Good idea for a thread

A couple Thai dishes my (Michelin ;-) ) chef friend taught me. They are very simple. 11/11 people I've had them with have enjoyed them. I don't have the macros unfortunately :-(

The key to Thai food is the combination of: fish sauce, lime, and chili.

Thai curry:
- Rice (if bulking)
- Broccoli (if cutting)
- Oil
- Curry paste
- Lime leaves
- Coconut milk
- Lemongrass
- Chicken (preferably the meat from the thighs, although it is more of a hassle cutting it off the bones than simply cutting up some chicken breasts).
- Limes
- Thai aubergines
- Onions
- Mushrooms
- Fish sauce
- Chili
- Coriander
- Scallions

1) Start cooking the rice
2) Fry the curry paste in some oil in a pot
3) Add coconut milk, lemongrass, lime leaves and the chopped chicken. Cook till the chicken is almost done (the chicken is actually boiled, not fried)
4) Add Thai aubergines, onions, mushrooms and fish sauce
5) Add fresh chili
6) Top off with coriander and scallions
7) Squeeze in the lime juice.

The lemongrass, lime leaves and lime juice works wonders in complementing the hot chili.

The macros are pretty nice without the rice (although the coconut milk gives a decent amount of kcals)


Mango/papaya salad
- Papaya
- Mango
- Carrots
- Unsalted peanuts
- Chili
- Fish sauce
- Limes
- Palm sugar (or maple syrup, honey etc)
- Garlic
- Coriander
- Dried shrimp

1) Shred the mango, papaya and carrots
2) Fri the peanuts on a dry pan and chop them up
3) Dressing: chopped chili, fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar and minced garlic. Adjust the amounts till you find your prefered hotness. Keep in mind that the fruits are sweet, so you can allow it to be a bit hot.
4) Mix the fruits with the dressing
5) Add peanuts on top
6) Top of with lots of coriander and the dried shrimp.


Your average sugar-ketchup-coke palete will most likely find these dishes relatively hot. In that case add more lime, hold back on the chili and man a little up ;-)

I like the idea of ditching the carbs when cutting. I've been doing something similar lately with this dish.

Suggestions:
- Substitute the pre-made taco seasoning with cumin (lots), paprika, salt and pepper
- Add and fry some onions, garlic, and jalapenos/chilis.
- Add scallions and lots of coriander before serving
- Add some guacamole.
- Squeeze some lime juice over the dish
- If it's (too) hot, add some fromage frais (if cutting - excellent stats) or creme fraiche (if bulking).

soulman disappointing me with lack of bolognese itt. I'll have to make up for it with roasted chicken & veggies w/ pan sauce.

I kind of just looked at a few recipes and chose parts of ones that I liked.

ingredients:
1 whole chicken (4-6lb)
3 leeks, white part only, cut in half vertically and horizontally and washed
4 red potatoes, halved
5 medium carrots, cut into 2" pieces
unsalted butter
olive oil
salt/pepper
1 bunch thyme
3 lemons
2 garlic heads
dry white wine
flour
string/twine



1. preheat oven to 425F. rinse chicken inside and out, cut off excess fat/feathers, pat dry. salt/pepper the inside liberally, then stuff with 1 lemon (halved), 1 head of garlic (halved horizontally, exposing all the cloves), and half of the thyme.

2. melt 2tbsp butter and brush/rub the outside of the chicken with it. salt/pepper the outside as well. tie the legs together with twine and place chicken in roasting pan with the wings tucked underneath (over the roasting pan grate which should be in the roasting pan).

3. toss leeks/carrots/potatoes with 1tbsp olive oil, salt, and pepper. pour them into the roasting pan around the chicken. quarter 1 lemon and halve the other garlic head. arrange them around the chicken with the vegetables, and ~20 sprigs of the thyme.





4. put roasting pan in oven for 75-90 minutes or until inside of thigh reads 175F. take shot of fireball because fu it's in my freezer.



5. remove roasting pan from oven. move chicken to a platter and cover with foil. remove lemon, garlic, and thyme from the pan. set aside delicious garlic and throw away the lemon/thyme. put the leeks/carrots/potatoes in a big bowl and cover with foil.

6. for the sauce, put roasting pan on the stove over two burners on high heat. bring to boil for a couple minutes while you stir and loosen up stuff that's stuck to pan. then pour in 1 cup of dry white wine and slow boil for another 2-5 minutes. transfer everything to a small sauce pot and add 1tbsp cold butter, swirling until the butter melts. put back on low-med heat and add a few pinches of flour to thicken. add salt/pepper, zest of 1 lemon, squeeze of lemon juice and simmer until desired consistency. you're supposed to strain the sauce before adding salt/pepper btw but I skipped that part and it was fine.

7. cut up chicken, serve everything.







results: meat was fantastic, very tender and juicy. I was a little unsatisfied with the skin from the bottom. some of it was kinda soggy. most of the skin was crispy and delicious though. the vegetables were awesome and so was the sauce.

by the way that is $15-$20 worth of ingredients. served two sizable meals and still have about half left over.

Anyone tried microwave protein cakes?

Basically scoop of protein, 1 egg, splash of milk -> whisk -> microwave in bowl for 60 seconds

I just tried it. Ate with a dollop of cool whip. Tasted fine, texture seemed similar to a kitchen sponge.

It wasn't completely unenjoyable so I am going to experiment some more with it.

Some facsimile of Spaghetti Bolognese





The store didn't have any clean lamb, so I bought 80/20 lamb preground. I got lean pork loin, trimmed off the visible fat and ground it.



Mixed it and browned it.



Scalded, peeled and seeded the tomatoes, processed.





Peel, cube salt and sweat eggplant, rinse and dry. Cube sweet potato, slice red pepper, roast in 475F oven for 20 mins.





Shred carrots and zucchini. Finely chop celery, including leaves.



Heat grapeseed oil in heavy stockpot. Cook asafetida in oil until aromatic, about 45 seconds. Add roasted veggies, shredded veggies, and cook down, about 7 minutes.



Chop spinach and chives, add to pot.



Add all other herbs, anchove paste, tomato and meat. Add about a pint of chicken stock. Bring to simmer, cook down with lid on for 40 minutes or so.



Make Spaghetti. Without wheat.



Mix 3 oz each flour and mix with 1/4 tsp xanthan gum and 1/4 tsp nutmeg until combined. spread out on counter, make a well in the middle.



Add egg and mix on the counter. Work it for about five minutes to activate the protein in the egg. Consider adding an egg if the dough isn't quite right after 5 minutes or so then work it another 5 minutes to activate proteins. Let stand for half an hour.



Use pasta maker.





Boil spaghetti for 3-4 minutes. Don't overcook it. Drain.



Serve. With fresh grated Asiago.



Not quite bolognese, but this was really damn good. Would double the tomatoes next time.

Spaghetti looks amazing!

nuggetz,

I have the pics on my phone, just being lazy as usual. Especially since the pics look like **** since I'm on an old phone right now (new jerb will give me a new one). crash's "bolognese" brings the one I cooked to shame though, rarely do I do that much legwork. And roasted chicken is the nuts, so so good!

seriously nuggetz, I'm coming over and we are eating that. that looked ridic.

crash: equal props for an awesome TR. looks awesome.

Yeah, that's a lot of stuff made from scratch. Nice. I've never made fresh pasta.




I think 2 bros could devour the whole thing pwo

Nuggz, nice looking bird. Is there a reason you cook it with the breast down? I always do mine breast up trussed or not. Well, or vertically ala beer can chicken. You would probably have more success crisping the skin at a higher cooking temp. Not sure that would be desireable for the leeks though.

My sauce is even better today after letting the flavors meld. Nomnomnoms. I do most of my cooking from scratch. Keeps my IBS issues to a minimum when I only use what I know I can tolerate well.

Next time I make this, it will be in a lasagna.

Hmmmm, what to cook next? I mean besides the oyster sausage I'm going to drop itt this weekend.

I also wouldn't mind people posting food/snacks that aren't their own recipe but still part of their weekly food (your fav. B&J ice cream, dish at a restaurant, ect.)

If others don't want this thread going in that direction, that's cool too.

Great thread.

I'll add some stuff at some point.

Moar food pr0n, please!

tsearcher posts some awesome food pics in his log, maybe he could xpost here?

What is tsearcher's blog address?

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/85...0-log-1273676/

I'll post the link for this thread thee too with a request.

Oh - I read that as blog, not log. TY

This is a staple in my house.

Chicken livers, hard boiled eggs and buckwheat.



Cook livers, chop with eggs and add to steamed buckwheat.



Nomnomnom.

Oyster sausage as mentioned. It is a two day process, here is day one:


5 lbs pork butt, 3 eggs, 12 oysters, 1 cup quinoa, 1 cup cream, 1.5Tbsp salt, 2 tsp white pepper.


Lots of herbs. Chives, oregano, basil, thyme, dill:



Cook quinoa and cool to room temp, grind pork, shuck oysters retaining liquid, coarsely chop oysters and herbs, mix all ingredients together.

Put in ziplock bag, let flavors meld.



Tomorrow: stuff casings, cook and eat.

ETA: Macros per 1/4 lb. 5c/15p/14f

I very well may have cooked it upside down. this is actually the first and only time I've roasted a whole bird. the meat was still cooked nicely though. lucky I guess. the recipe said to tuck the wings under the bird, so I assumed I was doing it right since there's only one way to do that.

the skin that was exposed was nice and crispy, but the underside was a little soggy. leeks were pretty awesome and potatoes were a tiny bit undercooked inside but crispy and delicious outside. next time I'll probably start it at 325 or something and then go up to 425 to finish.

I admire that you grow/hunt a lot of your own food. when I'm older and (probably) don't live in a city, I want to get more into gardening and possibly hunting/foraging.



as I type I'm experimenting with a new Thai green curry recipe. I'll probably post a pic of the plate.

in 2 days I'm going to make these: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/f...ipe/index.html

maybe have them for brunch with scrambled eggs.

Made crockpot korean beef tacos tonight that turned out awesome

http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodi.../archives/8582

Also made homemade kimchi that's pretty good

http://drbenkim.com/how-make-kim-chi.htm

A day late, but oyster sausage:


I made a bunch, it is going in the freezer and will be my contribution to a potluck after my fishing tournament in 10 days. I'll put it in the smoker for about an hour for the potluck.



Freezer bag of sausage:



I cooked one up tonight. Hot water bath for 15 minutes, cooled, then browned in sunflower oil:


Serve with yellow mustard and sriracha.



Nomnomnom

I have ~5lbs of chuck roast for tmrw.. might just do this crockpot kalbi... but I got so many carrots/celery that I was supposed to use to make stew

either way, thanks.

You should try Inglehoffer Sweet Hot Pepper Mustard.