The non-grilling food thread

@Anna I saw you liked the idea of buying Fresh Pasta at the store so I thought I would suggest Assenti's Pasta in Little Italy. They make a dozen different styles fresh daily and will make just about any upon request and their prices are even fairly reasonable. Or, in a pinch, Vons, Ralphs, and Albertsons all carry fresh pasta in their cold case next to the cheese and dairy.

Shame your good advice won't change the fact that she thinks you're a racist.

Technically most of the vegetables should be pickled as well or at least that is how they serve it in the middle east.

Such ignorance.

You'll find more pickled veg in eastern Europe than you would in the ME. Most Middle Eastern recipes use fresh vegetables.

I added a pickle, but that was just to get some sour. Everything else was fresh and grilled. I consulted the woman at my local Syrian market regarding veggies, and she basically said go for fresh, but a pickled cucumber is a nice touch.

The place where I buy shawarma always includes a pickled cucumber.

@El Chup ...you mind expanding a little about what you think is dumb about this post? Do you think gyros and schwarma aren't at all similar?

This weekend I made:

Greek salad
Butter chicken
Roast chicken
Chicken stock (with the remains of the roast)
a vat of lentil and ham hock soup
Oven-dried tomatoes
Dilly beans
Sausage/onion/pepper tomato sauce
Greek vinaigrette

None of it was particularly photogenic, though.

I like cooking, but I also like not cooking, and am looking forward to the week ahead where all I have to do is heat and eat.

Batch cooking?

Zankou Chicken is pretty famous for its swarma in Southern California and is Zagat rated. It was founded in the early 80's by Marionites who fled the Lebonese civil war. They make their's very tangy with lots of garlic. The veggies are pickled in house too for that authentic taste.

I bother to read one of your posts and I find you are too stupid to even know what turshi (in Balkans tursu) is; it is served with most meals. Seriously, you like to run your mouth about subjects which you know nothing about.

Which one of us lived in the mideast for a year and has widely traveled in it? Hint: Not you, certainly not beyond brief tourist trips, which is why you are ignorant of so much about the region.

Oh, I know plenty. I was questioning your implication that that's how they generally ate picked vegetables in place of fresh, which is untrue. Yes they have pickled vegetables, but no it doesn't take the place of regular vegetables any more than pickled cucumbers replaces a salad in the West.

Oh, I've been well beyond tourist trips my dear Dinner....and I've been well beyond war zones.. I've been part of a Middle Eastern family. You seem to forget that....and that is experience you can never compete with.

Pickled veggies in the form of turshi is part of most Levantine meals and it is extremely popular in the rest of the (Arabic speaking) mideast.

Oh, and I am laughing at the idea that you formerly having an Iranian girlfriend some how gives you any insight to Arab cuisine.

Christ, can the two of you manage to not ruin a food thread?

Agreed. I will go back to ignoring him.

Well...technically, it was a food fight.

You genuinely have no idea what you're talking about. I was partying with the brother of the Emir of Dubai while you were thinking your time on a military base gave you the last word on the region. I've known and acted for Arabs since you were still in basic training.

Accept that people just might have had experiences you haven't.

Oh and btw, I have several jars of mixed pickles from Middle Eastern shops.....

No. Only unless you think that meat off a rotating grill in a wrap means they're similar. A good schwarma isn't remotely the same as good Greek food.

Uh...yeah?

Well, they taste similar to me.

So that's what they do with all the... "remains" after punishing rapists.

WARNING!!!!

I've been using konjac rice and noodles as a way of helping on my low-carb diet. For those not familiar, konjac is the fibre from the roots of a plant, almost zero carbs or calories. The rice works very well - bulks out a dish as you expect and has the right texture. I have used the thread noodles several times in actual Chinese/Thai dishes with great success.

However, I recently used the thread noodles as a spaghetti replacement in bolognese. Worked fine, but after freezing some for later use, I found that the process dried the noodles out and they became stringey.

So I tried a larger diameter noodle. Again, fine - texture just like you expect from well-cooked spaghetti.

Except spaghetti doesn't come out of you... intact. I genuinely thought I had worms. The sort of worms you expect to find on Arrakis.

Ugh, thanks for the warning -- I won't be trying that! Have you tried spaghetti squash?

If its made from the usual parts of the squash it'll actually be high carb, but I think konjac is actually root fibre from a type of squash...

http://www.livestrong.com/article/86012-spaghetti-squash-nutrition-value/

I'm going to try to grow spaghetti squash this year.

It does look like worms though
.

That would be an awesome joke to play on someone!

My bolognese recipe is very rich too, and can lead to fairly explosive consequences... I think it's the basil.

I'm feeling accomplished! Today I turned one chicken into:
doro wat
chicken cracklins
roast chicken
schmaltz
. . . and whatever remains is currently becoming broth.

I also made bobotie while the oven was on.

It is probably the grease from the meat. I always brown and drain mine first.