The Kitchen - No-Sleep Bolognese Sauce

The Kitchen Bolognese Sauce [ Right-Click / Open Link in NEW TAB ] The Kitchen Bolognese Result [ Right-Click / Open Link in NEW TAB ] ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT On a no sleep 'marathon' (don't know how that happened). Cooking up a Bolognese sauce because it needs to be done, and it's a 4-hour simmer for this one. After the first half hour, it smelled sooooo good. The key to this one is (a) the soffritto (fried) 'base' and (b) the 500 ml of wine that's reduced by half  (+ citrus in this one). I've adjusted this one a little.  In addition to the recipe ingredients, I'm going with: lots of fennel seeds (fried in the soffritto thingy); 3 different herbs, incl. basil -- dried rather than fresh; mushrooms; zucchini; passata / water combo; 1 tin diced tomato. Throwing the mushroom & zucchini in on the last stretch. Fresh herbs might be better, but I didn't feel like messing around outdoors, rinsing, chopping etc.  Too much effort at the moment. If you're careful with the quantity of dry herbs, it's not overpowering.  It's only been an hour ... smelling that yummy sauce is torture. -------/\/\/  RESULT Way better than my Bolognese sauces have been getting lately. Might try this again soon, without going overboard with passata & sticking to stock next time, as tampering with passata changes the flavour and adds more acidity, & probably overpowers the flavours a bit ... but there's no complaints. All good.  Fennel seeds a hit. Loads there to freeze for future dinners. *Fresh basil for next time.

Imperialism and Bread & Butter Pudding

221 page PDF Imperialism: A Study (1902) John A Hobson English economist, social scientist critic of imperialism influenced Marxist theories of imperialism http://www.cscd.osaka-u.ac.jp/user/rosaldo/Hobson_Imperialism_1902.pdf ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT Above book  looks like it might be good reading (even though it's ancient). Saved myself a copy of the PDF for checking out some time. ---------------------- ---------------------- In other news:  pigged out on bread & butter pudding. [Click to ENLARGE image] Used an amalgamation of recipes.   Made this with buttered stale bread; x5 eggs; 50/50 milk & cream @ 250ml each; 3/4 cups of caster sugar; splash of vanilla essence; loads of brandy & sultanas; and some melted  jam (microwave), which I poured on at the half-way mark of layering the bread, before finishing the remainder of bread layering and pouring on the cream/milk & egg mixture over the lot. Didn't bother taking off the crusts, as I think discarding crusts is wasteful.  The whole thing gets soaked before going in the oven at 190 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes and at 160 for about 20 mins, standing in a pan of water. Got a bit carried away with the sugar & cinnamon on top.  Did three dessert spoons of sugar, which is waaaaaay too much on top.

Off Topic - Onion, Bacon, Potato Hotpot

Food Onion, Bacon, Potato (& Bean) Hotpot Hotpot in the Making [CLICK on IMAGE to ENLARGE] Hotpot is something else that's easy to prepare and very tasty. The hotpot is based on a recipe by Jocasta Innes. By and large as per recipe, but I've added some sharp crumbly cheese and crushed garlic to my white sauce. I've also added a tin of Cannellini beans to the layers of sliced onion, sliced potato, & diced smoky bacon. I've not prepared this strictly per directions; I've just sort of thrown it together and thrown the white sauce on top, as I'm rather lazy.  ;) Good with vegetables, salad, or anything else.   :) ---------------------- ---------------------- RECIPE:  Onion, Bacon & Potato Hotpot LINK | Recipe Jocasta Innes Jocasta Innes, who has died aged 78, was the author of some 60 books in which she set out to prove that it is possible to live elegantly on a shoestring. 6:04PM BST 23 Apr 2013 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10013601/Jocasta-Innes.html

Off Topic - Mee Goreng

Off Topic Mee Goreng Result Mortar & Pestle Ground Onion & Garlic Mee Goreng [Click on Image to Enlarge] Mee Goreng Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4X-_qIIAoo Other Inspiration Mee Goreng Recipe http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/make-mee-goreng-malaysian-noodle-dish-you-cant-get-wrong-n216991 ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT Took my inspiration from the above video & alternate recipe.  Did my own thing, sort of.  Very nice.  Reasonably quick and easy job. I threw in whatever I had. Eg.  I didn't have shallots, so I just used a large onion (diced & then whacked until ground -- mortar and pestle.  But I'm guessing electric device would work just as well). Instead of bok choy, I had finely shredded cabbage & red capsicum that was on hand.  Wok fried that ahead of assembling entire dish.  Likewise with the chicken.  Wok fried the chicken strips.  For the sauce, I just threw in everything together in one measuring jug. I made an omelette in advance, which I chopped up, because I'm no good with wok egg. Sauce was really nice.  Did mine with the tomato sauce.  So it was tomato sauce, sweet soy, and a dark soy mix.  As I did a massive batch, mine was something like 1/4 cup of each. Next time, I'll have some fried tofu and definitely greens of some kind.  Greens make it yummy & more appealing visually, too. Need to be fit with strong wrists (unlike my puny wrists ... lol), to do the stone mortar and wok lifting (ouch!) ... & the wok stirring (ouch, again). Worked up a massive sweat doing this.  How unfit am I?  lol [In a hurry ... hope there's no typos ... lol ... gotta go]

Recipe - Chicken Biryani

RECIPE Chicken Biryani Chicken Biryani [CLICK image for clarity / enlargement] RIGHT-CLICK IMAGE Select:  'Open Link in New TAB' Use Magnifier tool for FULL ENLARGEMENT Result ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Recipe used:  LINK | Sanjeev Kapoor I varied mine a little.  I was also working with a massive batch. Wrist almost collapsed holding up frying pan (big, heavy base), scooping out batches of fried stuff. I did things my own way (as in frying things in batches & then doing the combo once the batches are done), but used these ingredients (except the mint & the eggs ... bunch of mint would go to waste & I was too lazy for the eggs). I could have thrown in more coriander,  I think. Only used the x3 green chillies (seeds incl.), plus the teaspoon or so of hot chilli powder (as I prepped a bigger batch), and it's on the warm side. Threw in sultanas & slivered almonds (toasted with the bay leaves etc). I just threw in tinned tomato (which I zapped with a stick blender), and I threw the yoghurt in there, so it was all ready to go in one hit -- saves messing. I'll have to write up the order I did things in, for future reference. *Cracked a sweat doing that. PS  ...  even though mine was probably sloppier (liquid ingredients) than that traditionally served, it was really tasty (and the liquid gets absorbed, anyway).  Only drawback is picking out hard bits of stuff (seeds, leaves) while eating ... lol If you think you might get into biryani, this might be the place to go: LINK | here loads of biryani recipes  ... & they look good. ꕤ

GIF - White House

ꕤ Kim Jong-un Checking Out White House ❤ Via Twitter ❣ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Thought this was hilarious and too good not to share. I love Kim Jong-un. Not sure if this has come up OK (as I don't have the plug-in). If not, link to source - here. Uh-oh North Korea has successfully tested hydrogen bomb. 06 January 2016 ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- This is also too good not to share: Polenta With Parmesan and Olive Oil Fried Eggs| NYT The spinach is a must.  Yummmmm. On my to-do list. ꕤ

Recipe - Stewed Chicken

RECIPE Chicken ... stew, I guess [click to enlarge] ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- JJJ Ingredients [adaptable] Onion, finely diced Garlic, crushed Used fresh: Thyme, finely diced Rosemary, finely diced Sage, finely diced Used dry: Basil - good pinch Oregano - good pinch 2 teaspoon flour (a good sprinkle) 3/4 cup white wine Black pepper, freshly ground - lots   chicken - cut to bite-size (used x3 chicken breasts, but thigh is nicer) x2 tins cannellini beans (or less ... I like beans) (these are creamy Italian white beans) potatoes - large bite-sized pieces (microwave) carrots - diced smallish Corn, fresh - scraped off cob capsicum - diced Stock - used chicken stock powder used about 3.5 cups water  - use eye, feel, experience to estimate (water depends on mass of ingredients overall) ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Method Onion/Garlic Fry onion in small amount of oil. Add garlic, when onion is on it's way to being done Add garlic, when onion nearly done. (crushed garlic won't need long) Once done, tip into clean bowl & set aside. Chicken Add oil for browning chicken (not too much). Lightly brown chicken (in batches if lots of chicken). Tip out each browned batch into clean bowl. Gravy Base On final batch, throw in the onion/garlic mix. Sprinkle with couple generous tsp flour (or more, judge). Cook off flour, scraping bottom of pot. Wine Throw in 3/4 cup white wine. Stir, scraping bottom (forms a gravy). Keep stirring & scraping & cook off alcohol, reducing somewhat. Stock Throw in hot water (from kettle) - use measuring jug. Add stock powder (to match water measure added). (I use a rough 1tsp per cup, but I go by eye - not exact - err on side of caution (b/c salt content & eventual reduction liquid)) Add good amount of fresh ground pepper Stir all through, make sure nothing caught on base. Vegetables A Throw in: diced carrots beans cook off Potato Microwave potato pieces (for convenience) - nearly done. Throw in potato. Allow to cook off. Vegetables B Final about 10-15 mins or so before finish, add: fresh corn - single (or more if desired) capsicum  - small handful frozen peas - handful frozen green beans - couple of good handfuls Turn up heat to bring up temperature again, then turn down & simmer for 10mins or so. serve with pasta or rice, or just crusty bread (we're having pasta  ... not so much into that, would rather rice) ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT *Should not need additional salt, if using commercial stock powder. *Measurements aren't strict, adapt to preference etc. *Go easy on the wine ... I've adjusted to 3/4 cup here (1 cup might be a tad too much).  *Measurements here are handfuls & ordinary spoons (I couldn't be bothered with tiny exact measures) - I throw in what I think, based on prior experience (I guess). I prefer a thick gravy result (rather than too soupy), but I maybe could have done with little more liquid (or pulling it off stove sooner.  Was slack about monitoring ... on internet instead.). All of the above is adaptable:  vegetables can be what you want. Even the meat & wine is 'switchable' - eg. can use beef & red wine instead, for a different result (but same basic idea). Recipe was adapted from a Jewish chicken (on the bone pieces) recipe that goes in the oven for about an hour and a half in total  (but I couldn't be bothered with the oven, stove top worked for me -- just add more liquid for stove-top). As I used chicken breast, it doesn't really need much cooking at all -- particularly as it is browned in advance.   Just enough to get all the flavours through and a nice gravy happening. It tastes really good. ꕤ

Chicken Korma

RECIPE ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Chicken Korma Gearing up to cook this chicken korma. Recipe went something like this: 1.5 cups natural yoghurt 1.5kg Chicken thighs, skinless walnuts & cashews - grind x2 big onions fried until caramelised 2 Tbsp ginger garlic 2 tsp      - chilli powder (cook off) 1/2 tsp   - turmeric powder 1 tsp      - coriander powder 1 tsp nutmeg / black cardamom (mix stored) ground & stored as powder (in her kitchen) ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- spices - go into fried onion oil mix green cardamom - open cinnamon black pepper 10-20 seeds cloves 12-15 ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- The plan 1. trim chicken & set aside (worst job first) 2. assemble & apportion spices 3. grind nuts 4. caramelise onions Steps Brown chicken (in pan in which onion was caramelised). Add ginger & garlic paste (or crush). *may add salt (I prefer to do last). Fry off chicken until golden brown. Once chicken browned, add: 2 tsp chilli powder (cook off) 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1 tsp coriander powder Add:  1 cup yoghurt Add:  2-3 Tbsp cashew & walnut powder (more for thicker gravy) Add:  1/2 cup yoghurt (ie balance yoghurt) 10 mins - cook off, covered add caramelised onion & stir through (thickening agent) add water if needed add 1 tsp (total) nutmeg & black cardamom powder (pre-prepared & stored in above chef's kitchen) add little more water, if required (because onion makes think gravy) cook off another 10 mins 1/2 tsp (unknown liquid ingredient) & turn off heat. *** SALT AT END, preferred (by me) *** COMMENT I'm only using 700g of chicken this time & will adjust ingredients. The overall key is:   cardamom, yoghurt, caramelised onion and ground nuts.   Unknown ingredient doesn't matter, as it's not key. Chicken Korma - Finished Chicken Korma - Finished Watch the 10 minute spells.  As in, check & stir.  Watching for sticking on base.   Add more liquid.  Needed top-ups, because it was very thick. I'm getting whinging that it's not chicken korma tasting, but it tastes good to me.  ;) ꕤ

More Hummus

Hummus Levantine & Egyptian dip ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Made Hummus ... again.  lol Not doing Christmas with everyone this year. Opted to sit this one out at home. So this is my Christmas food.  lol It's super easy. Used this recipe as a guide (but I adjust things how I want them): Syrian Foodie I've made a huge pile of hummus and used an obscene amount of garlic (I'm gonna reek). This sounds really good.  I love chicken livers: Chicken Livers with Pomegranate Molasses Don't know how I'll  go finding pomegranate molasses. ꕤ

Recipe

Hummus with Garlic & Cumin http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/hummus-mellow-garlic-cumin.aspx ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Made this ... but improvised a little. Threw in a tin of cannellini beans & did quantities by eye rather than measured.   My mix includes hulled Tahini.  And I threw in some sweet paprika (no sprinkling ...  lol). Didn't do the soy as I'd already put salt in mine, but it sounds nice (although untraditional). Tastes really good.  Chilling. ꕤ

Off-Topic - Poltergeist & Rajma

---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Had a freaky 'kitchen poltergeist' experience while rinsing rice. Something dark fell into the sink and scared the #$@!! out of me. Turned out to be my hair tie ... but my hair was firmly tied back (or I thought it was). Hair's shedding like crazy, so it's a must.  Like maybe 2 years of shedding, or something like that.  It never stops.  I'll have to wear a headscarf if it doesn't stop soon.  Don't fancy the bald or the scarf options,   so I saw a doctor a while back, but he didn't think there was anything to be concerned about. So that's that.  I'll probably slowly go bald and maybe tattoo exotic flowers my head.  lol  Guess my hair wasn't properly tied, and the tie sort of slid off onto my clothing.  Probably didn't notice because I'm really tired; been keeping insane hours again. Yep.  I'm going with that.  lol Prepared another bean curry.  I never tire of beans or curries.  Yum. Rajma / Red kidney Bean Curry Link | here Tend to adjust things to suit me and how I want to do things. I threw some finely diced carrots (you don't want hard bits of carrot in there) in with the onions to fry. Did something like: 2-3 tsp garam masala 2.0 tsp coriander 1.0 tsp chilli powder 3/4 tsp tumeric 1.0 tsp sugar x2 garlic cloves crushed (love garlic) 1.0 tsp fresh ginger (organic jar ginger tastes fine to me) 1.0 onion fresh coriander x2 beans cans x2 tomato cans abt. 2  tins water (or thereabouts / go by feel) Did the thing where you throw in the tinned tomato (once the onion, garlic & ginger (and carrots, in this case) are cooked off) and you then throw in the spice mix and let the whole thing cook down until it totally thickens, before throwing in water and the beans (+ coriander). As it cooks down, you mush up some of the beans, with spatula or whatever you're using,  for an extra thick, creamy sauce. Adding more water and cooking it right down works, but I couldn't be bothered waiting.  Tastes good.   Works really well.  Very nice. It's so quick and easy and it makes a really yummy meal, with very few ingredients and just one pot (which is a bonus). Recipe's probably much like the last rajma I cooked. Cooking is pretty much the same formula and pattern for given dishes, so it's mostly the same deal once you understand the formula (with little variations, as desired). The coriander was from the other day.  I trim off what I don't want (eg unusable hydro roots), rinse the whole lot, use what I need at the time, and let rest drain before wrapping in paper towel & storing in freezer bag in refrigerator.  It helps fresh herbs keep, I find.  Don't know how long for.  Maybe 3 or 4 days so far? That was my probably not-so-spooky kitchen adventure. ꕤ

Recipe - rajma (bean curry)

ꕤ Video SOURCE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iTijn-gZCU ❤ ❤ Rajma Punjabi Chawla's Kitchen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iTijn-gZCU ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Made this rajma (bean curry) the other night.  Very yummy, quick & easy. I cheated & improvised. What I used: x2 -  can kidney beans - drained & rinsed x1 -  can lentils - drained & rinsed x2 -  can diced tomatoes x2 - onion, diced x2 - cloves garlic, large - diced x2 - tsp ginger 3   tsp  - Garam Masala 1   tsp  - Cumin 1   tsp  - Coriander 1   tsp  - chili 1.5 tsp - Tumeric 1 bay leaf (fried) 3 tins kettle boiled water (as in use an empty tin) Salt to taste, nearing end of cooking time 2 dollops butter (as no ghee handy; tastes fine) *fresh coriander [25-30 mins cooking, after 'gravy' or tomato base prepared] *I use normal utensils for measurements, so a teaspoon is a teaspoon in my kitchen. ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- It's the first time I've done this method of preparing a seasoned and reduced 'tomato base'.  It turned out very nice, and it was just as easy to make as it looks on video. Used a combo of canned kidney beans and a tin of lentils I had on hand, to get rid of the lentils (as I never got around to making lentil burgers).  Tasted fine.  The bet is you can throw in anything and it would still taste good.  lol I got a bit carried away with the amount of chilli I put in (3 tsp), as I wasn't taking into account how much I would be reducing the liquid -- and I like quite a thick mix, so it was well reduced. It was painful.  lol   Lips & tongue hurt.  Nose ran.  I've reduced the amount of chilli to 1 tsp for next time (but those that don't like chilli might want to think that one over). I don't keep ghee on hand and couldn't be bothered heating butter to separate solids.  Just threw in a couple of dollops of butter before serving.  Tasted fine to me. Served with rice & natural yoghurt.  Didn't have any fresh coriander on hand, so I made do by throwing in coriander spice (along with the other spices, when preparing the base).  Left-over amount frozen.   ꕤ

Recipe - Belgian Embassy - Beer Meatballs

RECIPE Meatballs with Lambic (Beer) (Recipe courtesy of the Embassy of Belgium) Ingredients for 4 persons: - 350 g minced veal (or minced beef if veal unavailable) - 100 g minced chicken - 250 g minced pork - 2 slices of white bread - 25 cl lambic beer - 20 cl olive oil - 50 g butter - 1 egg, slightly beaten - salt, pepper, nutmeg - 2 spoons of chopped parsley - 1 shallot, 1 garlic clove, finely chopped - 20 g all-purpose flour - juice of half a lemon Preparation: 1. Cut the bread (using the inside of the loaf, without the crust) in small pieces and brown it with 4 spoons of beer. After a little while squeeze it to extract the remaining liquid. 2. At the same time heat 2 spoons of olive oil in a non-stick wok, add 20gr butter and brown the finely chopped clove of garlic and the shallot until it becomes transparent. 3. Bring 1 and 2 in a large bowl together with the three kinds of minced meat, the slightly beaten egg, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix well. 4. Dip fingers in flour and shape 8 meatballs without compressing too much. 5. Heat some olive oil and one spoon of butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Place the meatballs, add the remainder of the beer, the 1/2 lemon juice and one pinch of caster sugar. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 30 min. 6. Remove the meatballs with a slotted spoon, and keep warm under aluminum foil. 7. Reduce the cooking juices by half over high heat. Transfer the remaining liquid in another bowl through a sieve. Off the heat, whisk the butter in and stir well to obtain a creamy sauce. 8. Serve with roasted potatoes and a lettuce heart with a touch of vinegar. source http://mainichi.jp/english/english/features/news/20150824p2a00m0na015000c.html ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Even though I feel guilty eating meat, I like the sound of these. I'd probably adapt the recipe, because I couldn't be stuffed playing around with 3 different types of mince. ꕤ