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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 5, 2019 16:16:57 GMT
That sounds pretty good, Rikita!
You probably do this as well, LaGatta -- when I'm waffling about whether or not to add something like chipotle, I often wind up throwing in a whole one, then standing over the stove giving a couple of tastes at intervals so I can decide to take it out or not. I guess if you're working with powdered chile, it's easier to just add a little at a time.
So right about besan and what dogs will eat. Two of them are cautious, but Harley's attitude is that if it's human food, he wants it. I've discovered that they'll gobble down tvp, which I think proves how effectively it mimics meat.
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Post by lugg on Oct 5, 2019 19:02:36 GMT
Thanks Bixa , Oh yes I do recognise it - I had no idea it was edible.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 5, 2019 23:05:48 GMT
No, I've never bought powdered chipotle. Sometimes I do buy the wee tins of sauce (always from Mexico, not the southwestern US, as they are more potent) but also the tinned chipotles in sauce. I don't find they are a particularly hot pepper, on the contrary, and I like the smoky flavour, which I also like in (very mild) Spanish smoked red pepper, which I do buy powdered.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 6, 2019 0:30:19 GMT
There is a picante version of the smoked Spanish paprika which is quite hot. The brand I have -- the only brand I've seen for sale around here -- is Los Dos Caballos.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 6, 2019 10:38:06 GMT
Yes, I have that too, but it is a different brand. There are also the "Gorria" Basque peppers, including Espelette. (A specific origin; a village on the French side of Euskadi), but the peppers are grown throughout the Basque country. They are also not particularly strong, but very flavourful.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 7, 2019 13:14:00 GMT
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 7, 2019 15:11:31 GMT
Chicken fajita pie...basically leftover chicken in a spicy chilli/tomato sauce with chopped peppers, onions and red kidney beans, layered with small tortillas, lots of grated cheese on top and baked into a glorious gooey, spicy, luscious heap. Comfort food for a cold, wet autumn day.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 7, 2019 16:27:44 GMT
Very wet here too, but clearing up and we'll have several mild, sunny days. Yesterday I didn't set foot outside but spent the whole day housecleaning. I am NOT a tidy person, alas, and tidying up takes me a long time,even though I've given away a lot of things.
The braised duck turned out very well. I've added new vegetables, so they won't be overcooked and almost dissolved; celery, onion, carrot (in coins) and mild red peppers. I'm going to cook yellow potatoes in the rest of the stock - one of my friends HATES potatoes, so none in his portion.
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Post by mich64 on Oct 7, 2019 17:45:04 GMT
I will roast chicken leg/thigh quarters, fresh green string beans and a salad.
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Post by whatagain on Oct 7, 2019 17:51:14 GMT
Rôti de bœuf greek pastas paprika And the family is complete.
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Post by whatagain on Oct 7, 2019 17:52:11 GMT
I had andouillette, a dish which strikes terror (or disgust) in the heart of just about anybody who isn't French. I could probably qualify as French, or almost so, but still wouldn't eat andouillette. I qualify as a neighbour and hates andouillette.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 7, 2019 18:55:17 GMT
Yes, you are not French. Anybody who is not French seems to hate andouillette. I hope you noticed how much I relished it the other night.
Baz Faz used to write that in his group outings around Montpellier (I think his wife was in a choir), all of the French would order andouillette for the group meal and all of the Brits would order the "other" dish.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 8, 2019 2:06:21 GMT
A friend came over to make a significant dint in the duck dish. As my potato-hating friend did not show up, I put the potatoes cooked in duck stock and then browned a bit with olive oil and butter (as well as fresh rosemary that will soon die, alas) in half the square Pyrex dish with the duck mixture, and we enjoyed the potatoes as much as the duck and the stew vegetables. My friend is a stakeholder in a co-operative boulangerie now, and is usually too tired to even visit friends.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 8, 2019 3:02:52 GMT
You all are eating well!
Browsing through a cookbook earlier today, I came across a sorta-Italian white bean soup with vegetables which inspired me. Accordingly, I cooked a half kilo of tiny white beans seasoned with some sea salt & one bay leaf. Later, when they were nicely cooked with lots of beany broth, I separately cooked some vegetables: red onion, lots of garlic, fresh tomato, & a little chile cooked down a little bit, then the addition of carrot and zucchini plus a little bit of minced fresh rosemary. I served the beans and their broth into a bowl, topped it with some of the vegetable mixture, ground on some black pepper & added a swirl of olive oil & a little grated parmesan. It was lovely.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 8, 2019 20:32:48 GMT
Sausage casserole...it must be autumn...
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 9, 2019 1:50:26 GMT
I made pizza sort of. It's coolish and with rain on and off, so I thought it might brighten my life. I had a small sesame "hearth loaf" and I sliced it sideways for the base. I dabbed on some of the tomatoey mixture from last night (#13255) & topped that with thinly sliced fresh tomato, then dropped a little minced onion/pickled habanero salsa, a few chopped olives & anchovies, drizzled on some olive oil & put it in the oven. It was perfect!
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 9, 2019 5:42:42 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 9, 2019 10:46:33 GMT
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Post by fumobici on Oct 9, 2019 18:48:10 GMT
I suppose I had dinner for lunch today. I drove a short way down to the little hilltop Umbrian village of Montone, where'd I'd never been in spite of its near proximity, and had a secondo of porcini angelotti with wild boar ragu'. Quite nice but it dulled my apetite for dinner so I stopped by my favorite bar in Anghiari to get some cheesecake made by the owner's wife who, in addition to being a crack pizzaiola is also a baker of dolci strepitosimente buoni. I opted for the strawberry cheesecake for dinner and have fat slice of chocolate for teomorrow. Sorry for the Italian bits, I've been here over a week now and haven't said a single sentence of English since I arrived. My English might develop some rust at this rate.
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Post by fumobici on Oct 9, 2019 18:52:00 GMT
Oh. If any of you come to Italy please eat lots of wild boar, they are have torn up the lawn something fierce and every pot of ragu' or salsiccia cinghiale made and eaten is a step in the right direction. Mangia!
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 9, 2019 19:32:17 GMT
I haven't had boar for quite a few years, and actually the last time I had it I think it was hunted in Hungary where a second cousin in Moselle would make hunting trips with his friends. 20 years ago boar had become quite rare in France. Now it is so common that it has to be culled, probably the same as in Italy.
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Post by fumobici on Oct 9, 2019 19:56:21 GMT
Boar ragu' is heavenly, I can't think of a better meat to use as a base. And I'm not usually into game that much.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 9, 2019 20:00:06 GMT
You have not had venison marinated in champagne.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 9, 2019 20:02:58 GMT
I don't think I've ever eaten it. Working on a duck I braised, but it was in no way game.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 9, 2019 20:04:04 GMT
I was referring to boar in my post above, not venison, which is a common game around here.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 9, 2019 20:09:30 GMT
I can buy jars of pâté of both animals in any supermarket, but frankly I prefer normal pork pâté.
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Post by fumobici on Oct 9, 2019 21:23:07 GMT
I'd like to give that venison in champagne a shot. I'm not usually a fan of venison but that sounds a bit intriguing. But where to try it?
I generally prefer farmed pork to boar, much like I prefer farmed duck and goose to the wild stuff, but ragu' di cinghiale is the magical exception to the rule. The hunters' sausages made from boar here (often truffled) are another place where it just all falls into perfect place.
In the Western US, elk and (especially) moose are definitely preferable to the local blacktail and mule deer. At least to my palate.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 10, 2019 11:06:42 GMT
Among cervids, I find caribou best of all, but not easily accessed (helps to know Inuit, Innu or eastern Cree people). Once again, reindeer is a somewhat more domesticated variety of the same species.
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Post by whatagain on Oct 11, 2019 18:18:00 GMT
I had a grouse at la biche au bois this week. Superb. Not a cervid but delicious. The one I had before was in Nov 2008. Au ptit bougnat. Strange how some unimportant things never leave you.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 11, 2019 18:35:37 GMT
I resorted to microwave provisions this evening.
It was lemon chicken with pasta and vegetables. Actually for something that just spent 3 minutes in the microwave, it wasn't bad at all. And the plastic container is good enough to keep for other uses.
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