Re: Parsnips. We went to a talk given by Hugh Acheson a few weeks ago and he said that his next book is basically going to be recipes for "what do with all that weird shit that comes in your CSA box (like parsnips).

I had to google CSA Box to figure out what you were talking about. I'm trying to get away from an overreliance on potatoes though. Parsnips are pretty good. I've got a celery root I'm going to try to do something with this weekend. Next up will probably be sunchokes. I usually enjoy that "weird shit" when it's served to me in restaurants but I'd never tried to make much of it myself.

Agreed, which is why it's a genius idea for a cookbook.

I tried cooking okra last night for the first time. Just sauteed it in olive oil with some salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. It was okay. Not bad.

I don't have a deep fryer, and I refuse to try deep frying at home anyway.
Any suggestions for the next time that I try to make it?

I've been having issues lately from not having DAT GALLGBLAGGER, so I've had to cut way back again on eating anything with FACK.

No Chee, no beef, really, no nothing. Lots of broiled chicken and wheat toast.

So, I've had to branch out, and have thus become addicted to Kale. That shit is GOOG.

Toss some kale with a bit of olive oil, sale and pepper. Then put in a 250 degree oven for about a half hour or so until crispy to make delicious kale chips.

Damn, good looking out, DW. I've been sauteeing with some canola (less fat) and salt and pepper - but the line between the right texture of crispy and non-burned and mushy is a hard one to keep on the right side of. This sounds awesome. Do you pull the leaves off the stems or do you just put a whole stalk in there?

Yeah this sounds great.
Waiting for advice on stems.

Trip them up a bit. Mostly you want the leaves, but a few stem pieces add some texture. But the stems do stay pretty tough so mostly you just want the leaves. Just don't get bent out of shape about being perfect with the trimming.

Also...while the above is the only way I have made them and they were tasty, I want to try this more complicated recipe sometime. If any of you give it a shot let me know if it is as good as it sounds:

2 large bunches kale, stems removed
1 small lime, juiced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons creamy almond butter
1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon Herbamare

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Use a knife to cut out the tough inner rib that runs lengthwise through the center of each kale leaf. Then cut the kale into large pieces.

In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Place the kale into a large bowl, or two, and pour the mixture over the kale. Use your hands to gently massage the mixture in, coating each leaf.

Use one very large cookie sheet or two medium sized sheets and distribute the kale evenly so they are in one layer. Bake for about 40 minutes, removing the pans every so often to stir and flip the leaves. You should only need to do this 2 to 3 times during cooking. If they are not crisp and dry at the end of cooking time just pop them back in until they crisp up. Once they are done, let them cool on the cookie sheets then transfer to a bowl to serve.

I had spinach chips at a Japanese Gastropub recently. They were pretty amazing. I might have to try this but just sub spinach for kale.

I generally prefer spinach myself and may try that as well. My only hesitation is that kale is a bit more substantial and durable. I am afraid the spinach would crumble up too much. But I will need to look into that now.

love the kale in any form. and the chips are once you stop-type goodness. thing is, any time you cook food above 120 or thereabouts you're killing off most nutrients - try dehydrating at low temp to preserve the love. no dehydrator? set oven to lowest temp & chuck the greens in while it preheats. once the oven hits temp, pull out & enjoy yr roughage.
i saturate the stuff in this:

1 C tahini
1/2 C olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves minced garlic
dash or three of cayenne

That's a bit of a myth. Some foods loose nutrients when cooked and others have nutrients that are more easily absorbed when cooked. Specific nutrients react differently as well. I can't speak to kale or spinach specifically, but the notion that you should not cook any food over 120 degrees is a bit over the top.

i thought you might take umbrage with that comment which is why i italicized most. and i never said you shouldn't cook anything over 120.

this reminds me of the penn & teller bullshit! episode on organics. all of you should check it out - it's a good laugh.

Didn't wanna argue or anything, just pointing out if you're leaning toward them, the raw food arguments are far from cut and dried and plenty of science on the other side as well.

I do generally like some Penn & Teller. Similarly, they did a good Bullshit! episode on the obesity epidemic and the cottage industry grown up around fighting against it.

yeah, i hear you. i just figured GAR needs to get the most out of his greens since he's missing a muffler on his Grave Digger-size frame.
Ft Riley reprazent! gotta check out that & more of the Penn/Teller shows - good stuff from what I've caught so far.

FEMGAR got me a subscription to Cooks Illustrated for Valentine's Day (I think?) and I have really been enjoying it. I know some (Joey Crack, Bloor) have posted about it before, and I will admit that it didn't have enough picture for me at first. Really, I didn't know of it's affiliation with America's Test Kitchen, and how much they go into tips for ease of use/barriers to entry and cooking technique. I read a blurb about covering bacon with water and letting it boil off and then cooking the bacon to desired level of crispness - shit worked great. I don't really like the oven technique and always struggled with making it crisp without being dry. (For someone who loves bacon, I never cooked it much, and only indulged because it is a key ingredient in our annual Easter Carbonara)

I missed the whole Kale love fest, but let me still say "me the fuck too." Loooove kale.

I usually cut up a scotch bonnet pepper, some fresh garlic, and sliver some almonds, and saute those first in olive oil. Then I throw in the kale til it gets wherever I want it texture-wise. Some coarse salt and pepper and you you're set. The crunchy almods are key. I think Neuro got me cooking it that way.

Had it not been $25 I would have bought a tshirt that said KALE scripted like YALE at Whole Foods one day. I love tshirts and all, but come the fuck on with your 25 bucks.

They always have shit like that, where I'm like "oh cool" and then I see a pricetag that's 2x what it ought to be and I get disgusted. I think my favorite is the "yoga block" or whatever they call it, and it's a sanded piece of balsa wood about 6" x 10" x 16" or so, nothing else, and it's $30. I laugh pretty hard everytime I see it.

At this particular Whole Foods, I can understand the need to overcharge for tshirts to offset the cost of chargers in the parking lot for electric cars that I've never seen anyone park in. Awesome idea and I'm glad they've got them, but you're probably about 5 years too early.

Should've just put in golf cart charging stations, down there.

There's an electric car charging station in the Charles Hotel in Hahvid Square, but I've never seen anything in it. Yeah, just a little trigger happy.

Last night I had a culinary success:
Pasta with a truffled mushroom cream sauce.

sauce was:
Caramelized shallots and garlic, olive oil, various mushrooms (would've used criminis, but there was no guarantee with the kids), truffle butter, white wine, parmesan cheese, and a touch of balsamic vinegar. Plus, salt and pepper, of course.

It was yummy.

EDI:
How could I forget... CREAM?!!
Kinda important in a cream sauce.

That sort of simple sauce is always delicious. Sounds tasty indeed.

Nothing fancy here, but over the weekend I did make up a fresh batch of tamales filled with some chicken that was boiled, shredded and cooked down with tomatoes, chilies, onions, garlic and cumin. Tamales are way easier to make than many people think, just make sure to use lard in the dough if you want them to taste good. Got a bunch in my freezer now to pull out when needed.