shain

I love the pasta shape, though I can imagine why you'd prefer another. I also love a good salsa cruda. I often make a dish of linguine in creamy pureed sirene cheese with raw tomatoes, olive oil, basil, mint and garlic.

Not a cold pizza lover, BTW. I can make myself eat room temp pizza, but not cold / day old. When I was younger and less kitchen-wise, I'd just microwave or toast it in the oven - each has it's disadvantages. Those days, I'd apply water to the cheese so that it doesn't dry further, and reheat on the bottom of a very hot oven. Leftover/room-temp cheese less pizza is OK, but I'd still prefer it reheated.

Glass noodles in Thai yellow curry, with extra spices, mainly toasted coriander seeds, garlic, ginger, chilies. Shrimp, fish sauce, oyster sauce, coconut cream, lime juice and zest, a little sugar. One of my favorites. Fire roasted eggplants in Thai style salad sauce of fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, chilies, garlic, ginger herbs (basil, scallions, some cilantro and mint), shallots, eggs, shrimps, crisp fried shallots. And sticky rice for the salad.

Now that's the right amount of basil. I can't have enough of the stuff on a margarita pizza. Lovely crust too.

Had a dinner by myself this time. Usually this calls for finishing leftovers, an omelette and salad or something along those lines. But I decided to make some pita-pizzas instead. Tomatoes, mozzarella, olive oil and basil. Placed on a high grill to char and the bottom a little. And a dessert one with mozzarella and ricotta, toasted pistachios, honey, rose water, a bit of lemon juice. This one buttered and crisped well. Sort of inspired by @Nicolai's knafeh in kaak.

Plum clafoutis. Served with vanilla ice cream.

Rye bread, toasted on one side. Egg salad with beetroot, sour cream, dill, tarragon, a little horseradish - no mayo. Cucumbers in vinegar.

Pasta al forno with smoked gouda, smoked paprika (two very different types of smoke flavor), caramelized onion, lots of garlic, chili, parsley, a hint of cumin. Baked crisp. Served with pickles, white cheese, chopped salad with tahini, and beer.

Thick mango lassi with orange blossom water and pistachios.

You can also make makdous - stuffed with walnuts, pepper and spices then preserved in olive oil. So delicious.

What a beauty I love seeing how much variety and possiblities can single recipe concept take.

So inspired by this thread and by a somewhat to tart nectarine, I made nectarine milk, flavored with a drop of almond extract and a little added sugar. It's OK, maybe I should have gone with vanilla, but then I doubt I could identify it as being made of stone fruit, as the fruit flavor was quite mild.

Peaches, cream, mozzarella (fresh), basil, balsamic vinegar, vanilla, pepper.

Remaining Naepolitian dough. Even better texture after another 2 nights int the fridge, though it might also be due to me shortening the proofing a little. Pesto, mozzarella (dry), ricotta flavored with pepper and salt, tomatoes. Peaches, cream, mozzarella (fresh), basil, balsamic vinegar, vanilla, pepper.

I love coriander - toasted, fried, raw. Should be lovely with curry leaves. One of my favorite usages is dukkah, where toasted coriander is mixed (in my version) with toasted sesame, peanuts, cumin and salt, and roughly ground. I love mixing it with butter and eating with pita bread. I'd imagine similar usages will also work with other creative blends.

Ethyopean beyaynetu. Bought the injeras from a local restaurant and made four simple stews to go on it. Chickpeas with near-raw tomatoes, caramelized onion, chilies, parsley and some spices. Seitan, eggs, caramelized onion, with lots of berbere with warm flavors of toasted chili, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, ginger, cumin, coriander. Red lentils with lots with sweet chilies, ginger and other spices. Chopped chickpeas with fire roasted eggplant, herbs and spices. Most stews make use of some amount of home made berbere spice mix, garlic and ginger and browned butter. Farmers cheese with cucumber, onion, chili, toasted cumin and nigella. Also a chopped salad, flavored with lemon and olive oil as we have almost every day, but here spiced up with just a little garlic and coriander powder.

Have you tried it sprinkled over corn? 🤣 Sorry, had to...

Mozzarella, figs, ricotta, aniseed, pepper, mint.

Neapolitan style pizza dough. Margarita. Ricotta, mozzarella, figs, a touch of aniseed, pepper.

Regarding the freezing or other parts? I do take care that when I make traditional Italian dishes, to respect their traditional flavors and spirit. I do however, allow myself to experiment with techniques and innovative cooking methods. In this case, I can assure that no damage is done to the basil flavor when frozen for an hour.

I find that basil and olive oil both have volatile aromas, so adding them late allows the pasta to be cool slightly, which prevents overheating (I like my pasta hot, so letting it intentionally cool more than it does by plating is a no-go). Also, and perhaps more importantly, by mixing on the table, the initial aroma is released just in front of the eaters. Same goes for margarita pizza - I add the basil and olive oil only after baking. Even in Napoli, some pizzerias cook the basil and oil (and others don't), I think that this brings forth the oil-soluble flavors of the basil and tomatoes, but still I prefer the fresh notes. Depends on how you pack it, it should freeze solid. An hour should suffice.

Classic pesto, from some days ago. Salad of tomatoes and cuces on the side. Most pastas I'll mix with the sauce in the cooking pot, but not peso. For pesto, I'll plate the plain pasta (and green beans in this case) along with some cooking water, then a small heap of sauce on the said. To be mixed right before eating. Another tip is to briefly freeze the basil, I find that it helps it become a smoother paste and releases more flavor

apx 175g green/brown lentils, soaked overnight /a few hours 1.5 tsp salt ~ apx 250g (1.5 cups) bulgur soaked overnight /a few hours - I strongly suggest that you use unbroken bulgur (aka extra coarse / coarse) generally, I use only whole bulgur when cooking, other than for some rare usages such as tabbouleh. salt optional: 2 tsp nutritional yeast ~ 5-6 onions, apx 750g, diced butter or oil 3 cloves of garlic, minced 2.5 tsp cumin, ground chili flakes to taste 1/2 to 2/3 tsp allspice, ground 1/2 tsp curry powder 1/2 tsp cardamom, ground 1-2 tsp cinnamon, ground black pepper ~ 2 tbsp sumac apx 3 tbsp lemon juice optional: a handful of parsley, chopped To serve: A generous amount of thick yogurt Toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds Prep: Cook the lentils in water with salt. Drain and reserve cooking water. ~ Discard bulgur soaking water. Cook in a covered pot, over low flame, adding a little lentil cooking water or plain water as needed. Stir occasionally. Cooked bulgur should have a bite to it, but cooked through. Add salt and optional nutritional yeast. ~ In a wide pot, saute the onions in butter/oil until well caramelized. Add a little more fat and briefly fry the garlic. Add the spices (other than sumac) - cumin, chili, allspice, curry powder, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper. Cook briefly. Mix in the cooked bulgur and lentils. Heat through. Adding lentil cooking water or plain water as needed to keep the mujadara "juicy". Add sumac, lemon, parsley and salt to taste. Serve with yogurt. Top with nuts.

I happened upon this video about the dish, it's nice seeing the dish described by those not familiar with it. My understanding is this video is taking place in Australia. She also tries the instant noodle version I remember @liuzhou mentioning somewhere. I also just noticed that in the video posted by liuzhou, she adds what I think is purslane to the soup. I like it that this herb is used across so many cultures, because for me it is strongly associated with Palestinian food.