I should start a cooking Youtube channel. It'll just be me, pouring myself glasses of wine, stirring a pot of water with a wooden spoon when the stove top isn't even on. I'll need some guests for the show too.

Next time I make it, I think I'll use a casserole dish for when the chicken is in the oven. That Dutch oven was a wee bit crowded.

Steve-O maybe? :P He was just on Gordon Ramsey's one...

Totally unrelated but I'm getting reminded of this old thing: https://youtu.be/C8Wu3Bps9ic

Find a niche or new personality and the possibilities are endless! Sounds like your idea just might be pretty solid entertainment... if you for some reason do get inspired to pursue this no-cooking cooking idea with potential drinking recommendations on the side...

Ah. Still though, turned out solid.

Makin a chili. I'll hit you up with a recipe when I serve it or something.

Is just the same spice mix from the fajita recipe with some beans and some tomato

Nice. Looks spicy!

And perfect on a chilly day.

I feel like steak and potatoes tonight.

The finished product. Fleur de sel and pepper to finish.

Greek salad on the side?

lmao XD

Salt and pepper flour hmm, would that be an actual brand/special spice or: fine salt and pepper? Learning new things here...

Looks hella fresh too.

No it's an actual sea salt, but it's kind of special. They'll have a basin for producing sea salt, and normally salt will crystallize and fall to the bottom as the sea water evaporates, but fleur de sel will form as a film on top, and has to be harvested before the water evaporates completely. It has a higher moisture content than regular sea salt, and I find it to be a softer salty taste as well, so I use it for seasoning too, which would probably make real chefs shake their heads.

I think I paid about $15 for the container, and for the amount of salt I actually use, it's not really an added expense.

I learned about it after watching the docuseries Salt Fat Acid Heat this year. It's one of the top 5 food shows I've watched.

I've seen it in the grocery aisle, but haven't tried it yet. How's the flavor compared to regular sea salt?

Mind-blowing how three of the same product from the same place can be so drastically different. I bet if you made a Maldon style sea salt or Fleur de sel in the arctic, it would be completely different too. If you watch that show I linked too, it shows a Japanese seaweed salt that looks delicious and would love to get my hands on some day.

The reflection does come off a bit hazy on the netted microwave window (if that is a microwave, can't say for certain, was about to comment a bit on the blasphemy of cooking with such devices if so :P) but other than that...

Was discussing fleur de sel at the dinner table after the above actually, got schooled by more french-speaking folks. :) Fleur seemed to so obviously translate to flour, but yeah, flower of salt... such a poetic name.

I've never tried that but I have used Maldon. Seems a bit more common over here. Celtic sea salt is currently my favorite salt though, doesn't taste just salt, really has a different kind of richness to it, but I wonder how it compares to this...

Seems reasonable that the finer the salt the more taste, long as it's not just ground and processed from larger chunks.

Awesome. :)

Adding that to my watchlist now...

It even has to be harvested by the "more delicate sex". XD

Goddammit! Now I'm going to spend the next year searching and tasting different salts, probably have a vein in my forehead blow up and make a mess everywhere from the increase in blood pressure.

Also

Learned that from the show too, takes longer to dissolve on your tongue.

This just gets better and better! :D I need to get mah hands on some of this salty sweetness...

Haha, the better ones (Celtic at least, haven't read up on others much) have so many other minerals baked in they don't really have that bad an impact on blood pressure. ;) Bit of a myth with that, it's the processed kind that's basically all sodium chloride. If you get the good stuff then the different minerals assist each other. Way healthier to consume. Of course though you can overconsume anything but feels like it usually tastes too salty if it is too salty then.

So much of the cheap stuff in processed foods that you don't even really notice.

Hey 'flower of the ocean'! :D So I've been eating this all along huh... that is indeed the brand I buy. Fleur de sel from Portugal though! I thought this was the UK, wonder if they've switched locations since last I looked 'em up...

Btw should maybe clarify: I really don't use as expensive shizzle as this all the time, but for special occasions, it's a treat...

Nice.

Anyone gone on a culinary adventure in the kitchen in the last little while?

You guys cook with wine much?

Got my new table where I can seat 8 comfortably, so decided to have my folks and aunt and uncle over for some coq au vin, and served the same bottle of wine that I used to make the sauce.

Did steaks the same way as I make coq, and it turned out really really good, so I think I might try and make a beef or chicken stew with the same method.

I made a nice cup of sandwich.

It does look pretty tasty actually, the floral pattern complements the sandwiched greens in an appealing way, and the slant conveys the softness of said bread, a suitable aperitif before you take a cup of whatever comes after...

To answer this old question too: not as much as I'd like. Had a bottle of white in the fridge for a while earlier but didn't really make the most of it, mixed it with random dishes occasionally then decided to drink the rest of it before it turned to vinegar... finna try again though! Soon.

Had a very socially distanced Birthday party outside (not mine, just brought the food) a while back, maybe worth sharing a glimpse here.

Black bean and chocolate cake with @kiwi and it was bananas. Not bad.

Fresh-baked oat bread, diced oat pancake leftovers hard fried in butter/olive oil with some homemade (and picked) strawberry/cloudberry jam from last summer...

Common one-day-a-week lunch over here. Not usually with bread though.

Thursday's traditional pancake day btw.

Tonight my spouse and I are putting on a cooking presentation via zoom. (And getting paid for it!)

We are making homemade gnocchi from scratch. Potatoes, bacon, and cheese. It's a great dish.

Will this by any chance be documented for the vast masses as well?

Sounds awesome.

We thought about recording it, but decided against the extra task. It's really just for the community in which we are working with. I won't be doing too much of the cooking anyway. She'll do the cooking, I'll do the task work of mashing and whatnot. I don't think it'll be very exciting, more of a community building event.

Imagining you turning that mashing thing into a real workout session now. ;)

Sounds like fun stuff anyway! This the kind of shizzle everyone should be getting into these lockdown times.

I've been really lazy with my meals lately, definitely not post worthy. Either beef or chicken thighs with carrots and rice or potatoes.

One thing I did do with the rice was add the uncooked rice to the carrot and shallot mixture I was sauteing and let it fry in some duck fat and butter for a while before adding chicken broth to cook it in, made it taste pretty good.

Got a chunk of tenderloin roast half thawed and salted in the fridge right meow. Gonna get a couple hot slices out of it and use the rest for sandwich meat. Made a sandwich for lunch a couple days ago with raisin bread, goat cheese, peach jam, mustard, and tenderloin cold cuts, and it turned out alright.

Cake looking bellissimo

Some people apparently didn't see it last time so good thing you did. XD

You know, these things don't sound lazy at all!

Deep fried a half kilo of cauliflower florets yesterday. Took quite some time (3 hours all told) but was worth it! A little salt, chili powder and some asafoetida powder, and it's *chef kiss* great!

Hadn't heard of Asafetida before hmm... used instead of garlic here?

Sounds nice. Fried stuff definitely has a special kind of flavor!

I suppose so! I don't know how to accurately describe the flavour but it's definitely to give it that extra kick like garlic!

You can say that again!