Whatcha Cooking today?

[worth1]

I making a down and dirty seafood chowder of sorts.
I have no idea how it will turn out but couldn't find a simple can of clam chowder in the store to save my life.
Me being not leaving well enough alone I decided to concoct something.
The potatoes are the multi colored baby potatoes, red white and blue.
Two big cans of cheap cream of mushroom soup.
Some onions diced and browned in a skillet.
Bag of small cooked shrimp.
Two cans of baby clams.
Two giant red ripe jalapeño peppers diced and de-seeded.
Spices like my own homemade celery salt.
Maybe some powdered milk we shale see.
Potatoes are first in a kettle in cold salted water lid on burner on medium.
Bring to boil for about 5 minutes turn off heat and take off burner.
They should cook nicely.
Drain off water.
Add rest of goodies.
The rest of the stuff is just warm up cooked frozen shrimp in last after flavors have set in and spices tested.

[karstopography]

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Seafood Gumbo. Used up the last of my fresh okra in the effort, but I have a big pot to enjoy for couple of days.

Got fussed at by my BIL from Crowley Louisiana because I put tomatoes in the pot. Real Cajuns evidently don’t do this travesty. Oh well, I’m not a real Cajun.

[worth1]

Neither am I so I dont give a hoot as long as I like it.

[worth1]

Oh my gawd, the house smells heavenly.
Toasted onion and garlic.
Roasted and chared peppers and carrot.
Outdid myself on this one.
The chowder is at the rim of the kettle.
All I wanted was a wee bowl of canned chowder.
What the bloody hell is this.

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[worth1]

More chowder pictures.
The taters onions and garlic and peppers with carrots.

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[worth1]

I will try to remember everything I put in this stuff so please forgive me if I left anything out.
One big heaping tablespoon of Gochujang red fermented pepper paste.
The same with sambal oelek red pepper paste stuff.
1/4 cup each of polar soy sauce and brown sugar.
1 big clove of garlic ran through my press.
The juice of one whole fresh squeezed lime.
About 1/4 cup of my homemade fermented onions ran through the garlic press.
By the way the fermented onions are a must do for fermenting.
About two big tablespoons of apricot preserves.
A tablespoon of toasted/fried pecans pecan oil I made and am about out of.
I dont have any toasted toasted sesame oil so I make do and I think it tastes better.
Mixed all this up and I have 3 Wagyu rib things marinating in it as we speak.
I tasted it and honest to god I can taste everything I put in it.

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[worth1]

Pulled it out some time ago and I hope the temperature stops rising.
Also got a crazy rice tower thing going on.
Looks like the tower of Babel.

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[worth1]

Here it is ready to eat with the marinade and the roasted pecans and oil on the rice.
The marinade was brought up to a simmer just to be safe.
To think this all started with a can of mushroom soup.
The meat was cooked at 550F on a rack over a cast iron skillet in the oven.

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[Amateurinawe]

That's just WOW!

[karstopography]

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Preparing eggplant and zucchini from the garden for the grill. Marinated in lemon zest, juice, parsley and garlic Aldi yellow fin tuna got grilled to medium rare along with the veggies.

[pepperhead212]

Definitely a soup day today! I made a mushroom, barley, black chickpea, and masoor dal soup, starting last night. I soaked 1 lb of kala chana - black chick peas - overnight, then pressure cooked them in the Instant Pot for 1 hr, and then it slow cooked another 5 hours, along with all of the other ingredients, but those chickpeas are not falling apart at all!

I rinsed those cooked chickpeas, and put about 1/3 of them in the fridge for a later salad, and then set the IP on high sauté mode, and cooked a large chopped onion in olive oil, until starting to brown, then turned off, and cooked 2 minced garlic cloves and 2 tb tomato paste, in the heat left in the pot. Then I added 3/4 c pearl barley, 1/2 c masoor dal, 1 oz dried boletus, soaked and minced, 6 c chicken broth, and 2 of the boletus soaking water, 1 tb chopped fresh rosemary, 2 fresh bay leaves, and salt and pepper to taste. I also added a chunk of parmesan rind from the freezer. This was put on slow cooker mode for 4 hours.

Meanwhile, using the ATK method to cook the mushrooms, I washed and quartered them, then steamed them briefly, then cooked the water off. Then I added 2 tsp oil, and cooked 7 or 8 min, until browning. I put these in the soup for the last half hour - this way, they don't lose all of their flavor into the soup. Last, I stirred in a quarter cup of chopped parsley, and served it with some grated parmesan.
Mushroom, barley, black chickpea, and red lentil soup. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished mushroom soup, with a little grated parmesan. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

I just bought the biggest fajita AKA skirt steak, I ever saw in my life at the Jalisco Mexican market.
Got lots of fat on it too.
Also got some habanero and jalapeno peppers, along with avocados, red radishes, tomatoes, cilantro and other odds and ends like fresh corn tortillas and a giant bag of mesquite wood charcoal.

Gonna test out the grill I am not through building but built enough to cook a fajita on.
Lets just call it sea trials AKA shake down cruse.
I need to know if I need to build a rack for wood or not, I dont think I do.
Or is it I just want to cook on the thing??????
What better way to test it out than >>>>>Carne Asada<<<<<<.

[bower]

Can't believe the grocery fast I've been on here, did not even venture out when I ran out of milk early this week. Many staples are getting low but so epic busy... I can do without and cross my fingers nothing gets worse all of a sudden ahem. And my grocery store is still on strike grrrr. Please give these people what they need fgs, and continue your bustling business!! Hard to believe they are holding out while other business legitimately suffered in the pandemic....
I did stop my work for the big frost midweek though, and harvested some stuff before the event. Made pesto yesterday from the root parsley tops, and froze some, and having that for supper tonight with some late season tomatoes... boy they are good. Lots in the freezer but I do appreciate that last taste of fresh!

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[worth1]

The fajita was 3.5 pounds it had lots of fat on it and I left it on.
I dont care for this very tasty fat cut off.
Made a marinade of.
Lime juice.
One whole bunch of cilantro stems and all.
Fermented onion.
Crushed garlic.
Black pepper.
Whole habanero pepper.
Salt.
Cumin.
A little white vinegar.
Tablespoon of polar soy sauce.
Oil.
Put it all in a food processor and let it do its thing.
And it tasted wonderful.

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[worth1]

Decided to bring the operation outside.
Really nice today.
Mayocoba beans on the electric outdoor burner.
Fixings ready to work with.
Fire going.

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[worth1]

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This is the Korean version.

[worth1]

Mexican version.

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[worth1]

Side by side comparison.
Both outstanding but very different.

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[worth1]

I also fire roasted some....
Tomatoes.
Garlic.
Habanero.
Jalapeno.
Red onion.
Juice of one lime.
Salt.
Took some cilantro and chopped everything up and made a salsa crudo out of it.
Take a spoonful of it and lay a slice or two of the meat on top and you are in heaven.
Not hot at all but very flavorful.
Not gonna kill these flavors on any kind of tortilla.
The rendered charred fat on the meat is absolutely amazing.
Some of the best flavored fat you will ever have.
No idea why people cut it off.
The grill is an unbelievable success, the fire brick gets hot and it is like a blast furnace coming back at you and that was with the wind at my back.
You could side roast a chicken it is so hot and I had to keep getting out of the way for a bit.
I mean it was really hot.
Needs a front door for sure.
The Korean style had the same marinade but I made up a sauce of brown sugar lime juice the Korean Gochujang paste I bought and polar soy sauce with chopped habanero pepper.

[worth1]

Folks I have been snacking all day.
But I had no problem wolfing this down.
Oh my gawd this was good.
Best meal in a long time.
And what a way to celebrate the start of November.
This my fine featherd friends is why I like Mexican food.
What's not to like.

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