Cooking thread

Quote: Mosca

I understand. Take 5 minutes,

By the time my PC loads a video, more than 5 minutes ahve apssed. Sometiems much more ;)

Quote:

it answers a lot of questions that you haven't even asked yet. Pepin is the master of the egg. No one before or since is as good. And the video is designed to teach.

I'll take your word for it.

The thing is this: I get a very deep feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment when I try something I thought up or learned, and it works.

Perhaps I make it sound like a bigger deal than it is. if I can't make a satisfacotry omelette next Saturday, then I'll look up how.

Quote: Nareed

By the time my PC loads a video, more than 5 minutes ahve apssed. Sometiems much more ;)

Now I understand. I agree, it would take too long.

SPOILERS AHEAD, IF YOU WANT TO DO IT ON YOUR OWN READ NO FURTHER.

Here's the gist:

Beat the eggs until they are thoroughly mixed, with no yellow/clear curd separation.

For a country omelet, simmer a pat of butter until it starts to brown, then pour the eggs in. Don't stir them; instead, use a fork to pull the edges toward the center creating large curds and let the uncooked egg fill the edges. When the center is almost done, fill if you wish, then fold the omelet in half, and let the bottom brown a bit. Flip onto a plate and serve

For a classic omelet, use a little bit lower heat. Simmer a pat of butter until it melts, but not until it browns. Pour the eggs in and shake the pan while stirring the eggs quickly with a fork, the bottom of the tines pressed against the pan, creating very small curds. The eggs will get all nice and custardy. When they are the consistency of pudding, add any filling, roll the omelet up and serve without browning.

The taste and texture of the omelets are quite different. The country omelet is hearty, the classic is smooth and velvety. Both are excellent, just different.

Enjoy!

Quote: Mosca

SPOILERS AHEAD, IF YOU WANT TO DO IT ON YOUR OWN READ NO FURTHER.

Noted :)

I'm still stuck about what to cook next week.

On the one hand I want to do Tangerine Chicken to post to my blog. On the other, I got two one kilo containers of un-condimented tomato puree free, and I want to do something with that, too. I was thinking of trying to make pizza and spaghetti sauce with it. But just adding onion, garlic and oregano is too simple. And on the Gripping hand, I want to find a good mix for a sweet and sour sauce (tomato puree doesn't help any...)

So I'm stuck... I'll wind up doing vegetarian chili again, probably.

I made potato soup yesterday an got it nearly right:

http://kathyscookingcorner.blogspot.mx/2012/12/nearly-right-potato-soup.html

Today, after I get back from work, I should make chile sin carne:

http://kathyscookingcorner.blogspot.mx/2012/07/textured-soy-chili.html

Surprise!

http://kathyscookingcorner.blogspot.mx/2012/12/chilorio-and-ginger-srambled-eggs.html

Potato soup, second draft:

http://kathyscookingcorner.blogspot.mx/2012/12/potato-soup-second-draft.html

My daughter made this for dessert yesterday, it was incredible.

1 750ml bottle red wine
4 firm ripe pears, peeled
2.25 cups sugar
.5 cups orange juice
2 tsp grated orange peel
1 tsp cardamom
1 cinnamon stick
vanilla ice cream


Mix everything but the pears in a heavy sauce pan, bring to a simmer, stirring. Add the pears, either whole or cut (she cut them into large pieces, we had really BIG pears from Harry & David). Simmer everything until the pears look cooked through, maybe 20 minutes. Remove the pears and reduce the liquid until it is syrupy.

Arrange the pears into 4 servings, add a scoop of ice cream and drizzle the syrup over each serving.

My next project, for this weekend, is to make spaghetti/pizza sauce from scratch. That is, I begin by peeling some tomatoes and go on from there; I won't even use tomato paste. It should be fun.

Also since it's winter I want to expand my soup repertoire. I figure tomato soup should be easy to make alongside the pasta sauce. But I'm stumped as to what to do next. I suppose I should try making chicken soup from scratch as well. I've considered and rejected carrot soup and celery soup. I like carrots welle nough, but only raw. Celery is too subtle in flavor to be worth making soup. Perhaps cream of Chile Poblano, if I can find a way to make it low fat...

Quote: Mosca

My daughter made this for dessert yesterday, it was incredible.

Sounds good.

howver: how much vanilla ice cream? One scoop? Two? A gallon?

Also, it seems too sugary for my taste. If I made it, I'd either skip the sugar (plenty in the ice cream, pears and OJ), or substitute with granualted Splenda or stevia.

One small scoop. The pears are the main focus, the ice cream is to give smoothness and contrasting temperatures. It is very sweet. The portions are meant to be small, less than a cup. I'd recommend just using less syrup per serving rather than cutting out the sugar entirely, or using less sugar in the syrup rather than cutting it out entirely. I've never cooked with stevia, it has a bitter aftertaste to me that I find unpleasant. (Not everyone tastes the bitterness.) And sucralose isn't heat-tolerant.