Whatcha Eatin'?

[AlSymerz]

It's not a real BBQ without mozzies

[thrashinbiker]

On 12/14/2023 at 1:12 AM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Now I've gone and made myself hungry. 8:10 pm here, probably time to go downstairs and make my shakshuka. I make my shakshuka with potatoes, uncased chorizo, diced tomatoes, some veggie stock and a ton of spicy southwestern spices. Then when it's reduced down to the right consistency I poach 4 eggs on top for 4 minutes, crumble some Cotija cheese over it, sprinkle some more hot sauce on it for good luck and Bob's your uncle. 

Hey @GoatmasterGeneral I am full of cold at the minute so not really in an eating mood but that looks DELICIOUS.  I'm going to have a go at making it when I'm better, for sure!  I could see me adding a bit of sriracha sauce on that for an extra bit of kick.  Not too much too subdue the spices and other flavours but just a bit.  

Despite being a chef in a previous life, I have never heard of shakshuka before, but it's just sprung to the top of my "to cook" list!

[RelentlessOblivion]

On 12/14/2023 at 11:42 AM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

It's worth the trouble if you're a meat lover. And it's really not that much trouble compared to a lot of things you could be doing in the kitchen. Get the thing hot, throw the meat on the thing, flip the meat over, when it's cooked enough (hopefully while there's still a good amount of pink left in the center) take it off the thing let it rest a few minutes and then eat it. Want spuds or corn or asparagus or something wiff your meat just wrap it in tin foil with some butter salt pepper and chuck that on the hot thing too, easy peasy. You can get one of those touchless meat thermometers which takes most of the guess work out of getting the temp you desire. But if you're not a carnivore like me, then yeah it probably isn't worth the trouble to you.

 

Now I've gone and made myself hungry. 8:10 pm here, probably time to go downstairs and make my shakshuka. I make my shakshuka with potatoes, uncased chorizo, diced tomatoes, some veggie stock and a ton of spicy southwestern spices. Then when it's reduced down to the right consistency I poach 4 eggs on top for 4 minutes, crumble some Cotija cheese over it, sprinkle some more hot sauce on it for good luck and Bob's your uncle. 

I make mine without the chorizo, add a little sumac, toast some flatbreads and garnish with finally chopped parsley, but it does tend to be more of a breakfast option for me.

 

Re BBQing I have a charcoal Webber i’ve used a couple of times, wants to do some bourbon glazed beef ribs, once for buffalo wings, and wants to do a leg of lamb that I sliced afterwards for yiros or gyros as I believe you Americans spell it

[GoatmasterGeneral]

52 minutes ago, thrashinbiker said:

Hey @GoatmasterGeneral I am full of cold at the minute so not really in an eating mood but that looks DELICIOUS.  I'm going to have a go at making it when I'm better, for sure!  I could see me adding a bit of sriracha sauce on that for an extra bit of kick.  Not too much too subdue the spices and other flavours but just a bit.  

Despite being a chef in a previous life, I have never heard of shakshuka before, but it's just sprung to the top of my "to cook" list!

I had heard about shakshuka, and kept it in the back of my mind to try making it for a year or two, and then one day last year I finally just decided to try my hand at it. Now I make it probably twice a month. It's a standard North African/Middle Eastern breakfast, traditionally served in a cast iron pan with bread to mop up the sauce and egg yolks. It's basically carmelized onions, a can of diced tomatoes highly seasoned and then when it's just about ready you crack a few eggs to poach right on top for 3 or 4 minutes. Personally, I need a more hearty meal since I don't ever eat breakfast in the morning, I have my shaksuka for dinner in the evening, my only meal of the day. So I doctor mine by adding spuds and chorizo sausage and browning them up before I dump in the diced tomatoes. Takes a bit longer to cook the 'taters obviously, but it's worth it. If you can't get chorizo, I guess any kind of sausage would probably work, I'm just partial to chorizo with my eggs. I like the spicy Tex/Mex flavor profile with the cumin and the cayenne pepper which is real popular here in the states. I also crumble some Mexican Cotija cheese on top when I plate it at the end, but if you can't get that in the UK feta works just as well. Let me know how it works out for you if you try making it.

As it happens I'm "full of cold" too. School nurse called me around noon Friday had me come pick up the 9 year old who had a 102° fever (39°C). Figures I'd be far away from home that day. I'd gone 40 minutes away to my sister's to use her printer, and we were in her car together out running an errand when they called. So it took me just over an hour to get back to my car at her house and then back up to Vernon to get him and bring him home to give him some ibuprofen. He didn't really have many other symptoms, just a slight dry cough, and by Sunday afternoon he was basically fine. But now this morning (Monday) I woke up with a low grade fever, a scratchy sore throat and a runny nose, so I guess now it'll be my turn to be sick. I still have to take the cat to the vet tomorrow whether I'm sick or not, because she's peeing right over the side of the litter box and onto the floor. I think she must have a UTI. She had the same problem back in April and that's what it was that time, they gave her a shot of antibiotics to clear it up but it seems it's come back again. 

[AlSymerz]

Far away from home.

40 minutes away.

Hehehe

That's a drive to the shops for me.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

45 minutes ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

I make mine without the chorizo, add a little sumac, toast some flatbreads and garnish with finally chopped parsley, but it does tend to be more of a breakfast option for me.

 

Re BBQing I have a charcoal Webber i’ve used a couple of times, wants to do some bourbon glazed beef ribs, once for buffalo wings, and once to do a leg of lamb that I sliced afterwards for yiros or gyros as I believe you Americans spell it

Well everyone should be spelling it the same way, gyro. The Greeks just pronounce gyro "yee-rrow" with a rolled R. Of course most dumb Americans say it just like it's spelled, "gyro" as in gyroscope, because we must Anglicize everything. I happen to have been married to a Greek girl 35 years ago and then I worked for Greeks for 20 years, so I pronounce it "yee-rrow" like the Greeks do. But the spelling doesn't change, either way it's still G-Y-R-O. Sadly most Americans don't even understand what I'm talking about unless I say it their way, the wrong way. The dish is a take on the Turkish Doner Kebob, and originally in the early 20th century the Greeks called it "do'ner" before they translated it to the Geeek "gyro." Both words mean turn. Like gyrate.

Shit, now I want a damn gyro. But I live too far out in the woods, we don't have any Greek takeaways within 45 minutes of here. Some pizza places do have gyros on their menu, (pizza is everywhere here in New Jersey) but they don't make them nearly as well as the Greek places do, it's not even worth it.

[RelentlessOblivion]

Yeah, I’ve always kind of figured us Australians have been spelling it wrong…,

[GoatmasterGeneral]

33 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

Far away from home.

40 minutes away.

Hehehe

That's a drive to the shops for me.

Well yeah, 40 minutes isn't that far really, but we were in the car when she called so we had to drive 15 minutes back to her house for me to get my car to drive the 40 minutes up to his school. And I had already missed her first call 30 minutes earlier. And I had to stop for gas. (that's petrol for you commonwealthers) So the poor kid was stuck in the nurse's office staring at the wall for like an hour and 40 minutes waiting for me to come pick him up. And he hasn't let me forget how I abandoned him in the 3 days since. 

[AlSymerz]

I know the feeling. My kid was once stuck in the school bay all day because I was up in the top paddock with no phone reception. One year the eldest returned from camp a hour earlier than I thought they were supposed to. I was ready to pick her up from the station at 4pm, they got in on the 3pm train. Her teacher rang me at 3:20 just as I was leaving the house thinking I'd be right on time. Instead I was a hour late and I had a pissed off kid and teacher to deal with. Apparently the return slip did say 3pm but I for some reason thought it was 4pm. That was a decade ago and I still cop shit for it even though the same kid has run me late heaps of times since.