Wolf

'Fusion leftovers'...The last portion of paprika csirke with arborio rice cooked in and some grated grana padano. It's still de-li-cious.

When I saw this recipe, hungarian dish called paprika csirke, I knew I had to prepare it... It took me a while, but I finally made it and loved it. Tastes even better than it looks. It takes some effort and is a bit finnicky, so I trebled the quantities, and froze the better part of it before finishing the dish.

Last night I was having supper rather late, so here's the pic... A local speciality very similar to Presswurst- we call it tlačenica, prezvuršt (obviously ) ili švargla (probably hungarian origin). Originally, it's stuffed into stomach, but this one was in plastic casing... Admiteddy, later I sliced half a loaf of bread, so those two were only for the photo opportunity. But, I still call this light supper.

@heidih Glad to hear it! Give him best regards and best wishes from homeland. .

Yesterday was a nice day for a visit to local farmers' market... Edited to add a great shot from google maps..

Haven't been cooking in a while... This is Salisbury I made last night.

Actually, in my neck of woods the widepread use of forks is attributted to 15th century Croatian mercenaries carrying it to the French royal court (similar to what is now considered to be a necktie)... But spaghetti, on the other hand, have gained popularity in industrialization era (mid 18-hundreds)- nothing to do with forks, but with means to mass produce. i.e. extrude, wheat pasta. Completely off the topic, I like spaghetti broken in half- that way they get rolled around the fork perfectly in a bite sized piece. As for usual "dos" and "don'ts", I've learned to ignore all advice that seems contradictory to my common sense... except when it comes to using wine/alcohol to tenderize or braise meat. I've learned it the hard way that the proper way is to burn off alcohol prior to using it beecause it will, otherwise, hinder the meat getting tender.

I think buckwheat flour is also very good for gluten-free breads, but there are few things to bear in mind- e.g. I just learned today that buckwheat flour made from roasted (instead of more commonly just dried) buckwheat is great for baking and polenta. It's the way it's made in Austrian cuisine.

And then you get recipes like ropa vieja which make you look at flank steak and make you think 'how can I make this cut-o-meat more stringy".... Cutting meat, is like many things in life, common sense- but with clear goal in mind, one can throw even common sense out of the window. I'm about to start cooking tonight- got m'self 5 lb of beef shank, part of it is going in tonight's goulash but majority is going into beef carrot daube tomorrow (I run into gournet friend of mine when grocery shopping and forgot to buy shallots- he got hold of russian kale and had to share recipe that makes it shine, then we discussed differences between 'regular' and 'golden' hake, then one thing lead to another and pints of stout were consumed and many things discussed while market sort of got closed on me ). Digression aside, is there a better way to cut it into 'stew meat' than cut into 1/2" steaks and then cube them (fror goulash part- for daube, I'd go for 3/4" steaks and cubes)?

Yesterday's lunch was panissa (recipe from Pasta Grannies @ Youtube), which didn't turn out as planned, but was nevertheless excelent.

Last night I experimented with chickpeas (trying to make a posh version of a humble stew), and am very pleased with results...

Feeling a bit less ashamed now... Ropa vieja (with fire roasted peppers) plated without the rice, which looked a bit overcooked but was perfectly fine (cheap supermarket brands tend to piss me off in that regard). Turned out absolutely fantastic (even though I cut down on amount of spices).

I'm almost ashamed to post after those splendid photos above, but this is my tommorow's lunch (WIP). I'll let it sit overnight, shred the flank simmering in the pot, add peppers being roasted in the photo, stuffed olives, parsley (if I find any in the fridge) and simmer some more.

Last night I did a hen stew (local name, tingul od kokoši)- I bought a 7lb hen on impulse, and had to portion it and wing up a recipe for a dish I never ate or have cooked. Even more foolishly, I left the house during the cooking for a few beers with friends, and a miscommunication resulted in the stew simmering for 7 instead of 3 hours. I winged it even on wine selection, which was a touch too sweet- not surprisingly, tingul turned a bit too sweet too, so I touched it up with a glug of port, pinch of pepperoncino and a teaspoon or two of mustard and few grinds of pepper. The result was nevertheless finger-lickingly delicious. And

Rotuts, sorry for the delay, but here's one of those... Store nearby had 20% off on enamelled cookware (and as luck would have it, today was my payday), so I couldn't help myself but to snatch a 9½" one...