Cooking from lockdown...

[Jovialis]

During the lockdown, I most often cooked pasta for myself with various cheeses.

Sure you weren't cooking spam?

I'm 99% sure this is a robot.

 

[Sylvanas]

I cooked only soups and pasta. My appetite was very bad...

 

[Jovialis]

Tonight I am steaming 6 live blue crabs in a white wine sauce, with butter, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, parsley, salt and pepper. I would prefer to use linguini for it, but we have rigatoni to eat.

I also have some Olio di peperoncino I made from red and yellow habaneros for the pasta.

I have discovered Nduja at my local Italian import store. I love it!

I have developed a very high tolerance for spicy food, the spicier the better. So it may not be for everyone.

 

[Angela]

I have discovered Nduja at my local Italian import store. I love it!

I have developed a very high tolerance for spicy food, the spicier the better. So it may not be for everyone.

It's also really high in fat, so I have trouble with it, but it tastes really good.

I don't know if it's aCovid effect or what, but since I got it I've had not a lowered sense of taste but a heightened one. Everything is too salty, too sweet, too sour, whatever, depending on the food. It's like I've become a super taster all of a sudden!

 

[Jovialis]

It's also really high in fat, so I have trouble with it, but it tastes really good.

I don't know if it's aCovid effect or what, but since I got it I've had not a lowered sense of taste but a heightened one. Everything is too salty, too sweet, too sour, whatever, depending on the food. It's like I've become a super taster all of a sudden!

There is a very big Asian community near me, and I go to a Korean import store. They have a great fish selection, and we have become fond of Dim Sum and dumplings. We even have the bamboo cooking containers to steam them now. We used to go to Tim Ho Wan in Manhattan.

 

[Jovialis]

Over the past few years I went from not knowing how to cook, to being quite adept. When I am passionate about something, I learn it quick. Eating well is important to me, and I find cooking to be a joy.

 

[Angela]

There is a very big Asian community near me, and I go to a Korean import store. They have a great fish selection, and we have become fond of Dim Sum and dumplings. We even have the bamboo cooking containers to steam them now. We used to go to Tim Ho Wan in Manhattan.

Yeah, love Dim Sum and dumplings. Used to go to a big barracks of a place in Chinatown with my husband's friend (and family) from high school where they would just come around with trays full of different varieties. It was something like 1.50 or 2.00 a dish. At the end they just added up how many dishes were in front of you to give you a bill. The tablecloths were just saran like clear sheeting. As you got up to go they'd roll it up to throw away and underneath would be a clean one. Typical, traditional Chinese place for Chinese people. Absolutely no decor or chit chat; just point and they'd dump a dish in front of you. It was unbelievably delicious, though.

 

[Jovialis]

Last Sunday, I made sugo in the Altamurano-style.


In addition to making a tomato-sauce as a baseline, you have to fry lamb, beef, and veal with onions, olive oil, and red wine only till it browns in tandem. Add salt at the end of the frying, and discard the onions; you just want the meat in the sauce. Technically, you are also supposed to add beef and/or pork-skin braciole , but I don't know how to make those yet. Nevertheless, you can do without it too.


After adding the meat into the sauce, you let all of it cook together for 2-half to 3 hours on low. Don't cook it longer, or it will make the meat dry.


Then put it on a rigatoni, or penne.


Honestly, it is the best sugo imo, but maybe I'm a little bias, since it is my family's recipe.


My mom's family does it differently, they add the meat to the sauce raw. Plus I don't think they really eat braciole, that's more my dad's side.

 

[Jovialis]

Not under lockdown anymore. But I didn't know where else to post this, and I've already have made several posts. So I figure I'll keep it going.


I bought Ghost peppers seeds that I want to grow and plan to make "Bomba Fantasma" out of it. Something of my own creation, based on the traditional Bomba from Calabria.


Ghost peppers are 600 times hotter than jalapeño, and 6 times hotter than habanero peppers.


I can handle very hot peppers. But even then, I wouldn't dare over do it when applying it to food. Probably, the olive oil it will be saturated in itself will be enough.

 

[Salento]

Not under lockdown anymore. But I didn't know where else to post this, and I've already have made several posts. So I figure I'll keep it going.


I bought Ghost peppers seeds that I want to grow and plan to make "Bomba Fantasma" out of it. Something of my own creation, based on the traditional Bomba from Calabria.


Ghost peppers are 600 times hotter than jalapeño, and 6 times hotter than habanero peppers.

I can handle very hot peppers. But even then, I wouldn't dare over do it when applying it to food. Probably, the olive oil it will be saturated in itself will be enough.

During the lockdown I experimented with a variety of seeds to see what grows well, … The first experiment failed thanks to rabbits, … Then I tried again taking precautions

 

[Jovialis]

^^Nice, over here we get a lot of squirrels and deer that like to eat our stuff.

But if they eat the ghost peppers, they're going to be sorry...

 

[Angela]

During the lockdown I experimented with a variety of seeds to see what grows well, … The first experiment failed thanks to rabbits, … Then I tried again taking precautions

Now that we moved further out this area is over-run with rabbits and deer too. We fenced a big area of the property with the white slats, though, mainly for the dog and the cat, and between that and them we're holding them at bay. This year all I had out was huge pots of rosemary, parsley, sage, thyme, and basil, and then 3 tubs of cherry tomatoes. I think next year I might go back to staking out a real garden and plant more tomatoes, lettuces, escarole, swiss chard, and cavolo nero,and maybe zucchini, although I have nightmares about the tons of zucchini the plants will produce. How I wish I could plant fruit bearing cherry and peach and fig trees, but it's too cold in the winter.

Beautiful property, btw.

 

[ScottPreot]

Grilled ribs have always resonated well with me. I loved cooking it in my backyard. still do it on weekends