What New Ingredients Are You Trying Out?

[Plantes Vertes]

I had never heard of rutabaga before so I Googled it; it's the same as swede! And there I had imagined something so exotic.... it's so interesting to find out those ingredients that are prized in one part of the world and totally disregarded elsewhere. Perhaps we will follow the states with a swede renaissance of our own. I might start it, even

Edited April 5, 2013 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[fvandrog]

I've collected some Bärlauch (Allium ursinum), known as ramsons or bearleek in English. It's a local favorite for giving an original spicy note to quite a few dishes. Yesterday I made the highly recommended Bärlauch spätzle, which turned out to be a great accompaniment to some pork chops. Today I'll try to make them into a decent pesto, though I am a bit hesitant about the different recipes I have seen so far.

[CeeCee]

Would you be so kind to share the recipe for the bärlauch spätzle? Are you just substituting it for basil or will you adjust more of the pesto recipe?

I picked up some dried bärlauch (Swedish origin), since I haven't come across any fresh in The Netherlands so far. Haven't used the dried stuff yet.

Although not being a particular fan of vegetarian 'meats', the German Taifun brand has a decent bärlauch filet: http://www.taifun-tofu.de/en/produkte/taifun_tofu_produkte.php?NID1=3&NID2=9&NID3=0&ProdGr=9 which we enjoy every now and then.

[ninagluck]

i use Bärlauch a lot when it is in season, just did a soup. the rest of the bunch i mix with sea salt and dry it for some bärlauchsalt! also great mixed up with butter!

[andiesenji]

I had never heard of rutabaga before so I Googled it; it's the same as swede! And there I had imagined something so exotic.... it's so interesting to find out those ingredients that are prized in one part of the world and totally disregarded elsewhere. Perhaps we will follow the states with a swede renaissance of our own. I might start it, even

Rutabaga chips or "crisps" - as they are called in the UK are also very good. I prepare a medley of -one each smallish- potato (recently got some purple potatoes) rutabaga, sweet potato and (half a) yuca (aka cassava) by peeling and slicing very thin, soaking in ice water for 45 minutes, drying very carefully and deep frying them.

They should be consumed soon after frying as they retain the crunchiness for no more than a couple of hours and then tend to get tough. Each is just a bit different in flavor to make them interesting and I season them only with salt and pepper but if you like the various other seasonings now popular they work too.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I'm about to embark upon an odyssey of discovery with Achokcha. I'd appreciate any pointers any of you might have; my first impression is that I ought to stuff some with spicy ground beef and top with cheese, and broil them.

[Heartsurgeon]

most of what i am fooling around with involves the pressure cooker i recently got.

Peruvian corn (frozen) - gigantic corny kernels of corn...20 minutes high pressure steam cooked..season as you wish. i tried sous vide at 185 degrees, but i was out to 5 hours, and the corn was still to chewy...

turkey legs (a BARGAIN when you can find them, usually pretty cheap). roasted until brown in the oven, then make turkey stock high pressure 30 minutes....seriously good...

trying out different wild rice's (I'm from Minnesota originally). I'm trying cultivated wild rice, hand picked minnesota wild rice, hand picked canadian wild rice. You can even buy single sourced wild rice sold by individual tribes in Minnesota (the Napa Valley of wild rice, so to speak).

i have a frozen spanish pulpo that needs to get cooked, and I'm hoping to pick up a geoduck in Seattle this week and bring it home.

[fvandrog]

CeeCee, on 07 Apr 2013 - 12:06, said:

Would you be so kind to share the recipe for the bärlauch spätzle?

This is the basic recipe I used:

• 250 g flour
• 5 medium eggs
• 200 g fresh bärlauch
• 1 tsp salt

I pureed the bärlauch with one of the eggs and then mixed in the rest of the ingredients and let it rest 30 minutes before pressing and cooking. The resulting spätzle-dough was probably a tad too liquid; I either ought to have dried the bärlauch better after washing it, or used half an egg less.

The colour of the resulting spätzle is a very intensive green and the taste of the bärlauch is very dominant, partially due to the short cooking time of the spätzle. Not suited to be served as a side to subtle dishes.

Quote

Are you just substituting it for basil or will you adjust more of the pesto recipe?

For the pesto recipe, it will also replace the garlic. I haven't made it yet though, because I figured walnut might be better to use than pine nuts. I might end up making a batch of both, though. I did put some bärlauch in a mayonaise, only to moderate enthusiasm.

Quote

I picked up some dried bärlauch (Swedish origin), since I haven't come across any fresh in The Netherlands so far.

You ought to find some in a forest somewhere I'd guess -- here it grows plenty.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Peruvian corn (frozen) - gigantic corny kernels of corn...20 minutes high pressure steam cooked..season as you wish. i tried sous vide at 185 degrees, but i was out to 5 hours, and the corn was still to chewy...

Did you treat it at all before it went into the pressure cooker? It sounds like what you've got is choclomote, which is typically soaked in a bit of lye water for about 2-3 hours before rinsing and pressure-cooking. It's meant to be chewy but also a bit fluffy.

[jjahorn]

I made bärlauch pesto a few years ago.

Really check your recipe. Mine basically tasted like pureed grass. It had a nice garlicy smell, but BLAH.

It is however also good in risotto, soups, as a crust on roasts, and pairs well with tomatoes (i.e. in a tarte or quiche).

[Heartsurgeon]

"Did you treat it at all before it went into the pressure cooker? "

Nope.

I cook'em up and season them with some lemon juice, butter, honey, salt, pepper and cumin.

Served as a side with dinner. Corny, chewy, yummy.

i bought some dried ones that i plan on puffing in a saute pan and making a salty/cuminy/season snake.

[pastrygirl]

I've just discovered goat yogurt. Expensive, but lower in fat and easier on my stomach than cow. I know, the cultures are supposed to make cow yogurt more digestible but I still have issues. I like the mild goatiness. I have been getting Redwood Hill Farms, which is over $8 a quart at my nearest store, will have to see if Trader Joes has another option for less. I've been eating it with cereal for breakfast or with sliced zucchini and a dash of vinegar for a salad. Love it!

[andiesenji]

I've just discovered goat yogurt. Expensive, but lower in fat and easier on my stomach than cow. I know, the cultures are supposed to make cow yogurt more digestible but I still have issues. I like the mild goatiness. I have been getting Redwood Hill Farms, which is over $8 a quart at my nearest store, will have to see if Trader Joes has another option for less. I've been eating it with cereal for breakfast or with sliced zucchini and a dash of vinegar for a salad. Love it!

Yogurt is so easy to make, why not make your own? I recommend the cultures from New England Cheesemaking but any of the commercial cultures will work, such as Yogourmet and the goat milk carried at Trader Joe's is excellent and you can make it a lot cheaper and can control the "tangyness" by the time it incubates - less time for less "tang" longer incubation if your like it sharper...

[pastrygirl]

Yogurt is so easy to make, why not make your own? I recommend the cultures from New England Cheesemaking but any of the commercial cultures will work, such as Yogourmet and the goat milk carried at Trader Joe's is excellent and you can make it a lot cheaper and can control the "tangyness" by the time it incubates - less time for less "tang" longer incubation if your like it sharper...

I know, it is one of those things I keep thinking I should just make myself but have never bothered trying. One of these days...

[Rozin Abbas]

Green cardamon pods.

Funny, "perfumy" pockets of flavor.

I made Bon Appetit's Chocolate Cardmom Ice Cream Sandwiches and they were great. As I am of Middle Eastern descent, it reminded me a lot of Middle Eastern pastries and desserts, especially things like ma'amoul.

[Shel_B]

I've just discovered goat yogurt. Expensive, but lower in fat and easier on my stomach than cow. I know, the cultures are supposed to make cow yogurt more digestible but I still have issues. I like the mild goatiness. I have been getting Redwood Hill Farms, which is over $8 a quart at my nearest store, will have to see if Trader Joes has another option for less. I've been eating it with cereal for breakfast or with sliced zucchini and a dash of vinegar for a salad. Love it!

Toots enjoys TJ's goat milk yogurt, and I often enjoy it as well. We have it with fresh fruit for breakfast. It's about $2.00 or $3.00 less per quart than Redwood Hill, if I recall correctly.

[TheCulinaryLibrary]

We use Tasmanian Mountain pepper (also known as Australian Black pepper) as a twist on Anton Mossiman's pepper steak sauce. Just crust fillet steaks with a mixture of roughly crushed mountain pepper & black peppercorns, cook on high heat in butter/oil mix, remove, deglaze pan with cognac, add pink & green whole peppercorns and a big splash of cream and stir till it just colors, add chopped tarragon & check the salt before spooning over steaks.

[Shel_B]

Water ... no, it's not a "new" ingredient, but I'm exploring its use as an alternative to stock in making soup and stews. In the past I've always used stock or broth when making soups and stews, however, some time ago I learned about making onion soup with just water as a base. The result was very nice, and caused more experimentation: Paul Bertolli's cauliflower soup was the latest foray into using water instead of stock, and the result was fantastic. I'm now starting to play around with a chickpea soup made with only water as the base. Other vegetable soups and stews are on the horizon, such as my Three Sisters Stew, a version of Argentinian Locro, and a vegetarian version of hamburger soup.

Essentially, I like the way the flavors of the vegetables come through fresh and clean compared to being masked to some degree when using stock. Sometimes the results have been subtle, but other times the difference is quite obvious. I can not imagine Bertolli's cauliflower soup made with stock ... in fact, I've noticed a difference when using different water sources.

[andiesenji]

Water ... no, it's not a "new" ingredient, but I'm exploring its use as an alternative to stock in making soup and stews. In the past I've always used stock or broth when making soups and stews, however, some time ago I learned about making onion soup with just water as a base. The result was very nice, and caused more experimentation: Paul Bertolli's cauliflower soup was the latest foray into using water instead of stock, and the result was fantastic. I'm now starting to play around with a chickpea soup made with only water as the base. Other vegetable soups and stews are on the horizon, such as my Three Sisters Stew, a version of Argentinian Locro, and a vegetarian version of hamburger soup.

Essentially, I like the way the flavors of the vegetables come through fresh and clean compared to being masked to some degree when using stock. Sometimes the results have been subtle, but other times the difference is quite obvious. I can not imagine Bertolli's cauliflower soup made with stock ... in fact, I've noticed a difference when using different water sources.

I have several "bare" corncobs in the freezer for making stock the way my grandma's cook did when I was a child. She used it as a base for several delicate vegetable soups which are often overpowered by chicken stock. She also used scallions instead of regular onions for a milder flavor - we grew a lot of green onions and I grow a lot now as they do beautifully in containers. A fresh spring pea soup, with the peas remaining whole and with some pea tendrils (or pea shoots), it is a lovely vegetarian dish. You have to season to taste because this does not need a lot of salt and pepper but a tiny dash of nutmeg does wonders.

[Shel_B]

I have several "bare" corncobs in the freezer for making stock the way my grandma's cook did when I was a child. She used it as a base for several delicate vegetable soups which are often overpowered by chicken stock. She also used scallions instead of regular onions for a milder flavor - we grew a lot of green onions and I grow a lot now as they do beautifully in containers. A fresh spring pea soup, with the peas remaining whole and with some pea tendrils (or pea shoots), it is a lovely vegetarian dish. You have to season to taste because this does not need a lot of salt and pepper but a tiny dash of nutmeg does wonders.

Hmmm ... you reminded me of some ideas I got a couple of years ago from a dear friend in which she used corn cobs to make stock. Good, fresh corn should be appearing in the markets in a while - I've already seen that corn is available but don't know about the quality. Time to dig out Christine's recipes and notes.

And yes, fresh, young peas ... the time's approaching to start making peas soup and other pea dishes. I went to the market a few days ago looking for peas, but didn't see just what I wanted. Tuesday I'll make another visit and see what's available as there are a couple of recipes I'd like to try.

[Ericpo]

Red Quinoa

My wonderful little sister scoured the markets in search of things she knew I have not cooked with much. I have literally a whole shelf of things I'm not really sure what to do with, but for a start any good recipes for Red Quinoa? My tastes generally run more to good meats and the grains are a side note at best, so I have hardly cooked even with regular quinoa.

Help?

[andiesenji]

I use quite a bit of quinoa - either alone or mixed with other grains.

I have been following this blog/site since I "discovered" it via Facebook early last year. http://www.bestquinoarecipes.net/category/quinoa-recipes/

I recently made quinoa "burgers" and they were excellent - (I was entertaining some vegetarian friends.)

I also have a cookbook The Quintessential Quinoa Cookbook: Eat Great, Lose Weight, Feel Healthy on my KINDLE. It is also available in hardcover.

I have another one but found there were just too many recipes (500) and some of the recipes were written in somewhat convoluted fashion.

Edited May 10, 2013 by andiesenji (log)

[nickrey]

I've just discovered goat yogurt. Expensive, but lower in fat and easier on my stomach than cow. I know, the cultures are supposed to make cow yogurt more digestible but I still have issues. I like the mild goatiness. I have been getting Redwood Hill Farms, which is over $8 a quart at my nearest store, will have to see if Trader Joes has another option for less. I've been eating it with cereal for breakfast or with sliced zucchini and a dash of vinegar for a salad. Love it!

Yogurt is so easy to make, why not make your own? I recommend the cultures from New England Cheesemaking but any of the commercial cultures will work, such as Yogourmet and the goat milk carried at Trader Joe's is excellent and you can make it a lot cheaper and can control the "tangyness" by the time it incubates - less time for less "tang" longer incubation if your like it sharper...

Following the same procedure using the cultures in cream instead of milk you can then make cultured butter.

I make both yoghurt and cultured butter at home. The time involved apart from leaving it in the yoghurt maker (or Thermos after you've heated it to temperature) is minimal and the product far exceeds what you can buy. Add some milk powder to the milk for the yoghurt to make Greek style yoghurt, add fruit to your taste after making the yoghurt. Use skim milk for no fat yoghurt, full milk for full fat. The combinations are many and you will come up with one that suits your needs.

[andiesenji]

I finally found the recipe for the Quinoa Burgers that were so well received.

Quinoa Burgers

[heidih]

So late to the party on many common ingredients.

I got a bit of multi-colored quinoa at Whole Foods a while ago . Got freaked out by the allergy reaction reported and let it sit. I cooked it simply today in water and like the nutty taste and the texture - it will be repurposed later in the week.

Polenta virgin though it was in the cupboard as a breading option. I did the microwave style per the package (the Pheasant one that Paula Wolfert referenced in this topic http://forums.egullet.org/topic/53248-polenta/#entry737616 I put on a plate a will grill later in the week. I hope grilling will emphasize the corn flavor.

I also picked up an orange acorn squash and am roasting it in half moon shapes. I do not take the skin off kabocha treated this way so I am hoping this skin is edible.