What's cookin', good lookin'? Part II

[Orchidea73]

I prepared some sausage with tomatoes. And I might make some roasted potatoes as a side dish.
https://i.imgur.com/UEwvBfU.jpg

 

[IrisAlthea]

Pasta and a tuna sauce made with garlic, tuna, lemon and black pepper.

 

[Orchidea73]

Nodini di maiale with rosemary, garlic and grated lemon zest. Sauteed broccoli as a side dish.

 

[IrisAlthea]

Nodini di maiale with rosemary, garlic and grated lemon zest. Sauteed broccoli as a side dish.

That sounds great!

 

[Orchidea73]

Right?
Everything she makes sounds amazing.

Love your bias.

So, I ran out of breadcrumbs and mixed in some crushed dried onion rings with them. Also mixed in grated cheese and fresh parsley. Coated chicken breast, browned in oil in a cast iron pan, finishing in the oven.

Hoping it turns out well.

It will. It can't go wrong cooked like that.

 

[Orchidea73]

It came out great!

I knew it.

 

[IrisAlthea]

It came out great!

This is how great new recipes are born: People going ”Shit, I forgot to buy…”

 

[seela]

What are some of your pantry items that you always keep at hand? Do you have a favorite recipe to make with those items?

I’m hoping to get some new ideas from you, both for pantry staples and for pantry staple recipes, because I’ve gotten in a bit of a rut.

 

[IrisAlthea]

What are some of your pantry items that you always keep at hand? Do you have a favorite recipe to make with those items?

I’m hoping to get some new ideas from you, both for pantry staples and for pantry staple recipes, because I’ve gotten in a bit of a rut.

You knew I’d go overboard here right?

Lentils, chickpeas, black beans ans sometimes cannellini beans, canned tomato (Mutti or Kung Markatta), Mutti canned pizza sauce, canned tuna, canned olives and sometimes canned or dried mushrooms, mackarell in tomato sauce and sometimes canned sardines, canned pineapple and sometimes canned chopped green chillies, usually canned yellow pea soup military style.
Powdered miso soup, rice and risotto rice, pasta, couscous, soup noodles, nuts and seeds, flour, baking powder, dry yeast, oats, different oils and vinegars, dry sherry and pernod.
Eggs, turkish yoghurt, milk, cream, cheeses, ham, bacon, anchovies, often smoked salmon or gravlax, mustards and other condiments like chillisauce, soy, fish sauce, hoisin or oystersauce. I used to make all our mayo, but with a teen who cooks for herself, we now have Hellman’s mayo too.
Freezer has avocado, berries, fish, bread (like liba and pita for example). When possible we try to be good about having things prepared in the freezer, like chicken breast from the sous vide, stock, ground beef in a roll, ready to be sliced into hamburgers, pizza dough, hamburger buns ready to pop in the oven etc. We try to have some things ready to pop in the oven, like lasagnas, pizzas, casseroles, burek etc home made or storebought.
Different kinds of stock cubes and liquid stock, lemon and lime, usually some fresh herbs on the window sill etc.
We have fresh tomatoes, onion and garlic and usually apples, bell peppers or cucumbers etc.
We often have filo or puff pastry, but not all the time.

We usually plan ahead at least a week, because we try to coordinate 4 busy people, but plans fall through so staple recipes include:
Pasta puttanesca
Spaghetti Milanese, aglio e olio, arrabiata etc
A pasta sauce with canned tomatoes, mustard parmesan and canned champignos.
Pasta sauce with red lentils, canned cerry tomatoes and feta.
Pasta sauce made with avocado, lemon, black pepper and cream and either salmon or some kind of cheese
Pasta or toast with tomatoes and cheese of some kind.
Toast with avocado, chicken breast and tomato.
Toast with salmon or canned tuna, avocado and tomato.
Omelettes or poached eggs with fish or ham.
Huevos rancheros.
Daughter usually wants us to have nacho chips so some kind of nachos can usually be organized.
Chicken soup, tomato soup with noodles or rice. (The very coveted family recipe for the classic Austrian ReisParadeis Suppe calls for Campbells consomme, cooked rice, polpa di tomate but a stock cube will work fine.)
Liba pizza
Pita with canned tuna and a mint yoghurt
Pita with mackarel in tomato sauce
Burgers or toast with fish filet
Bean and tomato sallad with feta.
Etc etc.
Etc Etc

 

[seela]

Wow, that’s an exhaustive list! Thanks!

I don’t have pantry space for everything I’d like to stock up, but I usually have a few kinds of beans and lentils, a few kinds of tomatoes/passata, tuna, coconut milk, oat milk, a few kinds of noodles, pasta and rice, tortillas, dried mushrooms, dry yeast, a few kinds of sugars, all sorts of flours (like 8 different kind, it’s a disease) and other basic baking ingredients and lots of spices, oils, vinegars, some basic condiments and way too many different kinds of salts, because that’s another disease I have…

Fridge stuff varies a little, but I usually have eggs and yogurt or viili, pureed carrot or beet, tofu and a specific fish in a jar type of thing.

In the freezer I have peas, sliced dark rye bread, berries and mushrooms, chopped cilantro. Lately fish sticks as well, I recently found out they make pretty darn nice fish sticks using local fresh water fish so I’ve bought those sometimes to have for a quick lunch with a salad when working from home.

I’m awful at meal planning and meal prepping, that’s something I really should improve.

My go-to pantry meals are often rather legume based. Bean soup, bean tacos, lentil curry and rice, pea soup made with frozen peas and cilantro, beet/carrot soup made with the store bought puree. I also like to make omelets and often make tofu and rice as well.

But it’s often the same things over and over on the days when I haven’t planned anything and have to cook with my pantry items.

I’ll have to read through your list more carefully to get new ideas.

 

[IrisAlthea]

Wow, that’s an exhaustive list! Thanks!

I don’t have pantry space for everything I’d like to stock up, but I usually have a few kinds of beans and lentils, a few kinds of tomatoes/passata, tuna, coconut milk, oat milk, a few kinds of noodles, pasta and rice, tortillas, dried mushrooms, dry yeast, a few kinds of sugars, all sorts of flours (like 8 different kind, it’s a disease) and other basic baking ingredients and lots of spices, oils, vinegars, some basic condiments and way too many different kinds of salts, because that’s another disease I have…

Fridge stuff varies a little, but I usually have eggs and yogurt or viili, pureed carrot or beet, tofu and a specific fish in a jar type of thing.

In the freezer I have peas, sliced dark rye bread, berries and mushrooms, chopped cilantro. Lately fish sticks as well, I recently found out they make pretty darn nice fish sticks using local fresh water fish so I’ve bought those sometimes to have for a quick lunch with a salad when working from home.

I’m awful at meal planning and meal prepping, that’s something I really should improve.

My go-to pantry meals are often rather legume based. Bean soup, bean tacos, lentil curry and rice, pea soup made with frozen peas and cilantro, beet/carrot soup made with the store bought puree. I also like to make omelets and often make tofu and rice as well.

But it’s often the same things over and over on the days when I haven’t planned anything and have to cook with my pantry items.

I’ll have to read through your list more carefully to get new ideas.

And I still forgot butter, coconut milk etc.

There are two growing types who work out 12+ hours a week in our household. They eat more than big farm animals at times.

I created a system for the meal planning that includes everyone with calendars ready etc. He grabs me by the neck and holds me to it or I’d flounce off and create a new system…

 

[Orchidea73]

What are some of your pantry items that you always keep at hand? Do you have a favorite recipe to make with those items?

I’m hoping to get some new ideas from you, both for pantry staples and for pantry staple recipes, because I’ve gotten in a bit of a rut.

- I always keep pasta (Rummo and De Cecco). Mainly spaghetti, bucatini, paccheri, calamarata, farfalle, tortiglioni, penne rigate. Also Strozzapreti and some fresh egg pasta like tagliatelle and cappelletti.
- Olive oil, sunflower oil and butter
- White vinegar, Modena vinegar, coarse and fine sea salt.
- Tomato sauce (Mutti passata and cubes, and San Marzano peeled tomatoes)
- Fresh cherry tomatoes and red datterini.
- Bread, Lentils, riso, beans, Gaeta's olives, capers, zucchine, eggplants, peppers, radicchio, fennel, broccoli, lemons, celery, carrots, green beans, mushrooms (fresh and dry), potatoes, cucumber, onions, garlic and all kinds of herbs.
- Fish (sea bream and sea bass), octopus, pancetta, guanciale, costata, mince meat, sausage, pork ribs, chicken, filet. And during the whole winter I always keep everything necessary for the meat broth (beef ribs, knee bone and old chicken).
- Bread (2 or 3 types) Salame, prosciutto, mortadella, wurstel, eggs
- Parmigiano, pecorino, mozzarella, provola affumicata, ricotta, brie, sottilette, fetta, milk and Greek yoghurt.
- Cooking cream and besciamella. Although I do prefer to make them myself.
- Every week I also buy sea fruits like; clams, shrimps and mussels.
- Last but not least, Flour, for all sorts of things.

What can you prepare? Everything. I'm going with bucatini all'amatriciana tonight.

Ingredients:
1. thinly sliced guanciale (or pancetta)
2. caned peeled tomatoes or passata
3. chilli pepper or red pepper flakes (if you like spicy)
3. white wine
4. salt
5. pecorino (or parmigiano)
5. Spaghetti, Bucatini or Tortiglioni (I prefer Bucatini)

Nothing else. No garlic. No black pepper. Absolutely no onions.

Preparation:
First the water for cooking the pasta to be salted and then boil. Take the guanciale (bacon), remove the rind and cut it into slices about 1 cm thick; reduce the slices into strips of about half a cm . Brown it over low heat for 7-8 minutes in an iron or steel pan. The fat of the bacon must become transparent and the meat crisp. Stir often, be careful not to burn it. When the fat has melted, add the white wine, raise the heat and let it evaporate. Transfer the strips of bacon to a plate and set aside.

In the same pan with the cooking juices of guanciale add the whole chilli pepper without seeds, or red pepper flakes, and the hand-shredded peeled tomatoes. Cook the sauce over medium heat for about 10 minutes. There is no need to add salt because the guanciale (pancetta) is very salted already. The salt in the water (better if coarse) where you cook the pasta is enough. However, taste and see if you need to add a bit of fine salt in the sauce. I never had to myself. The last minute, add the strips of guanciale and mix.

Drain the spaghetti and pour them into the pan with the sauce. Cook them al dente. Toss the pasta quickly to mix well with the sauce. Finally sprinkle with grated Pecorino Romano and voilà. Buon Appetito.

 

[Primalex]

What are some of your pantry items that you always keep at hand? Do you have a favorite recipe to make with those items?

Canned asparagus and canned (whole) mushrooms for my quick and dirty chicken fricassee; together with some frozen chicken bits, cream and (instant) chicken stock and you are done.

 

[NC_Coastal]

Italian seasoning, avocado oil, pine nuts, garlic cloves, various pastas, peppercorns. I frequently make aglio e olio.

 

[IrisAlthea]

Canned asparagus and canned (whole) mushrooms for my quick and dirty chicken fricassee; together with some frozen chicken bits, cream and (instant) chicken stock and you are done.

My father was the designated cook when I was little. When he was away and my mother had to cook we’d subsist on fried sausages, fried potatos, fried eggs, grilled cheese etc. Fricassee was one of her very few specialties made the classic swedish way with white vinegar, sugar, white pepper and dill. She used hens she got from a collegue who lived on a farm and made big batches to freeze.
Fricasse has somehow stayed in the longer cooking time big batch category in my head.
I’m so stealing this.

 

[IrisAlthea]

One of the best things I made was one of those canned tuna, canned beans, canned veggies, can O’ soup, ritz crackers and cheese.
Bake the crap out of it and eat for days.
Being poor is okay as long as you know how to stretch it.

As a student I used to buy cabbage, canned bean sprouts, canned bamboo shoots, canned mushrooms (bumped cheap cans) and cheap meat and make what we called sweet and sour chinese stew that I don’t think any Chinese would recognize. I’d make a huge pot and reheat and stretch it with more vegetables, like forever. Saved the week before pay many times.

 

[IrisAlthea]

Tonight I’m making chicken scarpiello, with sweet Italian sausage, fresh herbs, red wine, yada yada yada… I’m using bone in chicken thighs. So good.

That sounds so great!
Bone in thighs end up in our shopping cart a lot.

 

[Orchidea73]

Grilled sausages and grilled peppers marinated with olive oil, aceto balsamico di Modena, garlic and origano. But I'm also going to make a stew for tomorrow. It's much better to eat it the day after.

 

[MikeLucas]

Tonight I’m smoking asparagus wrapped chicken breast with white rice and sourdough bread.

 

[NC_Coastal]

Is there a reason for avocado oil over the traditional olive oil?

Avocado has a higher smoke point. Olive oil has more nutrients. I just like the slightly sweet flavor of unrefined avocado oil, but I use both.

 

[NC_Coastal]

I've never really noticed. I'll look next time.

 

[gracie920101]

Always eggs, milk, half and half, bread , saltines, matzah bread, flour and corn tortillas, tortilla chips, cheddar, mozzarella, gouda, and cream cheese. Carrots, onion, celery and cherry tomatoes, Romaine, sunflower seeds.
Various canned veggies, soups, and a few canned meats and fish (hurricane supplies). Oatmeal, cream of wheat, grits, white flour, sugar (powder, Brown, white granulated and raw), angel hair, elbow and rotini or bowtie pasta. Canned tomato sauce and pasta sauces. Several varieties of pickles and olives.

I'm always up for a cheese and onion omelette or quesadilla, cheese grits make a great meal by itself but add a fried egg for a little protein. Matzah and cream cheese with fresh veggies on the side, angel hair pasta with butter, cherry tomatoes and black olives with parm or reggiano. A big loaded salad with as many different veggies that I can scrounge up.

 

[Lady2020]

Finished the bean soup after adding in carrots, sweet corn, pearl onions, chopped garlic and fresh spinach. I did learn not to cook pinto beans and navy beans together as the pintos cooked a lot faster.

 

[NC_Coastal]

Isn’t it horribly costly?

It's like a dollar-ish more. The spray bottles, which I use a lot, are the same price for some reason. I made salmon pinwheels stuffed with goat cheese and spinach, seared in avocado oil and served on jasmine rice tonight. I paired it with vodka tonics. I pair everything with vodka tonics.

 

[NC_Coastal]

I actually mix them with lime Perrier and Key West lemon juice. I used to drink Russian vodka. Now I'm having to tolerate NATO vodka.