What are you cooking for dinner this weekend?

[glepore]

I'm going to try to make Sunday at Floydfest prior to a move to C'ville in August. We need to hook up, I'm a PCA guy from wayback, 85 Carrera w/ .5 bar turbo, and a bad cooking/baking addiction.

[Too Tall]

glepore < you talkin' to me? You are on!

Soooo, I served up Hawaiian Poke to guests last night and nobody died. Thanks to Paul for keeping me on the traditional path to good eats.

Again with the NO PICTURES, sorry.

Key take away is to hound your local high end Japanese grocer to supply you with frozen Ahi strips. I was lucky and found 4 packs that looked pretty fatty. The other ingredients are common.

The basics:

1. Short grain rice, seasoned with salt during cooking and finish with a small amt. of mirin. Allow to rest for 1 hr. off heat.
2. Prep dried seaweed by soaking in mirin, soy, sesame seeds, water. Drain when ready and store cold.
3. What the heck? Make some quick pickled jalapeno peppers in vinegar/sugar/salt/water. I also tossed in thin sliced carrots and red pepper.
4. Prep tuna by blotting with towels. Now, Slice Tuna into small squares combine in a chilled SS bowl with soy, sesame oil, seaweed, ripe avacado + salt to taste >> Toss let sit 10 m
5. Make bowls by placing some rice in the bottom, a drizzle of Ponzu than top with Tuna Mix + seeds + more seaweed.

*note it is wise to keep sampling the mixture until it tastes incredible. As Paul says the ratio of sesame oil to soy is key...he is right of course.

We were stuffed! I made enough to bring a few bowls to my Salvadoran and my Mumbai neighbors.

We ain't messin' around.

[dgaddis]

4th of July cookin'. Best spun chicken to date. Hardcore Carnivore Red rub, apple wood for smoke, grate temp below the bird of 350*F. Took about an hour and a half. I've discovered that keeping the temp down makes for a better bird, I've cooked them at 400+ before and the skin just gets overdone and some of the components of the rub will burn. 350*F works better.

Also roasted/grilled some corn, and we had a few other sides. The wife made a blackberry cobbler. Dinner was GOOD!

[dgaddis]

Spun a turkey breast roast for dinner last night. First time cooking one, a Butterball brand. Comes already tied up in a net, and pre-brined. My wife and I both don't like salty food, we never add salt to food when we eat out for example, and don't use a lot when cooking at home. This was a little too salty for me. Nice smokey flavor though, cooked it on the kettle rotisserie with a chunk of apple wood for smoke. Got a little bit of a smoke ring. 325*F for about an hour and a half.

[Too Tall]

I'm roasting coffee, can you tell? Got bored and decided to whip up a couple hundred grams of pasta for dinner tonight.
This could not be easier:
1. 200 grams of flour (AP is ok, 00 better)
2. whizz the flour in your food processor for a few bursts.
3. add two fat eggs and bump the processor a few times until color is even. Open processor and test for clumping (a good thing). If the dough breaks and crumbles add a teaspoon of water and re-whizz.
4. let the dough sit for 20 mins.
5. roll it out. You should not have to use much bench flour. This is a pretty tight recipe. Roll roll roll until you are happy.
6. dust both sides and go nuts. You can make anything from here. In the pics. I rolled the dough into a log and cut fettuchini.
7. dry the noodles in the refrigerator or not.
8. cook in water that tastes like the sea.

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[Chris Chesebro]

Looks great TT. Impressive size consistency and only with a hand roller!

[Too Tall]

Looks great TT. Impressive size consistency and only with a hand roller!

Thanks Chris, actually no hand roller. All rolled out on marble with a wood rolling pin. That was just to keep me calm while waiting for the KitchenAid attachments which arrived last eve.

Beginners luck? Using some Trader Joe's AP I turned out about 1.5 lbs of pasta. The KitchenAid attachments are quality items, I'm impressed. Heeding my inner voice of reason I made a fairly tight dough with only AP, Eggs, Salt and a dash of water. The dough felt right in the edge of what I'd be comfortable rolling by hand. First pass on the KitchenAide told me I needed to dust so that the dough would not break than all was good and off to the races. More passes = silky dough :)

I'm thinking I'll make aglio olio > garlic,red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt ,olive oil ,Italian parsley, parmigiano-Reggiano


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[guido]

That looks great Josh! So wish i could still eat pasta... Oh well...

[Too Tall]

That looks great Josh! So wish i could still eat pasta... Oh well...

Bet I could make some fine Brown rice flour / Tapioca pasta. What about this >> Gluten-Free Fresh Pasta Recipe | Serious Eats
I'm down with it.

[guido]

Bet I could make some fine Brown rice flour / Tapioca pasta. What about this >> Gluten-Free Fresh Pasta Recipe | Serious Eats
I'm down with it.

Oh but I'm off rice too... Thanks for the try though! Just salad for me please!

[ericpmoss]

My nephew's wife made some puttanesca-ish sauce over baked spaghetti squash. It was *fantastic*, as was the sorta-vodka sauce. Surprisingly, I liked it *better* than regular pasta. Of course I can't find the recipe, but there are a thousand on the web.

[Too Tall]

BTW the pasta was very very good. I made 1/2 of the pasta ala aglio olio and the other 1/2 a Bittman favorite Gorgonzola/Arugala. The house voted unanimously in favor of the aglio olio made with alot of thinly sliced hardneck garlic, excellent EVO and Parm. Next up ravioli. I've got memories of a restaurant outside Paris my sister dragged me to where they made these oversized ravioli filled with wild mushrooms. The sous chefs worked like mad fiends to dice them very finely than butter basted in a hot pan and mixed with fresh herbs...I mean to reproduce that...wish me luck. OH also I'm keen to put some garden herbs into the pasta. Suggestions welcome.

[dgaddis]

No pasta? No rice? Guy, what are you doing with your life??

What about spaghetti squash? It's good!

It's not pasta, but it is good.

[Octave]

BTW the pasta was very very good. I made 1/2 of the pasta ala aglio olio and the other 1/2 a Bittman favorite Gorgonzola/Arugala. The house voted unanimously in favor of the aglio olio made with alot of thinly sliced hardneck garlic, excellent EVO and Parm. Next up ravioli. I've got memories of a restaurant outside Paris my sister dragged me to where they made these oversized ravioli filled with wild mushrooms. The sous chefs worked like mad fiends to dice them very finely than butter basted in a hot pan and mixed with fresh herbs...I mean to reproduce that...wish me luck. OH also I'm keen to put some garden herbs into the pasta. Suggestions welcome.

With regard to the ravioli, something my partner and I make quite regularly, I've got a few tips. Some of this might be different because ours is of a vegan disposition (i.e. our pasta is egg-less and the fillings are olive-oil cooked, rather than butter) but I imagine these tips will transfer just fine.

First, go as thin as you can on the pasta. We go 0.6mm. It'll seem crazy at first but there is something really unpleasant about an overwhelming chew to the pasta when the focus should be on the filling. Remember that whatever thickness you use, it'll end up as double that on everything around your filling.

Also, if you can work in a cold environment with a cold surface you're in the money - BUT if you can't (i.e. room temp in the summer sans A/C) then keep everything at room temp. Especially with that thinness, a bit of condensation is going to turn everything to an unworkable mess. If you're finding yourself using lots of flour on the surfaces, be gentle with the sheets like they are made of gold-flake - extra flour + hard movements = chewy pasta. You want just a little bit of bite, not a bread crust around your filling.

Cook your filling ahead of time and let it rest in a strainer in the fridge. A fine mesh sieve will do the trick. Even so, your filling is going to be wet with oil (and water if you're using fresh mushrooms, even well cooked) so work as quickly as you can.

Have a cutting board or a large plate, dusted with flour, which can fit in your fridge, ready to go (unless you plan on pinching off each piece and putting it directly into the pot of boiling water). We give our ravioli/agnolotti/etc about 15-20min in the fridge before cooking which helps the glutens relax a bit.

Even moreso than usual pasta cooking, make sure your water is at a HARD boil. You want a shell to form on the outside of the ravioli within seconds of it hitting the water. Like cooking a poached egg, I find that making a little whirlpool in the water before plopping in your pasta helps a lot so that you don't have to agitate them once they're in.

For cutting/sealing, we use a touch of lukewarm water, spread around the edge with a fingertip and then a bench-scraper to cut the pieces. The bench-scraper is thick enough that it will press the two sides together enough to seal the dough. Before cutting and folding though it's imperative to slowly walk your fingers around the ball of filling to push out any air.

Finally, of all the filled pastas I find ravioli to be the trickiest. You might want to start with agnolotti or cappelletti first, I find those to be a bit more forgiving in their construction.

[Too Tall]

Pure gold Octave. Noted :)

[guido]

No pasta? No rice? Guy, what are you doing with your life??

What about spaghetti squash? It's good!

It's not pasta, but it is good.

Trying to get and keep 10 lbs off... I bounce right back up with any sort of cheating... Most frustrating response to what I love to eat most...

I've never tried the spaghetti squash thing. Worth a try when tomatoes come in...

[dgaddis]

2nd attempt at a London broil. Seasoned with Dizzy Pig's "Raising The Steaks." Cooked indirect with the lid on until the internal temp reached ~100°F (with a chunk of oak for smoke), then removed the lid and moved it directly over the coals for a sear, flipping every minute or so.

It's such a lean cut of meat, there was no fat dripping down on the coals, so no grease fire (and associated flavors). Instead it was licked with flames from just the coals, which gives it a bit of char without the bitterness. When the internal temp hit 135°F I took it off and wrapped in foil to let it rest, then slice against the grain.

Dang good! Cheap cut of meat too.

[Too Tall]

Nice work D.G. Considering how lean that was it takes some patience to do it right.

I used extra fine organic pasta flour at 1:1 flour/egg with a dash of salt and EVO. Next time I'm going to go with one extra yolk and see if that works. I've been told to try a small amt. of baking soda?!

Ravioli has a steep learning curve. The business of filling edge to edge and folding "just so" is tricky. Thanks for the tips esp. regarding pasta thickness and working with a cool surface.
The filling was finely diced shitake saute in butter and EVO/salt/pepper....incredible really. I had fresh garden herbs for the plates. Also, we made use of some leftover gorgonzola and made some with mushrooms + cheese and only cheese..both very good.

We preffered the mouth feel of ravioli that was drained and lightly blotted vs fresh out of the water. A splash of good olive oil and some herbs were just right. Not my finest hour but I'm in the hunt. Also, the square press is awkward, I'll find a round one.

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[rwsaunders]

It was a pasta night in Pittsburgh...

[rwsaunders]

Two 5# pork shoulders are in the crock pots as we prepare for a big family gathering at our house this Sunday. More pics to come as the weekend progresses.