Concoctions

The what, when, how much stuff used for each dish

You Need To Cook Like A Lebanese Mama

January 21, 2013 — 1 Comment

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Yeah, so some of my best friends are Lebanese. Yeah so he’s not all that great at ping-ping. And so he needs to use the hand break to move a car with a clutch stopped on a hill. But we love him. And we love his mum. When she comes to town, you learn how to cook for many, hungry people.

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She cooks dish after dish of Lebanese yummidom that makes you sit back in your seat, loosening your buttons while giggling or singing. I’m not sure why I have a fear of leftovers, but tonight I tapped into my inner Lebanese mama and cooked a whole lotta meatballs. The kids munched and munched. We giggled. We sang. I think I’m going to arrive here again. Food, it ties a room together.

A Bench Top

January 19, 2013 — Leave a comment

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Perfecting pork crackling, some pork/beef combo waiting for some garlic-onion-ginger treatment, a little ground pork waiting for its moment to shine, cauliflower waiting for cheesy melty goob … these are the ingredients I work with. Full now, tomorrow brings a full day of what to do with the leftovers.

Frites, Steak Implied

January 18, 2013 — Leave a comment

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My daughter, Lucy, LOVES steak frites. Since we have our fair share of steaky, beefy yum at our hands, steak frites is a dish we are familiar with.

These babies were “mo-jo”-ed. Which means sliced in half and then cut into thick wedges. They were then smathered ( I know, not a word, but they were smothered and smacked ) with lard that was melted briefly in a small copper pot. Then in a high oven to bubble and crisp. I turned down after they were well on their way and got the steak going. While the steak rests, the chips finish up, get out of their lard bath and dust up all salty like.

And we eat. And we let steak juices meet frites fluff. And you dream of the cheese and cappuccino to follow.

When Stir-Fry Falls Short

January 10, 2013 — Leave a comment

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Stir-fry was a lovely yum-filled evening but for a veal nub waiting in the wings.
You can see amongst the Robert and the Antifragile, sometimes work mixes with pleasure.

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The boys hit their limit quickly. Otto totally dug the soba deep fried in bacon fat. Go bacon fat! Brent ate his share and let the kids finish what was left.

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But there are more beings interested in our calories.

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… And these chicks

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Veal nub devoured, stir-fry gone, we shower and sleep and wait for brighter days involving more at-our-reach ingredients. Please, people resist the temptation to Eat Out. That is all.

Best Chocolate I Ever Ate

January 9, 2013 — Leave a comment

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I’m not frequent with the sugar consumption so when we were gifted a big box of dark chocolate , Lindt flavor discs, we took no pause before tucking in.

The flavors were
– chocolate
– caramel
– cherry piment ( that’s French for spicy )
– orange

Oh and they were good. Oh they were lovely.

My ranking:
Caramel ( my ab fav )
Cherry Piment ( Brent’s nemesis chocolate )
Orange
Chocolate

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I had to bite two cherry piment to get this picture; the first one was blurry. I’m loving chocolate photography.

Rose Veal Explored

January 9, 2013 — 2 Comments

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I don’t have a lot of experience with veal other than pounding the crap out of crappy veal to make scaloppine. But with our first veal, which is truly rose veal, as it was with it’s mum milking, eating hay and grass ready for slaughter around seven months. We couldn’t wait to fry one of these steaks up. So curious were we. The result? Beef! Flavor! Tender! A complete shock followed by excitement filled our dining room ( which we call “the mess” which also triples as our office and t.v. room okay and “the warm room”). Veal or Rose Veal or Baby Beef is good don’t let people tell you otherwise.

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Blood, Sweat and Tears

January 7, 2013 — Leave a comment

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True fact: ” blood, sweat and tears ” was a phrase coined by a meh-hee-can lady in her kitchen.

Sweat: cooking for the gauchos will make you sweat. They work hard and they’re mighty hungry.

Tears: chopping onions brings tears to your eyes no matter what technique you use.

Blood: with teary eyes, sometimes one can get a wee bit too confident with the super sharp, onion chopping knife.

But when you are cooking leftover pork roast that came out quite juicy what with all the fat and slow cooking, a tear shed makes you feel like you’ve made a little impact on the world.

Pork, avocado, salsa and Mexican zucchini locked and loaded for this evening’s meal.