Some minor cooking notes
Nov. 3rd, 2006 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumI've been able to do some cooking.
Tuesday I made a chicken stew. We had some great carrots from the farmers' market. Yellow, and so tightly grained that the cut faces were slick, like glass, when one licked them.
I took one, grated it, and tossed it in with some onion;and oil, in a pot. I cubed some potatoes and, when the onions had sweated, tossed them in, with a few stalks of celery. I let them brown, stirring them so the browned bits would break, and expose more surface to the pan. Then I added water to cover, and covered the pan. After twenty minutes, or so, the water was in the potatoes, and the bottom was browned some more (that's the tricky part, lose track of the time and the bottom will scorch).
When it was just a bit shy of done, I put a tablespoon, or so, of tomato paste into the center, and let it get loose, and runny, from the heat, before I stirred it into the veggies.
A pint, or so, of broth (chicken) and the same of water, a few peppercorns. Cut carrots to bite sized pieces and chop some tomatoes into large bites, and add them, with some more celery (don't forget the leaves, and the heart. Stir, every so often.
About twenty minutes before serving I cut up some chicken breasts (we'd roasted a couple, so Marcia can rubberise them for the classroom) and tossed them in.
Because the potatoes had been abused by the browning, and stirred as they cooked, they made the broth thick, and the texture was perfect, without the need to use any extra starch.
Monday I made pasta. Barry and I put up sauce on Sunday, with a load of heirloom, and a Better Girl, tomatoes. He is fortunate to have a juicer, so no need to strain the juice from the pan (which is what I do, chop some of the tomatoes in half, and get them to fall apart in the pan, then I can just toss the rest in. As they boil, they fall apart. Then I ladle them out, and into through a strainer to remove the peels, and most of the seeds).
So, pulversise some dried oregano, basil and marjoram, toss in a few peppecorns and wait. Some onions, wilted in the pan, and then some garlic, not too much of either, and both chopped small; just a bit larger than minced. Put them in and when the sauce is a little less thick than you want, pull it off the stove.
You can can it (tomato sauce is acid enough that you can jar it at cooking heat), or let it cool and then put it into ziplocs and freeze it.
To make pasta, take what you want, put on the stove. Take onions, and cook them until they are translucent, add some chopped garlic, and cook until it's just golden. Don't let the garlic burn. If it does, just start over. When the garlic is done, add a cup, or so, of white wine (or red, your choice) I used a gewurtzraminer.
Took a couple of stalks of marjoram, and oregeno from the garden. After about an hour you'll want to pull them, so they don't go bitter; which is why just tossing them in the pot is the best way to do it. Oregeno is actually better when dried, but the fresh notes are worth adding.
Tuesday I made a chicken stew. We had some great carrots from the farmers' market. Yellow, and so tightly grained that the cut faces were slick, like glass, when one licked them.
I took one, grated it, and tossed it in with some onion;and oil, in a pot. I cubed some potatoes and, when the onions had sweated, tossed them in, with a few stalks of celery. I let them brown, stirring them so the browned bits would break, and expose more surface to the pan. Then I added water to cover, and covered the pan. After twenty minutes, or so, the water was in the potatoes, and the bottom was browned some more (that's the tricky part, lose track of the time and the bottom will scorch).
When it was just a bit shy of done, I put a tablespoon, or so, of tomato paste into the center, and let it get loose, and runny, from the heat, before I stirred it into the veggies.
A pint, or so, of broth (chicken) and the same of water, a few peppercorns. Cut carrots to bite sized pieces and chop some tomatoes into large bites, and add them, with some more celery (don't forget the leaves, and the heart. Stir, every so often.
About twenty minutes before serving I cut up some chicken breasts (we'd roasted a couple, so Marcia can rubberise them for the classroom) and tossed them in.
Because the potatoes had been abused by the browning, and stirred as they cooked, they made the broth thick, and the texture was perfect, without the need to use any extra starch.
Monday I made pasta. Barry and I put up sauce on Sunday, with a load of heirloom, and a Better Girl, tomatoes. He is fortunate to have a juicer, so no need to strain the juice from the pan (which is what I do, chop some of the tomatoes in half, and get them to fall apart in the pan, then I can just toss the rest in. As they boil, they fall apart. Then I ladle them out, and into through a strainer to remove the peels, and most of the seeds).
So, pulversise some dried oregano, basil and marjoram, toss in a few peppecorns and wait. Some onions, wilted in the pan, and then some garlic, not too much of either, and both chopped small; just a bit larger than minced. Put them in and when the sauce is a little less thick than you want, pull it off the stove.
You can can it (tomato sauce is acid enough that you can jar it at cooking heat), or let it cool and then put it into ziplocs and freeze it.
To make pasta, take what you want, put on the stove. Take onions, and cook them until they are translucent, add some chopped garlic, and cook until it's just golden. Don't let the garlic burn. If it does, just start over. When the garlic is done, add a cup, or so, of white wine (or red, your choice) I used a gewurtzraminer.
Took a couple of stalks of marjoram, and oregeno from the garden. After about an hour you'll want to pull them, so they don't go bitter; which is why just tossing them in the pot is the best way to do it. Oregeno is actually better when dried, but the fresh notes are worth adding.
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Date: 2006-11-04 07:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-05 12:38 pm (UTC)I will remember that tip about browning the potatos to thicken stew. We have a whole boned venison forearm/shoulder thingie (a 'plec'-I've never quite been able to map Czech->Anglo-American butcher conventions) in the freezer. Thinking something stewey with red wine, rosemary, sage.
Canning pasta sauce for use during the week is one of my favorite kitchen pastimes, too. No masses of lovely flavorful fresh tomatoes that need to be used, though, sadly. However my corner grocer carries La Torrente brand canned plum tomatoes, which frankly I prefer for cooking to the insipid watery poor things you get here fresh. A 440g tin of those and either a 500g juice carton (if I'm being cheap) or a 700g bottle (if I'm not) of passata with whatever I sautee first (Grated or pureed eggplant, with garlic and onion, is a standby) and seasoning to taste/availability and Bob's your uncle. I rinse the tomato bottle and cans out with a little wine and put it in, too. Can it hot in used 1-liter olive jars (because I am a packrat).