How do you cook.....?

[lisarea]

I have had good whole wheat pasta, but I just made it the same and regular way I always make pasta. It doesn't go well with everything that other pasta does.

What did you like about the kashi stuff that you don't normally like?

Oh, and also, how do you cook quinoa, David Lynch?

YouTube - David Lynch Loves Quinoa Pt. 1

YouTube - David Lynch Loves Quinoa Pt. 2

[livius drusus]

My main tip for getting a decent whole wheat pasta cooked is first and foremost to ignore the cooking times on the package. This is necessary for all pastas sold in the United States, but most important with whole wheat varietals because they're tougher and thus companies expect consumers to want to cook them down into porridge. There's a fine line between hard as a rock and gluey as paste, and the only way to catch it right at that transitional phase is by repeated tasting. As soon as your teeth can sink all the way through a piece without encountering a hard barrier, turn off the water and drain.

To sauce it, put the pasta back in the cooking pot and toss it with just a splash of olive oil. Once it's glistening, then add the sauce and toss. If the sauce is butter based, toss the pasta with a pad of butter first instead of the oil. Believe it or not, the sauce will adhere better this way, and it gives the whole wheat a bit of that silkiness that comes standard with semolina.

I would suggest sticking to small format pastas as well. Whole wheat spaghetti and linguine stick together like crazy. You end up have to pull that shit apart like string licorice or else choke down half-cooked clumps. The penne/fusilli area is your best bet.

[viscousmemories]

I can't believe you left out "it has to be Ronzoni Healthy Harvest brand". You were just telling me that earlier.

[livius drusus]

But that's not whole wheat! It's a blend! That's why it's fairly easy to cook. I figured vremya was talking about the 100% whole wheat stuff which is a hideous bitch goddess.

[vremya]

Does anyone have a good recipe for chicken biryani? I've fallen in love with the stuff and would love to make it at home, but here's a bazillion recipes online, and I have no idea which one to try. Or (way more importantly) to avoid.

[curses]

This is pretty close to a biryani, all you'd need to add is sultanas and chicken. I'd saute the chicken (probably about a pound of chicken breast) and a bit of ginger and tomatoes (and maaaybe a bit of yogurt, depends on how you like your curry sauce)

===============
Indian Style Rice

INGREDIENTS:

- 2 cups long-grain rice, preferably Basmati
- 8 cups water
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 cardamom pods
- One 2-inch piece of cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (or ghee if you have it)
- 1/2 teaspoon dark mustard seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon chile flakes
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 chopped garlic cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric


METHOD:

1 Place rice in a sieve and run cool water through it to rinse it until the water runs clear. Soak the rice in cool water for 30 minutes. Drain.
2 Bring 8 cups of water and the salt to a boil in a large pot. Add the rice and stir. Add the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste the rice, and test if it is done to your taste; rice can take more or less time to cook depending on how old it is. If still too firm, cook a few minutes longer.
3 When the rice is cooked to your liking, drain the rice into a colander and rinse with cold water to stop if from cooking. Remove the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and discard. Set the rice aside to drain.
4 In a pan large enough to hold the rice, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the mustard and cumin seeds and the chile flakes. Cook until the mustard seeds start popping, then add the onion. Sauté until the onion begins to brown, about 5-7 minutes.
5 Add the garlic and sauté another 2-3 minutes. Add the rice and mix well. Sprinkle the turmeric over the rice and mix well. Cook for another 3-4 minutes, stirring often.

NOTES:

If you don't have whole cardamom pods or stick cinnamon, add a pinch of each ground in with the cumin in step 4.
SERVINGS: 4



===============

[thedoc]

A word of advice, it is not a good idea to try to reheat fried chicker livers in a microwave, they explode, some quite violently. This time I just cleaned of the inside of the cover and not the whole inside of the microwave.

[Corona688]

That's a pretty neat trick for doing to someone you dislike. They'll never suspect the liver.

And even if it doesn't work, it's still.. liver. that they have to eat now.

[thedoc]

Originally Posted by Corona688

That's a pretty neat trick for doing to someone you dislike. They'll never suspect the liver.

And even if it doesn't work, it's still.. liver. that they have to eat now.

Yeah, you just need to figure out how to microwave it after they've swallowed a big chunk? Of course if you microwave their belly it's a bit irrevelant whether the liver explodes, maybe their's will.

[vremya]

I bought some whole wheat pasta, so I'll try liv's method and let you know what happens.

And I bought some quinoa - but I forgot I already had some quinoa, so I have a whole hell of a lot of the stuff now.

[SR71]

How do you cook asparagus? I seem to ruin it if I do anything other than parboil enough to reduce any bitter and knocketh the germs off. Can the simple and toothsome deliciousness of au naturel really be improved on?

[LadyShea]

I steam it

[Qingdai]

Fry lightly or grill in olive oil with garlic is another way.

[livius drusus]

Trim the end, drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, s&p, then bake in the oven at 425 for 5 minutes or so. The cooking time depends on the size of the asparagus. I like my asparagi small and skinny so there's less stalk wastage, but if you've got a sturdier batch, cook it for 10 minutes. They're ready when they're tender.

You can do the exact same thing on the grill, btw, when it's too hot for ovens. Just skewer the aspargi together so you can flip them as one.

[Demimonde]

I have a broiler. Four minutes under that drizzled with olive oil, lemon, and a dash of garlic salt and they are perfect.

To negate the smug though, I was actually traumatized by having to cook asparagus. Under the cruel but masterful tutelage of my father, who trained me in the culinary arts, one rule was that I had to cook a dish until I had "perfected" it. Parboiling asparagus was my motherfucking Waterloo. We ate it for weeks as I over or undercooked it on a nightly basis. My brother hates asparagus as a result of my failures in that experiment.

But I am past all that now. I will run shrieking from the kitchen before attempting to parboil it, but broiling it is divine.

[Vivisectus]

Blanche your asparagus - remove the woody end and just leave the nice tender tips. About 4-5 minutes should do the trick. Then cut some long strips of Gouda (or whatever cheese you have around), hold them next to the asparagus, and wrap a slice of Prosciutto around the two. Grill in the over for a few minutes and serve this as a starter.

[Qingdai]

OK, wisenhammers, how do you cook goose eggs? I got a passel of them from my dad's farming neighbor.
I'm going to use some of them for Easter, but I have the feeling that I might get them semi-regularly now.

[SR71]

Thanks for all the asparagus tips , I'll try all of them throughout the summer.

[Qingdai]

And there are also duck eggs in the container. Any clues? I know I can use duck and goose eggs like chicken eggs, but there must be some special recipes that someone has.

[Demimonde]

I went down the rabbit hole the other day when liv posted that article with the poultry catalog. I found this article in my meanderings, but I am not sure if that is what you are looking for. "Cooking With Duck Eggs" The New Agrarian.

I have no first hand experience though.

[Qingdai]

Alas, I found that as well.

I was hoping for a special recipe featuring, instead of substituting goose and/or duck eggs.
Although I am now thinking of baking a fluffy cake or something.

[Demimonde]

I did find this recipe on The Independent. It is a fried egg.

I also dug up a thread on Chowhound on goose eggs. Many there were saying it is harder to fry them because of the additional protein. I will say that the low heat scrambled method sounded fantastic.

I would not do an omelette or any high heat method.

Scrambled should mean very low heat. The best way is the French way (oeufs brouillés), in a cold double boiler (or a pan set over pan, without touching the water beneath) over barely simmering water. Have small slivers of cold sweet butter and/or cold heavy cream on hand (coldness is essential, as you will see). After a few minutes (as soon as the egg starts thickening), stir regularly, and try to keep curds from forming; if the curds start forming, lower the heat as necessary and add cold butter (or cream) in little bits to slow the cooking down. After 20 minutes or so, you should have a lovely cloud of pure egginess. Finish off the heat and with a final bit of butter. Serve over dry toasted English muffins or brioche.

Low on specifics but it had me drooling. I will say if I had fresh eggs like that I might be tempted to make some fresh butter to go with.

[SR71]

Anyone do salmon pate? One guy in the Army used to make it right in the barracks (no kitchen) and it was delicious! Also, what kind of crackers?

[vremya]

Those little water crackers go with everything, don't they? (They remind me of communion wafers)

[vremya]

Anyone know how to make iced hibiscus tea? I'm really jonesing for it.