Really Good Meals

[melveyr]

Does anyone else enjoy going over the top while cooking at home?

I had this pork belly with balsamic blackberry sauce for lunch today.



Pork belly is a really fun cut of meat to cook, especially because every culture has different methods for preparing it. The way I prepared it as more of a french style, almost like a duck confit. But some of the asian countries get this insane crackling crunch on the outside.

[WiseOne]

That looks like it should be illegal!  Would you be willing to post the recipe?

I'm working from home this afternoon and taking the opportunity to make one of my favorite dinners:  Red Lentil Soup.  Its charms are rather different from melveyr's elegant dish.

Chop fine & saute until soft:
1 medium onion
2 jalapeno peppers
2 small or 1 large carrot(s)

Ditto for these, but saute about 1 minute until fragrant:
1" piece ginger
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp curry powder

Add 1 cup red lentils, 5 cups water, and 1/2 small can tomato paste.  Cook until lentils are tender, about 1 hour.  Add 1 can coconut milk and juice of 2 limes, then salt & pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

[melveyr]

That looks like it should be illegal!  Would you be willing to post the recipe?

I'm working from home this afternoon and taking the opportunity to make one of my favorite dinners:  Red Lentil Soup.  Its charms are rather different from melveyr's elegant dish.

Chop fine & saute until soft:
1 medium onion
2 jalapeno peppers
2 small or 1 large carrot(s)

Ditto for these, but saute about 1 minute until fragrant:
1" piece ginger
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp curry powder

Add 1 cup red lentils, 5 cups water, and 1/2 small can tomato paste.  Cook until lentils are tender, about 1 hour.  Add 1 can coconut milk and juice of 2 limes, then salt & pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

I should cook with lentils more. Healthy, affordable, and tasty Maybe I will try your recipe out soon... curry is good spice for them.

Here is the pork belly recipe. Better make it soon before Bloomberg outlaws it 

*Take a pork belly, cut it into portions, score the fattier/skin side, and rub it generously with salt.

*Put the pieces in the oven at 200F for 6 hours. Each one should be tightly wrapped in foil because you want them to slowly cook in their own fat, almost like a confit.

*After letting it cool down, put the pork belly portions into plastic bags and refrigerate them. This is nice because you will have an easy gourmet meal that is 90% done! The meat will also be surrounded by its fat helping preserve it.

*Place the pork belly in a cold pan and slowly bring up the heat so that it begins frying in its own fat. Once it gets browned to your liking, place the belly onto a paper towel and pour out the oil (or save it for soups/frying potatoes). Splash some balsamic into the pan and add some black berry jam. You will have a sauce in about 30 seconds.

This was a really fun dish and very affordable. Each portion costs roughly $3 including the sauce, but I felt like a king while eating it. I want to try a more asian crispy style next time.

[smurff]

I've got to try this recipe!

When I saw that it slow cooked in its own juices for SIX HOURS, I knew it has to be good.

[smurff]

Oh, I forgot to mention, melveyr, it really looks great, the way you plated it up.  Are you a professional chef?

[colorado4]

We've gotten great use out of our SousVide machine.  It's a water immersion cooker.  Previously, they could only be found in restaurants. For steaks (if you like rare or medium rare), seafood and various egg dishes, it's unparalleled. Get the demi. 

http://www.sousvidesupreme.com/

[flyingpylon]

We've gotten great use out of our SousVide machine.  It's a water immersion cooker.  Previously, they could only be found in restaurants. For steaks (if you like rare or medium rare), seafood and various egg dishes, it's unparalleled. Get the demi. 

http://www.sousvidesupreme.com/

I would really like to get one of those.  I follow Dr Eades on his blog and on Twitter and he mentions them fairly often.

[colorado4]

I feel it's worth the investment.  They are solidly built too.

[dualstow]

I'm making Homer drooling noises over that pork belly!

[KevinW]

Yeah, I am a DIY cook and sometimes I go all out too.

Recently I've been on a French cuisine jag. For a long time I avoided French food because it seemed elitist and unnecessarily fussy. It turns out that actually I've been using bits of French technique --- e.g. a roux base, or butter pastry --- all along, I just didn't know their origin or terminology. So it really is influential, esp. on "American" cuisine. The recipes are complicated and often expensive but some of them are damn good. I brought some quiches to a family brunch that were a hit. A couple weekends ago I finally pulled off an eggs Benedict that was IMO restaurant-quality. Fun!

I'm also working on replicating (American restaurant style) Indian food. I found a good chana masala and saag recipe. I'm still looking for the right tikka masala recipe. I know this stuff isn't authentic but it's satisfying, and cheaper, to be able to make this stuff at oneself.

[MachineGhost]

We've gotten great use out of our SousVide machine.  It's a water immersion cooker.  Previously, they could only be found in restaurants. For steaks (if you like rare or medium rare), seafood and various egg dishes, it's unparalleled. Get the demi. 

Interesting.  Does it keep the food's temperature from going past the boiling point, i.e. none of the nasty glycotoxins are formed in the food?

[Benko]

From a super brief look at their website, you are cooking food in a vacum sealed plastic pouch in temp controlled water.  Even if it really was worth the bother, if you're being picky about plusses and minusses, what is leaching out of the plastic and into the food at those temps (this is for MG).

[Bob]

Does anyone else enjoy going over the top while cooking at home?

I had this pork belly with balsamic blackberry sauce for lunch today.



Pork belly is a really fun cut of meat to cook, especially because every culture has different methods for preparing it. The way I prepared it as more of a french style, almost like a duck confit. But some of the asian countries get this insane crackling crunch on the outside.

melveyr - are you really sure that is balsmic blackberry sauce?  The longer I stare at the picture, the more it looks like hot fudge!!! Either way, I'm sure it is delicious!

[melveyr]

From a super brief look at their website, you are cooking food in a vacum sealed plastic pouch in temp controlled water.  Even if it really was worth the bother, if you're being picky about plusses and minusses, what is leaching out of the plastic and into the food at those temps (this is for MG).

Sous Vide really appeals to me because it makes it impossible to overcook things, but this was always in the back of my head. Plastic and cooking generally gives me doubts... I am sure the manufacturers will say its no problem but I like to be cautious.

[KevinW]

What's the advantage of sous vide over old fashioned braising?

[WiseOne]

*Take a pork belly, cut it into portions, score the fattier/skin side, and rub it generously with salt.

*Put the pieces in the oven at 200F for 6 hours. Each one should be tightly wrapped in foil because you want them to slowly cook in their own fat, almost like a confit.

*After letting it cool down, put the pork belly portions into plastic bags and refrigerate them. This is nice because you will have an easy gourmet meal that is 90% done! The meat will also be surrounded by its fat helping preserve it.

*Place the pork belly in a cold pan and slowly bring up the heat so that it begins frying in its own fat. Once it gets browned to your liking, place the belly onto a paper towel and pour out the oil (or save it for soups/frying potatoes). Splash some balsamic into the pan and add some black berry jam. You will have a sauce in about 30 seconds.

This was a really fun dish and very affordable. Each portion costs roughly $3 including the sauce, but I felt like a king while eating it. I want to try a more asian crispy style next time.

I cannot WAIT to try this!!!!  Thanks melveyr!

It's probably a good thing to have an excuse to turn on the oven for 6 hours.  It's the only time I can be sure that my kitchen is mouse-free.  They just laugh at traps, and I've plugged the obvious holes.  I wrote the board president and she wrote back this hilarious missive about her own mouse infestation.  Anyone got any suggestions?

[KevinW]

Can you or a neighbor get a cat or terrier?

[WiseOne]

I'm allergic to cats unfortunately.  Do terriers catch mice???

[KevinW]

Terriers were originally bred to hunt rodents and other pests. I've had 3, and 2 of them exhibited a bloodlust toward rodents. YMMV.

[WiseOne]

Thanks!  I have a friend with one of those.  Time for a visit!

[KevinW]

Good luck!

[AgAuMoney]

I should cook with lentils more. Healthy, affordable, and tasty

And fun to play in!

My 3yr old girl had several similar age friends over earlier this week (our turn to host the play group).  It was kind of yucky spring weather outside, so my wife had planned several indoor activities.  One of the activities was one of those plastic wading pools with a couple hundred pounds of lentils and various clean plastic cups, spoons, etc. like you would stock a sandbox.  All the girls spent the entire time playing in the lentils.  You couldn't drag them away, hardly even for a snack.

Sheets laid under and around the pool caught most of the lentils.  Not all...  Not all even stayed in the room.  Still finding them in the strangest places. 

(wheat or rice or barley berries work great also, but the lentils are a bit bigger and we had more of them than dry beans, which also work well and can be more colorful)

P.S. thanks all for the recipies.  Mmm!

[stone]

Beef heart cut into sheets,
Grill until brown on both sides,
Meanwhile, brown a chopped onion, some mushrooms and chopped garlic in a pan.
Add the heart to the pan and add boiling water, some pine nuts, finely chopped swede, a few bits of carrot, salt, mixed herbs and a fresh chopped chilly pepper. Simmer for several hours. Leave off heat until next day.
Next day bring it back up to a simmer.
Cook jacket potatoes.
A minute before serving add fresh chopped spinach, chopped broccoli, some frozen peas. Heat hot briefly until these go very bright green.
Serve with the potatoes.

[stone]

Chicken drumsticks, grill until brown on both sides.
Meanwhile add boiling water to whole grain bismati rice and simmer.
Meanwhile, in a wok, brown half an onion finely chopped, some chopped mushrooms and finely chopped garlic.
Add a finely chopped tomato, finely chopped small piece of root ginger, raw cashew nuts, finely chopped chilly pepper, finely chopped parsnip, to the wok. Keep at low heat and stir.
Add the rice and water and the to the wok together with chicken. Cut bits of meat off the bone but leave it all in the wok.
Simmer with a lid on the wok until the rice is soft and the water is mostly absorbed. Add a pinch of salt. Don't stir or you will make the rice mush.
Chop very finely some leek. Chop a small amount of fresh spinach and broccoli.
Just before serving, add leek, spinach and broccoli and replace lid.
Serve when veg has gone very bright green. The water should all have absorbed into the rice etc.

[stone]

Not really cooking but a yummy way to eat cherries:

Halve the cherries and take out stones.
Whisk an egg white until very stiff foam.
In a different bowl whisk whipping cream until whipped up.
Fold the egg white gently into the cream with a spoon.
Cut ice cream into chunks.
Add cherries, ice cream and egg/cream mix.
Grate lots of 80% black chocolate over the top.