Tag: response

vocifersaurus

replied to your post

“Achievement unlocked: went out for groceries (some mushrooms and…”

That stew sounds like an excellent fall meal. What spices are you gonna toss in?

Garlic, coriander, ginger, and nutmeg.

… and the rest of the post got a bit long, so it’s under a cut. Including something resembling a very loose recipe.

Garlic goes into damn near everything I cook, whether I’m putting in whole cloves, minced from a jar, or granulated. Ginger is another goes in almost everything, either chunks of fresh cut root or powdered, depending on the flavor profile I want out of it. Coriander gives me a peppery sort of flavor that doesn’t cause pain or tingling in a bad way. And nutmeg helps me actually want to eat without being a major flavor component (my appetite has been lacking of late, and it has meant not enough calories, which has made the brain weasels louder).

(Dunno why nutmeg does that, but it works on me and mom both, so it’s become one of the staples of cooking around here, because both of us forget to eat when stressed, so anything that makes it easier to get calories in is good.)

And once things are mostly cooked, I add rice and bulgar wheat to it to soak up the liquid and bulk it up, and it actually comes out as a pretty solid mass that’s more pudding-like. A nice heavy meal that I cook a lot from October through May, with minor variations on the ingredients.

Actually, while I’m thinking about it, let me give you a recipe of sorts.

---

– Meat*, or your favored non-meat protein that does well in slow cooking. (I haven’t tried to do this with lentils or other legumes yet, but I’m fairly certain they’d work just fine. Dunno about tofu, but that’s an experiment I’ll leave to someone who doesn’t have tofu on their list of foods they can’t eat.)

– Rice, bulgar wheat, barley, oats, or other grain depending on your tastes and dietary restrictions

– a small amount of water, enough to just cover the bottom of your crock pot. Or beef/chicken/vegetable/other* stock would work too.

Any combination of:
Winter squash (butternut is my usual go-to because I can get it already cut up)
Mushrooms (I use shitake because I can use scissors to prepare them, but button/portabellas will also work)
Turnips
Apples
Pears
Onion/leek/shallot
Fresh Ginger
Carrots/Parsnips
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes

Optional Additions:
Herbs – thyme and rosemary are really good for this in sprigs
Spices – nutmeg, coriander, cinnamon, garlic (granulated), ginger (powdered or crystalized)
¼ Lime (or less), a splash of lime or lemon juice, a small wedge of orange, two or three sections of tangerine (a little citrus goes a long way in a crockpot)
Salt – a very small amount, maybe a pinch

---

Your vegetables/fruit should be cut up into medium-small pieces (½ in or so cubes at the largest), your meat either likewise, or if it’s in one chunk, you can cut it up when it’s cooked through and return it to the pot.

Everything goes in the pot, lid goes on, put it on low heat, go off to work or go through your daily routine, whatever. Nothing needs to be touched for the next six to eight hours.

By which point it will smell wonderful and so will your apartment/house. If your meat was not cut up before it went in, this is the time to cut it (or more likely, use two forks to tear it) into smaller pieces and return to the crockpot.

Add ¼-1/3 cup of grains to a small pot, up to 1 cup for a larger pot, or whatever seems good to soak up the liquid in the pot. Also, this is a good time to taste-test and see if you want to add more spices or salt.

Wait twenty minutes, check the grains. If they’re crunchy, and the liquid’s almost gone, add more water, or add some heavy cream/milk (if dairy is a thing that you like/can consume).  Give it another ten minutes. Once the grains are no longer crunchy, and the liquid’s mostly gone, it’s ready to serve. Sometimes there’s a little browning on the sides or bottom, that’s ok. If you’re worried about that, add more liquid.

Once in your bowl you can add more cream, butter, other spices (especially if you’re making this for multiple people), cheese, other condiments. It’s pretty forgiving, and pretty flexible as a dish, which is why it’s my favorite thing to cook.

*only thing I don’t recommend for this is fish, either as the meat, or fish stock for the liquid. And that’s probably mostly my being picky about how my fish is cooked.