4 minutes on the other side. Remove the trout to a plate..
Add the shallot and garlic to the pan and let sweat for 1 minute..
Add the hot sauce, tomatoes, capers and butter to the pan. Use a sharp knife to poke holes in the tomatoes, and a spatula to flatten them and squeeze out their juice. Let the sauce simmer for about 5 minutes. It should thicken very slightly. Season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste. Carefully peel the skin off the trout and pour the sauce over the fillets..
Steelhead trout is a type of coastal rainbow trout. Caper-Garlic Lemon Butter Sauce is a great choice for KETO recipe. For the spicy tomato sauce, heat the oil in a saucepan and gently fry the onion and garlic until soft. Add the chopped tomatoes, season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper and turn up the heat until the tomatoes are cooking down and the..fresh #mozzarella, tomato caper salsa, spicy tomato cream sauce, fried basil By Chef Richard · Pan-Seared Steelhead Trout with Mushrooms, New Potatoes & Truffled Spring Pea Sauce.a Barbarie Duckbreast, Demiglace, Raspberry gel, sauce and powder, sweet and vitellote potatoe. a few hours before cooking put oil in a bowl with the crushed garlic and lemon juice and beat together then add capers and salt and pepper to taste. then gash the trout twice in the thickest part of the body and brush with a little oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. then pour over the caper sauce. Creamy Tuscan Steelhead Trout made with pan-fried fish and a creamy and flavorful sauce filled with fresh spinach and sundried tomatoes.
So that's going to wrap it up with this exceptional food steelhead trout with spicy tomato and caper sauce recipe. Thanks so much for reading. I am confident you will make this at home. There's gonna be more interesting food in home recipes coming up. Remember to save this page in your browser, and share it to your family, friends and colleague. Thank you for reading. Go on get cooking!
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edgewaterfarmcsa · 3 years
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FALL CSA WEEK 2
- p i c k l i s t -
LETTUCE - MIZUNA - LACINATO KALE - CAYENNE PEPPERS - CARMEN (SWEET) PEPPERS -
LEMONGRASS - CAULIFLOWER - ORANGE KABOCHA WINTER SQUASH - LEEKS -
CUCUMBERS - CARROTS - GARLIC - GOLD POTATOES
Let’s talk Ginger. Ginger is my forever favorite crop.  I love the magic of propagation that takes place in the early spring stages, the green shoots that emerge from the root, the smell of the ginger greenhouse as you go to weed mid season, and the unbelievable beauty of fresh ginger pulled from the earth after a whole summer of growth.  It is a heaven sent root and I am here for it.  Typically our Fall CSAers get the most out of this Fall crop as we harvest from September-October.  This year however, I got too excited back in the Spring during early propagation.  With real recklessness, I broke the ginger up into pieces that were too small for growth during its initial stages.  Proper budding never occurred and many ginger root babies rotted out.  A total crop failure.  My purpose was to force more ginger earlier and instead I broke up the rhizome too much and weakened the potential for growth.  This goes on the long list I made of farm fuck-ups for 2020.  My purpose in telling you this sob story is to give you an honest heads up around any high expectations of getting ginger this year (not gonna happen).  Also it highlights the benefits of diversified farming.  In any given season no one intends on crop failures- but it happens.  Sometimes weather demolishes a field, bugs eat an entire crop, or this farmer gets too excited.  Bottomline here, thank goodness we grow a bajillion other crops- everything from tomatoes to berries to greens to bedding plants.  Diversified farming allows a margin of error to take place in the field and not collapse the farm.  My in-laws, Anne and Pooh took on diversified farming for this reason and I am so pleased to be grandmothered in.  That’s all I have to say about ginger for now and hopefully that is all I have to say about crop failure for 2020.  Hoping for a better crop in 2021.  
In other news, This might be the best box of food yet- it will be hard to top week 2 of Fall CSA.
 HOT TIPS:
Lemongrass: I add it to every broth I cook with- especially chicken broth- especially chicken broth thickened with coconut milk.  You do not eat the lemon grass directly- chop the bottom whiter/pinker bottom portion and simmer for deep healing aromatics.  If you are not committed to making a broth or using lemon grass this week, chop and freeze on a cookie sheet for 24 hours, and then bag all together and put back into the freezer for future use (this helps so pieces separate easily when frozen).  
TEA!  A few weeks back, Ramone (field crew worker, non stop joker) commented on the fever grass- I corrected him (lemongrass), he corrected me (fever grass). Bottomline, lemongrass is known as fever grass in Jamaica.  Steep in hot water, sip it if you are feeling a cold coming on or currently sick- it’s good for what ails ya.  
A new pumpkin laksa for a cold night by nigel slater (cold weather staple in my house)
The laksa appears complicated at first but in practice it is far from it.  Once you  understand the basics, the recipe falls into place and becomes something you can fiddle with to suit your own taste.  The basic spice needs heat (ginger, garlic, hot pepper); the liquid needs body and sweetness (coconut milk, rich stock); the finish needs sourness and freshness (lime juice, mint, cilantro).  The necessary saltiness comes from nam pla and tamari rather than salt itself.  The notes in place, you can feel free to include noodles, tomaoes, greens, sweet vegetables, or meat as you wish.  What matters is balance.
Enough for 4
Pumpkin (winter squash) - 1.5 cups
Cilantro and mint leaves to finish
FOR THE SPICE PASTE:
Hot peppers- 3-4
lemongrass- 2 plump stalks
Garlic- 2 cloves
cilantro stems- 5-6
Ginger- thumb sized lump
cilantro leaves- a handful
Sesame oil- 2 tablespoons
FOR THE SOUP: 
Chicken or veg stock- 2.5 cups
Coconut milk- 1 ¾ cup
Tamari- 1-2 tablespoons
Nam pla (Thai fish sauce) - 2 tablespoons
Juice of a lime
dried noodles- ½ cup cooked as it says on packet, then drained
Peel and seed the pumpkin and cut into large chunks.  Cook in a steamer or in a metal colander balanced over a pan of boiling water until tender.  Remove from heat.
For the spice paste, remove stems from the chiles, peel the garlic, and peel and roughly chop the ginger and lemongrass.  Put them all into a food processor with the cilantro stems and leaves and sesame oil and blitz until you have a rough paste.  Get a large deep pan hot and add the spice paste.  Fry for a minute, then stir in stock and coconut milk and bring to a boil.  Let simmer for seven to ten minutes, then stir in nam pla, tamari, lime juice, pumpkin, and the cooked drained noodles.  Simmer briefly, add the cilantro and mint leaves over the top and serve in deep bowls.  
ANOTHER SPRAGUE FAMILY STAPLE!
from The First Mess // thefirstmess.com
SERVES: 4
NOTES: If you don’t want to use cassava flour, you can substitute brown rice, chickpea or regular wheat flour. Lower the amount of water to 1 cup if you’re making this substitution (& add more if necessary).-It’s important to really keep an eye on these towards the end of the cooking process. They can go from perfect to burnt in what feels like seconds. -I use a Microplane to get the garlic and ginger nice and fine for the sauce CAULIFLOWER1 head of cauliflower (about 2 ½ lbs)1 cup cassava flour1 ½ cups water, plus extra½ teaspoon garlic powder1 tablespoon sesame seedssea salt and ground black pepper, to taste STICKY SESAME SAUCE: ½ cup tamari soy sauce¼  cup maple syrup2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil2 tablespoons rice vinegar1 tablespoon tomato paste2 tablespoon chili paste (or to taste)3 cloves garlic, peeled & finely minced3-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled & finely minced2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.Cut the cauliflower into small florets. In a large bowl, combine the cassava flour, water, garlic powder, sesame seeds, salt, and pepper. Whisk to combine. The resulting batter should be fluid but thick--thick enough to coat a piece of cauliflower and pool only slightly once set on the baking sheet. If the batter is too thick/pasty, add water by the tablespoon until you reach the proper consistency.Drop the cauliflower florets into the batter and stir until all pieces are coated. Using a fork, carefully transfer battered cauliflower to the baking sheets, leaving 1 inch of space around each floret.Bake the battered cauliflower for 20 minutes. While the cauliflower is baking, make the sauce. In a small saucepan combine the tamari, maple syrup, sesame oil, rice vinegar, tomato paste, chili paste, garlic, ginger, and sesame seeds. Bring the sauce to a boil on the stove over medium heat. Simmer for 5 minutes or until slightly reduced. Set aside.After cauliflower has baked for 20 minutes, remove and let cool slightly. Once it’s cool enough to handle, transfer the par-baked cauliflower to a large bowl. Cover the cauliflower with all but 3 tablespoons of the sesame sauce. Toss to thoroughly coat the cauliflower.Bake the cauliflower for another 20 minutes, or until the edges are starting to darken. Remove the cauliflower and let it sit for a full 5 minutes before serving in lettuce wraps, on rice etc. with remaining sauce, extra sesame seeds, and chopped green onions.
Preheating the pan helps the leeks take on some color; cooking at a lower temperature ensures they're fully tender.
6 leeks, white and pale-green parts only
½ cup olive oil
Kosher salt
Place a rimmed baking sheet in oven and preheat to 400°. Cut leeks in half lengthwise. Rinse well and pat completely dry. Toss with oil in a large bowl; season with salt.
Arrange leeks, cut side down, on hot baking sheet and cover loosely with foil. Reduce oven temperature to 300°. Bake until leeks are lightly browned on cut side and very tender, about 1½ hours.
Uncover leeks and turn cut side up. Increase oven temperature to 400°; roast leeks until golden brown, 15–20 minutes. (Reserve the oil for making vinaigrettes or roasting vegetables. Let cool; cover and chill.)
DO AHEAD: Leeks can be baked 4 hours ahead. Let cool; cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.
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easyfoodnetwork · 4 years
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If You Literally Never Cook, Start Here
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Photo by Maciej Toporowicz, NYC / Getty
How to get started on your cooking journey, from frying eggs and saucing pasta to roasting chickens and making soup
So you’re really, really into food. You also have no idea how to cook it. I get it, I’ve been there. There are more of us than you might think: Younger Americans grew up in a system awash in convenience foods, while our parents were working longer and harder and had less and less time to cook. Then, when we became adults, time and money were scarcer still, and restaurants became the places we gathered with our friends.
When I taught myself to cook at home, I immediately discovered most recipes aren’t written for anxious beginners. Instead, they assume the cook is already competent and looking to level up or add another dish to their repertoire. The rewards and demands of social media virality have only supercharged recipes’ emphasis on novelty and visual beauty. As someone who now knows how to cook, I love reading about a hack for cooking short ribs or a surprising use for my rice cooker. But back when I barely knew how to boil water, recipes telling me which tweak or technique yielded ideal results made turning on the oven feel high stakes. All that emphasis on aspiration and perfection made it way too hard to get started.
I’ve been cooking at home for a decade now, and to be honest, I’m still pretty basic. I sometimes feel embarrassed that I haven’t moved on from roasting chickens and simmering beans, but right now, basic-ness isn’t a crutch — it’s useful. With that spirit in mind, I’ve put together a series of recipes, and notes on recipes, that get really, really basic. Think of it as a roadmap to kitchen competence, a few pages from the grammar manual of home cooking from the dialect I speak.
The most important thing about learning how to cook is to resist perfectionism, and redefine what a home cooked meal is. That was true before we were sheltering in place and limiting our grocery outings to the bare minimum, and now it’s essential. Chicken thighs roasted with salt and olive oil, alongside some root vegetables cooked in the same pan? Highlight of the week. Rice and an egg and maybe some kimchi from the back of your fridge? Delicious. Cheesy pasta? Hell yes. Beans on tortillas or over some toasted stale bread? Dinner once a week for me.
How to Read (and Pick) a Recipe
Every guide like this starts out with the same advice: Read the recipe all the way to the end before you start cooking anything. That’s because even if it feels like kind of a cop move to read and follow the recipe, actually doing so removes much of the stress you might associate with cooking — which often happens when the pan is searing hot and you realize you need soy sauce right that second. Read the ingredients list too! It tells a story, and all-too-often hides some of the prep, like chopping onions or grating cheese or even entire sub recipes (maybe skip anything with sub recipes). If there’s a term you don’t understand, Google it. Almost every mysterious recipe term has been clearly defined online now.
Do your best as a beginner to follow the recipe, but also give yourself permission to deviate if the current situation means you don’t have an ingredient or piece of equipment on hand. Every recipe not written during World War II or in spring 2020 assumes a certain American bourgeois abundance. There’s been a run on garlic? Your tomato sauce will lack some pleasure, but it will still be tomato sauce. Only a few things will utterly wreck a non-baked-good: burning it, undercooking it, over-salting it, or, in certain cases, depriving it of moisture. Under-salting will make things taste flat and disappointing, but you can still eat them. Oil plus salt plus fire is as basic as cooking gets, and if you have those things and something you can cook, you have a meal.
The internet is chock full of free recipes and advice, but the cooking internet stuffers from misinformation as much as any other. A good rule of thumb is to use recipes from publications with test kitchens and bloggers who have proven the test of time, though you may have to pay for those recipes. A few publications have also made serious investments in teaching the fundamentals (though all of them mix in somewhat fussier recipes with the true basics): the New York Times’ How to Cook; the Washington Post’s round-up of recipes and techniques; the LA Times’ ongoing recipe series How to Boil Water; Bon Appetit’s Basically vertical; and Serious Eats’ coronavirus cooking guide. (Your local paper really could use those subscriptions right now if it has a cooking section.)
If you’ve got the money, order a cookbook or two or ten. You don’t have Salt Fat Acid Heat? Buy or borrow Salt Fat Acid Heat. No cookbook explains better the whys and hows of cooking, and the fundamentals of technique, while being refreshingly empowering. Thanks to that book, I (mostly) salt my food appropriately, and in friends’ eyes I became a 50 percent better cook.
When to Cook
Assume it will take you sixty to ninety minutes to prepare and clean up after any meal that’s not scrambled eggs. I don’t care if the recipe says thirty minutes. You’re new to this, and some of us are just slower in the kitchen. Play some music, catch up on a podcast, and, if you’re not sheltering solo, make a roommate or loved one help. If you don’t want to spend an hour cooking, choose a recipe that takes a long time but requires little from you, like baked potatoes or a pot of beans, so you can get other things done.
Equally important is knowing when not to cook. More than half my social distancing meals are not meals I’ve cooked, but repurposing of leftovers I cooked previously. I wouldn’t try to cook three meals a day from scratch right now (or… ever?). Trick yourself into thinking something is a different meal by plopping an egg on it or putting it in a tortilla instead of over rice.
Assemble Your Tools and Stock Your Pantry
Need a definitive guide to stocking your pantry and refrigerator for a week or two of cooking from home? Eater has that for you right here.
Not sure where to buy groceries right now? Restaurants are turning into markets, and lots of farms are offering CSA boxes. Fresh produce and meat and eggs from small producers taste more like themselves and make simple meals tastier, and if you can afford to support small producers right now it’s a great way to help the entire food system.
And as far as tools go, head over here for some products that make your kitchen an easier place to cook.
What to Cook
Roast Vegetables
You know what you can do with any type of vegetable you wouldn’t eat raw, and some that you would? Toss it with olive oil and salt, drop it on a sheet pan, and roast it. The only important thing is not to crowd what you’re roasting, so every piece gets nice and crispy. I like to roast at 425. Don’t want to chop? Roast a potato or sweet potato whole.
The Kitchn: Emma Christensen’s “How to Roast Any Vegetable”
New York Times: Melissa Clark’s “Roasted Vegetables”
Lucky Peach: Peter Meehan’s “Roasted Sweet Potatoes”
Stir Fry
Vegetables that don’t make sense for the oven, and even a few that do, are also great cooked super hot in a pan or wok. There’s all sorts of ways to saute, and stir-frying is one of the best for achieving flavor, both in terms of hitting the food with tons of heat and making the pan sauce part of the dish. This is also a simple way to use up ground meat and leftover rice (fried rice!).
LA Times: Genevieve Ko’s “The Easiest Way to Stir-Fry Vegetables”
Serious Eats: J. Kenji López-Alt’s “Wok Skills 101”
The Woks of Life: How to Make Stir-Fry the Right Way
Greens
You will never be disappointed to have a batch of cooked greens in the fridge. “Greens” is a broad category, ranging from chard to kale to dandelion to bok choi; they can be added to every type of meal for a shot of color and pleasant bitterness. There’s a few basic ways to cook them:
For leafy greens, Lukas Volger’s recipe for braised greens from his new book Start Simple is great and versatile.
If your pantry is a bit better stocked, try the Grandbaby Cakes recipes for collard and mustard greens.
This LA Times story on greens mania from 1986 (!) has a variety of braising options (time to bring back creamed kale?).
World’s Best Braised Cabbage from Taste is not lying.
If you don’t have time to cook the greens, try Toni-Tipton Martin’s recipe for wilting them.
Eggs
If you put an egg over roast vegetables or cooked greens, or drop it into soup, or plop it on top of rice, it becomes dinner. The two easiest ways to make the egg are to fry it up all crispy, or boil it until its yolk is still slightly soft. Cannelle et Vanille has an olive oil fried egg recipe from 2014, which likely helped kick off the trend. It’s a good one. The LA Times has two ways of looking at the ubiquitous jammy egg; Bon Appetit’s recipe calls for an ice water bath, which is super useful for quick peeling.
Rice
I rely on a rice maker; they can be pretty cheap and are usually easy to buy at grocery stores — at the moment I’m sure it’s much less predictable. If you can’t get a rice maker or don’t want one, it’s very possible to make rice on the stovetop. Also, rice in its creamy porridge form is another great platform for a meal or turning leftovers into a meal.
NY Times: Tejal Rao’s “How to Make Rice”
Tasty: “How to Cook Perfect Rice Every Time” [Video]
Serious Eats: Shao Z’s “How to Make the Silkiest, Most Comforting Congee”
Just One Cookbook: Nami Hirasawa Chen’s “Japanese Rice Porridge (Okayu)”
Beans
Cooking dried beans is maddeningly simple. The recipe can be as minimal as: Put the beans in a pot, glug a generous glug of fat on top, cover with water, add salt, and simmer for an hour or two. There’s a lot of tinkering and competing wisdom and differing culinary traditions behind this simple recipe, and it’s worth reading up. Warning: not all these recipes agree with each other. Pick one that works for you. Or keep cycling between them and cross referencing, because that’s what I do. I’m sure having a clay pot is great; I promise you don’t need one. Canned beans are always worth having around, and easy to doctor up.
Washington Post: Joe Yonan’s “Beans are good for the planet, for you and for your dinner table. Here’s how to cook them right.”
Rancho Gordo: “Cooking Basic Beans in the Rancho Gordo Manner”
NY Times: Tejal Rao’s “Cannellini-Bean Pasta with Beurre Blanc”
Isabel Eats: Isabel Orozco-Moore’s “Easy Refied Beans”
Roast Chicken
Beautifully burnished birds have become fetish objects on restaurant menus, and wrangling a whole four- or five-pound carcass might feel like more trouble than it’s worth. But don’t let the $70 ‘for two’ chickens of the past fool you; a roast whole chicken is an economical leftovers machine much greater than any sum of chicken parts. There are perfect and less perfect ways to do it, but you don’t need a cast-iron pan or string for trussing or butter under the skin. You just need a chicken, some salt, and a hot, hot oven.
NY Times: Mark Bittman’s “Simplest Roast Chicken”
Epicurious: Thomas Keller’s “My Favorite Simple Roast Chicken”
Taste Cooking: JJ Goode’s “How to Roast a Chicken? The Answers Are Horrifying.”
Salt Fat Acid Heat: Samin Nosrat’s Buttermilk-Marinated Roast Chicken
Can’t find whole chicken? Bone-in chicken thighs roast up even easier. Bonus: The chicken can be roasted in the same pan as hardier vegetables like potatoes or turnips.
Stock and Soup
Homemade stock is another dish that sounds intimidating but is dead simple and tastes so much better than canned. The only major investment is time. The recipes below call for a few more ingredients or using chicken wings (also great), if you can get them, but basic techniques here will work with whatever you have on hand, including only the picked-over husk of that chicken you roasted. Vegetarian stocks are easy to make with the root vegetables in your fridge or dried mushrooms. Pick up dried kombu, a type of seaweed, and bonito flakes at an Asian grocery store, and you can make dashi.
The Kitchn: Emma Christensen’s “How to Make Homemade Chicken Stock”
Smitten Kitchen: Deb Perelman’s “Perfect, Uncluttered Chicken Stock”
China Sichuan: “Basic Chinese Chicken Stock”
Just One Cookbook: Nami Hirasawa Chen’s “How to Make Dashi”
The Kitchn: Emma Christensen’s “How to Make Vegetable Stock”
101 Cookbooks: Heidi Swanson’s “10 Minute Instant Pot Mushroom Broth”
Now that you have stock, you have yet another way to use up that leftover chicken, beans, greens, rice, and whatever still needs cooking in your fridge. Clean-out-the-fridge soup is definitely a thing.
Pasta
There are many, many pasta recipes out there. The thing I wish someone had told me about pasta much sooner is how to sauce it. If you ever wondered why dumping some marinara sauce or butter on noodles always felt a little disappointing, it turns out there’s a very simple way to fix it! Toss the noodles hot in the sauce. Check out Serious Eats’ guide to saucing for more details.
Baking
I bought a box of brownie mix on a recent grocery store run, and I think you should too. That said, if you think baking from scratch will cheer you up, here’s a few ways to get started.
Taste Cooking: Odette Wiliams “A Cake to Snack On (and On and On)”
King Arthur Flour: “Chilling Cookie Dough”
Eater: Dayna Evans’ “Everyone’s Making Sourdough Now — Here’s How to Get Started”
Cook Safely
A word on kitchen safety: Much of it is common sense, but it’s good to brush up on. Here are the FDA guidelines, and here’s a good rundown on how to deal with all those sharp objects and open flames. That expert hand washing and disinfecting you’re doing will help you keep your kitchen and food safe, too. There is currently no evidence of foodborne transmission of the novel coronavirus; here’s how to grocery shop safely. If you are afraid of cooking meat, here’s how to conquer those fears.
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How to get started on your cooking journey, from frying eggs and saucing pasta to roasting chickens and making soup
So you’re really, really into food. You also have no idea how to cook it. I get it, I’ve been there. There are more of us than you might think: Younger Americans grew up in a system awash in convenience foods, while our parents were working longer and harder and had less and less time to cook. Then, when we became adults, time and money were scarcer still, and restaurants became the places we gathered with our friends.
When I taught myself to cook at home, I immediately discovered most recipes aren’t written for anxious beginners. Instead, they assume the cook is already competent and looking to level up or add another dish to their repertoire. The rewards and demands of social media virality have only supercharged recipes’ emphasis on novelty and visual beauty. As someone who now knows how to cook, I love reading about a hack for cooking short ribs or a surprising use for my rice cooker. But back when I barely knew how to boil water, recipes telling me which tweak or technique yielded ideal results made turning on the oven feel high stakes. All that emphasis on aspiration and perfection made it way too hard to get started.
I’ve been cooking at home for a decade now, and to be honest, I’m still pretty basic. I sometimes feel embarrassed that I haven’t moved on from roasting chickens and simmering beans, but right now, basic-ness isn’t a crutch — it’s useful. With that spirit in mind, I’ve put together a series of recipes, and notes on recipes, that get really, really basic. Think of it as a roadmap to kitchen competence, a few pages from the grammar manual of home cooking from the dialect I speak.
The most important thing about learning how to cook is to resist perfectionism, and redefine what a home cooked meal is. That was true before we were sheltering in place and limiting our grocery outings to the bare minimum, and now it’s essential. Chicken thighs roasted with salt and olive oil, alongside some root vegetables cooked in the same pan? Highlight of the week. Rice and an egg and maybe some kimchi from the back of your fridge? Delicious. Cheesy pasta? Hell yes. Beans on tortillas or over some toasted stale bread? Dinner once a week for me.
How to Read (and Pick) a Recipe
Every guide like this starts out with the same advice: Read the recipe all the way to the end before you start cooking anything. That’s because even if it feels like kind of a cop move to read and follow the recipe, actually doing so removes much of the stress you might associate with cooking — which often happens when the pan is searing hot and you realize you need soy sauce right that second. Read the ingredients list too! It tells a story, and all-too-often hides some of the prep, like chopping onions or grating cheese or even entire sub recipes (maybe skip anything with sub recipes). If there’s a term you don’t understand, Google it. Almost every mysterious recipe term has been clearly defined online now.
Do your best as a beginner to follow the recipe, but also give yourself permission to deviate if the current situation means you don’t have an ingredient or piece of equipment on hand. Every recipe not written during World War II or in spring 2020 assumes a certain American bourgeois abundance. There’s been a run on garlic? Your tomato sauce will lack some pleasure, but it will still be tomato sauce. Only a few things will utterly wreck a non-baked-good: burning it, undercooking it, over-salting it, or, in certain cases, depriving it of moisture. Under-salting will make things taste flat and disappointing, but you can still eat them. Oil plus salt plus fire is as basic as cooking gets, and if you have those things and something you can cook, you have a meal.
The internet is chock full of free recipes and advice, but the cooking internet stuffers from misinformation as much as any other. A good rule of thumb is to use recipes from publications with test kitchens and bloggers who have proven the test of time, though you may have to pay for those recipes. A few publications have also made serious investments in teaching the fundamentals (though all of them mix in somewhat fussier recipes with the true basics): the New York Times’ How to Cook; the Washington Post’s round-up of recipes and techniques; the LA Times’ ongoing recipe series How to Boil Water; Bon Appetit’s Basically vertical; and Serious Eats’ coronavirus cooking guide. (Your local paper really could use those subscriptions right now if it has a cooking section.)
If you’ve got the money, order a cookbook or two or ten. You don’t have Salt Fat Acid Heat? Buy or borrow Salt Fat Acid Heat. No cookbook explains better the whys and hows of cooking, and the fundamentals of technique, while being refreshingly empowering. Thanks to that book, I (mostly) salt my food appropriately, and in friends’ eyes I became a 50 percent better cook.
When to Cook
Assume it will take you sixty to ninety minutes to prepare and clean up after any meal that’s not scrambled eggs. I don’t care if the recipe says thirty minutes. You’re new to this, and some of us are just slower in the kitchen. Play some music, catch up on a podcast, and, if you’re not sheltering solo, make a roommate or loved one help. If you don’t want to spend an hour cooking, choose a recipe that takes a long time but requires little from you, like baked potatoes or a pot of beans, so you can get other things done.
Equally important is knowing when not to cook. More than half my social distancing meals are not meals I’ve cooked, but repurposing of leftovers I cooked previously. I wouldn’t try to cook three meals a day from scratch right now (or… ever?). Trick yourself into thinking something is a different meal by plopping an egg on it or putting it in a tortilla instead of over rice.
Assemble Your Tools and Stock Your Pantry
Need a definitive guide to stocking your pantry and refrigerator for a week or two of cooking from home? Eater has that for you right here.
Not sure where to buy groceries right now? Restaurants are turning into markets, and lots of farms are offering CSA boxes. Fresh produce and meat and eggs from small producers taste more like themselves and make simple meals tastier, and if you can afford to support small producers right now it’s a great way to help the entire food system.
And as far as tools go, head over here for some products that make your kitchen an easier place to cook.
What to Cook
Roast Vegetables
You know what you can do with any type of vegetable you wouldn’t eat raw, and some that you would? Toss it with olive oil and salt, drop it on a sheet pan, and roast it. The only important thing is not to crowd what you’re roasting, so every piece gets nice and crispy. I like to roast at 425. Don’t want to chop? Roast a potato or sweet potato whole.
The Kitchn: Emma Christensen’s “How to Roast Any Vegetable”
New York Times: Melissa Clark’s “Roasted Vegetables”
Lucky Peach: Peter Meehan’s “Roasted Sweet Potatoes”
Stir Fry
Vegetables that don’t make sense for the oven, and even a few that do, are also great cooked super hot in a pan or wok. There’s all sorts of ways to saute, and stir-frying is one of the best for achieving flavor, both in terms of hitting the food with tons of heat and making the pan sauce part of the dish. This is also a simple way to use up ground meat and leftover rice (fried rice!).
LA Times: Genevieve Ko’s “The Easiest Way to Stir-Fry Vegetables”
Serious Eats: J. Kenji López-Alt’s “Wok Skills 101”
The Woks of Life: How to Make Stir-Fry the Right Way
Greens
You will never be disappointed to have a batch of cooked greens in the fridge. “Greens” is a broad category, ranging from chard to kale to dandelion to bok choi; they can be added to every type of meal for a shot of color and pleasant bitterness. There’s a few basic ways to cook them:
For leafy greens, Lukas Volger’s recipe for braised greens from his new book Start Simple is great and versatile.
If your pantry is a bit better stocked, try the Grandbaby Cakes recipes for collard and mustard greens.
This LA Times story on greens mania from 1986 (!) has a variety of braising options (time to bring back creamed kale?).
World’s Best Braised Cabbage from Taste is not lying.
If you don’t have time to cook the greens, try Toni-Tipton Martin’s recipe for wilting them.
Eggs
If you put an egg over roast vegetables or cooked greens, or drop it into soup, or plop it on top of rice, it becomes dinner. The two easiest ways to make the egg are to fry it up all crispy, or boil it until its yolk is still slightly soft. Cannelle et Vanille has an olive oil fried egg recipe from 2014, which likely helped kick off the trend. It’s a good one. The LA Times has two ways of looking at the ubiquitous jammy egg; Bon Appetit’s recipe calls for an ice water bath, which is super useful for quick peeling.
Rice
I rely on a rice maker; they can be pretty cheap and are usually easy to buy at grocery stores — at the moment I’m sure it’s much less predictable. If you can’t get a rice maker or don’t want one, it’s very possible to make rice on the stovetop. Also, rice in its creamy porridge form is another great platform for a meal or turning leftovers into a meal.
NY Times: Tejal Rao’s “How to Make Rice”
Tasty: “How to Cook Perfect Rice Every Time” [Video]
Serious Eats: Shao Z’s “How to Make the Silkiest, Most Comforting Congee”
Just One Cookbook: Nami Hirasawa Chen’s “Japanese Rice Porridge (Okayu)”
Beans
Cooking dried beans is maddeningly simple. The recipe can be as minimal as: Put the beans in a pot, glug a generous glug of fat on top, cover with water, add salt, and simmer for an hour or two. There’s a lot of tinkering and competing wisdom and differing culinary traditions behind this simple recipe, and it’s worth reading up. Warning: not all these recipes agree with each other. Pick one that works for you. Or keep cycling between them and cross referencing, because that’s what I do. I’m sure having a clay pot is great; I promise you don’t need one. Canned beans are always worth having around, and easy to doctor up.
Washington Post: Joe Yonan’s “Beans are good for the planet, for you and for your dinner table. Here’s how to cook them right.”
Rancho Gordo: “Cooking Basic Beans in the Rancho Gordo Manner”
NY Times: Tejal Rao’s “Cannellini-Bean Pasta with Beurre Blanc”
Isabel Eats: Isabel Orozco-Moore’s “Easy Refied Beans”
Roast Chicken
Beautifully burnished birds have become fetish objects on restaurant menus, and wrangling a whole four- or five-pound carcass might feel like more trouble than it’s worth. But don’t let the $70 ‘for two’ chickens of the past fool you; a roast whole chicken is an economical leftovers machine much greater than any sum of chicken parts. There are perfect and less perfect ways to do it, but you don’t need a cast-iron pan or string for trussing or butter under the skin. You just need a chicken, some salt, and a hot, hot oven.
NY Times: Mark Bittman’s “Simplest Roast Chicken”
Epicurious: Thomas Keller’s “My Favorite Simple Roast Chicken”
Taste Cooking: JJ Goode’s “How to Roast a Chicken? The Answers Are Horrifying.”
Salt Fat Acid Heat: Samin Nosrat’s Buttermilk-Marinated Roast Chicken
Can’t find whole chicken? Bone-in chicken thighs roast up even easier. Bonus: The chicken can be roasted in the same pan as hardier vegetables like potatoes or turnips.
Stock and Soup
Homemade stock is another dish that sounds intimidating but is dead simple and tastes so much better than canned. The only major investment is time. The recipes below call for a few more ingredients or using chicken wings (also great), if you can get them, but basic techniques here will work with whatever you have on hand, including only the picked-over husk of that chicken you roasted. Vegetarian stocks are easy to make with the root vegetables in your fridge or dried mushrooms. Pick up dried kombu, a type of seaweed, and bonito flakes at an Asian grocery store, and you can make dashi.
The Kitchn: Emma Christensen’s “How to Make Homemade Chicken Stock”
Smitten Kitchen: Deb Perelman’s “Perfect, Uncluttered Chicken Stock”
China Sichuan: “Basic Chinese Chicken Stock”
Just One Cookbook: Nami Hirasawa Chen’s “How to Make Dashi”
The Kitchn: Emma Christensen’s “How to Make Vegetable Stock”
101 Cookbooks: Heidi Swanson’s “10 Minute Instant Pot Mushroom Broth”
Now that you have stock, you have yet another way to use up that leftover chicken, beans, greens, rice, and whatever still needs cooking in your fridge. Clean-out-the-fridge soup is definitely a thing.
Pasta
There are many, many pasta recipes out there. The thing I wish someone had told me about pasta much sooner is how to sauce it. If you ever wondered why dumping some marinara sauce or butter on noodles always felt a little disappointing, it turns out there’s a very simple way to fix it! Toss the noodles hot in the sauce. Check out Serious Eats’ guide to saucing for more details.
Baking
I bought a box of brownie mix on a recent grocery store run, and I think you should too. That said, if you think baking from scratch will cheer you up, here’s a few ways to get started.
Taste Cooking: Odette Wiliams “A Cake to Snack On (and On and On)”
King Arthur Flour: “Chilling Cookie Dough”
Eater: Dayna Evans’ “Everyone’s Making Sourdough Now — Here’s How to Get Started”
Cook Safely
A word on kitchen safety: Much of it is common sense, but it’s good to brush up on. Here are the FDA guidelines, and here’s a good rundown on how to deal with all those sharp objects and open flames. That expert hand washing and disinfecting you’re doing will help you keep your kitchen and food safe, too. There is currently no evidence of foodborne transmission of the novel coronavirus; here’s how to grocery shop safely. If you are afraid of cooking meat, here’s how to conquer those fears.
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benjamingarden · 4 years
Text
Weekending
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the coop girls are enjoying the moderate temps
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Our Christmas week was low key and relaxing.  Last Sunday, as soon as the farmer's market was over, we celebrated the beginning of our time off.  It felt strange to not get up Monday and go right to work.  Instead, we were able to change our daily rhythm and take time to putter around the house, read, get caught up on projects and such.  It's actually perfect in winter because the cold weather makes me want to slow down and take my time working on projects or sit with a hot cup of tea and read. We are still on somewhat "time off" mode in that we have now entered our slower time of the year so making and packaging products every single day of the week won't start up again until spring.  It allows us to look forward to the change that is inevitable and welcomed at that time.
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last month when the shed was being delivered
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Jay was pretty happy to see it finally on the property!
Outside projects - Jay was able to get most of the needed shelving built in the new shed.  We'll be rearranging the outbuildings in the spring to give him more space in his workshop which he definitely needs.  He's been hand-turning beautiful razors and shave brushes and they've been quite popular, so the guy needs more room to work.  We currently have one of our freezers in his workshop and that will join the other freezer in the barn.  Some of the larger equipment that is currently housed in the barn will move to the new shed along with my gardening tools and the chickens extras.  That's why we sold my garden shed and purchased a replacement that was twice the size.  We'll now have more space to move around in all outbuildings. Working on - our 2020 calendar - craft shows, markets, our soapmaking and product making calendar, etc.  We take the opportunity to review the shows we attended during the current year, look at the numbers, and decide what shows we want to keep, drop, and if there's any we'd like to try to add.  Applications for the 2020 shows have already either come out or will come in out the next 2 months so we've got to make decisions now because applications will need to be filled out and spots will need to be paid for.  It also helps us to determine our product making calendar. Upcoming projects - I'm also starting to work on putting together a small magazine.  Do you remember when I did this once before?  I enjoyed it and I, personally, like looking at information in a magazine or pdf ebook format so I thought I'd put another one out.  I'd love to hear from you if that's something you enjoy or not?  I'm considering trying to offer this (for free) quarterly if you would like to see it.  I've also started working on a couple of other projects I hope to get out later this year.
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homemade salsa for tacos tonight
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sourdough starter
Cooking - Last night it was oven-roasted chicken with mashed potatoes & gravy for Jay and baked falafel (I premade them) with salad for me.  Tonight it's tacos.  Jay gets ground beef with chilies, peppers, onions, fresh salsa & guacamole and I like refried beans with the same veggies/salsa/guacamole. Here's how I make this even easier:  The burger is pre-cooked and frozen.  Anytime I fry burger for a dish for Jay, I make extra and freeze it in single-use portions.  Then, when I want to use it in tacos, burritos, on pizza, etc. I don't have to cook it.  For the refried beans, I either use some I've made up and stored in the freezer or, if I don't have any pre-made, I use canned (no salt or oil added). I designate Sundays to an easy dinner night because of the farmer's market.  By the time we get home and unloaded it's 3:30 (and 4 ish in the summer) and the last thing I want to do is go right to the kitchen and spend the next few hours cooking.  So, I've implemented "easy dish" night on Sundays.  It's either something in the slow cooker or instant pot, or a super easy dish like tacos/taco bowls, burgers, or soup & sandwich (for me, not Jay - he doesn't like soup for dinner.  at all.).  I will also put last nights chicken carcass in the instant pot with some veggies and water to make homemade chicken stock while I prepare dinner and get my sourdough starter ready to start a loaf of sandwich bread tomorrow.
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Do you make cold brew?  I used to drink it year-round before giving up coffee a couple months ago but Jay still drinks it year-round.  Last year he ordered this Ball jar with strainer.  Initially I thought (and probably even said) "you've got to be kidding me.  Why do we need to order a special jar to make cold brew????"  Well, I fully admitted that I was wrong and it was a smart purchase, once I used it.  You fill the infuser with ground coffee, place it in the jar and then fill the jar (and infuser) with water.  Screw a lid on the top and let it sit for 24 hours.  Strain the coffee (we also strain it a second time by pouring it through a coffee filter or paper towel to get the super fine stuff out) and voila!  You have perfect cold brew.  If you are interested, it can be found here (affiliate link).  To purchase the infuser only, it's here (also affiliate link).  It can also be used to make iced tea.
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non-dairy, no oil and egg free delicious banana bread
Also, I'll be baking banana bread (with non-dairy chocolate chips!).  I've made this once before and it's DELICIOUS!!  It is made with white whole wheat flour, no eggs and no dairy or oil.  It's in parchment paper because that's what I use instead of oiling the baking pan.  I used this recipe from the Cookie & Kate blog and adjusted it by using flaxseed for the eggs and applesauce for the oil.  Because of the adjustments it is quite dense but boy is it good!  (she offers adjustments to make it gluten free as well) Cleaning - Although some people prefer to do their thorough cleaning in spring, because of our work schedule, I like to do mine in winter.  So that officially starts this week.  I like to do a thorough cleaning of one room per week where I not only clean but re-evaluate everything in that room.  Is there clutter?  Are there things to purge?  Does it need to be painted?  Does anything need to be repaired or replaced?  My husband does not look forward to this season because he would prefer everything stay as it is and braces himself waiting for the "I think we need to paint" or "I think we need to make/re-do/replace _____".  He says change doesn't do anyone any good (only partially joking when he says this) to which I reply that change is nice.  He grunts and then we make the changes. Enjoying - this is my new favorite tea from Harney & Sons and this is my new favorite tea from Celestial Seasonings (although these are Amazon affiliate links, you can sometimes find the Harney & Sons at Target and usually find the Celestial Seasonings in the grocery store).  You can tell that I love cinnamon and spices.  The Harney and Sons tea reminds me of red hot candies and the Celestial Seasoning tea is just a lovely fall-ish spice blend. We are settling in and waiting for the big ice storm expected to hit tomorrow through the next couple of days.  We're, of course, hoping that it isn't as bad as they predict but are preparing in case it is.
Hoping you had a wonderful weekend!
Weekending was originally posted by My Favorite Chicken Blogs(benjamingardening)
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allwayshungry · 5 years
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Mark Bittman: 10 Fast Spring Salads
1. BLT Salad Fry a few small cubes of slab bacon for about five minutes or until crisp. Puree an avocado, a handful of basil leaves, a clove of garlic, juice from one—or more—limes, about one-quarter cup of olive oil, salt, and pepper together in a food processor or blender; if you like a thinner dressing, add a few drops of water. Mix a head of Bibb or romaine lettuce with sliced tomatoes and chopped red onions. Add the bacon to the vegetables and dress with the pureed mixture. Serve with warm, crusty bread.
2. Artichoke Heart Salad Halve or quarter cooked artichoke hearts (the best are fresh and grilled, but you can certainly use canned or frozen for this), and combine them with thinly sliced fennel, sliced snow peas, chopped green olives, crumbled feta, olive oil and lemon juice. If you want some croutons, chop up some pita (I like the pocket-less kind that looks like flatbread), and cook it in olive oil in a skillet until crisp. Toss those with the salad before serving.
3. Salade Niçoise Boil and salt a pot of water. Chop a couple of potatoes (peeled or not) into half-inch dice and boil until a knife can be easily inserted, about eight minutes. When the potatoes are nearly done, add a handful of trimmed green beans or haricots verts and cook until crisp-tender, just a minute or two. Drain the vegetables and plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking process. Put a bunch of mixed baby greens in a bowl with the beans, the potatoes, a handful of good-quality black olives, a few chopped anchovies, a diced tomato, and half a sliced red onion. Combine one-quarter cup of olive oil, a few tablespoons of sherry vinegar, a teaspoon or so of Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper and dress the salad. Top the salad with a drained can of tuna packed in olive oil.
4. Sichuan Salad with Tofu or Chicken Toss together bean sprouts, shredded carrots and celery, minced fresh chili, soy sauce, sesame oil, and a bit of sugar. While those flavors meld together a bit, sauté some chopped or sliced tofu (the firmer the better) or chicken in neutral oil in a skillet until just cooked through. If you like, stir in some minced garlic, a pinch of cumin seeds, and some fermented black beans (if you have them) during the last few minutes of cooking. Toss with the vegetables, and top with chopped peanuts and cilantro.
5. Spinach Salad with Smoked Trout and Apples Toast a handful or two of sliced almonds in a dry skillet until just fragrant. Core two apples and cut them into thin slices. In a large bowl, whisk together a quarter cup of olive oil, the juice of a lemon, and a tablespoon of Dijon mustard. Add the apples and toss to coat. Break a smoked trout into bite-size pieces and add it to the bowl along with a mound of fresh spinach, the toasted almonds, and a handful of currants or raisins. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Roasted Red Pepper and White Bean Salad Slice a bunch of roasted red peppers (if you’re going to use canned ones, try to find piquillos; those are the best). Toss with chopped fresh mozzarella, cooked white beans, olive oil, red wine vinegar, a finely chopped shallot and some fresh rosemary and/or parsley. If you feel like adding meat to this salad, chop up some thick-cut salami and stir it in.
7. Seared Scallops with Escarole, Fennel, and Orange Salad In a large salad bowl, mix together about one-quarter cup olive oil, a few splashes of white wine or sherry vinegar, some salt and pepper, and the zest of an orange. Now peel the orange, getting as much pith off as you can, and divide the fruit into sections. Core and thinly slice a head of fennel and toss this into the bowl with a couple of cups of chopped escarole and the orange sections. Sear eight to 12 scallops in olive oil until nicely browned on both sides, sprinkling them with salt and pepper. Give the salad another good toss and serve the scallops on top.
8. Chipotle-Lime Black Bean Salad Smoky, spicy, and really tasty. Combine cooked black beans (drained and rinsed if they’re canned), chopped tomato, chopped avocado, and some chopped jicama in a salad bowl. For the dressing, in a blender or mini food processor, combine one chipotle in adobo, neutral oil, lime, a pinch each of ground cumin and coriander, and salt and pepper. Blend until smooth, then toss with the black bean mixture. Stir in some chopped cilantro and thinly sliced scallions, and garnish with queso fresco.
9. Spicy Pork Salad Coat thin, boneless pork chops with a mixture of sugar, cumin, chili powder, and salt and set aside to marinate. Combine a few handfuls of baby spinach leaves with half a thinly sliced red pepper, sections of a navel orange, a sliced avocado, and a small handful of toasted pine nuts. Mix together some olive oil, a good squeeze of fresh lime and orange juices, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper to dress the salad. Grill, broil, or pan-cook the pork until it’s just done; cut into strips; and serve on top of the vegetables with the dressing drizzled over all.
10. Tuna and Egg Salad with Cucumbers and Dill The title kind of says it all. Combine canned tuna, chopped hard-boiled eggs, and chopped English cucumbers in a salad bowl (I like the ratio to be 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, but adjust as you like). Add some mayo, a bit of Dijon mustard, a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper, and a good handful of chopped fresh dill (tarragon and parsley are nice additions too). Stir to combine, and serve on a bed of greens, or with toasted bread on the side.
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