JCC Tomo-spiced karkana ribenes - the foodies' thread

That all sounds so yummy, Chyntuck - But I need some of that peach chutney!
*Makes note to buy peaches*

 

I want to eat Rachel's food.

 

Relevant!

 

Hmmm... I may have to make my zucchini pasta tonight. I am so jonesing for the Pure food and wine raw lasagna (I really hope the employees can wrestle the restaurant away from their thief of a boss.)

if I still have the raw lasagna craving I will definitely hit by Chloe after work on Thursday (take out only, the 'burgers' will wait for another night.)

 

That was the item that most caught my eye on the menu! I'm lactose intolerant and while it usually doesn't bother me, I do really really miss lasagna. This place may fill that gaping hole in my heart (and stomach).

 

Migas without grapes = delicious.

Migas with grapes = even more delicious.

That was the culinary thought of the day.

 

I will definitely post and let you know how it is. So far the reader reviews have been mostly great food-wise, I'm going in expecting to enjoy it.

I am in process of making the zucchini 'pasta'. I adapted it from one of Matthew Kenney's raw recipe books*, but the 'meatballs' were nasty so I just used crushed walnuts in with the zucchini 'spaghetti' and a raw tomato sauce made of fresh and soaked sun dried tomatoes, olive oil, spices.

* I really need to buckle down and get Pure Food and Wine's 'ricotta' and pesto down so I can kind of recreate their lasagna. Soon I think.

 

Chyntuck - Thank you. I see that pickled mushrooms are similar to what we call marinated mushrooms here and I am curious. The peach jam is nothing like my dad used to make, his was sugar heavy. The only thing I may have to tweak if I give your recipes a go are the amounts. There is only two of us here and our crappy extended family barely socialises with us, so...

Master_Lok - If you make the zucchini pasta, I could use some tips and pics. I've been delaying making that and it sounds like a great compromise for us who were banned from eating pasta too often for health reasons.

hudzu - I hate you so much right now, or something. *drools*

 

Ewok Poet, imgur has been utterly awful, every time I try to log in it gives me trouble and I have to change my password, so I gave up. No pictures sorry.

If you pick up a spiralizer you can use any kind of root vegetable for the pasta, not just squash. Zucchini can be watery (most of the prep comes from spiraling the zucchini and then picking out the mushy remains from the "noodles". ) Then I drain the zucchini while rehydrating the sun dried tomatoes.

There's also a cook book using spiralizers, but I admit, I am intimidated by the equipment used in raw food and the like, so I look for recipes that require a vita mix, knives and soaking.

You can find Spiralizers on Amazon (the Japanese one I got there a couple of years ago is unavailable though.) Alternately, you can slice the zucchini length-wise like lasagna and layer a sauce and nuts between the noodles.

If you make a raw tomato sauce or even use a store bought one it'll be fine. Does not have to be raw. I've never made nut cheese (I still have to master my mom's nut creams which are freaking amazing), otherwise I'd be glad to give more pointers.

 

Thanks.

I will have to look on eBay and in local home and kitchen super shops, Amazon won't deliver non-media to countries other than those where they have warehouses or whatever.

Nut cheese and other raw and vegan things in general sound interesting, but the price of such a diet scares me sithless. I want to try some of these things, out of curiosity and that will be it. Insulin resistance and vegetarianism, veganism or anything "extreme" don't play well together.

I try to eat a diet where I exclude most sugary treats (as in, I have them twice a week and I try to make sure they're not extreme), white flour and white sugar. Pasta and breads are all wholegrain and I try not to eat them more than two days in a row, I don't limit meat and vegetables in any way, I treat fruit with caution but I don't rule out anything other than figs and dates and super-high-GI things such as maple syrup or maltose would be an absolute no.

This is the bread replacement I like a lot and one of the rare LCHF things that don't make me freak out for the insane amount of fat those people eat:
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf-breakfast-by-fanny-4-sesame-crispbread

I don't know what those seeds mentioned near the end of the recipe are, I don't put cheese in the bars and I use two eggs instead of one. Lasts a LONG time and goes well with everything.

 

Any time Ewok Poet. Yes, it ticks me off the monetary price is very expensive to eat right (if I could funnel the money I am spending on eating just to function right into my Savings and a martial arts class I'd be thrilled), but also the physical 'price' because everyone's body is different.

I am not full blown vegan or raw, I do need some animal protein. That said, I've cut back a lot and cut down on the processed carbs considerably (however the pre-bottled juices are brutal sugar-wise.) I function best on a lot of green: salads, wheatgrass, green juice (I use ginger to cut the bitter greens rather than apple and lemon which a lot of pre-made green juices have.) That's why I eat this way.

Vegans, vegetarians etc. can get the diet wrong by overdoing pasta, sugar, carbs, fats (nuts) and not enough green/veggies etc. I am glad my mom drilled salads, green juice and veggies into me young (before my health issues cropped up in my teens.) I do not preach, because if I could eat Chinese spare ribs and pork again, hell I'd be all over that. I just do not because my body cannot handle it. I've become more conscious of sugar because I know it impacts me physically and I'm grateful to keep learning how I roll. So I can appreciate where you are.

Sorry folks, please keep posting your amazing, delicious looking food porn. And if I find another image site that won't trip me up, I'll start posting images.

 

NuWAY – NuWAY Crumbly Burgers, Wichita, KS



Hanging out in Wichita again and where should I find myself but at one of the NuWAY locations. NuWAY is decidedly old-fashioned, actually; it’s been around in Wichita since 1930. The NuWAY specializes in a specific kind of burger. It’s called different things, depending on the part of the country you’re in. In Kansas, you’re apt to hear it called a “crumbly;” the burger originated, I believe, up Iowa way where it’s still called a “loosemeat” (not the most appetizing name, I grant you). The loosemeat is simple; it’s the ground beef that would typically be pressed into a hamburger patty. Thus, instead of a beef patty on your hamburger, you have a loose pile of ground beef. It’s a lot messier, obviously, but those who love it, love it. The loosemeat, by the way, migrated to Kansas directly from Iowa; the NuWAY was started by a fellow who’d just moved from Iowa to Wichita back in the late 1920s. So, there’s some territory in between the two states where you won’t find these sandwiches for sale. In Oklahoma, I live less than three hours from Wichita and there’s not a single place I’ve ever encountered around here that sells loosemeats.

So, anyway, it’s a regional favorite with a long history. But as with much of the food I’m encountering on this journey it’s really most interesting because of its history. It’s a perfectly fine sandwich. The bread is steamed and soft. The sandwich is endearingly stripped down; you get a pickle slice and a swipe of mustard and that’s it aside from the meat itself. But I don’t know; I just prefer a regular hamburger. A patty just feels more substantial and its more solid form allows it to hold more juices and flavors and to have a better texture. Is the loosemeat sandwich worth your time? Not this one. 2 stars.

tl;dr – regional sandwich known as the loosemeat is different from a hamburger and not in a particularly good way; stick to the patty as far as I’m concerned. 2 stars.

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We can continue elsewhere, or start a thread with quick and - if possible - cheap options for people who have health problems, as I get from this that you do, too.

Rogue1-and-a-half I thought it was pork rinds in a sandwich at first, for some reason. I assume it's somewhat close in terms of fat, though.

 

So apparently we are bringing a ton of Spanish finger food to a party tomorrow. We should start some kind of catering business.

We are going to be cooking this thread's classic champis, plus some nice olives and some random montaditos (read: fancy name for stuff on bread). I'm probably going to be baking some chocolate truffles too, as my in-laws loved them back in Spain. Our recipe is very simple and based off the original French one, but it's healthier than the stuff I've seen in the USA (no corn syrup!). I'll be posting the recipe soon. My first dessert recipe in the thread, I think! Yay!

 

Homemade Onion Rings – NuWAY Crumbly Burgers, Wichita, KS



NuWAY is also famous for their onion rings. They weren’t to my taste. Some people like onion rings that are very thick slices of onions with a bit of breading; I prefer a smaller strip of onion, right, something where the onion and the breading are more evenly balanced. It’s a philosophy, I guess. I don’t say either are right or wrong, though I guess it’s easier to make a case for the onion to be overpowering in an “onion” ring. If that’s what you want, you’ll probably like these better than I did. But as for me, I’m giving this one a warned against. I really wouldn’t waste your money. 1 star.

tl;dr – onion rings are traditional with nothing to differentiate them from the pack and the balance between onion and breading is out of whack. 1 star.

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mavjade I seem to remember that you mentioned making frozen Greek yoghurt a while back. How much sugar do you put?

 

I did! And I usually don't put any sugar in, I use plain, homemade Greek yogurt and just throw it into my ice cream maker until it's the consistency of a really soft frozen yogurt or ice cream and then put it in the freezer in another container. It makes tart frozen yogurt that is really yummy with fresh fruit. I think I once did put some honey in it, just enough so that I tasted it before I started to freeze it. I'd make it how you like it before it's frozen and then freeze it.

 

OMG, I made perlo tonight. OMG.

First off, it's a frickin' miracle I finally made a food + rice dish and not had the rice under/overcooked (jury's still out on whether the leftovers will overcook in the pot though it's off the fire immediately). Second, it's delicious!

I followed this set of directions: http://foodspin.deadspin.com/how-to-make-perlo-the-deep-souths-best-take-on-chicken-1718994457
(WARNING: Language)

I did use andouille sausage as recommended, but like other commentors had only pre-cooked versions (but Niman Ranch, so good ones). And I also used a commentor's plan for using skinned/bone-in thighs and very light oil / no oil to render the skin as cooking chicken fat. So with that, you end up with the same nice layer of chicken fat without needing to buy schmaltz; you do still want to cook the sausage a bit to brown it up but you won't end up with that much extra fat. And I did stew the whole mixture with the chicken on the aromatics for a total of 60 minutes; then I think total rice time was... 25-30 minutes?

 

Pickling and jam making, part II

So I continued on my use-up-everything-that-comes-from-the-garden spree this week, but I forgot to take pictures My production includes:

Apricot jam

That's 1 cup sugar and a dash of lemon juice per kg of fruit. I just opened the apricots in half and let them in the pot with the sugar and the lemon for an hour until they were floating in their own juice and then I simmered them until they started disintegrating. I didn't peel the apricots because they were too ripe, so I had to blend the whole thing in the end.

Fig jam
This one is only 1/2 cup sugar and a dash of lemon per kg of fruit, because the figs were very sweet already. Again I let the fruit (peeled) marinate with the sugar until the juice came out but I had to add a bit of water (it was about 1 cup for 3 kg) because, well, figs are not that juicy. No need to blend, figs disintegrate completely on their own. I also chopped and grilled some blanched almonds and added them towards the end.

Tomato sauce/paste

This was the big operation of the week, because we have an overproduction of tomatoes this year. My largest cooking pot wasn't large enough, so I had to do it twice.

What you need:
As many overripe tomatoes as your largest cooking pot will fit (mine fits approx 10 kg)
2-3 cloves garlic
2-3 bay leaves, 2 branches rosemary or thyme, 1 handful of oregano, 1 tbsp fresh basil leaves, any or all of the above.
1 tbsp salt
1 cup chili pepper paste

Option 1: you're patient enough to peel the tomatoes
Put your peeled, roughly chopped tomatoes in the pot together with all the other ingredients in the pot and cook over low fire for a couple of hours until the tomatoes begin to disintegrate. Remove the bay leaves and branches if you used, blend and leave over low fire for as long as it takes until the mix has reduced by half and you have a very thick sauce or a runny paste (you can also let it evaporate until you have proper tomato paste). Preserve in sterilised jars.

Option 2: you're too lazy to peel the tomatoes (like me )
Cut the tomatoes in quarters, put in the pot with all the other ingredients and cook over low fire for a couple of hours, then squeeze the mix through a coarse sieve (I use the basket of the deep fryer). The skins will stay in the sieve together with the bay leaves and branches, and voila! Keep simmering until reduced by half and preserve in sterilised jars.

Marinated bell peppers

Wash the peppers and put under the oven grill until the peel burns, turning them around once so that they burn on both sides (be careful not to overburn because you'll be left with no peppers at all ) Scrap the burnt skin off and remove the stems and seeds. Put in jars with garlic, rosemary, thyme, oregano, any or all of the above, cover in olive oil and let marinate for a couple of weeks before eating.

That's it for now. Next week I'm attacking the grapes from the rooftop terrace.

 

Removed at poster's request.

 

Interesting sounding soup Ewok Poet. Thanks for posting.

 

You're welcome. If you give it a go, I would love to read your review.

 

I've recently learned to appreciate fennel so if I try it, I will definitely let you know.

I just ate half a yellow pepper filled with ripe avocado (sprinkled a little bit of salt and lots of cayenne.) Definitely something I'll do again, but will tweak.

 

Recipes that require a language warning are the best recipes.



Homemade Root Beer – NuWAY Crumbly Burgers, Wichita, KS

So, anyway, I guess I’m an idiot, but I didn’t even really know it was possible for a restaurant to like “brew” or “manufacture” or whatever these kinds of drinks right on site. I guess I assumed that when it comes to soft drinks, you’re typically talking about a factory setting where the stuff is brewed up in huge batches and then shipped out to restaurants or bottled or whatever. But the NuWAY creates its own root beer right there on site, a fresh batch every day and I was actually really blown away with it. Root beer has always been . . . well, I’ve always kind of appreciated it without enjoying it if that makes any sense. I appreciate the distinctiveness of the flavor and the fact that it’s a beverage that isn’t afraid to cut the sweetness and hint at bitterness. It seems that just about every beverage you run across today increasingly focuses on sugar. Pop is way sweeter these days than it used to be; and we’ve all heard plenty of rants about how wussy coffee is these days; and these days it seems like you can essentially order any alcoholic beverage you want with a “tini” on the end of it. But, while I appreciate it, it’s just not the thing I typically order. Well, I’m telling you the truth: sampling the root beer at the NuWAY put me on like a six month jag of root beer being my default pop almost exclusively. That kind of faded because, nope, I never found anything as good as the NuWAY. It just has a really delicious distillation of the root beer flavor; it doesn’t have the weird aftertaste of a lot of root beers and it’s wonderfully refreshing. I kind of thought, at the time, that maybe I was just rediscovering that I loved root beer, but it turns out that the NuWAY root beer really is better than root beer generally is so I’m really kicking myself at this point for not grabbing a couple of their two liters to bring home. Well, whatever. The burger was just OK and I didn’t like the onion rings, but if you’re ever in Wichita, stop by the NuWAY and discover what root beer is supposed to be. 3 ½ stars.

tl;dr – restaurant continues to brew root beer on site rather than buy from a wholesaler and it pays off with the most delicious, refreshing and satisfying root beer I’ve ever encountered. 3 ½ stars.

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