BS: Recipes - what are we eating?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 24 Aug 20 - 11:43 AM

Jos, you have my sympathy. Thanks to a childhood spent in the 1950s and '60s, I find mushy food in general, and macaroni and cheese in particular, notably unpleasant. I'm trying to get my head around the notion of a "dessert" featuring overcooked macaroni, and it's not sitting well even mentally.

Last night I left the kitchen when I should not have done, got into a conversation about kittens with Jane Across The Street, and forgot about the brown rice I was parboiling on the stove before assembling a chicken dish to be baked in a Romertopf. It's decades since I last actually forgot something on the stove long enough for it to be completely wrecked. The stench hovered in the house for hours, and I had to make the chicken dish with white rice that came out gluey and bland.

Suitable punishment.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 24 Aug 20 - 03:22 AM

I can never bring myself to touch anything labelled 'macaroni' because of the indescribable inedible horror we were served up with school dinners as a dessert.
If in doubt I go for tagliatelle, which seems to go pleasantly with anything even if a real Italian might not approve.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Aug 20 - 06:36 PM

I've never been much of a fan of normal penne. Maybe it's too many horrid cold pasta salads in the past (a disgusting idea). I recently discovered penne mezze, a much smaller version, very nice too, and I've already mentioned the big pennone that I use in arrabbiata dishes. I tried a spicy, meaty dish with Mrs Steve using paccheri, but she couldn't handle it. Humph. One of our favourites is gigli which looks like little trumpets. It comes from Gragnano and cooks in seven minutes, and it's great with delicate fish dishes.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 23 Aug 20 - 01:46 PM

Two topics running simultaneously. I feel like a person sitting at the good end of a dinner party.

First, jam -- making of. In Ottawa, where we used to live, I collected jam jars from the church (I usually put a couple of dozen jars of jam in the annual bazaar), and from several friends and relations. Now, far away from those friends and relations and with the church shut down because of COVID-19, I'm cut off from the black market in Mason jars and actually have to buy them. Everyone else is in the same boat, so of course the shops have none.

This year's output of Five-Fruit Chutney will probably have to go into half-litre jars; consequently, I won't give any to people who are not wildly enthusiastic about chutney.

Pasta shapes -- I never gave much to pasta shapes until I acquired a copy of Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Traditional Italian Cooking, but even now my first concern is whether the pasta is likely to spray sauce around the dining table on its way from dish to Himself's gaping maw (he's not the neatest eater in the grid square). I like rotini, which holds a handsome quantity of sauce without incident, and penne, ditto. Somehow, I have managed to arrive at the end of my 65th year on Earth without ever having cooked radiatore; I should fix that.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Aug 20 - 06:55 AM

I get my pasta boiling (salt only, never oil) then set the timer for one minute less than the packets instructions. Thereafter, it's obsessive tasting for al dente-ness at frequent intervals. In traditional Italian cookery it's regarded as sacrilege to leave the kitchen while the pasta is boiling...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 23 Aug 20 - 05:45 AM

Yes, too-chewy pasta rather divides you from your flavours.

By the way, I normally thicken my lamb stew with barley, but have discovered that freekeh is even nicer.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Aug 20 - 05:03 AM

Pasta shapes make for a very interesting topic. Speaking of little beady things, we tried fregula pasta from Sardinia and didn't much care for it: too many little bits and too chewy. On the other hand we love orzo, which looks like rice grains, but we use this as an integral part of the sauce, which it thickens beautifully as it releases its starch. Very nice in a sauce with peas and bacon. I don't like pasta shapes that vary in thickness as I don't like chewy middles. The biggest culprit is trofie, which I don't buy, but there are others. I like big tubes such as pennone rigate, which I use in my arrabbiata dishes. I like orecchiette for a pasta bake and for the traditional Puglian dish with chilli and wilted greens. I don't get on with bucatini, so my Amatriciana is served up with spaghetti. Heresy! We never have fusilli for that thick middle reason. Whatever we have it must be bronze die pasta. I suppose spaghetti is our most-used overall. It's a religion in our house that pasta is always eaten from a bowl, that the sauce is always mixed with the pasta, never just dumped on top, and is eaten with a fork only with much slurping. There's no such thing as spaghetti bolognese in Italy (except on tourist menus) but I've failed miserably to wean my family off it, though I've stopped drowning it with minced garlic and I don't allow dried basil to come within a mile of the house.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 23 Aug 20 - 04:29 AM

I might try that slow tomato dish with the little bead-shaped pasta sold under the name Besvajecne cestoviny - "eggless pasta"; they turn out kind of like pearl couscous but with a more distinct wholemeal taste.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 23 Aug 20 - 03:11 AM

I'm thinking of getting a damson tree on dwarf stock this autumn, to be able to make damson jam, and damson tart to which my mother addicted me. She said leaving the stones in while cooking intensified the flavour.
The damson jam I made last year was to a simple French recipe for confiture de quetsch, adding nothing but lemon juice and demerara sugar and macerating the fruit overnight before fast-boiling in the morning. It was paradise.
The house is clanking with saved jam jars - when we run out of homemade jam we buy Folláin jam, which comes in very cute pots (but I think is only available in Ireland) and save the jars and lids.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 23 Aug 20 - 02:47 AM

It's jam season, and a friend has delivered me a big bag of applea and
this recipe.

She tells me that when she made it she didn't have cinnamon but put in much more ginger than recommended, to get a real gingery zing, and it was spectacular.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 22 Aug 20 - 01:19 PM

My farmers' market sometimes has tiny normal onions [not shallots not pearl] and they are marvy for cooking for one.

Would that delish-sounding lentil thing work with fresh tomatoes?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 22 Aug 20 - 02:34 AM

"Squidge your damsons during the boiling"

I take it that the squidging is to be done during the first boiling, before adding any sugar to convert the cooked fruit into jam.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Aug 20 - 10:02 PM

Your lentils and semolina in the pasta combined create a complex carbohydrate, so it would be filling and act like a protein.

There is a brand of tomatoes here called Muir Glen that sells whole fire roasted tomatoes. I imagine they would add a little more kick to that recipe. I used half of a large can of them yesterday in making a summer casserole I invented for myself a number of years ago. As I've remarked before, it probably has a name and has been made by others.

Chop a small to medium onion (white or yellow, not sweet, they don't have as much flavor), chop at least on medium sweet pepper (this is really dependent upon how much you feel like putting in). Garlic. I saute the onion and pepper in olive oil, add the garlic chopped, and last night I didn't feel like cooking an Italian sausage separately so I slipped off the casing and set it in the middle of the onions and peppers, and went back to it a couple of times, to cut in half length-wise and put flat slide down, and then later to cut each half into little bites for the dish. I cut a calabash (calabasa) squash (like a mottled white and green zucchini) that was probably about 12 ounces in size, into bite-size pieces (not slices, they're difficult to work with) and added to the onion/pepper/sausage mix and covered the pan so they would soften. They don't need to be completely cooked now because they'll finish with later steps.) I seasoned this with a healthy grind of black pepper, and handful of dried oregano (from my garden) crumbled by hand and dropped in, and a little bit of salt, to taste.

Once the calabash is softened some then add enough canned tomato to make it really tomato-y, so I used about 1 1/2 cups of the tomatoes from that large can. I added maybe 2 cups of liquid (some of it flavored with a chicken bouillon cube that had been sitting around for a while so I decided to finish it off). Once the whole thing is simmering I put in at least a cup or so of some kind of pasta. Last night it was small shells. And when the pasta was about finished I put in some grated cheese (I'm not picky here, I had some Swiss cheese to use up.) Give that a little time to melt in, then dish it up into a bowl. I ate it like that, but I imagine a nice crusty garlic toast with it and a glass of wine would make it a meal.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 21 Aug 20 - 07:03 PM

I think that recipe is one to try for the three of us here. I'll have to get some cooked lentils in our next grocery shop.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Aug 20 - 06:41 PM

I found this ridiculous recipe on the Guardian website. It's vegan, it's cheap, it's hardly any work - and it works.

All you need for two people is two cans of plum tomatoes, a 250g pouch of cooked lentils, olive oil, salt and spaghetti. Now here in the UK you can buy cans of plum tomatoes that are unsalted. Essential, I'd say. You can also buy 250g pouches of puy lentils, Merchant Gourmet brand, which are very good. You could use canned lentils, or you could boil up your own. But why work?

There are steps that are counter-intuitive, but have faith...

Gently empty the two cans of tomatoes into a sieve. Catch the juice and use it for something else (I drank mine). Rinse the tomatoes gently (honest!), then dry them as much as possible (I spooned them onto two layers of kitchen towel). Aim to keep them whole. Put the tomatoes into an ovenproof container that will accommodate them snugly. Almost cover them with extra virgin olive oil, then sprinkle with salt. Bake them open for two hours at 120C, which is about 250F.

When they're done, get your lentils hot and slightly sloppy in a pan. Smash up your oily tomatoes and add them to the lentils. Keep the mixture hot. Check for sufficient salt. Meanwhile, cook 250g spaghetti as usual. Drain, put back in the pan and add the tomato/lentil mix.

I tell you, this trouble-free dish has potential. With a new recipe I always follow the amounts and instructions slavishly. But next time I will bake a whole garlic clove with the tomatoes, I'll sprinkle in a touch of crushed chilli flakes and some freshly-ground black pepper and pay close attention to the saltiness (I underdid it slightly tonight). But no cheese and no herbs, and definitely no onion.

We decided that cheese was not needed. This dish was so easy, so cheap and so tasty. You just have to remember to get the tomatoes in the oven two hours before you need to eat. I'm growing San Marzano tomatoes this year but they're a bit slow to ripen. When I have enough red ones I'll skin them and use them in this recipe.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 21 Aug 20 - 11:49 AM

I made (I’ll say 99% stone free) damson jam today. I got 4 ½ of the 1lb jars of jam. I picked the stones out with the help of a slotted spoon and think that’s the best way. I’d not want to try to stone them first although that is the way with the freestone Victoria Plums…

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Aug 20 - 07:10 PM

Trump killed the Post Office portion of the supply chain; better not mail order any fancy cheeses right now or it will be nothing but a moldy mess by the time it arrives.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Aug 20 - 06:57 PM

Nah then. Mush up those damsons during the boil, use a spud masher or whatever you like, and the stones will come to the top. Stop agitating and try It!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 20 Aug 20 - 06:47 PM

There are severe bottle necks in supply chains, some at source, others along the way. I have been waiting two months for a bicycle part that was ordered from Japan and is to come from who knows where. No one can forecast when the labour, materials and shipping space are going to be available.

That's 2020 for you.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 20 Aug 20 - 01:07 PM

Leeneia, things are much the same in Ontario. All manner of goods and materials are still unavailable, from Japanese barbecues to canning jars to pressure-treated lumber, and the reason given is always COVID-19. Let us hope that refrigerators are in short supply because the factories are turning out ventilators.

On the other hand, we finally have plenty of hand-sanitizer. Gin from local producers is in short supply because they're all making sanitizer.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 20 Aug 20 - 12:25 PM

We went to Lowe's (national chain) for a new refrigerator yesterday and discovered there is a refrigerator shortage. We wanted a simple black one, suitable for the small family, and they had one. By this I mean that there was not such a fridge in other stores in the city, in the warehouse or online. Lowe's had one fridge we could use, so we bought it and were lucky to get it.

We wanted the Whirlpool but wound up with the Fridgidaire because it would fit in our space. Because of Covid19, factories are not operating. Scary.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 20 Aug 20 - 08:37 AM

Maybe damsons are special, but in my experience fruit stones don’t float; they hover in the middle of the jam or they sink. So stoning plums and cherries is a thing we do.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 20 Aug 20 - 07:07 AM

Steve me owld love, I trained as a chef when I left school !! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Aug 20 - 07:16 PM

Squidge your damsons during the boiling, with a spud masher or by squashing them against the side of the pan, and the stones are set free and float to the top. Cue your slotted spoon. Easy!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 19 Aug 20 - 02:07 PM

Damson plum jam is only rivaled by sour cherry preserves. Damsons win, but it is a contest.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 19 Aug 20 - 11:00 AM

No stones in MY damson jam, I pick them all out, tedious as hell, but makes for a much better jam.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Aug 20 - 09:17 AM

Yes, Stilly, a quarter of a litre is quite close to eight fluid ounces or half a US Standard pint. On this side of the border, one pint is (still) twenty fluid ounces Imperial.

250-ml Mason jars (the jam size) usually get scarce in late summer, but they vanished earlier this year than usual, even from Wal-Mart. I doubt that people are canning more than in previous years; Canadian Tire and Wal-Mart have great stacks of the 500-ml and litre jars that are popular for putting up fruit, veg, pickles, tomato sauce and juice. I think it more likely that the manufacturers are making something else — ventilators, I hope.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 19 Aug 20 - 06:54 AM

We haven’t done sloe gin in a number of years but, as I cut a lot of blackthorn back this year to keep the farm track clear, I doubt if we’d have many to pick. Not in the nearest patch anyway, I’m not sure what’s happening further up the field.

I hope there is new growth and they come back well next year from where I cut it. I may no longer have use for the berries but the blossom looks quite splendid earlier in the year.

Not an excess of damsons btw but I got a very worthwhile to us just over 4lb of fruit from the tree.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 19 Aug 20 - 03:50 AM

There's no need to do all that tedious pricking anyway, never mind freezing.
Just put the sloes in a jar, add gin, and the sloes swell up in the gin, which causes the skins to split.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Aug 20 - 03:29 AM

If you freeze sloes for a few days before making the sloe gin, you don't have to do all that tedious pricking. I bottle of gin, 12 oz sloes, 6 oz sugar. Use decent gin and a light muscovado sugar for the best result.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 19 Aug 20 - 03:22 AM

I just checked my blackthorn bush. It has produced one sloe.
If it is still there in a couple of months time I shall put it in an egg cup of gin, and keep it until Christmas.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: robomatic
Date: 18 Aug 20 - 08:22 PM

I am working on my first moussaka right now. Giving myself today to start and tomorrow to finish. Right now i'm shaving eggplant and wondering why I bought an English cucumber...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Aug 20 - 07:20 PM

Slow sloe, quick quick sloe...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Aug 20 - 07:18 PM

Damson jam me arse! Only make damson jam (which is lovely, and the stones all float to the top) if you have an excessively large amount of damsons. Otherwise, it would be criminal to not use your damsons to make damson gin. Grab a very large kilner jar and put in it one pound of pricked damsons and six ounces of sugar to each 75cl bottle of gin. Swirl the jar around every day until the sugar has dissolved. Then leave it until the week before Christmas, give it a last swirl, then either filter it through a muslin bag or just let it settle and decant it a few times. More of an and/or really, but you do sort of want it clear. Much better then slow gin. You'll live forever.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Aug 20 - 06:31 PM

Would that be half-pint jars to us in the US? Odd that they would be scarce, but I suppose this year more people could be canning.

The cucumbers are beginning to climb the fencing materials put out yesterday (those probing curly strands appear and cling quickly) and the okra have lovely blooms not swamped by ants. It is August and usually if these are planted in a regular garden they're huge by now, so there will be a diminished crop, but there will be a crop.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Aug 20 - 06:00 PM

Damson jam is indeed a fine thing. Unfortunately, nobody grows damsons in southwestern Ontario. At least, no one who's willing to bring them to market in Stratford.

I'm knocking off preserving until I can get my hands on some new crop Cortland apples, Flemish Beauty pears and Italian plums (the kind for drying into prunes) to make my justly famous Five-Fruit Chutney. (The other two fruits are Roma tomatoes and zanthe currants.) It's the best damned chutney I've ever eaten, bar none, and by George I have the recipe!

When the plums finally hit the market, I hope I will have sourced some more quarter-litre Mason jars. They're rare as hen's teeth this year.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 18 Aug 20 - 05:02 PM

Well I've picked them Raggy but I'll leave it to mum to decide what she wants to do with them. She will be in charge of the making. I'll just provide whatever assistance she wants.

Incidentally, she reckons damsons were plentiful in her home county of Shropshire - something like every house had a damson tree.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 18 Aug 20 - 04:16 PM

If you have Damsons John .............. please, please make Damson Jam.

My Grandmother used to make it, it was the best Jam I EVER had, a thing of great beauty.

I now have my Grandmothers Jam pan, it must be at least 100 years old and on the rare occasion I manage to acquire Damsons I make Jam.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 18 Aug 20 - 10:58 AM

Well your post just got me looking again at the Victoria plum tree, Charmion. We still need to be sure there are no nasty things inside as we had one year but I've managed to pick 8lb of fruit that look good to me so there may well be plum jam on the way...

I've lost the gages but we have enough damsons to make something (mum will probably go for damson cheese) and the crab apple tree has done something this year so crab apple jelly could be on the cards.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Aug 20 - 07:53 AM

As I do when confronted with a glut of anything edible, I consulted my favourite book of preserving recipes, “Put a Lid On It! Small Batch Preserving for Every Season” by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard. Sure enough, this oracle had a solution to my tomato problem: Gingered Tomato Marmalade.

I’m pretty sure it’s an old Canadian recipe because it has Imperial quantities expressed in U.S. measures. It yields six 8-ounce jars.

5 cups (40 fl. oz. or one quart Imperial) chopped, skinned tomatoes
2 large oranges, rind and flesh, chopped very fine
1 large lemon, rind and flesh, chopped very fine
3 tablespoons finely minced ginger
4 cups white granulated sugar

To chop the citrus fruit, cut them in hunks to remove the seeds and do the rest in a food processor.

Mix the tomatoes, oranges and lemon in a large stainless or enamelled steel saucepan and bring to a full rolling boil. Add the minced ginger, and then stir in the sugar, keeping the boil going. Continue boiling to gel stage, then bottle and seal in a water-bath canner.

It’s a nice, mellow marmalade that will please ginger fans. Without the ginger, it’s like orange marmalade without the acrid bite of the Seville article, and not so achingly sweet as commercial preserves.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 18 Aug 20 - 07:48 AM

I get the feeling there can be a bit of debate over the need to salt and or peel aubergines/ eggplants. I feel certain that there is no need with the baby variety I like to grow (but didn’t this year) but could wonder more with others. Sites including (I think) a BBC one I found up yesterday seem to suggest that just about all newer varieties are less prone to bitterness than older ones and others may reference the size of the fruit and the condition of this skin. The best speculation I’ll make there is that you need to make your own judgement call.

I did use a (supermarket) aubergine in a mix on Sunday btw. It together with our own courgette/zuccinni and a can of chopped tomatoes became a layer in an attempt at some sort of veg lasagne. I just cubed the unpeeled fruit for this and there was no bitterness.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Aug 20 - 07:23 AM

Yes zucch and yellow squash, but I et all of those. Then when I reheated my garlic-oil based slice of pizza I scooped out all the leftover garlic onion tomato from under the uneaten eggplant and put that on top, boy was that yum.

I'll give the eggplant one more try without the skin. I have half of it left

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Aug 20 - 09:57 AM

I peel the eggplant, even the smaller ones, as a matter of course, though the small ones (under about 16 ounces) don't need the salt and sit an rinse treatment.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 17 Aug 20 - 09:33 AM

Charmion, just cut in half, skins and all.

Italian seasoning can be bought here in jars. It is a mixture of dried Oregano, basil, red bell pepper, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, sage and parsley.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 17 Aug 20 - 09:32 AM

Mrrzy, did you include courgettes / zucchini? They can be bitter if the plant they came from was under stress, such as short of water, or if it was from a seed resulting from cross-pollination from another variety of squash. This has been a problem recently, especially when people have saved their own seed from last year, but it has also happened with seed from commercial suppliers, who have had to recall some batches of seed. If it is bad, don't eat it as it could be poisonous.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Aug 20 - 09:11 AM

Made a kind of ratatouille-y thing but there was an occasional bitterness. First time I've used eggplant; the recipes said no need to peel. Should I have pelt, though? To avoid bitterness?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Aug 20 - 04:12 PM

Raggytash, before they go in the oven, do I skin and chop them, and what sort of vessel should I put them in? And what constitutes Italian seasoning chez vous?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 16 Aug 20 - 01:55 PM

A touch of salt, a touch of italian seasoning and leave in a VERY low oven overnight and put into jars with some VERY good olive oil would be my suggestion! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Aug 20 - 11:27 AM

I sent Himself to the market yesterday, and now I’m knee-deep in tomatoes. The Romas will become pasta sauce, but what is to become of the dozen not-quite-ripe beefsteak tomatoes set out on a tray in the hope they might become ripe before they rot?

Anyone with a good chutney recipe, now is your time to be kind and share!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Aug 20 - 08:26 AM

Bread pudding for breakfast.