Cooking up a storm

[BaguaKicksAss]

Best and easiest marzipan ever!

 

2 parts almond flour/meal to one part icing sugar (mix together first)

2-3 egg yolks.

A little vanilla extract

Some ameretto liquor

 

Stir all together, done. Doesn't need to go in the fridge. Lasts a few weeks... well unless you let your friends try some, then lasts a few hours at most .

[Taomeow]

The best way to make the best tasting shrimp (IMO of course):

 

buy it fresh not frozen, wild not farm raised, and whole with heads, or fuhgeddaboudit;

 

make a quick vegetable broth (a small amount only enough to cover stuff, it gets discarded later) with a carrot, an onion, half a bunch of parsley or a parsnip, a couple of bay leaves, a handful of cracked black peppercorns;

 

cook for 15-20 minutes, then fish out and discard the vegetables;

 

add as much salt as you would for to make the brine for half sour pickles (don't know the measurements, sorry, I dip my tongue in it... it has to be too salty for to eat, but not so salty as to burn your tongue when you sample it);

 

throw the shrimp, whole, into boiling salted broth;

 

bring back to boil, reduce heat so it doesn't overboil, cover loosely with a lid, cook on high simmer/low boil for exactly 4 minutes. (If the shrimp are very tiny, make it 3 minutes, if humongous, 5, but the last bit is theoretical -- I've never been able to buy humongous shrimp with heads intact. Overcooking turns shrimp rubbery, you're after tender, so don't space out on it.)

 

The reason you don't want headless shrimp is twofold -- removing the head allows the seller to make less-than-fresh shrimp appear fresher (it starts spoiling from the head), AND you can never achieve the taste of the whole shrimp cooked this way if it has no head and consequently absorbs and later loses the broth through a hole instead of getting misted in it via osmosis.

 

Then there's many ways to handle the resulting cooked shrimp -- you can peel it and add it to your dishes, but it's usually so good that you want to eat it like you would a lobster, for its own sake. You can dip it in butter and sprinkle it with lemon juice if you like, but avoid strong-tasting seasonings, they will overpower and kill the subtle flavor you're after in this particular recipe. Oh, and if you drink beer, do get one with this dish, it's a match made in heaven.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Taomeow

[Aetherous]

Also just remembered that I want to do homemade yogurt, with vanilla bean and less sugar than usual store bought stuff. My ideal yogurt is Wallaby brand, but there isn't any around where I live. It's very thin (basically the opposite of that Greek yogurt stuff), low to moderate sugar in comparison to other brands, and real vanilla bean is used. Oh yeah, it's organic. I will use whole organic milk, since it tastes a lot better. Will store the vanilla pods in with the sugar (some kind of brown raw sugar) to add even more flavor. http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Yogurt

 

I finally got around to making my own yogurt today. It's pretty easy to follow these directions, and it turned out perfect.

 

I will sweeten the first half of it with raw honey...and possibly for the other half I will experiment with adding masala chai spices (ginger, cinnamon, clove, green cardamom, peppercorn) in addition to the honey.

[Aetherous]

I can highly recommend this recipe for those baking a sandwich bread with 100% whole wheat. This is normally a challenge because it will come out dense due to the weight of the grain. With this recipe, it actually rose with nice air pockets, and came out fluffy and sweet...just perfectly done! Spread some organic valley pasture butter on top...yes yes ya'll and we don't stop.

edit: also this professional baker's reference seems very scientific, which is awesome.

Edited August 12, 2013 by turtle shell

[BaguaKicksAss]

I finally got around to making my own yogurt today. It's pretty easy to follow these directions, and it turned out perfect.

 

I will sweeten the first half of it with raw honey...and possibly for the other half I will experiment with adding masala chai spices (ginger, cinnamon, clove, green cardamom, peppercorn) in addition to the honey.

 

Mango Lasse recipe, take said yogurt above, add ground cardamon (if you didn't already put it in your yogurt) some fresh mango (or canned is how the restaurants do it), rosewater, and honey. YUM!

 

Now I'm hungry again lol.

[Aetherous]

Mango Lasse recipe, take said yogurt above, add ground cardamon (if you didn't already put it in your yogurt) some fresh mango (or canned is how the restaurants do it), rosewater, and honey. YUM!

 

Now I'm hungry again lol.

 

Thanks for the recipe! I heart mango lassi, and will definitely be making it.

 

[i am]

I didn't love honey sweetened yogurt, and settled on maple syrup as my favorite sweetener.

 

Getting away from even that much dairy lately, though, till I find cow products that don't gross me out.

[Aetherous]

I'm going to try this way of yogurt making, since it doesn't require you to heat the milk. Matsoni cultures.

The whole heating and stirring thing was really annoying and time consuming to do. I only made the yogurt once because of that. And it possibly also destroys some of the nutritional quality of the milk. One could even make matsoni yogurt with raw milk, which many people say is better for your health.

There are also Viili cultures, which are the same concept.

...

Another thing: I recently ordered this coconut oil. Besides its health uses and purposes, it's supposedly one of the best oils for cooking or baking anything due to its high smoke point and light flavor. The linked brand is apparently the best you can get. Edited September 8, 2013 by turtle shell

[Aetherous]

 

This contraption is 54 bucks here. A way of brewing tea, coffee, or other kinds of drinks.

Edited October 2, 2013 by turtle shell

[BaguaKicksAss]

I'm going to try this way of yogurt making, since it doesn't require you to heat the milk. Matsoni cultures.

 

The whole heating and stirring thing was really annoying and time consuming to do. I only made the yogurt once because of that. And it possibly also destroys some of the nutritional quality of the milk. One could even make matsoni yogurt with raw milk, which many people say is better for your health.

 

 

There are also Viili cultures, which are the same concept.

 

...

 

Another thing: I recently ordered this coconut oil. Besides its health uses and purposes, it's supposedly one of the best oils for cooking or baking anything due to its high smoke point and light flavor. The linked brand is apparently the best you can get.

 

How I made my yogurt is add culture to gallon milk jug. Put jug in warm room, shake daily. Works great

[thelerner]

 

This contraption is 54 bucks here. A way of brewing tea, coffee, or other kinds of drinks.

Pretty cool. That gives me some new ideas for uses of the Royal Belgium Vacuum coffee maker I have that TaowMeow recommended.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbVwvI9P7lU

 

I liked the easy yogurt making idea.

Edited October 2, 2013 by thelerner

[joeblast]

Here's a good recipe for gluten-free cauliflower crust pizza.

 

Rice a head of cauliflower (i.e. chop it into tiny bits - leave out the stems.) Pop it in the microwave for a few minutes to heat it up, just enough to make it steamy for the next ingredients. Add 2 eggs, beaten, your favorite pizza-style seasoning, and a cup or so of mozz. Stir it up and spread it thinly onto a cookie sheet, pop it in the oven at 450 until you begin seeing some browning. Take it out and let it cool for a few minutes until the crust begins to harden a little bit. Now slop on pizza sauce, toppings, cheese, and it should be another 3, 4, 5 minutes in the oven.

 

Verrry tasty

[BaguaKicksAss]

Here's a good recipe for gluten-free cauliflower crust pizza.

 

Rice a head of cauliflower (i.e. chop it into tiny bits - leave out the stems.) Pop it in the microwave for a few minutes to heat it up, just enough to make it steamy for the next ingredients. Add 2 eggs, beaten, your favorite pizza-style seasoning, and a cup or so of mozz. Stir it up and spread it thinly onto a cookie sheet, pop it in the oven at 450 until you begin seeing some browning. Take it out and let it cool for a few minutes until the crust begins to harden a little bit. Now slop on pizza sauce, toppings, cheese, and it should be another 3, 4, 5 minutes in the oven.

 

Verrry tasty

that rocks! so frying pan if you have no nuker?

[Aetherous]

Bagua, you made the matsoni yogurt? My first try didn't work for me...perhaps the room was too cold.

[joeblast]

that rocks! so frying pan if you have no nuker?

I'm sure that would work! Get a big one out, though!

[BaguaKicksAss]

Bagua, you made the matsoni yogurt? My first try didn't work for me...perhaps the room was too cold.

 

I dont know, i didnt click on the link lol

 

Yes need a warm room.

[Aetherous]

Made this buttermilk pie with blackberry sauce tonight...awesome.

[thelerner]

Made this buttermilk pie with blackberry sauce tonight...awesome.

This looks pretty simple, and I need a pie to bring to Thanksgiving.

[Aetherous]

This looks pretty simple, and I need a pie to bring to Thanksgiving.

 

It's super rich, so people will likely love the flavors, but not be able to eat much of it in addition to all that other food.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Made this buttermilk pie with blackberry sauce tonight...awesome.

 

I'll be over in half an hour .

[Aetherous]

DIY natural food coloring. I might attempt to do this for when we make sugar cookies with colored frosting over the holidaze.

[Aetherous]

Due to the health benefits of real sourdough compared to regular bread, I've been working on a starter. I previously tried to make it with wild yeast (just flour and water in a jar), but it had an off kind of smell to it. I will keep trying. Regardless, the starter I'm using now smells how it should, but isn't nearly as bubbly...so I'm not sure if I can recommend this hyperlinked brand of dehydrated starter.

I think the moral here is, if you know someone who makes their own sourdough, ask for some of their starter because it'll save you a huge hassle. It's been at least a month and a half of trying.

Anyway, today I made whole wheat sourdough pancakes for the first time. I'm not at all a pancake fan. I hate them with a passion! But I actually enjoyed these...and afterward, I felt more alive (similar to after eating really fresh sashimi) and wasn't hungry again for hours.

Sourdough pancakes: a really good thing to do seeing as how inexpensive, healthy, and easy it is (once you have a starter).

[thelerner]

I've heard adding a light ale (even cheapo Bud) to a dough gives it a nice (and fast) sour dough taste.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Fedex me a gluten free sourdough starter will ya?

[thelerner]

Cool recipe magazine for bread baking- Grit Country Skill Series 'Guide to Homemade Bread' (Vol. 5), put out by Mother Earth News. Page 34, Salute to Sourdough. Great recipes, very conversational style and most are easy No-Knead types.