Alison Brie: the new food thread

[elpollodiablo]

I did a Thai cooking class today that was like four hours long. Made some really delicious Tom Kha soup (the only Tom Kha soup I've ever actually enjoyed; will definitely be making it again), some chicken basil, summer rolls (with Thai flavors) and a red curry. Making the curry paste from scratch was fucking ridiculous, one of the most labor-intensive things I've ever done in service of food. The curry itself turned out delicious.

We also had some folks over for dinner tonight and I made chicken adobo and a little saffron rice thing with coconut milk. It was tasty.

[Bernard]

Man, all you guys are invited to come to the cockluck, cocks optional.

Aaron and I are on a mission to spend under $20 for lunch for the two of us for our Sunday dates (we take the baby to my mom's for a few hours every Sunday and Aaron and I have our weekly date). Today we had lunch for $11.50 so we splurged on fancy coffee drinks afterward.



So delicious.

[clare]

Are there any savory meringues out there?  I'd be much more inclined to make a meringue if they weren't so sweet.

A cursory google suggests not as the sugar is required to hold it all up... Make a fucking pavlova. It's not all that sweet. when you finish it up (whipped cream, passionfruit berries) it all balances out.

[elpollodiablo]

We've probably been down this road before, but does anyone have a good chili recipe they'd like to share? I make turkey chili a good deal now, and I like how it turns out--I use a lot of chipotles, some cinnamon, brown sugar, smoked paprika, etc., in addition to the typical spices. But I'd like to kind of experiment with it and do something unusual.

[mountmccabe]

That sounds similar to the turkey chili I make, subbing cocoa powder and a bit of ground cloves for brown sugar and smoked paprika. It may not change things up that much, but maybe in conjunction with using a pepper that isn't smoked it might come off brighter? I can post later if desired.

[YojimboMonkey]

I dunno man, I guess my best advice for making chili is to go to a little Mexican grocery and buy a variety of dried chilis and toast them in a dry cast iron pan and then grind them up and use that instead of chili powder. I don't necessarily adhere all that strictly to this but I often like to remind people that chili con carne means "chili peppers with meat" and so I concentrate on those aspects. I also use a variety of fresh peppers. I'll often use leftover bbq--pulled pork or brisket or whatever.

I don't really have a recipe though, I'm not sure I've made it the same way twice

and a lot of people I know make very fine standard midwestern ground beef and beans type chilis and I won't turn my nose up at those either.

[RavingLunatic]

Is there an easy way to make plain white rice taste good enough to eat? I'm sure you could spend half an hour adding spices and various additional foods to it, but I'm very nearly too damn lazy to boil the stuff. It's one of the few foods that is actually good for my digestive system, but I can hardly stand it plain. I've choked it down before, but shoving stuff down your throat you dislike leaves you feeling horrible. Plus, I more or less rely on good-tasting food to alleviate depression on a daily basis.

[Greg Nog]

I love, love, love Furikake, which gives it a pleasantly complex oceany taste, and takes two seconds of shaking the canister over it.

Also, can you handle Spam?  By a hawaiian I knew, I was turned on to Spam, sliced into quarter-inch slabs, marinated in soysauce and sugar, then fried in a pan.  It's really amazing on rice.

[YojimboMonkey]

White rice is also quite nice with a little fish sauce and sesame oil drizzled over it.

[Good Intentions]

Is fried rice bad for you? Because there are literally dozens of way of preparing tasty fried rice--fried rice with shredded lettuce is currently a favourite of mine, since it's very light and refreshing in comparison to the usually quite heavy fried rice dishes. Surely there is some kind of oil which isn't bad for you.

We South Africans often prepare rice with a little bit of tumeric and raisins, which is hardly a lot of trouble. This is originally a Malay side-dish, the more interesting versions of which can be very tasty indeed.

[RavingLunatic]

Never eaten Spam. Stuff sort of scares me, to tell you the truth.

Ima get me some Furikake though. Will probably check the local grocery tomorrow, and then go online if they don't have it. Thanks, Nog!

I don't really know how to fry rice, but I'll Google it. I've had it at restaurants, and it's always been delicious.

[Good Intentions]

Fried rice is really easy, though a bit of practice helps with stopping it from being too greasy. It is basically the perfect left-over food: you take whatever leftovers you have and chuck it in there, stir, and enjoy.

Short version:
Have a bit of left-over rice (keeping it in the fridge overnight dried it out a little, which helps keep the fried rice from being mushy). Heat a tiny bit of oil in a pan. Once warm, lightly (lightly!) scramble some eggs--2 eggs for 2 cups of rice, 3 eggs if you're also adding in something more substantial than a few veggies (which will almost always be the case). Remove eggs from pan, add some more oil, throw in the rice, stir through until it's heated through. Then throw in a few tablespoons of soy sauce, the egg, and whatever else you want with it (shredded cabbage, diced onion, peas and diced carrot are all staples--stuff like onions and carrot should be fried a little beforehand, the frozen stuff out of the bag is fine as is). This is when you include stuff like sliced sausages, meat, prawns, scallops, whatever (not raw, though: it won't be cooked all that much along with the rice, for most meats you should have first cooked them sufficiently however before they go in; left-overs or deli meats are basically ideal). Stir till heated through, serve, enjoy.

Of course, after having done the basic one once or twice you'll immediately want to add different ingredients. Chilli, garlic and ginger goes in when you're heating the oil, and you might want to add different sauces. Like I say, I like using lettuce, which I throw in at the last moment and keep in for less than a minute.

[Thermofusion]

Man GI I do exactly what you've just described at least once a week. Fried rice + scrambled eggs + soy sauce +random meats and veggies, my poor man's emulation of teppanyaki

[Bernard]

Also, try using a different kind of rice? Basmati and sticky rice are two totally different beasts, for example. That's before you even get into anything more funky. I like this one enough to eat it plain, and the prep is dead easy:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-brown-rice-recipe/index.html

[bethany_m]

If you like kim chee, this recipe is super delicious and super easy: http://orangette.blogspot.ca/2011/05/your-efforts-will-be-rewarded.html

[Greg Nog]

Oh god I love kimchi.

RL, how are you with yogurt?

[YojimboMonkey]

Oh god I love kimchi.

meeeee toooooooo

also I've been sick for a week and kim chi is like the healthiest thing in the world, obviously I should be eating more kim chi.  Looks like a trip to joong boo is in my future

[RavingLunatic]

Oh god I love kimchi.

RL, how are you with yogurt?

I'm all about the Greek yogurt now. I used to eat regular yogurt, but now that I've had the Greek stuff, I can't go back.

Couldn't find the furikake at the grocery, so I'm gonna order some. I also plan on doing the fried rice thing at some point. I don't have the energy to do it right now, probably not the rest of the day, but tomorrow maybe.

[nonotyet]

you guys I can eat so many strawberries

[dumbfish]

Just wash them first, ok?
Back in the day got a flat from the Italian Market in Philly, and their smell was so heavenly I couldn't wait out the ride home to eat them.
Spent 10 minutes inhaling a couple pounds, then 10 hours getting them (and everything else) out.

[elpollodiablo]

Probably got touched by a Italian

[dumbfish]

So was your mom.

[Bernard]

My jelly doesn't want to set. Dang it!

[elpollodiablo]

Oh man I just accidentally ate a whole pile of empanadas

[mixed cats]

I have a new game with food, it's called How Can I Eat This Without Getting Crumbs on the Baby? The cheat code is Put the Baby Down but I want to beat the game on the normal setting first