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I always wanted to make... BOOM!

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Alright guys and gals, here's a new food thread for us all. One that will kick some of our asses into gear.
 
Post what you plan to cook and have it all worked out (or are working it out), but haven't made it yet. Describe it as you see it, and that will be the inspiration for you too cook it. When you finally do, go ahead and quote it with your masterpiece below. Boom!
 
And to the peanut gallery, feel free to egg us on :P
 
Spicy a must.
 
I will start.
 
There's this Alsation pizza/flatbread called a tarte flambee. I've had it many times. Like a rustic cracker crust pizza. The base is often creme fraiche. The one I want to make is...
Tarte Flambee
Creme fraiche base
Seared bay scallops
A mild nutty melting cheese, fontina or havarti
Fresh dill
Saffron-infused oil drizzle
A tangy hot sauce (or spice up the oil)
 
Click to expand...
ShowMeDaSauce said:
Mmmm, reminds me of a cheese spread called Alouette. Loved that stuff on crackers.
Click to expand...
They still make it, right up the road from where I grew up...in the middle of Amish country...Lancaster County. It used to be called "Fleur de Lait" cheese. And, before that, Zausner's Cheese Plant. My older brother worked there and got a nice employee discount at the company store.
 
I didn't always wanted to make it but since I watched a few Utubes I had to research and make it. Jamaican stewed oxtails with rice and Peas.
 
This is off the chain good. It's sweet, hot, spicy and addictive. The rice cools the burn and cleanses the pallet to eat more spicy tender oxtails. 
 
I followed most of Quang's recipe and it came out awesome. I used an old Presto Fry Master pressure cooker/fryer and it worked perfect.
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Nice plate, Rajun! I've only had oxtails once, but I freakin' loved it! Some dude at work, from Dominica, brought some in for lunch one time. Never made them myself though
 
Love ox tails but for the money beef short ribs work if you cant find them. They do take quite awhile to get tender. Both are pretty damn overpriced though.
 
They really bump up the flavour if you throw them in a pot of meat broth or meat sauce too. That was one of my Dad's "tricks" as he called them. We would eat/pick the meat bones that came out of the brodo pot with gardinera and crust Italian bread and my sister and I would fight over the oxtail and shank meat.

Of course they were actually cheap back then.
 
Yeah, when i was growing up ox tails, tongue and short ribs were cheap. They were po people food. Now they are all over $5/lb and i can get chuck for $2.99 on sale. I never see the others on sale but the massive Asian market does have really good ox tails all the time. Sometimes you just cant pass them up even if its gunna be $20 for a big pot of stew or curry.
 
I guess I'm lucky enough to live by a big grocery store that marks them down 40% on the sell by date. I visit the store 3-5 times a week and always check the marked down cooler, when I see some I grab them and put them in the freezer till I have enough to cook. There's no way I'm paying #5.99 a lb for mostly bones. I find short ribs that way too which is always a bonus.
 
I'll try beef shanks next time, I'm sure they'll work too.
 
 
 
My regular grocer just up the road has big mark downs on stuff too. They seldom have ox tails or tongue and ive never seen them in the "manager special" bin. Those big square cut short ribs pop up in that bin occasionally. Ox tails here are usually $5.99-$6.29/lb. Short ribs work good for braising and have a bit more meat than ox tails. Different kinda bone and basically no cartilage though. Havent tried shanks yet but thats a good idea.
 
The one thing i can get sorta reasonable is nice goat meat with some bones. Its about $4.50-$4.99lb. Makes a awesome curry or brown stew,
 
Find a latin market or butcher. They don't mark up the price of ox tails or trendy cuts. They price their cuts based on sales and they are one of the popular cuts there.
 
Over at http://thehotpepper.com/topic/70288-looking-for-a-proven-recipe-for-cream-of-parsnip-soup/?p=1596354, I talked about recreating a silky, satisfying parsnip soup I'd enjoyed at the local French restaurant.  Here's how it went down:
 
Parsnips are know for being fairly fickle to grow, it was my first time growing the, and I didn't want to sacrifice a ton of time and effort to have it go "bust," so I did a container grow this year.  Under the best conditions, they can get pretty big, but the container wasn't going to let that happen.  I ended up with a big handful of carrot-sized roots.
 
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Pookie sent a recipe that seemed pretty close, so that's what I started with.  Whenever trying a new recipe, I tend to follow it to the letter, making any changes in subsequent efforts.  So, after cleaning, peeling and chopping the roots, I ended up with 316 grams of chopped veggies.
 
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They were placed in a single layer in a one-quarter sheet pan into a 400F oven. 
 
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It took about 15 minutes, with occasional stirring, for some browning to begin.
 
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Saute some onion in butter, add the browned parsnips, vegetable broth and simmer until the roots are tender.  That only took about 5 minutes, a lot less time than I would have expected.  Having never cooked with parsnips before, I suppose I was expecting them to behave like carrots.  They did not.
 
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Puree in a blender, return to the pan, season with salt, freshly ground white pepper and ground allspice, garnish with a dollop of sour cream and enjoy.  And, we certainly did!  While the end result wasn't what I'd originally enjoyed in the restaurant, it was still excellent and definitely a keeper.  After my initial taste, I added a tiny bit of heavy cream left over from some cream of mushroom soup I made last week, along with a pinch of cayenne.  It totally deserved and was much improved by the cayenne!  Parsnips are on my must-grow list for next year!
 
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Looks good. Parsnip-cream-of-mushroom soup sounds genius! Maybe weird but I can taste it together in my brain.

Cayenne is good on almost everything!
 
Latin/South American/Spanish type meat pie...but....not really an empanada this time. More like a pastel con carne although thats not quite the correct translation either but here goes......
 
2.2lbs ground beef
8oz of really fatty Mexican chorizo
About 2 cups of papas seca (Peruvian dried potatoes)
Quart of low sodium chicken stock
1 Pack Pillsbury frozen pie crust...made with lard
Half a medium red onion minced
1 large red shallot minced
About 2 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs aji panca powder
1 heaping tbs aji panca paste.
2-3 tsp of ground cumin
About a tsp of Mexican oregano. I just grab a big pinch and grind it with my fingers.
1-2 tsp of black pepper.
A little red wine vinegar to taste.
Maybe a handful of frozen corn, peas and some additional onion.
 
This is actually a bit too much for the pie crust so some of the meat was set aside for nachos and stuff.
 
Brown the chorizo until it releases all that wonderful fat.
Add ground beef and brown it in the chorizo fat.
After its brown remove some of the fat but not too much
 
While all this is cooking rinse and soak the papas secas in hot water or stock.
 
Move all the meat to the side of the pan and add the "sofrito" and spices/paste
Cook the onions and shallots until soft
Mix it all into the meat and cook a few more minutes.
I transferred mine at this point into a pot from the fry pan.
 
Add just enough stock to keep the meat wet and cover...turn the heat down to a very low simmer for an hour or so. A Texas chili cook off winner once said "Its all in the meat" so we are gunna infuse that meat with some extra flavor. :D
 
Well thats about all ive gotten to sofar but....
 
After about an hour i will add the additional stock and dried taters. Cook them for a bit. Thicken if needed. Toss in some corn, extra onion and maybe some peas.
Transfer all that to the pie crust and bake it to a golden brown. :D
 
 
Wowwwww that used to be one of my fave dishes but with chicken pastel de choclo nicely done!
 
First piece never comes out of the pie pan pretty but im happy with the moisture level :D It was not like a typical pot pie gravy running all over. Not that its bad but i wasn't shooting for a "pot pie" consistency. I was a little surprised it was not a little more wet because the potatoes were very close to done before i filled the crust.
 
Could use a little more heat and im thinking some chopped olives.
 
This is not something I have always wanted to do, but something I have never done inspired by some posts elsewhere. I'll link 'em all in the Made post.

Boneless chicken (aka boned..de-boned...whatever..talk to Scovie ... lol...)
Homemade harissa sauce
Wild rice and mushroom stuffing


All rolled up and baked. Jaques Pepin style.



I have all the ingredients, but with an 8 pound rib roast for 2 people and a dog set for Christmas Tuesday...this will prolly happen thursday.
 
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