Did you try a new food or dish? Tell us about it!

kikazaru said:

I didn't see this thread until this morning. Dragon, I make a maple pecan shortbread recipe for Xmas and the cookies need a day to develop their optimum flavour so perhaps yours do as well. As for being dry, you can soften them by placing them in a container with a slice of apple for a day or so.

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Thanks, I will definitely give them a day next time. I made them again today for Thanksgiving and they came out much better after my mom showed me a couple of things. And this time I made a glaze to go on top to help with the dryness (which shouldn't be a problem this time anyways) and omg, the glaze tastes exactly like maple sugar candy. <3 Fantastic.

So I tried something new just now--making my own oven roasted nuts. Definitely a trial and error sort of thing--burned about half of the first batch, but only a few from the second. The recipe said 10 minutes but that was way too long--actually about 5 seems to be the 'sweet spot'. Possibly because I could only find unsalted peanuts and almonds while the recipe had a much wider variety.

One batch I made plain, the other spiced with chilli powder. Just cause. Once they cool I'll give them a try. They certainly smell way better than store bought, even when burnt.

I made a simple coconut macaroon cookie recipe but took a real coconut and shredded the white meat"nut?" and it was delicious...especially warm right from the oven . My stomach can't handle the store prepackaged sweet coconut ...not sure if it is the preservatives that keep it fresh or if it is the stuff that keeps the coconut s white color...not sure what it is that tears my stomach up. The fresh coconut added to the cookies is awesome and my stomach thanks me for it!

Oh man... the most awesome salad ever a few nights ago.

The main greens I used were the herb salad you can buy in the store in containers. I added extra arugula. Put in a slice of prosciutto, and and some crumbled up Stilton cheese, and a sliced up Granny Smith apple (I ate the extra slices alongside).

The dressing is FABULOUS! Take a shallot, mince it up and put it in the food processor, along with about a teaspoon of dijon mustard, some white wine vinegar, a chopped up dried apricot, uh...trying to remember what else. Then as it's mixing, pour about 2 T olive oil down the tube to mix it all up.

YUM!!

Ahhh...here we go...
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/fall-salad-with-apples-walnuts-stilton-10000002012772/

I fell in love with Ethiopian food when I travelled there. Recently I went to an Ethiopian restaurant here in Toronto and tried doro (chicken) tibbs- BEST Ethiopian dish out there! It is also great for people who have never tried Ethiopian before, as it's not too intimidating.

Believe it or not, after 40-something years of being disgusted by the thought of oatmeal, I've changed my mind due to cold Canadian winters. I'd eat oats before, in bread or desserts or stuff like that. But not for breakfast as porridge. Blegh. I changed my mind when I tasted some of Mr. Hip's apple-cinnamon one day. Not bad....okay. I could do this.

I bought some of the Hearty Medleys type from Quaker-- the Banana-Nut kind. And I'd add a banana to it for more bulk. Yum!

Recently, I discovered one of my WW recipes, and it's not too difficult to make in the morning. You use Quick Cooking Oats, about 1/3 cup to 1 cup water.

When the water is boiling, add the oats plus about 1/8 t. each vanilla and cinnamon, 1/8 t. salt. Also, 1/2 T. brown sugar, 1 cut up dried fig, 1/8 cup dried Craisins, and 1/8 cup mixed dried fruit (I like the apples and apricots). If you have a set of kitchen shears, it's really easy to cut up the dried fruit and pile all the ingredients in a bowl together, then you can add them all at once.

Plus, I add an extra apple for bulk (and an extra fruit serving). Granny Smiths are good.

8 pts on Weight Watchers, if you count that kind of thing. It's my favorite new breakfast!

Bread pudding.

I love the stuff but rarely make it, because my family are not fans. Yesterday I realized that I had half a loaf of french bread that had gone stale, and rather than waste it I decided bread pudding would be the thing. I didn't have raisins but I did have prunes so used those roughly chopped, and nothing goes better with prunes than orange so I grated an orange and used orange juice along with the milk and eggs. Some sugar, vanilla, pinch of salt and a dash of cinnamon went in as well. When it came out of the oven I drizzled some maple sauce that I had in the fridge, but I think caramel would be great as well.

I had to give most of it away or else it would be getting in my mouth. I'm sorry now.

kikazaru said:

Bread pudding.

I love the stuff but rarely make it, because my family are not fans. Yesterday I realized that I had half a loaf of french bread that had gone stale, and rather than waste it I decided bread pudding would be the thing. I didn't have raisins but I did have prunes so used those roughly chopped, and nothing goes better with prunes than orange so I grated an orange and used orange juice along with the milk and eggs. Some sugar, vanilla, pinch of salt and a dash of cinnamon went in as well. When it came out of the oven I drizzled some maple sauce that I had in the fridge, but I think caramel would be great as well.

I had to give most of it away or else it would be getting in my mouth. I'm sorry now.

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GAWD I love bread pudding. I'll eat it in absolutely any form it comes in. Mr. Hip isn't a big fan, but he humors me because I love it.

My mother never made it. She wasn't very adventurous in the first place, and was always on a diet when I was growing up, so we rarely had dessert. It was actually something I LIKED in the dorm food we had (most of it was pretty average to awful).

And once while I was home from college, we went to some restaurant, and I drooled because bread pudding was on the menu.

"When have YOU ever had bread pudding?" She said, very snottily. "At school, where they make it."

Ever since I got out on my own, I'll try just about any recipe for it. ESPECIALLY the ones with BOOZE!!

I've made it with left over banana muffins which was a huge success. I've also made it with pureed bananas in with the milk/egg/sugar mixture which was also wonderful.

I do have to say that this one was my favourite so far, there is something about prunes and oranges that I love. I was thinking that if I didn't have the maple sauce I would have made a sauce with some booze in it - maybe rum or some rye.

kikazaru said:

I've made it with left over banana muffins which was a huge success. I've also made it with pureed bananas in with the milk/egg/sugar mixture which was also wonderful.

I do have to say that this one was my favourite so far, there is something about prunes and oranges that I love. I was thinking that if I didn't have the maple sauce I would have made a sauce with some booze in it - maybe rum or some rye.

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I'm not a big prune fan, so I'll take your word for it. But bananas, definitely.

Bourbon is made for bread pudding. That's how they make it in N'awlins, y'all.

New food is saskatoon wine.

Has an orangey-deep rose coloration, less astringent and musty than your typical grape wine but has the need for some slow drinking, unlike the more sweet berry (raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, etc.) which can have you drinking them rather quickly. It doesn't have the room for the more subtle flavours, leaving little but clear aftertaste. Good stuff. Didn't make it though but with the saskatoon tree planted last week, it gives me some ideas.

In the past few months, quinoa. A thoroughly delightful grain, highly nutritious, cooked much like rice, and combines very well with rice, too. Next time you make some rice pilaf thing, try a bit of quinoa with it. It's a little harder, and might require a few minutes more cook time.

As for the comment earlier about cole slaw, I grow cabbage, and make a lot of cole slaw in late summer. Toss in some arugula next time you make it.

caw

blacbird said:

As for the comment earlier about cole slaw, I grow cabbage, and make a lot of cole slaw in late summer. Toss in some arugula next time you make it.

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I make it with cilantro, and add some pureed chipotle pepper to the mayo/dressing. Gives it a little kick. So yummy!

I try new foods so frequently that it's hard to remember ones from even last week, but today I had two. Or at least two food combinations.

The first was a thick creamy honey from Germany. It's basically honey that's thickened and distilled (or perhaps less processed, I dunno) into the consistency of a spread. Upon the advice of a German friend, I paired it with sourdough. Awesome combination; the sourdough minimizes the cloying sweetness of the honey and *drool*... awesome substitute for regular ol' white bread toast with jelly alongside breakfast.

The second was at a restaurant: deep fried cheese grits balls. What more can I say? It speaks for itself.

The last new whole food I tried were leeks. I found this recipe online a few weeks ago and just had to try it because I find panzanella to be a perfect hot weather food. Let's just say that I am thrilled to have begun a new relationship with leeks.

I'm trying a new recipe right now.

Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Kiss Cookies, which I found here after a little Googling. I bought a bag of those new pumpkin spice Hershey's kisses the other day. They are good but way too much to just eat on their own. So cookies sounded good. Originally I was going to make them with a vanilla-flavored version of those peanut butter things you can find on the Hershey's website, but then I saw that one and...yeah. Chocolate wins every time.

I haven't finished yet, as I have the dough chilling in the fridge. Still have a bit before I can start shaping the cookies and everything. Definitely recommend chilling them as the recipe says--this dough is super sticky. Hopefully it will also be delicious, cause the recipe makes a ton of cookies and it would suck to waste it all. If it doesn't suck, or is at least edible, I'm bringing at least half into work anyway.

ETA: Cookies came out great. I brought enough in to work for everyone and they were gone by the end of the shift. So...I just finished making more. Made one small change this time, I dipped them in sugar before baking. Now they are shiny and delicious. XD

My husband and I tried lamb fries at the Minnesota State Fair. (Lamb testicles). They came sauteed with onions and deep fried. We got both and liked both. A lot. We like innards, so this one was easy. I don't have a deep frier and the only place I know that I might be able to buy them to cook myself is the farmer's market. [FONT=&quot]
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Pork tenderloin - two ways

I am still feeding the construction crew. I made lunch for them every day all summer but this is their last week....from now on I'm only doing lunch the last work day of the week. Anyway...I was at Cost-Co and they had these massive pork tenderloins (11-12 lbs).

I bought one, cut it into two half and prepared each half differently. The first half, I thickly sliced about 80% of the way through. I put a sprig of fresh rosemary in between each slice. I did a dry rub of garlic salt, salt, pepper and smoked paprika. I rubbed this over the inside and outside of the loin. THEN, I took a giant jar of pre-minced garlic and coated the entire loin, inside and out with the garlic. I calculated 22 min per pound at 300 degrees in a foil covered pan. I checked the loin at that point, removed the foil and cooked another 2 min per pound uncovered.

When the internal temp was 145, I took it out of the oven and let it rest for 20 min. It was absolutely perfect. While the pork was resting, I took all the pan juices and added some chicken broth and made a sauce. HUGE HIT!!

NOW, the other half, I left whole (didn't slice it). I did a dry rub with garlic salt, smoked paprika, black pepper, and oregano. I covered it with foil and baked it in the same oven with the other one. When the other one was done, I left this one in the oven and just turned off the heat. It sat there for about 30 min. Then i took it out, roughly sliced/chopped it. Today, I took it, added a bottle of BBQ sauce and served it on toasty break or flour tortillas (your choice) with sliced red onion and dill pickle slices. YOWZA! All was fabulous.....

gravlax.

I'm making a coppa at home, but have not tried it yet. I have high expectations for surviving the attempt.

My problem with "Did you try a new food or dish? Tell us about it!" is that if I told y'all about every new thing I tried, I'd be spamming the thread.

Recent highlights: a few weeks ago, I made a blueberry/raspberry (I think - some kind of berries anyway) sorbet. Tasted fantastic! I'd love to get my hands on some more berries to do that. But then, since we moved back to Singapore and I didn't bring my whir whir stick blender thingie, I'd have to go buy a stick blender first...

Not as new, but probably new to y'all - since we can get some really incredibly excellent goat and deer meat here, That tends to form a staple of our Singaporean diet. Lots and lots of goat and deer curries. And I experiment with those a lot, too.

I also buy random vegetables, mostly leafy, whose names are in, I'm guessing, Chinese or Malay (spelled phonetically with the English alphabet), so if they have an English name, I have no idea what that is. I figure if it's for sale in the produce section, it's gotta be edible, so what the heck?

Also? I just found out that I can actually buy root turmeric here, along with the typical root ginger, a rose ginger (no idea what that tastes like), galangal, and various other similar roots.

Oooh, I think I'm going to go snack on some dragon fruit now...

Yum at everybody's new discoveries!

This summer has been a season of adventure 'round here. We headed out to BC for two weeks in July, and had an amazing time.

Stopped at some friends' in Kamloops, and they made elk steaks. First time trying elk here. Quite good! I tried caribou in Banff a few years ago, but it came out a bit dry for my taste. This was much better.

We have a chain in Canada called Milestones. Stopped for a snack in downtown Vancouver one day, and I had a "Lavender Rain" cocktail. Holy CRAP was it good! I've written to the company for the recipe, but they have not replied. Now I have to sit down with the ingredients and begin experimenting with ratios I guess. Bombay Sapphire gin, lavender syrup (probably just a simple sugar syrup to which they've added lavender buds or blossoms), pomegranate juice, fresh lime juice, and muddled mint. Perfect for summer brunch! Canucks, if you have a Milestones nearby, go try some of that! I'm hoping they don't take it off the menu now that winter is coming. :/

I'm not a big Asian food person, sadly. My weaknesses have always been pasta and just about anything from the Mediterranean (tapas, provencal French, Moroccan, Middle Eastern, Greek, you name it...). But I did try some Banh Mi sliders once when we were out and abote in Edmonton. They intrigued me.

The other night I stepped out of my comfort zone and made Banh Mi spring rolls. And they were AMAZING. Very nutritious!

I'm still experimenting with cookie recipes. In fact, I have a new recipe cooling. Spiced Apple Drops, which legit smell like pie. Still have to make the frosting, which is going to be modified from the original because I want it to be more cinnamon-y.

Made doenjang and soy sauce successfully without dying or getting sick. =P I think I'm the first one in NA to do both publicly.

Also made fermented black beans. I think this year is all about the beans and the soy beans in terms of cooking. Last year, I believe I went on a bread kick and the year before that was my kimchi experiments... I'll get to a cheese kick one of these years.

I have a new Sloppy Joe recipe that was a HUGE hit with the construction crew. Anyone want it?

Another new cookie: Cinnamon Cookies. More than one person in the reviews made the shocking claim that these are better than snickerdoodles. I knew I had to investigate for myself so I'm making them today. For science! Got the dough chillin' in the fridge right now, in fact.