Food food food

[beautifulduckweed]

I am determined that this semester, even if I have to spend entire days holed up in my bedroom or firmly rooted to the couch so I can finish my readings on time, I WILL cook during the weekends so I have enough food to see me through the week.

So, coming up this week:

A monstrous batch of "This is blasphemy! This is madness! THIS IS LASAGNA." No, seriously, if you've ever seen or had my spaghetti sauce, my lasagna is like that, only EVEN MORE SO, and with the addition of over two pounds of cheese.
A less monstrous batch of pesto.
Muffins. Not entirely sure what sorts, yet, but I have sour cream, butter, brown sugar and pecans, all of which will be drafted into nefarious muffin-making purposes.
Chicken legs marinated in black soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and shallots, to be eaten with jasmine rice and stir-fried baby bok choy.
Mini flatbread pizzas (thanks, skeets, for reminding me of these!).
Enough fixings for egg, cheese and avocado sandwiches for the next two weeks (I bought a package of Trader Joe's braided mozzarella marinated in olive oil, garlic and chili flakes, and it is seriously one of the tastiest things ever).

I also have a buncha frozen meat for the coming weeks--note to self: figure out how to make my very first pot roast.

Those of you inclined to come and hang out with me and/or my cute redheaded roommate and/or the cats while I enfooden are highly encouraged to do so.

Comments

[quietselkie.livejournal.com]

AVOCADO!

I'm not obsessed, I'm not, I'm not!

regarding pot roast

[linettasky.livejournal.com]

Finslippy tells you how not to make pot roast, including the line, "The extra thumb means extra yum!"

Crazy Aunt Purl gives her method, which includes beer.

This random food blog I found also tells you about making pot roast. These all involve the crock pot at some point, so if you don't have one (which would surprise me a bit), you should a) look for a new recipe, or b) borrow mine -- which is sized just right for one or two people, but I never use it.

[lilithsaintcrow.livejournal.com]

Crock pot is SO the way to make pot roast. Or a whole chicken. One of the best pieces of advice I got from the Selkie was to put a little broth or water in the bottom of the crock to start the process off right. TJs has awesome little low-salt concentrated broth packets, which I use all the time. The vegetable one is particularly good for crock dishes involving rice.

But I digress. (As usual.) Crock pot GOOD! HULK COOKING SMASH!

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

I do, as a matter of fact, have a crockpot. Deliciousness shall be mine!

[the-drifter.livejournal.com]

I might come accompany enfoodenings. :) Will they be Saturday or Sunday, think you?

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

Both, actually--cooking makes me happy and I figure I'd split the effort over a couple of days. So come over either day! I'd love to see you and snuggle and perhaps watch some entertaining TV for a reading break.

[benefitz.livejournal.com]

Dude, I would so totally be there to cook with you. You reminded me that I need to do exactly the same thing. I will make lasgna and get those same sammich fixings.

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

Awww. We can maybe COOK OVER THE PHONE TOGETHER.

Actually, that probably is a bad idea. But I'll definitely think about you as I assemble my gigantic lasagna of dooooom tonight.

We should exchange the occasional food idea/menu planning e-mail. I tend to fall into a rut when it comes to food, especially when I'm busy, and it's good to hear food ideas from other people with similar cooking philosophies but just enough divergence that it keeps things more varied and interesting.

[whitemunin.livejournal.com]

Simplest, best tasting pot roast ever:

3.5 lb. roast. Cover it in a simple dry rub of salt and pepper. Heat a dutch oven on the stove and add a Tblsp. of canola oil. Coat the bottom of the pot. Once the oil is spitting, put the roast in and sear on all sides. I use tongs so I won't puncture the meat. Once that's done, turn down your heat to medium, add one cup of water and cover the pot. Let the roast stew in the pot for 2 hours. Check occasionally and add water as needed. The roast will cook in its own juices. After two hours, it will be very tender.

Once done, remove the roast from the pot and let it rest for at least 10 minutes. Depending on what you have on hand or how much time you have, you can either pour the juice into a gravy separator and pour off the fat until all you have left is the juice, pour the juice into a bowl and put in the fridge to let the fat rise to the top and harden so you can scrape it off. Reheat the juice. Or you can do it the harder way and skim off the fat with a spoon from the pot.

Once you just have juice, keep your heat on medium-low, dissolved 3 Tblsp. cornstarch into an equal amount of water and add to the pot. Stir until blended and then stir frequently. The juice will thicken to a nice gravy. It's usually at this point I add more seasoning to taste.

If you don't want to make a gravy, reserve your juice. You can use it later for making Ropa Vieja (Old Clothes), a wonderful Cuban dish of shredded roast stewed in its juices with chopped tomatoes, garlic and other good things. I serve it with saffron rice, black beans and either yucca or plantains.

If you want roast and gravy, I highly recommend serving it with Yorkshire puddings. Easy recipe, and made from ingredients one usually always has on hand (eggs, flour, salt, milk and water).