The non-grilling food thread

Speaking of basil...



I made this pesto with pecans for the nuts, and basil that my daughter grew at her school. They have a hydroponic shipping container farm, and she works there one afternoon each week. We get fresh produce from time to time and holy shit, was the basil she brought home on Friday good. This was by far, the best pesto I've ever had, despite my over toasting the pecans.

Pecans in pesto? That's definitely a new one for me. But there's nothing quote like fresh pesto. Try, if you ever can, to get purple basil. Really makes it interesting.

I've had purple basil before, though I used it for a capresse salad. The pecans were really good -- sweeter than pine nuts or walnuts. It was a nice contrast with the garlic. I also added some lemon juice, which I haven't normally done. That was a nice compliment to the basil. It was really just a fantastic melange of flavors. I can see myself going on a pesto kick, especially since it is so high on the healthy ingredients side of things.

When I can be bothered I make some fresh and stuff it in chicken breasts together with mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes. I then top it with a few cherry toms and a light dusting of Parmesan. Nice.

Pesto is a good topper for baked salmon, too.

Hmm, I have not heard of purple basil before. Does it taste different?

Not really, no, but it certainly provides a different color scheme.

Tonight was pizza night. I made a prosciutto and roasted pepper pie, among other selections. The peppers were marinated in vinegar after roasting. Fucking awesome doesn't say enough.

Fish stew for lunch today. Trying to eat more healthy. Salmon, smoked haddock, cod, prawns, mussels, squid rings, sweet peppers, celery, onions, garlic, tomato passata & puree, lemon zest, paprika, fish stock, white wine & cooked-in potato chunks.

Sounds awesome. I made clam chowder a few weeks back, and was quite pleased. But it's hard to argue that one is healthy.

For breakfast, I made a three egg omelet, bacon, and potatoes. The potatoes I made by microwaving them first until they were about 3/4 done. Then I sliced them about 1/2 thick and fried them in the bacon grease with a bit of cajun seasoning until they were crispy on both sides.

That was not healthy.

But probably tasty!

They were very tasty, mmmmm.

I have to say I'm more interested in the rice. What's in it?

Did you fry the nuggets, or are they oven baked?

I'm making fish and chips tonight, but I don't feel like getting out my fryer. Oven fried generally works well enough, but definitely deep fried is the best possible result.

I've got a fryer as well, homemade nachos are awesome to make with it. I'll buy a pack of corn tortillas, Banderita works best. I'll cut them into nacho shapes, 6 pieces per tortilla. Deep fry them, you can do 4-5 tortillas worth at once. Then throw grilled skirt steak, sour cream, jalapenos, sauce, etc on them.

Some more red beans and rice.

I used to make red beans and rice pretty often. Then my wife had a bad experience with it during a pregnancy, and now she can't even deal with the idea of it touching one of our pans. If I tried to make it in secret, I'd need a week to air out the house, otherwise she'd be sick from even the slightest smell.

How about white beans and red rice?

I've been experimenting with pizza-making on and off over the last year. For a while, I just used a regular pan in the oven and made OK pizzas. Got a pizza stone for my birthday over the summer and started making pizzas on the grill that have turned out much better.

Last night, I made a cast-iron deep dish pepperoni pizza with caramelized onions in the oven. Although I put the onions on too soon and they got a little charred, this was one of the best pizzas I've made. The crust came out perfectly golden and crispy on the outside, but soft enough on the inside. I made a huge mess but it was incredibly worth it:

Made some stew Saturday afternoon because the weather was wet, cold, and miserable.




Cheating for this thread, though, because the recipe calls for searing the roast over a fire, not in a pot.

Never thought to use a cast iron for pizza before. Looks pretty bomb. I kinda want to combine that with the naan bread lamb pizza thing I did on post #2 of this thread (four (!!) years ago!).

http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/how-to/article/pan-pizza-video

Only variation was that I coated the pan with olive oil, in addition to flour and corn meal. Made for a much crispier crust. Also, I skipped on the honey/chili flake brushing.

I've been meaning to try making deep dish pizza. I've become quite good at making a thin crust pizza that is kind of a cross between New York and New Haven style, but deep dish would be a new direction.

Tonight, my daughter made chicken parmesan (I helped a small bit). Turned out quite well in my opinion!