Cooking (not just dinner)

He’s one who’s always cooking fancy food, while I tend to go for pretty good food that can feed a dozen people on a budget. He recently bought Julia Child’s French cookbook, and spends most of some days off making dinner.

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Shrimp tacos.

  • Shrimp sauteed and seasoned with my smoked habañero and rum hot sauce

  • Slaw consisting of shredded cabbage and cilantro marinated in lime juice, black pepper. (sour cream added near the end)

  • crumbled cotija cheese

  • double corn tortillas

  • side of refried black beans

(Sorry. I ate them too fast to get a picture.)

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well even though you missed the before shot, please please don’t post the after shot. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I love that comic so much.

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Isn’t this supposed to end with the guy angrily chucking the whole mess into a bowl, pouring soy sauce over it and eating it with a spoon in a haze of self-hatred?

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Last night, I made a simple fish soup for supper. Today’s leftovers taste even better than last night’s meal.

1 yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
2 small carrots
3 med gold potatoes
2 celery stalks
4+ cups veg broth
~1T cornstarch
1T fish sauce
1 lb dover sole
thyme, bay leaves, marjoram

Chopped the veg into chunks. Cooked the onion and garlic in some olive oil, then added the rest of the veg and the broth and the herbs. Simmered 15 minutes, then added the fish and fish sauce. Simmered another 8 minutes.

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Before I read your ingredients list, I thought that second piece of potato was a Frito. And I thought “That’s interesting!” :smile:

I should take more food pics. Last night I made a gallon (!) of minestrone for family dinner, thinking we’d have leftovers enough for a few days. But nothing was left except the empty pot!

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Heh. Yesterday, I made split pea soup, thinking I’d have enough for some leftovers this week. Sadly, no. I had a bowl and fell asleep. The Dude liked it a lot, apparently. Someone’s going to be gassy today.

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Speaking of split pea soup, he asked me to make it without onions, garlic or herbs & spices. This goes against everything I learned from my mother, but OK. He said it was OK to include a smoke ham hock. Apparently, this is the split pea soup of his childhood.

So, the ingredients were dried split green peas, a smoked ham hock, salt, and water. That’s it. I was afraid it would end up being bland and terrible. But, it wasn’t terrible. It was a very simple flavor and very good, even if it wasn’t especially exciting.

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Well obviously it was highly appreciated that way! :wink:

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I’ll definitely make it again, this same way. And, I can save the zingy, spicy flavors for lentils or garbanzos.

My bias is to make food flavors exciting, but comforting foods have their place, and are often overlooked.

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I was taught to salt the hell out of beans, but actually I prefer them cooked without salt. The flavor is fresher and the beans are softer. I also find that as I get older, I less and less enjoy the flavor of onions and am trying foods without them that I usually use them in.

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I was taught to salt beans (like black or pinto beans) only once they are cooked, that salting the cooking water made them tough or grainy in texture. The salting at the end keeps the salt in the liquid. At least, that was the wisdom I received.

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QUESTION:

I want make a blueberry buckle (but with strawberries instead of blueberries, but that’s not what my question is about). The recipe I have calls for a springform pan, but that’s something I don’t own. Do you think it’d still work if I used a square pan (glass or metal) instead? It seems like a springform pan would be good if you wanted it to look pretty for company or something, but all I care about is having dessert to eat.

Thank you for your help!

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I’ve had good results with a regular pan, by greasing it thoroughly and then lightly flouring. It’s probably going to stick wherever a fruit is on the edge though. That sort of thing doesn’t bother me.

Glass vs metal makes some difference. I’d say go with metal if you have one, because of baking time. But, even if it comes out non-standard, or unattractive even, the ingredients are going to make it tasty.

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it will not look nice (depending on your dexterity), but a metal pan will do the job - if the material is very thick compared to a spring form it changes the heat distribution, but this should be irrelevant for this recipe

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Awesome, that’s what I was hoping for! The picture with the recipe has a nice looking wedge of buckle sitting on a plate with a scoop of ice cream. All I want is something I can stick a giant spoon into. :yum:

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Even ugly desserts can be fantastic! Especially with fresh strawberries :yum:

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And where would this recipe be?

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