Whatcha Cooking today?

[karstopography]

Gave my friend between 10-15 pounds of ripe tomatoes, mostly red barn, ashleigh, and Cleota Pink. plus some garden garlic and store lemons. He’s making tomato sauce and pizza sauce tomorrow. I also gave him four eggplant and three cucumbers. His wife adores eggplant. We’ve been offloading garden produce to everyone we can think of. Two people can’t eat all that much.

We did make a pico de Gallo with a pound plus Red Barn tomato, one big Megatron jalapeño, and a texas legend onion, plus store cilantro. Tortilla chips and pico, especially homemade pico, is one of my favorite things to eat. Red Barn is a good pico tomato. Rich taste with a big pop of acidity. Firm enough. Lots of meat.

[worth1]

Rice with spicy chili powder and a sausage.

[worth1]

I'll be making chili con carne with 5 pounds ground beef.

[worth1]

I'm making spaghetti assassina.
But my own version.
Used the chilli tallow from the chili con carne for the oil plus gochujang and hot red pepper.
This should prove interesting.

[worth1]

Active ingredients are....
Ground beef.
A whole chopped onion.
2 handfuls of fiesta brand chili powder.
Handful of paprika.
Handful of honey smoked habanero powder.
2 tablespoons of.
Powdered garlic.
Half handful of Mexican oregano.
Goodly dollop of apricot preserves.
Ginger paste.
15 ounce can of diced tomatoes for chili.
This will go on the spaghetti.

[karstopography]

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Fire roasted salsa. All garden vegetables. Turned out great.

[pepperhead212]

I made a version of chole masala, to take to my friend's tomorrow - one with some chicken in it, plus some greens from the garden, some of that escarole, and a few of those huge senposai greens.

I started by soaking 1½ c chickpeas in some brine, with a little baking soda, about 7 hours, then drained, rinsed, then put it in the IP with 2 c water, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp asafoetida, and a large black cardamom pod, and set it to pressure cook 30 minutes, and release naturally. I drained them, saving the liquid.

I started out with a couple tb of ghee in the Instant Pot, with a chopped up medium sized onion, on Sauté medium, for about 5 minutes, while mincing up about a tb each of garlic and ginger and measured out 1 tb coriander powder, 4 tsp cumin powder, 4 tsp sweet paprika (this is to make it w/o heat, for a friend), and 1 tsp turmeric. Then I added ginger and garlic, and sautéed 30 sec, and added the spices, and sautéed another 30 seconds. Then I stirred in the cleaned and torn up greens (a little over 12 oz), and stirred, until they wilted and reduced, then added a small can (15 oz) of crushed tomatoes, plus about 3/4 c of the water the chickpeas were cooked in. I stirred this up, placed a little over 2 lbs of skinned dark meat chicken on top, put the lid on, hit Off, then set the Pressure cook mode on 16 minutes, then let pressure release naturally. I removed the chicken, to cool, then added the chickpeas, and about 3 tb mung dal, to thicken it a little, then let it simmer, while the chicken cooled, and I then pulled the chicken from the bones, cut it up, then put it into the pot. I let it heat up, stirred in a little soy sauce (not traditional, but I often use this to add a little salt, in Indian food), then chopped up about a half cup of cilantro, and added that, to finish it off.
Greens, just starting to cook down. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Greens, after cooking down about 3/4, before adding the chicken, to pressure cook. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Chicken chole masala, with some greens in it, after I took the cooked chicken out, to cool. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Chicken chole masala, with some greens in it, and adding the cooked chick peas. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Chicken chole masala, with some mung dal added, to thicken it slightly. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The chicken, cooled and removed from the bones, ready to add back to the pot. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The almost finished chicken chole masala, with the mung dal almost thickening it. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished chole masala, with some chicken and greens added. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

The chili came out fantastic just a hint of sweetness.
I also have a 15 ounce can of chili oil tallow from the top.
5 pounds of hamburger meat puts out a lot of tallow.

[worth1]

Frito pie with the dipping scoops and homemade chili.
Also got a can of Rico's cheddar cheese sauce to go on it.
Or maybe a Picanha.

[karstopography]

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Stuffed two Aswad eggplant with Italian sausage, garlic, onion, one x-large peeled Cleota Pink tomato, scooped out eggplant, red pepper flakes, and fresh basil. Topped with fresh mozzarella and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

The stuffing was delicious. Haven’t yet tasted the stuffed eggplant, still too hot.

[worth1]

@karstopography
Sweet Italian or hot Italian sausage?
I prefer the fennel heavy sweet Italian sausage.

[karstopography]

@karstopography
Sweet Italian or hot Italian sausage?
I prefer the fennel heavy sweet Italian sausage.

It was fennel heavy sweet Italian sausage from HEB.

[pepperhead212]

I made a pasta dish with some portabella mushrooms I got today - just used one 8 oz pack of them, and before I started prepping anything, I put the equivalent of a half lb of dried eggplant in the Instant Pot, along with a half cup of chana dal, plus 3 c water, and set them to pressure cook 10 min, then release naturally, while cutting everything else up, then strained it, saving the liquid (using all of it). I also had 1/2 oz dried boletus mushrooms soaking, from the beginning, and minced those cleaned up boletus up with 4 garlic cloves, and about a tb each of Thyme scented Oregano and rosemary. Chopped up one medium onion, then in the rinsed out pot, cooked in medium sauté mode, for about 5 minutes, then added the herbs and boletus, and cooked one minute, then added the chopped up portabella mushrooms. I turned the IP off, then back on to Sauté/high, and cooked, stirring frequently, until much of the liquid has cooked out, and they have browned a little. Then I added 2½ c cooking water (had to add about 1/2 c more), the cooked eggplant and chana dal, plus 10 oz dried spiral pasta, and got it all under the water, and started boiling. Then I turned it off, then set to pressure cook, and set to 3 min. When the 3 minutes was up, I released the pressure quickly, then stirred for a minute, and it thickened quickly, and was ready to serve. I topped with some Reggiano, and it turned out great!
Pasta, with a portobella sauce, with some boletus, thyme and rosemary added, and made in the Instant Pot. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The finished pasta dish, before topping with the Reggiano cheese. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished pasta dish. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

I just had the best chicken in my life.
Seriously.
It's in Killeen called BBQ chicken but it isn't BBQ chicken.
It's Korean fried chicken.
I got the 3 fire symbol hot and spicy fried chicken on special for 16 dollars.
Didn't know what to expect but holy cow it was good.
The hottest thing on the menu.
It wasn't dried out chicken breast but boneless cut up thighs with the skin on.
Crispy crunchy and piping hot right out of the hot fat.
Sauce was really hot but sweet too.
Huge chunks.
Way more than you can eat in one setting so the other half is ls supper.

[worth1]

The French fries were perfect also.
Piping hot fresh out of the hot fat.
Crispy on the outside creamy on the inside.
They also had pickled radish nobody liked but me.
Asians know how to cook chicken.
And they're generous and take pride in their workmanship.

[worth1]

No heat lamps they cook it when you order it.
They told me 10 to 15 minutes.
Not trashy fast food.

[karstopography]

Pico de gallo. Tortilla chips and pico is sort of our go to snack lately. Tonight it was part of a KBX tomato (I ate the first part at lunch on a hot dog), a big Red Barn tomato, two green Lemon spice jalapeños, one Megatron jalapeño, one small Texas legend onion, and a small handful of cilantro plus fresh squeezed lime juice.

Pico de gallo never is exactly the same each time since we are using garden produce. Different tomatoes, different peppers, equals different flavors. This pico was hotter and I liked that and it was more pepper forward. Red Barn and especially KBX aren’t nearly as acidic as Huevos del Toro.

[worth1]

I'm always in search of the perfect Pico de Gallo.
@karstopography

[Danny]

Lazy meal cooking, some chicken thighs seasoned lightly placed over some nice fat asparagus spears in a parchment lined 1/4 sheet pan and shoved in the oven to cook while I did some planting. May have an apple or a big navel orange for dessert if I get snackish later. Had 4 chunks of fresh pineapple with coffee for breakfast. Skipped lunch.

[pepperhead212]

I had 12 oz of portabella mushrooms I had to use up, so I started making a soup, starting with some black chickpeas. I pressure cooked 1 1/3 c of those plus 5 c water, and ½ tsp baking soda plus a tsp of salt, for 35 minutes in the Instant Pot, then let it reduce naturally. Then I drained, and rinsed them, and returned to the IP, with 3/4 c pearl barley, plus 5 c water, and about 2 tsp dark soy sauce (more salt in anchovies and olives later), then pressure cooked them together for 25 minutes, and let release naturally. I took enough of the cooking liquid to soak 2 oz dried tomatoes, plus a little more water to get to 24 oz, then soaked, while cutting up everything - 1 medium sized onion, chopped, 6 cloves garlic minced with about a tb each of fresh rosemary, sage, and Syrian oregano. Then I minced up 8 anchovies, and measured out the olive paste. I cut up the mushrooms up, then steamed them in a wok briefly, with just a couple tb of water, and then cooked the water off, then added a tb of olive oil, and cooked several minutes, to brown, then set aside.

I blended the softened tomatoes in the Vitamix, along with the stems of the mushrooms - something that is usually discarded with portabella mushrooms, since they are fibrous, but they just blended smooth, in the VM.

I started in the IP with about 3 tb olive oil on Sauté medium, for about 7 minutes, then added that garlic/herb mince, and cooked 1 minute, added the anchovies, 4 tb black olive paste, and about 1½ tb green olive paste, cooked about 30 sec, then dumped the tomato mix on them. Then I rinsed the VM out with 8 more oz of water, and added that (this basically adds up to 2 lbs tomatoes). I simmered this about 5 minutes, then stirred in those browned mushrooms, the pre-cooked chickpeas and barley, added about a cup more water, about 3/4 tsp black pepper (needed no more salt), and set to pressure cook just 2 more minutes, then released naturally (this was mostly the pre cooking and post cooking - that's why the short time). The first thing I smelled, when I opened the pot was the olives! I added about a half cup of minced parsley, then some grated Reggiano when served. Got about 2 qt, plus a pint of leftovers.
Some pearl barley and black chickpeas (Kala chana), cooked together, for a mushroom dish. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The tomato sauce for the barley and chickpea soup, with mostly Italian flavors. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The almost finished mushroom/chickpea/barley soup, before briefly cooking a little longer. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished soup, with a half cup of chopped parsley added at the end. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished soup, topped with some grated reggiano. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The actual work time for this dish was much less than what it took to cook the chickpeas and the barley. And probably less than it takes to type this!