The Kitchen: all things delicious and disastrous

Saute thin sliced onions in butter and glop a gob of them on top.

Or mushrooms — butter or white wine works nicely.

In other news, I'm busy falling in love with barley. It's so much tastier and fun than rice.

I like quinoa when I feel flush. What?

edited 15th Mar '14 8:53:20 AM by Euodiachloris

For tonight's dinner, I had "chicken salad." Just some chopped lettuce with several thin strips of boiled chicken breast. God, it tasted bland. I would have put some Caesar dressing, but I began my diet, so it was not an option. I also still felt a bit hungry, so I had an apple.

......For some reason, I really want to try casu marzu right now. Yes, I remember.

edited 18th Mar '14 7:11:38 PM by dRoy

Baked a cake and it came out ok.

Would have liked it a bit fluffier and the icing was a bit too thick but I've had much worse.

My father liked my hamantashen better than my mother's. She suggested it's because I have the patience to roll them out thinner.

Once I stopped laughing, I admitted I used the pasta roller (setting 5).

I made apple, raspberry, Nutella, and s'mores.

Hmmmmm.... hamanstaschen... that takes me back to kindergarten. But, I've also had them, since. Mincemeat hamanstaschen also work.

But, my fave is actually... marzipan. Unless it's the more traditional prune. Hard choice.

I have a craving for General Tso's chicken.

d roy: Invest in some spices. You can add a little bit of a spice that doesn't have salt or sugar in it like an Italian herb blend and add that to meat before you grill it to give it some flavour and make it less bland without adding calories.

Good old pepper. Or garlic. A bit of thyme or sage (be wary).

And, if push comes to shove... go nuclear: nothing gives the taste-buds something to do quite like hitting the madras curry powder.

someone at work asked for my biscotti recipe today :)

Hmmm... the power of real biscuits and coffee...

@shima, Euo - I have to admit that I'm not familiar with spices that isn't salt and pepper. XP

What spices would go well with salad?

Spice and salad? Depends on what's in the salad, really. If heavy with cabbage, caraway or cumin is good. If hitting the mayonnaise hard, practically any spice will work... particularly paprika. A rice or pasta salad will pretty much like any spice you chuck at it as long as you don't go overboard.

If just a simple green salad, a little coriander in with the dressing is good. Or, jazz it up with a bit of chilli and ginger or go more Eastern with some wassabi and soy-sauce.

I messed up the frosting for a friend's birthday cake. Since throwing away good chocolate is unthinkable, a good hour was spent flailing about trying to salvage it. I felt kind of like an ER doctor, but with more cream, sugar and butter (LIVE, DAMN YOU!)

I now have quite possibly the most amazing fudge I've ever made, though between the 75% cacao content and the absurd amount of sugar needed to stabilise it, I may never sleep again.

In all, a day well spent.

^ I love salvage operations that work out some way like that, even if they don't work out the way you wanted them to.

^^ Oregano in a vinegar and oil salad dressing is nice and zingy.

Hmm...interesting options.

Sigh... Today my father and I went for lunch at our favorite BBQ place. Two observations: 1. the quality of the food is not as good and worse 2. they let their liquor license lapse. BBQ just ain't the same without a good beer. Must be time to find a new place.

At least this is the South, so you can't spit without hitting a barbecue joint.

^ Scientific Wild-Ass Guess: It's got new owners.

Soliciting suggestions for bread... The meat is going to be wild boar. I've never had wild boar, but I'm guessing like pork but stronger-flavor and maybe a bit gamy. I'm thinking the Russian Black Bread; it's a dark, dense, heavy, strong rye, made with molasses and cocoa, so it's got a bit of bite to it.

Opinions or other suggestions?

Or, you can go for honey-breads or the seedy kinds. Boar likes sweet things.

Maybe something like this? Or this if you feel like putting a "sauce" into the bread?

edited 23rd Mar '14 5:47:40 AM by Euodiachloris

Any suggestions for healthy sides for chicken?

And/or spicing suggestions.

Garlic and sea salt and pepper are basic go to s for chicken. i'd also try lemon, thyme, rosemary and sauteed mushrooms (sauteed mushrooms are NOT really healthy but they taste so darn good, and if you saute them in olive oil instead of butter, they are a bit more reasonable). Paprika, cumin and rubbed sage are also a good combination.

What do you think about brussel sprouts? Cauliflower makes a good fake mashed potato if yous team and mash and add jsut a bit of cheddar. If you like pasta, try it with fresh basil and lightly wilted spinach.

Something else that chicken (and turkey, to be honest) always likes: a dash of bacon or ham instead of just using straight-up salt and fat-of-your-choice. Yes, it may not look healthy, but the extra taste can actually mean you use less of both than if you just poured straight from a container (although, always check the contents).

Yup this is true! Also, uncured bacon is often healthier in terms of stuff put on it/ in it and tastes pretty good!

Just don't wrap the chicken in bacon. BITS of bacon. Not slabs.

I've found cooking chicken on a flat frying pan over medium heat for an extended period of time works well, even for things like drumsticks. Decently inexpensive and reasonably healthy as long as you go easy on the salt.

Concur on the sauteed mushrooms; I use vegetable oil for everything anyway. There are few things that sauteed onions and mushrooms don't go well with.

edited 25th Mar '14 7:18:46 PM by SabresEdge