Sandbox thread for cooking, nutrition nazis, your fucking lunch, etc.

i think this is the recipe my mom used to make with salmon and pesto pistachio butter:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Salmon-with-Pistachio-Basil-Butter-1103

Oh god, bell, those dark chocolate almonds with salt are my favorite non-cheese thing in the whole world.

i disappeared a box of them over the last few days

now I have a meat hangover

i'm feeling like a human spare rib today. sweated BBQ sauce doing pilates this AM, grossing myself out. brussell sprouts & farro for dinner tonight

could probably do with a week off meat myself, but, b_g's coq au vin photos and brownie's duck recipe both looking goooood

(bonus of duck recipe: we accidentally have two nearly full jars of cloves, so any clove-featuring recipes are much appreciated currently.

we tried mulling some wine, in a half-assed "which of these random ingredients we happen to have in the cupboard seem like they might possibly go in mulled wine" sort of way, but then had to admit that neither of us much liked mulled wine even when made by people who know how to mull wine)

if anyone is interested this is more or less the recipe i followed for coq au vin:
http://cookware.lecreuset.com/cookware/product_Coq-au-Vin_10151_-1_20002_20065__

yes, it calls for 2 cups of bacon. i used slightly less than that but just about.

i added celery and carrots to the sauce and substituted pearl onions for shallots in the glazed mushroom mix because it's what i had on hand.

i really have to stay on track with my whole "lower my cholesterol" plan. my breakfast this morning was the french fries that came with the hoagie i ordered for dinner last night.

the hardest part is cutting back on red meat, cheese, and egg yolks. my diet has basically been turkeychickentunaturkeychickentunaturkeychickentuna. today it's tuna for lunch and fish tacos for dinner (the fish is probably cod or haddock).

i got this book called 660 curries and i made black lentil curry from it tonight and it's like a flavor explosion. i think i'm gonna cook through all of it but not the pork parts. there are enough legume curries to go for a while (esp since i have 4 lbs of urad dals i have to use now).

are they split or whole? I bought a bunch a while ago w the intent of making dosa batter but I just don't do it tht mch why bc it takes too much time

bunch of split urad dal, I should say

i want that curry book!

i made the tagliatelle and lamb ragu from the frankie's cookbook which was ready yesterday - came out totally delicious. today i made the beet and avocado salad from the same book and had ragu leftovers. this is really the first time i've taken the initiative to cook for my mom and sister so i am kinda going overboard.

nye menu:

smoked salmon & cc on endive spears
pigs-in-blankets (storebought)
grapefruit/avocado/arugula salad
chicken "bolognese" (more like a ragu, really) on fusilli
leftover birthday cake

champagne, wine. the chef will be sipping gin martini(s)

would do something more adventurous but guests preferences should be accommodated imo

it's a cheap book for what you get, i recommend it. i'm not even a big cookbook person. the urad dal are whole. i was concerned i bought the wrong thing but apparently these have like 10 different names. like everything indian bc they have so many languages i guess

i think split would work really well for any soup calling for them. i don't know why i've never used them before. they have a texture like black beans.

"u rad, doll"

Prosperity dinner tomorrow - pastrami (subbing for corned beef), cabbage, hominy, black-eyed peas.

Worked on condiments today -- a fresh batch of kecap manis and some of Chuck Hughes' apple barbecue sauce to go with a big hunk of oversmoked beef brisket I got from my parents. Prosperity dinner tomorrow I guess. Monday I'm going to make my folks a batch of tom kha gai and blow their minds.

NYE - courgette fritters, salmon-head soup, left over from day before but still v nice. Roman beef stew, with some fresh parpadelle I bought from Italian deli and some braised fennel.

Guys I am so fucking excited abt these kale smoothies. I usually do 5-7 leaves of kale, a banana, a good handful of frozen strawberries, and maybe a cup or so of non-dairy milky bev. This morning I added a heaping spoon of PB and holy shit this just went next level.

I wonder if I could do like choc soy milk with PB and banana and kale?

i don't think i've done that before but i don't see why not because the kale taste is always masked by whatever else you have. i mostly use baby spinach instead because my blender doesn't do kale that well. it's true it's very exciting! i use almond milk and soy protein powder and a banana and frozen strawberries and mangoes.

Just discovered the wonder of avocado smoothies (with almond milk and whatever else I have around - usually frozen blueberries or an apple).

brb, making cream puffs

that's fun!

have you ever made gougeres? they're basically cream puffs with gruyere mixed in to the dough and no filling. i want to make them.

^^ that is exactly the recipe I use - I used to be a pastry chef and made gougeres every day

ground pepper, fresh thyme, and gruyere in addition to the basic pate aux choux

btw my first dozen I tried in tinfoil and the bottoms stuck, the next dozen I did on parchment and the bottoms burned

I miss the professional convection oven I used to use

now I have a bunch of cream puff halves that I will conjure into a misshapen approximation that will be delicious

maybe I will come home early tomorrow and make more, we'll see

the secret is to chill the dough, like, a lot. I used to put it in the freezer for 45 minutes, then into the fridge for another hour or so.

making a 2nd batch now, gonna leave it in the fridge for longer

325 seems like the sweet spot in our home gas oven

this is very great, the sandbox was crying out for a proper pastry chef, we love pastry.