What are you cooking tonight?

[Diavolo]

The recipe (just easier to post it than to send it out)

BEST CARROT CAKE

2 cups sugar
¾ cup buttermilk
¾ cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, beaten
2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (+¼ cup for high altitude)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans
8oz crushed pineapple, drained
3½ oz flaked coconut (opt.)
Buttermilk glaze
Cream cheese frosting

Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine first 5 ingredients, beat well.
Combine flour, soda, salt and cinnamon; add to sugar mixture, stirring well.
Add carrots, pecans, pineapple and coconut; stir well.
Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch pans with parchment placed in the bottom.
Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, pour buttermilk glaze onto cakes after they have cooled 5 minutes.
Let cool in pans 15 minutes, then chill in the freezer.  I used a buttered wire rack and flipped them on the backs of the cake tins (paper to tin, sticky side up) and placed them on open racks in the freezer until they were no longer warm to the touch, about 30 minutes .

BUTTERMILK GLAZE

1 cup sugar
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup butter
1 Tbsp light corn syrup
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine first 5 ingredients in saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, cooking 4 minutes stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla carefully.  1½ cups.  Adjust use to taste.  All the glaze makes a VERY candy-like cake.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

8 oz cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter
16 oz powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine cream cheese and butter, beat at medium speed until smooth.  Add sugar, beating until light and fluffy.  Stir in vanilla.  Only use a very light coat between layers and a skim coat on the cake.  Let the skim coat harden overnight and frost the cake again in a nice, casual swirl pattern.  Otherwise, you may run out of frosting.

[Diavolo]

Does sound very delicious.  I am curious, though.  Why does the posole with oxtail take 2 days?  Mine only takes 1.  I must be doing something wrong.   

OK, here is how I do mine, ymmv.

for each bag of frozen posole kernels, I start with ~2.5 pounds of fresh oxtails.  I roast them in the oven at about 300F until they are dark brown with a half inch of water in the bottom of the pan, and the skin gets crispy and the drippings in the pan are just about dried out.  I pull the roasting pan out and deglaze the pan with water, then dump the tails and water into a stock pot.  Get to a boil and add about double the water it looks like I need then I boil it very slowly with the lid on for 8 hours or when I wake up.  After the tails fall apart (the next morning) I strain the stock thru a mesh screen and clean my pot, throw the broth in and add 5 pounds of lean pork shoulder (all fat trimmed off) and boil it for an hour.  Then I fish out the meaty bits and place them in the fridge, let the broth cool enough to handle and filter it thru clean cotton jersey material until I get a sparkling clear broth  This takes FOREVER and lots of rinsing out the cloth filter).  Once my broth is clear I throw in the rinsed posole, a tablespoon of crushed garlic, ground cumin and ground oregano, a teaspoon of turmeric and a teaspoon of cardamom and about 5 tablespoons of hot red chile powder (as a start).  I wait about 45 minutes, then add all the meat and a whole chopped onion and a LARGE pinch of kosher salt.  At this point, I add chile powder until I get a color closely resembling the skin of an blood orange and then start adding habanero sauce (I like red Yucateca) until the heat is right where I want it.  I also adjust the salt and usually end up adding another tablespoon of crushed garlic at the end.  I boil it until it just starts to bloom (pods open) then shut it off and cool it down quick.  Package in zip lock bags and place them in pots for transport, then throw them in the fridge until I am ready to go.  Once on location, I dump the bags into the pots and bring them to a boil.

I got tired just looking at what I did... I need a nap.

[nicrosato]

Now, this has become an interesting thread.

I cook most days, so I'm practiced at "everyday" cooking. This is true in NY when I'm working at home & not traveling, and when I'm here in ABQ.

Tried this for dessert last week- Strawberries w/sugar & balsamic vinegar.
Wash strawberries, drain, cut into bite-sized pieces. About an hour before serving stir in sugar (about 3 Tblspns per pound of strawberries). Just before seving, toss with balsamic vinegar ( 1 Tblspn per pound).

It is much better than you might think.

[Zaster]

Had my first encounter with Italian wedding soup with meatballs tonight....damn good stuff...thanks Pam.

[Cloner]

Had my first encounter with Italian wedding soup with meatballs tonight....damn good stuff...thanks Pam.

I love that stuff, too, Karl.  I'm not a fan of spinach, but I can forgo my hatred in the case of wedding soup!

Ummmmmmmm.

[nicrosato]

This stint in ABQ I've tried a few new twists:
Linguine w/clam sauce- saute, as usual, some garlic in olive oil. A little sea salt and some fresh ground black pepper. Since fresh clams are not an option here in the desert, I used (2) cans of clams. I poured the juice in with the garlic and oil, then added about 1/2 cup of orange juice. When that simmered, added  1/2 stick of butter. After the butter melted, stirred in about 3/4 cup of minced artichoke hearts (the jarred kind, in oil), and finally the clams. Simmered quickly and tossed with the linguine. Garnished with chopped cilantro.

With guests coming tomorrow evening, I am rolling out a new dish made with fresh, home-made pasta. I'll report on that after the dinner so I have an honest reaction. Dessert will be something I have not made in a while: Grilled peach sections. I prepare a marinade by simmering orange juice & honey in a sauce pan. Near the end, I add some Malibu Rum. I let the peach sections soak in this juice for a few hours in the fridge. Grill until soft and slightly dark.

Hint: If you take the left-over marinade and add some ice and some more Malibu Rum, then mix it in a blender to the consistency of a Slurpy, you have a drink we like to call the "Barbarita".

[Cloner]

The Barbarita, huh?  Sounds like something Ashley would like!

I spent tonight cooking up Larry's Honda.  The valve cover gasket I thought would be easy was a pregnant dog and the shifter seal that I thought would be a pregnant dog was easy.  Go figure.   

[gratefulduc]

The Barbarita, huh?  Sounds like something Ashley would like!

I spent tonight cooking up Larry's Honda.  The valve cover gasket I thought would be easy was a pregnant dog and the shifter seal that I thought would be a pregnant dog was easy.  Go figure.   

Oh no.........

[nicrosato]

Just to make sure the mechanical component of cooking is maintained in this thread, I did re-locate my Atlas Pasta Machine from NY to ABQ this trip.

[Cloner]

Oh no.........

No big deal, Larry.  That's just how it goes, sometimes.   

[elyse]

white chicken chili yumminess!!! 

[Cloner]

white chicken chili yumminess!!! 

Are you a New Mexico local, FunF?  It's cool that you're posting if you're not, but if you are we want to beg you to come ride!

Cloner
ABQ, NM

[elyse]

Are you a New Mexico local, FunF?  It's cool that you're posting if you're not, but if you are we want to beg you to come ride!

Cloner
ABQ, NM

hi! sorry, didnt even notice it was posted in the local club. i'm sitting here at work reading the new posts & obviously not paying attention .. & nope, i'm not in nm, i'm in norcal.... but if i ever make a roadtrip through nm i'd love to ride with ya!

[Zaster]

Pam worked on some German balls   :
I meant German style meat balls tonight and I have to say that they were delicious.
Can do a repeat at Ouray if so desired:
Used lean beef, pork and lamb with sour cream, anchovies, capers and browend bread crumbs.

[DonJuanDucati]

I made some delicious meatballs the other day too!

1lb each of ground beef and ground pork, two eggs, a can of condensed milk, fennel seads, garlic powder, and about 2/3rds a cup of Italian bread crumbs. Mix it all in a big bowl and make about 10 large meatballs. Brown the balls in a pan in some olive oil and then throw into a pot full of tomato sauce. Mix in some oregano and let simmer for two hours. Fine!