Gwende
1821
I can sort of understand Tim’s reluctance to look things up; whenever I try to google alternatives to gluten ingredients for a meal I want to try, half the search results are posts from chefs (chef-wannabes?) saying things like, “Look, if you’re not going to do it properly you shouldn’t even bother. Just open a can of ravioli and stop defiling the kitchen with your presence.” It can be a little discouraging if you’re not prepared for it.
That said, in the last month I’ve managed to cobble together pretty good gluten-free recipes for some foods I’ve been craving over the last year: lemon chicken, mozarella sticks & marinara, soft buns for hotdogs and pulled pork, and I even made shells from scratch to reproduce the double-decker taco from Taco Bell. The homemade corn tortillas also solved my problems with my enchiladas falling apart in the oven, so thanks to those folks who suggested the flaw was in the tortilla quality. :)
My -favorite- thing I made this month was a huge batch of gnocchi, entirely from scratch. It just never occurred to me until I read it in a cookbook, but while it does take longer to make the pasta yourself, it cooks so much faster so that in the end it pretty much evens out.
baruk
1822
Large flat mushrooms, baked upside-down with a filling of garlic/thyme/lemon butter, topped with breadcrumbs.
I tried a thai red curry the other night and it was so easy and good that I wish I could make it more often. I took a little sirloin steak that I had sitting around from a sale, , cubed it, and pan fried it in a little butter till the pieces were about medium well. Seasoned with a little salt and set it aside. Then I took a can of coconut milk, tossed it in the pan, added 1 1/2 tbsp of red curry paste, 2 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tbsp brown sugar and stirred it all up. Once it was all well mixed I tossed in half of a roughly chopped yellow onion and some cubed zucchini. Let all that simmer for ten minutes, added the meat back into the veggie/sauce mixture, and served with some white rice. It was delicious.
Unfortunately my wife and kids didn’t like it, so I probably won’t make it again anytime soon. I did find it surprising how easy it was to make really nummy thai food at home though.
Athryn
1824
Well, Mexican Oregano isn’t actually Oregano, although it has a similar flavor. It comes from the Verbena family as opposed to the Mint family (which “Greek” oregano comes from.
I think that’s why you often see a distinction, particularly with the rise of more types of authentic Mexican cooking in this country.
Eilonwy
1825
I found some Mediterranean Oregano in the store last night. No real idea if it’s different from Regular Oregano except in name. Now I just need some heirloom tomatos to see if there is a difference!
Don’t know if this has been linked before, but: Marisa Lynch’s Chocolate Mug Cake. College student cooking FTW!
Fuck you! This is unnatural! If god had meant man to have chocolate cake available as an impulse snack option, he would have given us ovenproof hands!
P.S. BRB, cake.
:D:D:D:D
By the way, ‘3 minutes in a 1000-watt microwave’ is entirely up for experimentation in a 250-watt microwave. I gave it 5.
Athryn
1829
There’s a variety of brownie mix on the market that has a single serve microwave recipe of the side of the box. I can’t remember the brand but it comes in a pink box. It also is the perfect dorm preparation.
OrfBC
1830
While the subject is on easy desserts, I picked up a Cuisinart ice cream maker this week. The bowl is in the freezer, and I’m looking forward to making something this weekend. Most of the recipes in the book call for both whole milk and heavy cream, but say that you can substitute lower fat alternatives as long as you keep the volume the same. I’d like to do that, but do the cream and milk serve different purposes in the recipe? Like should I replace the heavy cream with half and half or something, and then the whole milk with lowfat milk, or can I just use lowfat milk to replace most or all of the liquid?
I just made that. Greatest cake ever? No. Greatest cake I ever made with two minutes prep? Absolutely :)
Right, and by avoiding buying that stuff I can avoid any late night snack bad decisions in the cake department. The 5 minute mug cake, on the other hand, requires only ingredients I almost always have on hand.
I’m domed!
I substitute all the time. Usually using a small amount of heavy cream with the rest of the recipe usually becoming a mixture of half and half or whole milk. The texture is different, but I can’t tell a difference in the taste.
Try the Ben and Jerry cookbook, it has some great recipes. When I got my Cuisinart last year I experimented a bunch and came up with a few that I really liked.
I wanted to copy the almond bars they sell at a local shop, and the result was pretty good
OrfBC
1835
Ooh those sound good, thanks. There’s no problem using something like egg beaters in place of the raw eggs either, I assume?
Leah_C
1836
Check the ingredients before trying that - sometimes those egg products have flavors added. I can’t imagine onion powder being good for ice cream :)
Could it be any worse than trout ice cream?
Risotto cakes. Leftover risotto formed into cakes with some mozzarella in the middle, coated in bread crumbs and pan fried. Really tasty!
Latest endeavour: not as successful as cake-in-a-mug. I probably should’ve been suspicious when one gnocchi recipe calls for a 4:1 ration of potatoes:flour, and another one calls for a 1:1 ratio. Experiment is postponed until tomorrow when I can procure more flour. :P
Gwendraeth, any surefire tips for getting this to work?
Gwende
1840
Hmm. My recipe was made with a gluten-free flour blend, so this information may or may not be valuable. Usually the ratio is the same as in regular baking, but sometimes it’s not.
In any case, my recipe called for 2 lbs of starchy potatoes, and 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the flour blend. I basically made it with 1 cup, and then just kept adding flour until I got a dough that was like…well, I guess like kid’s playdough? It wasn’t too wet, and I could roll it out into a 1/2 inch “snake” without it cracking or collapsing.
The instructions said to put the baked potatoes through a food mill, but I just mashed them with a fork until they were smooth (but not pasty). I also felt like my pasta could have used more salt when I was done.
Hopefully that helps some!
