Larger Loser Recipes!
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what does adding vinegar to potato boiling water do?0
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lauriekallis wrote: »what does adding vinegar to potato boiling water do?
The vinegar causes the potatoes to form a microscopic crust, which helps them hold their shape. When you are going for semi-boiled potatoes, keeping them undamaged is helpful.
Generally speaking, an acidic environment will slow down the break down of pectin in fruits and vegetables, so they'll stay firm and hold their shape while cooking.
On the contrary, a basic environment will speed up this process, giving you softer/mushier vegetables.
So...there are many ways to skin a cat! For example, instead of vinegar you can actually add a little baking soda to the water, to get a roughed up, gooey surface that gets nice and crispy when fried.4 -
No for so very many reasons…..turkey kielbasa here on bread with ketchup and a salad….I am struggling mightily….2
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Dante - thank you! You may have just solved a decades old dilemna for me - which came up just this past weekend. The mother of my ex, who passed away ?? over 30 years ago made a very unique potato salad - since she died I have tried to carry forward her particular version. But I can never get the potatoes to hold onto their shape and to be as ??? silky? as they were in her salad. I have tried so many different things, but not vinegar in the boiling water. I bet that was it! She also used a very generous amount of vinegar in the salad itself, so I would never have picked up on it by taste.
Thank you!
I'll give this a try next time I boil potatoes (I probably won't make the salad until next summer
- but I'm rather tickled (pickled) to think that I can more closely replicate her salad!
Connie - I knew you wouldn't let us down
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All the recipes sound delish. I will need to read back to see the whole lot.
eliezalot: Those Joes sound yummy. I am definitely gonna give them a go!3 -
This one is for @lauriekallis too, since we were talking about mint and dill the other day! I think you will like this, it's close to the green bean one!
Greek tomato pea stew
Ingredients (4-6 portions)
55ml extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, dry
2 spring onions
2 carrots
2 potatoes
100 g white wine
400 g canned tomatoes
1 vegetable bouillon cube
1 liter water, boiling
450 g peas, frozen
2 tablespoon(s) dill
2 tablespoon(s) mint
lemon zest, of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon(s) lemon juice
salt
pepper
To serve
mint, some
1 lemon, in wedges
olive oil, some (I mean...you know..ok suit yourself!)
Procedure
Place a pot over high heat and let it get very hot.
Coarsely chop the onion.
Add some olive oil to the pot and add the onion.
Thinly slice the spring onions and add them to the pot. Mix.
Cut the potatoes into 2 cm cubes and add them to the pot.
Mix and sauté the vegetables until light golden.
Add the wine and allow the alcohol to evaporate for 1-2 minutes.
Finely chop the dill and mint. Set aside until needed.
Add the chopped tomatoes, vegetable bouillon cube and the water to the pot.
As soon as the mixture comes to a boil, cook for 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes have softened. Leave the pot uncovered while cooking so that the liquid can evaporate and the sauce can thicken.
Add the peas, half of the dill and half of the mint. Stir.
Cover pot with lid and simmer for 5-7 minutes over low heat.
When ready, remove from heat and add the remaining dill and mint as well as the lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
To serve, (drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil and) top with extra mint and lemon wedges.
If you cut this to 5 portions, it should definitely be less than 350ckal per. Have in mind that this dish is also surprisingly filling. Cheers..C:
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This does look good!2
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This looks amazing!!!!! Look - you are luring Connie in too with that delicious looking photo! As soon as I free up some freezer space this will find its way into my heart I'm sure.3
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I love peas!2
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Dante appears to speak my love language… greek food 😍3
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Last night I made spicy beanburgers for dinner and they were delicious, so I thought I'd share my recipe.
Makes 6 x 130g beanburgers
Ingredients:
1 x 400g can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 x 400g can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
100g bread (ideally wholemeal)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
100g carrot, finely chopped
150g onion, finely chopped
1 large red chilli, finely chopped (I kept the seeds in because I like it spicy)
2 cloves garlic, minced
15mls olive, rapeseed or sunflower oil (+ a couple of extra mls for frying the burgers)
A spice blend made with:
0.5 tsp hot chilli powder
2 tsps ground cumin
0.5 tsp paprika
0.25 tsp garlic powder
0.25 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp sea salt
Method:
Lightly fry the celery, carrot, onion, garlic and chilli in the oil until soft but not browned (about 10 mins). Take off the heat and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, blitz the bread into fine crumbs in a food processor. Add the drained cannellini beans and pulse until the mixture is a thick pastry-like texture. Add the kidney beans and pulse until they're chopped to your satisfaction.
Tip into a large bowl, add your onion mixture, your spice blend and the egg. Mix thoroughly.
Wet your hands and shape into patties.
Chill on a plate in the fridge for at least 30 mins (or pop in the freezer for 10 mins if short of time). This chilling helps them to retain their shape when they're fried.
Fry for about 5 minutes each side in a couple of mls of olive/sunflower/rapeseed oil....or place on baking parchment and air-fry...or you could probably oven bake them if you want to be ultra healthy.
Then serve as you would a regular burger...with lots of sriracha!
These are them in their raw form - the photo doesn't do them justice!
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There was some talk of pies the other day, so here is one of my grandmothers best recipes for extra quick στριφτή σπανακόπιτα (feta spinach pie). I'm translating from Greek so some of the names might be wrong.
The really important part here is not to make it soggy, while maintaining the juiciness.
for 6-8 people.
250gr of this VVV (no idea how its called in english, filo crust? ..hope the image helps).
Its really good for those that don't know (or don't bother to learn) how to make the crust themselves. Grandmother would disapprove but a>she is dead so no harm done and b>I don't know how to make filo on my own...anyway..
800gr spinach (washed and cleaned)
2 cups of fresh fennel (finely chopped) ~ substitute with other aromatic herbs if you like like leek, dill etc.
4 spring onions (the leaves).
1 large shallot (red onion bulb), grated thin.
350-400gr of feta cheese. Its important to have that coarsely chopped.
1tb spoon of virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
ok.
sauté in a large pan the fresh onions and the shallot with a little olive oil.
Cut the feta into coarse pieces and the spinach into large pieces. Throw them in the pan.
Stir until the spinach reduces in size appropriately. Add a little water if you see the mix drying entirely.
Season with salt and pepper.
Take the pan out of the fire and let the temperature come down (not completely).
Add the fennel (or other herbs) and stir so that they mix well. Let the mixture cool.
Take a tray and rub some olive oil on it.
Take a sheet of filo, rub/spray some olive oil on it, and with a spoon add the mixture on one end in a 5-7cm thick line. Then gently wrap the sheet around the mixture until you have a cylinder, and then bend and twist lightly the cylinder until you get something resembling the picture shown above (or a pile of circular dog poop, you get the gist).
Remember to pinch the cylinder ends slightly together, so that the mixture does not come out.
Repeat until all the mixture is expended. If done correctly, you should have about 6-8 wrapped pies.
Put them in the oiled tray, and spray/sprinkle some oil and water on them so that they don't burn.
Cook for about 20' on 180 degrees celcius, until the crust has browned and become crunchy.
Its a pretty easy recipe, and the results can be surprisingly good with some practice. The goal here is to get the exterior crunchy and the interior moist. The strategy we use is the following :
1. The mixture expands when cooking, so don't wrap it too tight in the first place or the crust will break.
2. If you don't wrap it too tight, the individual sheets of crust will not merge, thus reserving their crunchiness in levels.
3. Pinching the ends of the cylinder helps with keeping the mixture contained and moist.
4. The end result is that the mixture soaks and permeates the inner part of the crust sheet, making it juicy. At the same time, the outer part that faces the heat becomes crunchy and crisp. So, you get the best of both worlds with a single bite.
hope that helps. C:2 -
I believe it’s called phyllo dough in the US. But I’ve seen filo too. It’s in the freezer section of the grocery.4
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That looks amazing!2
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What Connie said!
Filo pastry …..3 -
Oh my goodness @Dante_80 that looks good! Yep, Filo pastry here in the UK.4
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These I love too - but don't feel so compelled to make them myself because I can find premade ones - delicious and handmade if not homemade in local restaurants/take out shops. And they are already vegetarian so nothing "special." They will be a nice treat when I tire of the food stowed in the freezer. 4
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Krinos offers frozen phylo/Filo pastry in Canada. Frozen chopped spinach extremely well drained may help. The feta is an issue as most/many places offer a crappy feta with a bitter after taste which is certainly not present in the original. also cow milk feta... isn't. Sometimes Bulgarian feta is available in cans (brine and all, the cheese is taken out of the bribe and is actually a tasty hard feta. (Feta comes in creamier versions too)4
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I’ve made this crustless quiche often. Make sure to squeeze out water from spinach. I also put cottage cheese in a sieve to drain. Low-fat ricotta can substitute for cottage cheese. The key is to remove excess water. Mushrooms, cooked onions or other veggies can be used instead of red peppers. Various herbs can be used to taste. 1/8 of the quiche is 160 calories.
https://www.myfoodandfamily.com/recipe/053813/quick-italian-spinach-pie3 -
Here’s one for the spicy hot lovers. 🥵 It’s a wilted cabbage salad with sambal. You can cut some calories using more water instead of oil to wilt the cabbage. And use as much sambal or harissa as you like. I’ve used prepackaged Cole slaw mix but prefer the fresher ingredients. You can make a lot and refrigerate- it just gets more wilted.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/sunnys-quick-cabbage-sauteed-salad-96081082
