• Start a personal food blog, or, start a community food thread for all.

Culinary Sandbox

Something's brewing in the kitchen….
P1010934.JPG

 
P1010935.JPG

 
P1010936.JPG

 
This process is going to take a few days, so don't turn blue on us!
 
Click to expand...
Have mercy G.
 
That is hot blue and righteous!
 
And from what you've mentioned in an earlier post....
 
You eat up to 4 times a day.
 
I only eat once a day, and that only when I'm hungry.
 
That pork.
 
I'd make that my once a day.
 
And eat ALL of it!!!!
 
No pics yet, but more experimenting has begun. Nothing fancy, just stuff I haven't tried before, both from the Serious Eats website.
 
First up is Farinata, an Italian chickpea pancake. According to the folks at Serious Eats, the keys to using garbanzo bean flour are using the right ratio of flour to liquid and also letting the mix rest long enough to allow the flour to rehydrate properly - a minimum of four hours. I just mixed them so I should have a nice chickpea pancake for breakfast. I'm sticking fairly closely to the given recipe this time, but will throw abandon to the wind next time. Needless to say, I am using congo trinidad powder in place of BP. I've never used garbanzo bean flour before. It occurred to me while mixing it with the water that it's probably just as easy to use whole garbanzo beans with the outer skin removed then pulverized and possibly thinned with a touch of water or other liquid. Still, a quick peek using a search engine yielded no farinata recipes that didn't use chickpea flour. It did yield a number or recipes that both did and didn't call for a multi-hour rest, but the folks at S.E. say that not letting it rest produces a dry, crumbly pancake while letting it rest produces an almost custard-like pancake. I like custard, so I'm letting mine rest overnight. 
 
Next up is pickled rhubarb, which will be made with red wine vinegar, ginger and lemongrass, and also whatever kind of dried chile I decide to pull out of my stock tomorrow. I've never tried pickling rhubarb before but do love rhubarb and can imagine what this is going to be like. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be making more next weekend, if this turns out like I imagine it will. Stay tuned!
 
That rhubarb pickle sounds great! Using rhubarb for savory dishes certainly has my interest.... i love rhubarb but growing up have only seen it used one way... stewed with apples and eaten with ice cream.... looking forward to seeing how your experiment turns out!
 
Farinata is done. I halved the recipe and used a 10" cast iron skillet. My oven tends to run hot, so I also shortened the time to 9min.
 
P1010969.JPG

 
 
I also did not use a preheated baking stone, so the bottom didn't brown up. This still kind of surprised me, as one might think that the cast iron might do that on its own.
P1010970.JPG

 
Side view. The consistency is probably closest to a potatoe pancake.
P1010971.JPG

 
This is a very savory pancake. I can see it going well with a hearty breakfast with eggs and sausage, or with chili or anything else you might consider using potatoe pancakes with. 

Tinnie, I've only had rhubarb in strawberry-rhubarb jelly, strawberry-rhubarb pie, and "plain" rhubarb pie. I can't stand it mixed with strawberries, as it's excessively sweet to me. But I love it on its own. I can see where having it mixed with apple might be good. I will try to describe the flavor once the pickles are ready. 
 
Interesting, Ashen. Now is definitely the time to give some of those recipes a try, as rhubarb will be out of the markets before we know it.
 
geeme said:
No pics yet, but more experimenting has begun. Nothing fancy, just stuff I haven't tried before, both from the Serious Eats website.
 
First up is Farinata, an Italian chickpea pancake. According to the folks at Serious Eats, the keys to using garbanzo bean flour are using the right ratio of flour to liquid and also letting the mix rest long enough to allow the flour to rehydrate properly - a minimum of four hours. I just mixed them so I should have a nice chickpea pancake for breakfast. I'm sticking fairly closely to the given recipe this time, but will throw abandon to the wind next time. Needless to say, I am using congo trinidad powder in place of BP. I've never used garbanzo bean flour before. It occurred to me while mixing it with the water that it's probably just as easy to use whole garbanzo beans with the outer skin removed then pulverized and possibly thinned with a touch of water or other liquid. Still, a quick peek using a search engine yielded no farinata recipes that didn't use chickpea flour. It did yield a number or recipes that both did and didn't call for a multi-hour rest, but the folks at S.E. say that not letting it rest produces a dry, crumbly pancake while letting it rest produces an almost custard-like pancake. I like custard, so I'm letting mine rest overnight. 
 
Next up is pickled rhubarb, which will be made with red wine vinegar, ginger and lemongrass, and also whatever kind of dried chile I decide to pull out of my stock tomorrow. I've never tried pickling rhubarb before but do love rhubarb and can imagine what this is going to be like. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be making more next weekend, if this turns out like I imagine it will. Stay tuned!
Click to expand...
Wow pickled rhubarb!!!! My grandmother from RI used to make that when I was a kid. Was awesome completely forgot about it till I read your post. She made a sweet pickle and a sour I remember picking the rhubarb and the anticipation of the finished product!!! :) She also used to chop and cook down with just a touch of honey till broken down we'd put on ice cream and toast. Wow mind blown serious memory overload!! :)
 
Pickled rhubarb started.

Rhubarb sliced
P1010974.JPG

 
Red wine vinegar, water, sea salt, brown sugar, star anise, dried chile pods of some variety (I didn't label the bag I put them into - oops!)
P1010972.JPG

 
Sliced ginger and lemongrass added
P1010973.JPG

 
 This is brought to a boil and simmered 5 minutes, then turned off the heat and let it cool another 5. Strained the liquid over the rhubarb, put a paper towel and then a small plate over it to keep the rhubarb submerged. This is left until completely cooled, then will be put into a container with a lid and refrigerated. This is a quick pickle recipe, so it must be refrigerated (it's not shelf-stable.)
 
I'll post a pic when the rhubarb is ready.
 
I have never had rhubarb, but I love the color ...
 
It's sweet? ... I always looked at it and assumed it was a vegetable, LOL ...
 
Hmmm ...
 
Thanks Alynne! 
 
Grant, rhubarb is very tart - more liken to a lime. And, like lime, you can take it in either a sweet or savory direction. depending upon what you do with it. Think key lime pie on one side, but also spritzed on fajitas on the other side. Rhubarb is a stalk; it looks a lot like celery. Reportedly every part of the rhubarb plant except the stalk is considered to be toxic to humans. Mind you, I'm not rushing out to try this, but I wonder if it's not like chiles, as some people claim that hot peppers are toxic. I haven't looked into what about, say, the leaves would make them toxic, but I'm not curious enough at this point to look it up. I'm not growing it and can only get the stalks themselves at the grocery store, so it's not a concern ATM.
 
Ok, here's the pickled rhubarb:
P1010975.JPG

 
As you can see, a lot of the color leached out into the brine. The larger pieces aren't quite ready yet, but they should be fine after sitting in the brine overnight. As one might suspect, these are TART! They have a sweet/sour yin/yang kind of thing going. What is surprising is that the lemongrass and ginger aren't overpowered by the rhubarb, so the pickles retained a grassy note. I am thinking these would go well on a meat sandwich, like corned beef, or even add an interesting kick to potatoe salad. But yes, they are definitely good on their own, assuming you like tart things. I definitely do!
 
Ok, so I spent a few minutes looking into the toxicity of rhubarb. Pretty much everyone agrees the leaves are toxic due to the presence of oxalic acid in them. Also, even the stems shouldn't be eaten once the plant is subjected to cold, as it sends oxalic acid down the stems in these circumstances. When the heat of the summer arrives, the stems are simply bitter. There's mixed info on the roots - some say toxic, others say not. The roots have been used in Asia as a laxative for centuries, often drunk as a tea. Probably some don't like that laxative effect and so call them toxic for that reason. That, or just passing on bad info, assuming their sources are correct.
 
You know G, I have never had rhubarb other than my brother's wife's grandmother's strawberry rhubarb pies (which were delicious).  I am curious about this.  If you pickle them and they are so tart, would they benefit from more sugar, or agave nectar or something?  I would love to try this.
 
You could certainly add more sugar than I used. I pretty much just followed the quick pickle recipe on SeriousEats.com, except for using capsicum instead of piperaceae, but you know, beyond salt and vinegar you can experiment with flavors as you choose. I will say that these are very different from anything else I've tried. They kind of make me think of the Sourpatch Kids gummy candies, except not candy sweet. I will tell you that my son tried a bit and didn't like it, but then he's the kind who only orders the same one or two things at a restaurant, no matter how many times he goes there - I think it's partly about expectations. Don't think about your grandmother's desert at all if you try these, as they are definitely not desert.
 
Why anyone would be thinking "desert" when putting a pickled anything into their mouth is beyond me, anyway. 
 
The desert is pretty dry... think you mean dessert :lol:
 
When it's 11pm and I normally go to bed these days by 9p, it's all the same! 
 
(Double-space for TB!) 
 
These rhubarb pickles are really growing on me. The flavors are more blended today and the heat is starting to show up in a way it didn't seem to just yesterday. They're still real tart, mind you, but I like that. I opened one of the jars of them as I started to fix dinner and the next thing I knew I had eaten like 10 pieces. There was also still a texture thing with the larger pieces yesterday, like they hadn't quite pickled up yet, kind of fibrous. Today, though, that isn't nearly so pronounced. They all still have a nice firmness to them, though. I am going to bring the other jar in to my client's office tomorrow and see what they think. One of them said they've never had rhubarb anything, so it will be particularly interesting to get her take on it. 
 
I give you fair warning that this doesn't look good. But then, nor does most comfort food, so c'est la vie.
 
I picked up some pork rib last weekend, with the intent to fix it in the slow cooker on Monday except that didn't happen. And I used up the bbq sauce on something else, so it was either come up with something random from ingredients on hand or go to the store. On-hand won and my taste buds are telling me it's a good thing.
 
Gettin' jiggy wit' it - hoisin sauce, chinese mustard, fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame seeds, ginger, cumin, allspice, fatalii puree, Thai red pepper paste, lime juice, lemongrass, cilantro, thyme, chicken stock. I think I'm missing something. If I think of it later, I'll edit.
P1010976.JPG

 
Covered that with foil and put it in the oven at 300F for 3 hours then took it out. Before I left to work out, I asked my son to make rice or something to go with it. I have a swim meet both tomorrow and Sunday, so I'm in the mood for some starch.
 
When I got home, I opened the door and the smell of GOOD hit me. Double-good because I was HUNGRY. He had shredded the pork, put it in a skillet with a frozen veggie mix (carrot, cauliflower, broccoli), added some of the cooking liquid and got ever-thang all nice and comfy hot together. Also made some udon noodles and put them in for good measure.
P1010978.JPG

 
Purdy? Maybe not, but purdy TASTY! Scarfed down that plateful and will now go do a repeat. This is a total WIN in my book.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top