What Chowhounds are discussing on the Home Cooking board.
Recipes, cooking techniques, and cookbooks.
Many hounds know sesame tahini as an ingredient in hummus and baba ghanoush, but Chowhounds also love it in everything from sauces to sweets. "A little bit of tahini in just about anything adds a new nutty dimension to the dish," Motosport says.
A basic sauce is simply tahini, lemon, and water whisked together. This is "probably the most versatile sauce out there," says JungMann. "Great on vegetables, salad, roasted fish, or even just bread." JungMann adds a pinch of cumin, salt, and sometimes parsley to his sauce. 1sweetpea mixes tahini with yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, and salt to make a topping for fish or a dip for vegetables. cheesecake17 combines it with lime juice, soy sauce, and a splash of water and uses the combo to dress salad and steamed broccoli. Emme brushes tahini on fish before breading it, and uses the paste to flavor deviled eggs.
Tahini lends a nice flavor to sweets as well. haiku. calls tahini-rich sesame coins "delicious," and HillJ says mixing it with graham cracker crumbs "equals a lovely cheesecake crust or tart shell." It can also be used to add sesame flavor to ice cream, custards, and puddings.
Some hounds love starting their day with tahini. pine time mixes a bit of it with almond butter and then eats this with thinly sliced bananas. When rose water visited a friend in Palestine, "our rich, delicious breakfast was bread dipped into tahini, with a swirl of pomegranate molasses on top. It's like concentrated pb&j." And meadandale adds a heaping tablespoonful to a fruit smoothie.
Discuss: What else can I use tahini for?
Tehina--Other uses besides making Hummus?
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on Tuesday, May 29th, 2012
While tart rhubarb is often paired with sweet strawberries in desserts, Chowhounds also love giving it a starring role on its own. For a treat to dress up anything from ice cream to scones, try CHOW's Roasted Rhubarb Compote (pictured) or this rhubarb curd, which biondanonima calls "delicious."
KiltedCook replaces the called-for blackberries in Alton Brown's grunt recipe with rhubarb, and says it's "[q]uick, easy and oh so tasty." magiesmom likes rhubarb cobbler made with ginger in place of the vanilla and half the cornstarch called for. The cake portion of this rhubarb pudding cake is "moist and vanilla-y with a lovely crumb," says katecm, who recommends cutting the rhubarb in "super small" pieces because the cake doesn't bake long.
Discuss: your best rhubarb crisp, crumble, cobbler, buckle, etc?
Photograph by Chris Rochelle / CHOW.com
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on Monday, May 28th, 2012
If you've got basil pesto on hand, whether store-bought or homemade, you've got an instant source of bright, potent flavor that works as both a condiment and an ingredient in cooking. Use it to dress baked or boiled potatoes, as a sandwich spread, or stir a dollop into chicken or potato salad. It makes a great pizza sauce; Davwud likes it paired with shrimp and Brie. AnneMarieDear finishes a potato and onion frittata with pesto. In addition to tossing it with pasta on its own, hounds like to mix it with marinara sauce. Pesto is also great for making quick eggplant Parmesan and similar dishes "where you have a simple tomato sauce but want a great deal of herbal and garlicky oomph and fast," says Karl S.
Discuss: Pesto Sauce from Costco
Pesto image from Shutterstock
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on Sunday, May 27th, 2012
Wonton skins can be used for far more than wrapping savory dumplings. They work well as an easy stand-in for fresh pasta when making ravioli, but they can also be used to create fun appetizers, snacks, and desserts. "Wrap them around anything that strikes your fancy and deep-fry it," recommends Joebob. Nutella is a great sweet filling, says jcattles, "but you have to let it cool a bit or you'll burn the crap out of your mouth!"
Make wonton cups by pressing the skins into the wells of a mini muffin pan, spraying with oil, and baking until crisp, cheesecake17 suggests. Fill the cups for appetizers, or use them to scoop salsa or dips. Cut fresh wonton skins into triangles and then bake or fry them for good, crisp snack chips; turn them into a sweet nosh by tossing the fried/baked skins in cinnamon sugar. Cut in strips and then fried, the skins make a nice alternative to croutons in salads, iluvcookies says.
Discuss: leftover wonton skins
Wonton image from Shutterstock
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on Saturday, May 26th, 2012
Slices of jarred pickled jalapeños are a standard topping for nachos and a popular garnish for chili, but hounds incorporate them anywhere they want a good hit of spice. The peppers are a popular addition to cornbread, and thymetobake adds them to black-eyed peas during the last half hour of cooking. Battered and deep-fried, they are "tremendous," CDouglas says. You can also slice whole pickled jalapeños in half and stuff them with a favorite filling, as in these tuna boats (pictured). READ MORE
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on Friday, May 25th, 2012
As late spring approaches, Chowhounds look forward to cooking with fresh fava beans. While the beans are a bit of work—you need to remove them from their pods, then peel the skin from each bean—many hounds think they're worth the fuss. (For a primer on easy peeling, check out this CHOW Tip video.)
Turning the beans into a simple salad or side makes the most of them. caviar_and_chitlins tosses blanched favas with olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, shredded mint, and sea salt, while edwardspk mixes them with small cubes of pecorino cheese, then tosses with olive oil and salt. READ MORE
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on Sunday, May 20th, 2012
Forget common sweeteners like maple syrup or brown sugar; "I love sweet potatoes cooked in Coke with chipotle mixed in," katecm confesses, noting that it's an "embarrassingly easy" dish. First, katecm seasons diced sweet potatoes with salt and pepper and browns them. Then she mixes chipotles in adobo sauce with Coke and pours it over the potatoes, stirs, and covers the pot. "They don't take long to cook that way, so when they are almost soft, uncover and finish so that the soda cooks away into a glaze," says katecm. "You can quickly broil if you want a bit of crust, but be SUPER careful because the sweet glaze will burn easily."
Discuss: Candied sweet potatoes
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on Saturday, May 19th, 2012
A stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment is Antilope's secret weapon for effortlessly turning pieces of braised shoulder into pulled pork, a task that otherwise involves a couple of forks and a bit of elbow grease. Add 2- to 3-inch chunks of pork to the mixer's bowl and start the paddle at low or medium speed. "Makes perfect shredded pork for sandwiches," says Antilope, who notes that if the meat seems a bit dry, "I add a little of the cooking broth and/or some BBQ sauce to the mixer as it knocks the chunks of meat apart."
Discuss: Tricks you figured out in the kitchen and thought 'good one'!!!
Photograph of CHOW's Beer-Braised Pulled Pork Sliders by Christopher Rochelle / CHOW.com
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on Friday, May 18th, 2012
In west Georgia, there is "no other way to eat fig jam except on a hot buttered biscuit," says jmcarthur8. Elsewhere, Chowhounds incorporate fig jam into a variety of dishes, both savory and sweet.
It's especially popular paired with soft cheeses. laliz cuts the rind from the top of a wheel of Brie, spreads the cheese with fig jam, sprinkles on sliced almonds, and bakes. jeanmarieok bakes fig jam and blue cheese in puff pastry, and spazita pairs it with goat cheese in mini phyllo cups. Another idea: CHOW's Fig Jam and Goat Cheese Crostini (pictured). READ MORE
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on Thursday, May 17th, 2012
If you find yourself struggling to use up bunches of fresh basil and cilantro before the tender leaves spoil, extend their life by incorporating them into sauces and condiments.
To preserve basil, blend a cup of packed leaves with a cup of mayonnaise plus garlic, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. The resulting basil mayo is wonderful on sandwiches or in potato salad, observes chez cherie, who says it will last five days in the fridge. Packing basil in sea or kosher salt is another option. "It will look ugly, but the flavor will be there if you need it in cooked dishes," algct says.
A handful of cilantro blended with Greek yogurt and a jalapeño is "great on tacos or any Mexican dish - cool and spicy," says jmcarthur8. Make an Indian-inspired cilantro-mint chutney for dipping samosas into, or a Canary Islands–style cilantro sauce to serve with potatoes. Both keep well in the fridge.
Discuss: Ideas for leftover fresh basil?
Favorite ways to use up a giant bunch of cilantro?
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on Thursday, May 17th, 2012
Peach Frozen Yogurt from Scratch
A Meaty, Boozy Father's Day
Rustic Charmer: Cherry Clafoutis
Party Food from the Corner Store
How to Make Nut Milk
Cool and Crazy Hot Dog Toppings
