first time my wife, and i heard of pancetta was an episode of northern exposure when adam arkin playing
the way eccentric cook at the restaurant exploded in a rage at his indian helper, and yelled as he threw the bacon
against the wall something like this is not pancetta!!!!!! i specifically said PANCETTA!!! so then we had to find out what it was
and had a hard time finding a store that sold it. we called one store, and the person on the phone asked, is that a bird? nope,
they didn't have it.

anyway, the weather has gone to crap, so what do you do, you make soup.
yesterday, it was senate bean soup. big pot, double recipe. if you are going to
make soup, make a bunch.
i also picked some kale out of the garden, and cooked that in a pot with a chunk of bone,
and a bit of stock from a pork shoulder roast. came out good.
tonight, it was chicken soup with one of our home raised fat boys. most of our chickens are
in the seven to eight pound range, guaranteed leftovers.


keith

I made a soup in the IP today, a Mushroom Barley soup. It wasn't a one dish meal - I cook most mushrooms I put in dishes like this, or pasta dishes, using the ATK method of steaming the sliced or chopped mushrooms briefly, which pulls the excess water out of them, then brown them in a small amount of fat - this way, it doesn't absorb a lot of fat, when dry, and browning it and adding it towards the end gives the mushrooms a better flavor, which they keep, rather than releasing it all to the broth.

As I add to many mushroom dishes, some dried boletus mushrooms went in early, along with the soaking liquid. I also added a tb of white miso, and a tb of thin soy sauce for the salt, to the broth (soy seasonings always seems to go well with mushroom dishes). I added a quarter cup of red lentils, in place of a potato, in the original recipe, but also another quarter cup after the pressure cooking, when it was still a little thin, so those simmered 15 min after I added the browned mushrooms at the end, and it thickened up nicely.
Mushroom barley soup in IP, before last simmer. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished mushroom barley soup. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Got my new Olive wood mortar and pestle in action tonight, gift courtesy of my daughter.

Okra brushed with olive oil and with sprinkled with salt, crushed coriander, cumin, aleppo chilis, and sumac. All about to go in the oven for 20 minutes.

Oh hell yeah.

Do you think whole frozen okra from the freezer will work for cooking that way? Typically it is chopped and fried and works well enough after freezing whole.

I don’t know on the okra. [mention]JRinPA[/mention] Funny, I was just thinking of freezing some whole, the last of my crop this season. I guess you blanch yours first?

I think it might work. Okra seems to freeze well in round slices. The oven cooking split longways like in the photo dries them out a little and crisps them some. They remain tender. Okra seems to remain pretty firm and not change all that much after freezing. Not like freezing tomatoes or something with a lot of water in it to begin with.

Came home last night and nothing to eat.
Came up with the idea of mac and cheese but different.
This time I took a kettle and made little marble sized balls of breakfast sausage and put them in a pan of hot water to cook not boiling but hot so it wouldn't cook all the fat out.
This only takes a few short minutes.
Cooked the macaroni in another kettle and put it in the kettle of meatballs that had been drained.
Added easy melt cheese sour cream and some of my homemade hot oil roasted chili arbol flakes with cumin and salt.
It made exactly one bowl of pasta for supper.
Never added sour cream to the mix before but it was fantastic.
The hot oil flakes I made quite some time ago and kept in the refrigerator.
Put whole chili arbols remove seeds before hand if you wish in a blender and turn them into flakes.
Just add chili arbol pepper flakes seeds and all if you wish to a pan of hot oil of your choice but dont get it too hot you dont want it to burn just toast.
Add cumin ground or whole let cool mix in some salt and put it in a mason jar.
Just a wee bit of this stuff goes a long way.

Bought 2 pounds of thin sliced 7 bone at the Jalisco market on the way home from the metal yard.
Diced it up tossed it in my 8 quart cast Iron Dutch oven.
I heated up the kettle first and melted some of my homemade beef tallow in it.
Added one can of large kidney beans juice and all.
Two handfuls of chili powder.
One tablespoon cumin.
dash of salt.
One very large red jalapeno pepper diced.
One large yellow onion diced.
For liquid I used something I have never used before.
One can of mango nectar.
Put lid on and put on low to tenderize and simmer.
Not all spices are in it yet.
Bought some tamales from the parking lot tamale lady.
And I bought some Argentine chorizo too.
This is nothing like Mexican chorizo.
Gonna eat well later today.

i have a big pot of good hamburger soup cooking, something like a triple
recipe. thats what fits in the pressure cooker. i make a stock with beef bones
first, then add burger, an assortment of veggies, tomatoes, and seasonings.
cook until done. marrow, tendons, and connective get cut off the bone, and we
snack on it or give some to the dog. connective tissue is high in collagen which is
good for bones and joints. a heckuva lot cheaper than buying supplement products
for the joints.


keith

rxkeith wrote: ↑Sat Oct 17, 2020 9:30 pm first time my wife, and i heard of pancetta was an episode of northern exposure when adam arkin playing
the way eccentric cook at the restaurant exploded in a rage at his indian helper, and yelled as he threw the bacon
against the wall something like this is not pancetta!!!!!! i specifically said PANCETTA!!! so then we had to find out what it was
and had a hard time finding a store that sold it. we called one store, and the person on the phone asked, is that a bird? nope,
they didn't have it.

anyway, the weather has gone to crap, so what do you do, you make soup.
yesterday, it was senate bean soup. big pot, double recipe. if you are going to
make soup, make a bunch.
i also picked some kale out of the garden, and cooked that in a pot with a chunk of bone,
and a bit of stock from a pork shoulder roast. came out good.
tonight, it was chicken soup with one of our home raised fat boys. most of our chickens are
in the seven to eight pound range, guaranteed leftovers.


keith

U.S. Senate bean soup...I've heard it's been served every day the Senate is in session, for almost 120 years. I wonder if covid changed that.

As for the recipe, it's a good start with navy beans, ham hocks, onion, salt and pepper. For me, I had to add to that list.

the senate bean soup i make, i add a potato, celery, and garlic.
seasonings are 1 tsp of salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and 1/2 tsp nutmeg.
double recipe doubles ingredients. always make a double recipe. you want
left overs.


keith

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts marinated in lemon, garlic and Za’atar seasonings, then grilled along with a Black beauty eggplant made into a tahini less Baba ghanoush. Very nice.

I made another batch of that lentil salad I make countless times every summer. Had 4 cups of ripe cherry and grape tomatoes, plus a couple of habaneros, and a bunch of garlic chives, from the garden. And I finally got up to the Trader Joe's area, when I stocked up on their feta cheese in the brine - my favorite brand.
Last lentil salad of the season, probably. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Adding to my pot of chili above.
((Yes that's what it is chili but with a few beans.))
A dash of polar soy sauce.
Good pinch of dark ancho powder.
5 large cloves of crushed garlic.
More chili powder.
More cumin.
Hot smoked Spanish paprika.
Ground allspice.
juice and rind of two large fresh limes.
Mexican oregano.
Black pepper.
My homemade hominy from the purple corn.
Needed water.
Masa harina to thicken and flavor.
All I had was a wee test bowl last night and I am finishing cooking it today.

Here it is.look at the size of tha pepper.

I have spaghetti ready to cook and some Argentine chorizo swimming in 150F water to cook.
After it is ready I will reverse sear it in a hot skillet.

You have heard of the full English breakfast.
This might be the full Texas breakfast.
This chorizo is over the top big time.
I dont care for Mexican chorizo hardly at all.

Could we have tamales for breakfast
Mummy dear, mummy dear
They gotta have 'em in Texas
'Cause everyone's a millionaire.

Careful hot plate.
Corn tortillas first layer swimming in butter.
Parking lot tamales.
Chorizo wrapped in corn tortillas.
Chili
Jack cheese.
Left covered till the cheese melted.
Breakfast in America.

rxkeith wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 5:09 pm the senate bean soup i make, i add a potato, celery, and garlic.
seasonings are 1 tsp of salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and 1/2 tsp nutmeg.
double recipe doubles ingredients. always make a double recipe. you want
left overs.


keith

I add celery, carrots, sweet potato, basil, sweet marjoram, and liquid smoke. After cooking, the onion, celery, carrots, and sweet potato are pureed. I substitute sweet marjoram for oregano, and add the sweet potato to cancel the slight bitterness of the liquid smoke.

If I want the soup a bit thicker, I puree some of the beans.

I don't "double" any recipe. I use what ingredients are required to fill a 16 quart stock pot.