Sur la Table!

Lucas, he/him. This is my little archive of recipes, food stuff, and personal tips that I like for cooking and will return to for regular use. It's mostly a self reference to keep track but also things I post to share with others. Mostly tips, recipe blogs or reblogs, and recipes I got from my mom (French, and thus the title), friends, or so on. Welcome along and freely engage please! Tag for easy broke and quick stuff: #College and Gap Year Kids

[locusimperium]

[swan-archive]

locusimperium:

A few years ago, when I was living in the housing co-op and looking for a quick cookie recipe, I came across a blog post for something called “Norwegian Christmas butter squares.” I’d never found anything like it before: it created rich, buttery and chewy cookies, like a vastly superior version of the holiday sugar cookies I’d eaten growing up. About a year ago I went looking for the recipe again, and failed to find it. The blog had been taken down, and it sent me into momentary panic. 

Luckily, I remembered enough to find it on the Wayback Machine, and quickly copied it into a file that I’ve saved ever since. I probably make these cookies about once a month, and they last about five days around my voracious husband - they’re fantastic with a cup of bitter coffee or tea. I’m skeptical that there is something distinctively Norwegian about these cookies, but they do seem like the perfect thing to eat on a cold day. 

Norwegian Christmas Butter Squares

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 egg 1 cup sugar 2 cups flour 1 tsp vanilla ½ tsp salt Turbinado/ Raw Sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Chill a 9x13″ baking pan in the freezer. Do not grease the pan.

Using a mixer, blend the butter, egg, sugar, and salt together until it is creamy.  Add the flour and vanilla and mix using your hands until the mixture holds together in large clumps. If it seems overly soft, add a little extra flour. 

Using your hands, press the dough out onto the chilled and ungreased baking sheet until it is even and ¼ inch thick.  Dust the top of the cookies evenly with raw sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees until the edges turn a golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven. Let cool for about five minutes before cutting the cooked dough into squares. Remove the squares from the warm pan using a spatula.

[brawltogethernow]

So I tried this recipe.

And it is GREAT.

It basically makes the platonic ideal of commercial sugar cookies, only in bar form. When I give them to people (which I do a lot, because this is one of those simple recipes where the results seem very impressive), I just tell them they’re sugar cookie bars.

[davetheshady]

Life hack: add white chocolate chips and sea salt

[mxxnlit-witch]

I made these today for the equinox with sea salt caramel chips and they are simply amazing. Let’s see how long they last with six people in the house!

[christinaseas]

i want to try these

[slugbo]

@cyber-moth

[terpsikeraunos]

the plague: stay inside

everyone: i must bake Bread, immediately

[bimborights]

maybe if there was any fucking yeast on the shelves at the grocery store!!

[catalystofthesoul]

yeast recipe: mix flour and water into a somewhat liquid. cover, leave on counter. Every day, add a spoonful of flour to the mix, occasionally water if it gets too thick. When the mixture begins to bubble, yeast is active. Keep in fridge, use as much as you need in recipe, literally the yeast left on the edges of the container are enough to make more yeast. Keep feeding it every day :)

[fuckingrecipes]

Not a joke - this is how you make bread starter for sourdough, and how people worldwide make bread at home to this day.

The wild yeast found in flour and in the air of your home can be cultivated by just.... leaving wet flour paste and a sprinkle of sugar out as free real estate.

Yeast moves in, you feed it a bit more every day, and that’s a bread starter!

Mine is about two months old and going strong. Some bakeries pride themselves in having bread starters over a century old. The wild yeast gives bread a complexity and depth of flavor that gives sourdough it’s iconic flavor.

—-

When the yeast is hungry it starts to smell like wine or acetone.

When it’s eating well and happy, it smells like vinegar and fresh bread.

Keeping it cold slows its metabolism, so you can put it in the fridge if you don’t make bread every day.

In the fridge you only have to feed it every 2 days or so. Left out at room temperature, you have to feed, and take a piece off for baking every day.

Yeast is killed at temps over 85 degrees Fahrenheit, but it can withstand short periods of being frozen, so the cold fridge is fine.

As long as you have flour on-hand, it’s basically infinite ready-to-bake bread.

——

So far I’ve used my bread starter, mixed it with flour and water, and made:

Dumplings (rolled dough flat and stuffed with minced veggies)

Bread loaves (duh)

Fried dough balls

Elephant ears (that cinnamon-sugar ❤️)

Pizza crust

Plus eggs and butter = cakey bread

[tinykitchenvegan]

Vegan Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

[jakattax]

Concept: Eat your demons before they eat you.

[signorformica]

A man captures two djinns (Arabic: جن‎, jinn: supernatural creatures in Middle Eastern mythology; demons to some, angels to others). Muhammad Siyah Kalem ~ 15th century. Topkapi Palace Istanbul • via Bibliothèque Infernale on FB

[the-swamprat]

Got a lil homesick yesterday and made chicken n’ biscuits with some friends. There’s roughly half a stick of butter per biscuit so we’re obviously doing really well up here.

[the-swamprat]

Also in case y’all want it. This is the biscuit recipe we used.

https://www.saveur.com/nancy-silvertons-all-butter-biscuits-recipe/

[crow-in-the-kitchen]

Oh hello there, yes

[coyote-696]

Turn, turn, wend and wind,

Pace the Stone and blood-corn grind;

Mill, mill, the Harvest Store

And praise the Lord of the Threshing Floor.

All praise to She who spins the stone

And mills the flour of flesh and bone:

Grind, grind the dust releas’d

To bake the Loaves for Heaven’s Feast.

Burn, burn the Firstborn Seal

In Flesh of Man from Serpent’s Wheel:

Turn, turn the Crooked Way

To serve the Walks of all that Stray.

By Exile’s tread the Plot is bound:

Turn, turn, wend and wind,

Pace the Stone and blood-corn grind.

- Rune of the Blood-Mill, Daniel Schulke

[sweetoothgirl]

roasted garlic parmesan herb pull-apart bread

[aetheriopolis-deactivated202008]

@crimson-house

[crow-in-the-kitchen]

Holy fuck

[crow-in-the-kitchen]

My Mom's Kofta

My mom's best friend lives in Morocco and she's spent a lot of time there along with a couple of our family trips so she picked up some recipes, and kofta is kind of a staple in my house. There are many ways to make it and this is how she taught me to do them.

Mix together for the meat mix: About 2.5 lbs of ground beef or lamb, half of a red onion diced, one third a pack of cilantro, and one flat tablespoon of cumin, with a bit of black pepper and salt to taste.

Blend together for the sauce: A half cup of oil, two thirds a pack of cilantro, four cloves of garlic, two full tablespoons of siracha sauce or harissa, one full tablespoon of cumin, and squeezed out lemon juice.

Shape the mix into little balls but make them flat. Make it tough and sturdy too so they don’t fall apart while grilling. Should be about the width of your palm, not too big.

When done, put them on the grill. If using one of those little grill pan things, put it on a big stovetop flame and set it to medium. Cook until you feel it’s done.

Then, eat it with the sauce and/or tzatziki!

[recoil-operated-deactivated2021]

Recoil-operated’s $12 traditional mead:

So one of the most common things I see on my Mead posts is “I’d love to do that, but I don’t have the stuff”

We’ll sit down and buckle up. Because I’m about to show you how to make a $12.56 traditional mead.

Here’s the recipe:

1 gallon Deer Park/spring water. You don’t want distilled.

3 lb or 32 fluid ounces honey.

One package of yeast.

a party balloon.

The cost total is $13.49, but you only need one pack of yeast. So -$0.90.

Let’s begin:

Everything together on a clean work surface, you will need a clean glass. And while not entirely necessary, a measuring cup will be handy.

Pour a cup of water for yourself and drink it. Hydration is important. Also this will allow you headspace.

Remove about ehhhhh, a quart or so of water to drink later.

Trust me. You’re going to want it

Wash your drinking cup and mixing about a teaspoon of honey.

[recoil-operated-deactivated2021]

You have two options for yeast, that bread yeast we bought, or professional brewer’s yeast.

They’re both the same price. You can get brewers yeast off of Amazon.

I already have brewer’s yeast, so I’m using brewer’s yeast

Stick that in that honey water.

Stick your honey in some hot water.

Go outside. Breath the free air. Know what it is… To truely live.

Enough of that bitch. Honey’s hot. Put it in the water.

Put the water in the honey too.

Shake the sin out of it.

Put that stuff back in the big bitch.

[recoil-operated-deactivated2021]

Shake the sh*t outta it.

Hydrate yourself with the water you removed earlier.

Shank a balloon with a pin.

Add your yeasty honey water.

Balloon it.

Label it.

If your trad mead says anything racist, or anything positive about Hitler. Straighten that sh*t out.

And there you go. $12 (.56) traditional mead. Stick it somewhere dark and leave it alone for a while.

Shake the hell outta it once a day for the first four days. Then let it be until it’s clear.

[recoil-operated-deactivated2021]

Update:

Boozification has begun.

[yourunclejingo]

Lots of spices and herbs make for nice additions as well.

Good post.

[tehgore]

Who the hell are you to tell your sentient trad mead what to think?

[recoil-operated-deactivated2021]

I’m it’s creator. I have deemed racism to be sin.

[kaamosnoita]

Finnish Mead: Sima 🍯🍊

Sima is a sweet mead, still an essential seasonal, sparkling brew connected with the Finnish Vappu festival that is on the first of May (originates from Walpurgis Night). It is usually accompanied by munkki (a donut), tippaleipä (a special Vappu funnel cake) or rosetti (a rosette).

2 large lemons

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar

5 quarts boiling water

1/8 tsp. yeast

5 tsp. sugar

15 raisins

Carefully peel off the yellow skins (zest) and set them aside; then cut away the white membranes of the lemons and discard them. Slice the lemons very thinly. In a 6- to 8-quart enameled or stainless steel bowl, combine the lemon slices, lemon zest and the two sugars. pour the boiling water over the fruit and sugar, stir and let the mixture cool to tepid; then stir in the yeast. Allow the sima to ferment, uncovered, at room temperature for about 12 hours. To bottle, use five 1-quart bottles with very tight covers or corks. Place one teaspoon of sugar and three raisins in the bottom of each bottle. Strain the sima through a sieve and, using a funnel, pour the liquid into the bottles. Close the bottles tightly and let them stand at room temperature one to two days, until the raisins have risen to the surface. Chill the sealed bottles until ready to serve.

[rad-magick]

Elder Berry Mead

Growing up my grandmother taught my cousins and I to forage in the woods by her house, we would mostly collect berries and some mushrooms, one thing that she always enjoyed making from our findings was Elder Berry Mead.

To make one gallon of mead, you need about a gallon bag full of elderberry clusters (do not use dried elderberry).  Freeze the berries, and then thaw them; this makes stripping the stems off easier and also starts the process of breaking down the berries. Strip all the stems off from the berries and place the prepared berries in a medium stoneware crock.   Take 2-3 pounds of honey and about three quarts of water, put them on a stove under low-medium heat (as high heat will strip certain enzymes from the honey), and stir until all the honey dissolves. Now add the water honey mix to the crock and stir.  *This is when you can add some spices if you wish.  The best spices for this are; orange peel, allspice berries, cinnamon chips, whole cloves or star anise.  (I always think it is best to add them in later since you could easily overpower the entire batch) Wait until the mead is completely cool (usually overnight) and sprinkle wine yeast on top of the mixture and wait 15 minutes before stirring it all in.  Now cover the stone crock with a linen cloth that is tied and rubber banded to both sides. (this is done to keep fruit flies out) Stir this mixture twice a day for ten days straight.  After ten days filter and fill a clean GLASS gallon jug and fit with an airtight cap. Store the jug(s) in a place not to hot and not too cold for six months.  If you have a basement put the jug(s) in a corner with a cloth over it.  After six months, you will want to transfer the liquid from the jugs into wine bottles, and wait a year before drinking.

This mead is an appropriate offering for spirits, a very good offering for ancestors during Samhain, especially during dumb suppers, and good for works in divination.   I very much enjoy this drink during the winter months  As Always -Robin

[bbyvegan]

[crow-in-the-kitchen]

Vegan Curry Noodle Soup

[crow-in-the-kitchen]

My Mom's Osso Bucco

My mom isn't Italian but French and lived next to Italy in the Cote d'Azur for a majority of her childhood, and as with most of her recipes, I actually don't know where this one came from, but delicious nonetheless!

1. One flank of veal for each person. Put olive oil on the bottom of the steam cooker first, after letting it heat up for a bit. Put these in to brown and get color, then turn them around. They just need color at first. Season them with salt and pepper.

2. Cut up a celery root into four quarters. You should use one quarter for each person. Shred these up. I use a special blender for this. Throw the shredded celery root in the steam cooker. Throw some shredded carrots in as well. About just as much.

3. Take a small bottle of tomato paste and put about half of that into a glass. Dilute it with white wine, and pour this in the steam cooker, then do so again, to get all the paste out. This should be about half a bottle of white wine, really.

4. Close the steam cooker, and let it cook on medium, then when it starts whistling, bring it down to between medium and low, and let it cook there for 30 mins. Let it cool down for a bit and check on it.

5. Take half a handful of parsley and 5-6 cloves of garlic. Mince these together. Then, take just under half a stick of butter and put it into a little sauce pan. Add 5-6 canned anchovies, diced up. Then the parsley and garlic. Put this sauce pan on medium and wait for it to melt slowly.

6. Heat up the meat again for a minute, then add the previous mixture on top. And done!

[crow-in-the-kitchen]

Family Recipe for Borek

My grandfather was a full on Serb from Belgrade and my great grandmother an Armenian from modern day Turkey, so this is naturally one of those dishes my mom ate a lot growing up. My grandma got to teach this to my mom who then taught it to me. Unfortunately for the meat lovers, this version of the recipe is just with the cheese and spinach, no meat!

1. Get two handfuls of spinach from the store and bowl them in a pot for three minutes. Should be a big pot.

2. Strain the spinach with a colander once done, and let it sit in the colander over the sink drain for a while, to really strain.

3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees on bake.

4. Put a half stick of unsalted butter in the microwave and heat it up for 30 seconds intervals until it’s at least halfway melted.

5. Put about a cup of good feta cheese* (preferably a little more than less), three eggs, and the spinach into a big mixing bowl. Mix it all with a fork, not a whisk. Get the eggs and cheese all soft but some chunks are ok and inevitable.

6. Get a pack of philo dough out. Put three layers on a baking dish, but very gently so as not to tear. Between each layer, coat them in melted butter with a brush.

7. Place about half of the spinach and cheese filling onto these layers.

8. Repeat 6

9. Repeat 7

10. Put on the last 3 layers and a final butter coating. Then, cut it with a knife for how many pieces you want.

11. Put in the oven and set a timer for 40 minutes. Afterwards, it’ll be puffy, but give it ten minutes to settle down and cool.

12. Enjoy!!

*Personally, I don't like buying feta cheese at big grocery stores unless it's a halal chain or similar. Go for Bulgarian feta at a local store that sells it, which is quite often the halal shops for me. If you're in California, you can get some good feta from Cow Girl Creamery.