Whatcha Cooking today?

[worth1]

This is probably going to creep many if not all of you out.
I was dead tired from nothing but stress yesterday.
Just wanted to eat and go to bed.
Looking in the big freezer I found a box of Buitoni chicken and mushroom ravioli.
My wife bought it before she passed away.
For some reason I just couldn't put myself to eat it.
Well I decided to eat it yesterday.
It was dated now brace yourselves.
2013.
Yep deep frozen for 8 years.
Cooked the ravioli for longer than required because it was dryer than I suspect normall.
It was actually good and I'm still alive to tell the story.
No ill effect what so ever.

[worth1]

I can't help but babble sometimes.
But here is the story.
I used to eat at Spaghetti Warehouse in Austin ever now and then.
But the place closed down several years ago.
Mainly due to the high cost of rent.
My all time favorite thing to get to the dismay of my wife was the giant meatball and spaghetti.
She never could wrap her mind around how at any given restaurant I would always order the same thing.
Well I decided today in this cold weather I wanted it.
About the only thing that will make mine like theirs is the spaghetti.
The rest is mine.
I had 3 and a half Roma tomatoes I needed to do something with.
I cut the stem end off and cut along the sides just under the skin.
Plopped them in boiling water for a wee bit and then put then in cold water.
This allowed me to get the skin off.
I chopped them up and put them in with some butter onions and garlic that was cooking
Put on simmer with powdered garlic and fennel seeds.
Other spices including sweet paprika and turmeric were added.
The only other liquid is Imported from Italy Sweet Marsalla.
Will toss in a few other things as time goes by like Worcestershire sauce and oregano.
Maybe some basil.
Not much Worcestershire sauce but a wee pinch.

The giant meatball will be another story.

[worth1]

Now for the giant meatball.
I used a 50/50 mix of hot and spicy pork breakfast sausage and ground chuck.
1/2 pound each.
Additional ingredients are.
Chopped and powdered walnuts.
Ground fennel.
Black pepper.
Kosher salt.
Pinch of bread crumbs.
Mace.
Basil.
Oregano.
Garlic powder.
Hot smoked Spanish paprika.
Sweet Marsala.
I think I remembered it all.
Mixed this all up will let sit and mix again.
I used the breakfast sausage because that's what I had for ground pork.
No one will ever know with the other spices.
Going to cook it in hot but not even close to boiling water wrapped in cling wrap and sear in a hot oven.
I don't want to cook the fat out.

[worth1]

I ended up making two balls at close to 20 ounces.
Here are a few pictures.
Including the sauce.

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[worth1]

Isn't it amazing how much water these tomatoes put out?
The only other liquid was about a 1/4 cup of wine or less and what was in the onion butter and garlic.
Something to think about.
Because at first it looks like you need to add water or something but you don't .
The meatballs are coming along nicely at around 160F.

[worth1]

Since I have never done a giant meatball like this I have no idea how it will turn out..
The internal temperature reached 145F Which is good enough for me .the oven is set at 400F.
Waiting for the pasta water to come up to a boil.
It is the same water I used to cook the wrapped meatballs in.
No need in wasting water.
The cheese will be what they call the parmesan cheese of Mexico.
Aged cotija cheese that I dried in my cheese drawer for extra flavor.
The sauce got a splash of Korean pepper paste also.
I have mixed English American Chinese Korean Italian Mexican Spainish and lord knows what to make this dish.
So it ain't authentic anything and I personally don't give a hoot.
It is fusion food at its finest.
See ya in the dinning room.

[worth1]

Everything came out better than expected.
But the giant meatball is hotter than a 3 dollar pistol on a Saturday night.
No way will I eat all of this in one sitting.

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[pepperhead212]

Looks good! The last huge meatball I made was a Chinese lion's head, many years ago. Hmmmm...Chinese New Year is coming up - same day as my Birthday this year! Gives me another excuse to treat myself...not that I need an excuse.

[worth1]

I totally forgot how hot the smoked hot Spanish paprika was.
I need to stop forgetting.
It was like a meat fireball.

[worth1]

Pork sausage with dried cotija cheese cooked on it.
Sunny side up eggs.
Toast.
Pinapple lime cranberry marmalade.
Mushroom black olive sauce I'm working on.

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[karstopography]

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Cooking a South Anna Butternut Squash we had in the fridge from the garden this fall. That and blackened redfish.

[pepperhead212]

I made some tom kha gai, with some leftover chicken I had, and some broth I had made with the bones and scraps. I had just gotten some fresh galangal, which gave me the idea for it - always have the fresh lime leaves and frozen lemongrass from the garden, and usually have fresh limes in the fridge. A favorite soup of mine, as always, and super fast to make.

[pepperhead212]

I just made a batch of this stuff, mainly because I was harvesting more of my hydroponics parsley than I knew what to do with! That recipe calls for half parsley, but I only used about 1/3 parsley. It's a great way to add cilantro flavor to dishes. As he says, it stores well - it's always lasted until I finish using it all.
A batch of the Rick Bayless cilantro pesto, in a wide mouth mason jar. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/cila ... urripesto/

[worth1]

I have way too many mayocoba beans soaking for this weekends meal.
Plus I bought some giant white pizole that I will be cooking on Saturday..
Guess what it will be.
Helpful hint pork will be involved.

[karstopography]

Venison sausage and the homemade sauerkraut, along with heating up Sister Shubert rolls. Easy peasy meal. Sausage and kraut with a little bread will fill a tummy. The sauerkraut isn’t a home run. Maybe a double. Crunch and texture is pretty perfect. Could have used a touch more salt and I’d double the caraway seeds next time. Trying to determine if I like the Juniper berries in it. I used up my Ashe Juniper berries and foraged up the eastern version, and ones almost raisined. They are little and not so juicy or flavorful as the hill country of Texas type. But, solid first effort at making a sauerkraut.

[worth1]

Picked up a bag of giant white corn at the Mexican market.
This is giant white hominy dried.
Going to make some sort of soup with about half of it.

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[worth1]

A sauce made from simmered guajillo chili pods salt and garlic.
I split the pods and removed all the seeds.
This will go in the soup.

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[worth1]

It's chicken pozole.
Two whole onions cooking with four chicken thighs and legs.
Eight pieces in all including fat and skin plus one half stick of butter cumin smoked hot paprika and sweet paprika.
Aromatics will come later like oregano.
Skins left on onions for color and flavor.
It will be removed later.
This will be on a low simmer all day.

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[karstopography]

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A shrimp stir fry on rice noodle with Savoy cabbage and baby bok choi from the garden.

[karstopography]

[mention]worth1[/mention] pozole or posole, the way they tend to spell it in New Mexico, is one of my favorite things to eat. One of the many reasons I love New Mexican food and going there when I can, although I think it may be something in variations cooked all over Latin America.

I can almost smell it cooking all the way here on the coast. I like the idea of leaving the onions whole, never tried that, but looks very interesting. But, The dried, reconstituted chilis, the cumin, the hominy, onions, yumm, really if someone hasn’t ever partaken of a pork posole stew or soup they are truly missing some kind of treat. I bet the chicken works in this great too.