Cooking For Noobs

[drawkcabi]

I can cook somewhat, but I just have no stamina to do it now, let alone the dishes afterwards. I have to rely on easy to make, easy to clean up, yet still healthy/healthy-ish.

One thing that's surprised me is how good of a frittata I can make in the microwave. 

I take a frozen bag of Birdseye steam in bag Spring Mix which has potatoes, asparagus, peas, and onions sautéed in a garlic butter sauce.

Cook/heat it completely in microwave per directions. 

Scramble 4 eggs in microwavable dish.

Take out heated Birdseye veggies open and empty contents of bag into the eggs. Sometimes, I add a slice of pepper jack cheese ripped Into smaller pieces and mix that in too.

Microwave all that for 4 minutes.

And out comes, in my opinion, one of the most delicious frittatas I've had.

And afterwards, it's only one dish to clean.

[BigFatCoward]

Day off work so cooking day.

I made 3l of hot sauce/paste which I add into most things. Used ghost, moruga scorpion, habenero, carolina reaper and scotch bonnet. I costs about 18 quid for the raw ingredients off amazon but makes me enough to last me a year. 

I also made a vat of bolognaise, only about 1/3 pork/beef meat. The rest is veggies as the kids like it and I try to make it as healthy  as possible for them. Not to he consumed until its had at least 1 week in the freezer. Made about 20 portions which will be frozen flat in freezer bags as it is so much more efficient. 

I also made a curry, about 12 portions of. I made Sri Lankan curry and Thai curry last Monday when I was off so we are set for a while. 

[The Anti-Targ]

I always had to sneak vegetables into our meat sauces for pasta so the kids would eat it, usually by grating carrot, courgettes and mushrooms so they basically disappeared from view. More recently throwing in brown lentils has been good to extend the volume esp as meat prices have been higher than they used to be but again barely noticed. Can't call it bolognaise since I almost never use pork.

My new thing the last few months has been spaghetti all'assassina. Possibly the best vegan dish in my life.

Edited March 19 by The Anti-Targ

[Spockydog]

31 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

My new thing the last few months has been spaghetti all'assissina. Possibly the best vegan dish in my life.

Ooooh, that looks like a tasty dish. I have to try it.

[Zorral]

Me too!

[BigFatCoward]

9 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

I always had to sneak vegetables into our meat sauces for pasta so the kids would eat it, usually by grating carrot, courgettes and mushrooms so they basically disappeared from view. More recently throwing in brown lentils has been good to extend the volume esp as meat prices have been higher than they used to be but again barely noticed. Can't call it bolognaise since I almost never use pork.

My new thing the last few months has been spaghetti all'assassina. Possibly the best vegan dish in my life.

i just stick mine through a food processor so it just makes a vegetable gloop. 

[DanteGabriel]

23 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I also made a vat of bolognaise, only about 1/3 pork/beef meat. The rest is veggies as the kids like it and I try to make it as healthy  as possible for them. Not to he consumed until its had at least 1 week in the freezer. Made about 20 portions which will be frozen flat in freezer bags as it is so much more efficient. 

Curious: is that because the freezer time makes it more tender/congealed?

[Phylum of Alexandria]

Made some more of that excellent jalfrezi (thanks again @AncalagonTheBlack), this time with some aloo gobi as well. The flavors played off of one another really well. Great combo platter.

[BigFatCoward]

35 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

Curious: is that because the freezer time makes it more tender/congealed?

i find that any meal i make, Bolognaise, Chilli, curry sauces etc always taste better after at least a week in the freezer, i have no idea why though. And it might be a load of bollocks and that's just what my mam taught me so i follow it. 

[HexMachina]

8 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

i find that any meal i make, Bolognaise, Chilli, curry sauces etc always taste better after at least a week in the freezer, i have no idea why though. And it might be a load of bollocks and that's just what my mam taught me so i follow it. 

I've also found that things like that taste better reheated next day, which again may be bollocks but I can at least see some logic in allowing the flavours to develop

[The Anti-Targ]

A day or two in the fridge for flavours to mature makes sense, like aging steak, there are chemical processes that happen at fridge temperature for a lot of foods, especially spiced foods (not necessarily just hot spice), that enhances all sorts of flavours. Freezing pretty much puts a stop to all those maturation processes, thought the ice crystal formation inside the cells of both plant and animal cells damages cell walls and cell membranes which means when thawing the insides of those cells will leak out of the damaged membranes, which possibly when re-heated adds flavours that wouldn't be there if the cell contents had stayed locked away. So I would say perhaps experiment by putting the bolognaise sauce in the fridge for 24/48 hrs then freezing and see if that develops the flavours even more.

Then report back on the results after doing double blind trials on at least 10 batches of sauce (freeze half of each batch immediately and freeze the other half after a day or two in the fridge). Find out if the family perceives any difference and if they do what's their preference.

Food science experiments can be fun for the whole family, as long as you don't kill anyone with toxic food of course.

[DanteGabriel]

3 hours ago, HexMachina said:

I've also found that things like that taste better reheated next day, which again may be bollocks but I can at least see some logic in allowing the flavours to develop

This is definitely true of my chili and pasta fagioli (though the latter congeals into casserole rather than a soup after more than a couple of hours anyway).

[A Horse Named Stranger]

On 3/19/2024 at 4:36 AM, The Anti-Targ said:

My new thing the last few months has been spaghetti all'assassina. Possibly the best vegan dish in my life.

Horse approved  now. Did some minor variations to a receipe I found, but overall nothing that changed the taste that much (bit more generous with the chillies, and fresh ones instead of dried ones).

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

22 hours ago, HexMachina said:

I've also found that things like that taste better reheated next day, which again may be bollocks but I can at least see some logic in allowing the flavours to develop

 

Allowing it to “mature” in the fridge overnight is definitely a thing. It worked great with a pork shoulder I did once, partly because it was easier to skim off the congealed fat after it cooled. I think you’re supposed to pour off the juice when it’s still warm and separate it that way but what do I know? Also I had 4kg of the stuff. That makes a lot of juice. Bolognese also generally tastes better the next day. This is known.  

As far as freezing it goes: freezing/thawing will also have an effect on texture and likely flavour. Water expands when frozen; cell walls; etc. But any chemical reactions should all but cease after it’s frozen and in the absence of fresh air. This is why vacuum sealing and freezing is so good at preserving foods. 

Bread freezes well without effecting it too much. They say cheese does too but I’ve never tried it. 

[The Anti-Targ]

I've frozen parmesan in the past and it made it crumbly, taste was still fine though.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

1 hour ago, The Anti-Targ said:

I've frozen parmesan in the past and it made it crumbly, taste was still fine though.

How long were you planning on keeping it around? I had a block in the fridge that went fuzzy once but that was 500g wedge that a friend brought back from Italy for me. I just got lazy making pasta for a few weeks. 

[The Anti-Targ]

50 minutes ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

How long were you planning on keeping it around? I had a block in the fridge that went fuzzy once but that was 500g wedge that a friend brought back from Italy for me. I just got lazy making pasta for a few weeks. 

The longevity depends on the brand I think, and how dry it is to start with. I think the less expensive brands have a higher water content and will go fuzzy sooner. The brand I'm buying at the moment one 250g block has lasted months and is only getting drier over time with no sign of fuzz. The brand I froze was because a previous block I had did go fuzzy. I don't use Parmesan very often so I need a brand that will have good fridge longevity, so I'm glad I seem to have found one.

Further to spaghetti all'assasina and also Parmesan cheese, Chef John on Youtube has developed a french fry variant that uses a lot of Parmesan cheese, which I have made once so far and can highly recommend. Just don't tell anyone who's a purist that it's called french fries all'assassina.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

On 3/19/2024 at 6:51 PM, DanteGabriel said:

Curious: is that because the freezer time makes it more tender/congealed?

Yet something else we often don’t consider is that food continues to undergo chemical reactions even after the cooking’s done. Cook’s Illustrated conducted an experiment to try and understand why some food flavors notably improved overnight. They served tomato soup, beef chili, and French onion soup to several testers. Every taste tester held that the two-day-old soups and stews were “sweeter,” “more robust-tasting,” and “well rounded.” Yet the response to the chili was mixed, and some testers reported that flavors weren’t as pronounced after several days.

 

Following the experiment, the magazine concluded that the soups and stews that had milk or cream experienced a breakdown of lactose into glucose, which tasted sweeter with time. Meanwhile, proteins in the meat converted into individual amino acids that acted as “flavor enhancers,” and the starches present in both flour and potatoes broke down into compounds that people reported as more flavorful. Another key to great leftovers may lie in aromatic flavors, such as garlic and ginger, which develop more fully over time.

 

Cooling can also impact the taste of next-day food. On an episode of Good Eats, for instance, Alton Brown posits that letting foods such as beef stews cool down before reheating allows meats to cook through without falling apart. And allowing something such as curry to sit causes the oils and spices within it to continue to tenderize the meat, says Dr. Maureen Cooper, a researcher from Stirling University. According to the Institute of Food Technologies, those protein breakdowns “enhance savory, meaty, umami taste, or reaction of amino acids with sugars to produce new flavor molecules by the Maillard reaction (browning), which can occur when the leftovers are reheated.”

 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/food-better-leftovers-next-day

 

[BigFatCoward]

One thing i have found is making a sauce and not freezing the meat/veggies in it provides a much better result, and also takes up far less space in the freezer.  Frozen chicken and veg in a curry goes weird, just make sauce and cooking up the other ingredients fresh on the day works best. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

My easy go to veggie dish.

200g Bulgur

Peanuts (handful will do the trick)

100g cherry tomatoes (or cocktail tomatoes I am not particular there).

60g Dried dates

1-2 onions (depending on size)

3-4 chilli peppers (red)

1 bellpepper (red)

200 g feta (creamy)

~ 1/2 l of veggie broth

2 tea spoons harissa (our main taste provider)

cilantro

Some parsley

lemon juice 1/2 lemon (optional)

 

Chop the chillies and the onions

roast the peanuts (without oil) in a pot . (you can skip that step if you just buy some roasted peanuts, which I usually do, coz peanuts have the habbit to burn quickly, when I am not paying sufficient attention)

Put the cilantro into the heated pot, then add some oil. After short moment add the chilies and the onion fry them for a 30-40 seconds or so. Add the bulgur and the broth. Add the harissa, the lemon juice and salt (test and adjust the taste to your liking). Put a lid on it. Let it simmer on a low heat for ~15 minutes (basically when the broth is gone it's good). In the mean time clean and then cut the bellpepper in cubes and slice the dried dates. Quarter the small tomatoes. Put the bellpepper cubes, peanuts, dates, parsley and tomatoes into the pot and mix it, we are almost done. Put into an ovenproof dish. Add a few drops of olive oil. Crumble the feta on top of it. Put it into an oven (180° C / 356° F) for a good 25 mins.