BTTR Gourmet Garden and Sprouts!

Man alive (no pun intended), it is SO much fun watching something come to life. 

Exhibit #1.  Remember that mushroom box I picked up about a week ago?  Here's what it looks like today:  

Check it out!  Amazing!  I am so excited for this.  I am already dreaming about a big steaming bowl of Thai Tom Yum soup!

Exhibit #2: Sprouts!

Some of the seeds worked, some not.  Most notably, the yellow mustard seed went absolutely nuts, the fenugreek seeds look good and, I think with a bit more time, the black mustard seeds will look like their paler counterpart.  Nothing from the cumin, caraway and coriander.  Still, very exciting! 

Ike Jime

If you want to geek out for 15 minutes, read this.  It's about a Japanese fish slaughter technique where they ram a metal rod through the fish's spine.  Seriously, it's fascinating!

Sprouts!

If it's Friday night, I'm probably doing something pointless and inane wickedly awesome with food!  Tonight's experiment:  Can the BCC sprout seeds?  We'll find out in a few days!

Step 1. Two layers of moist paper towels on a baking sheet:

 

Step 2. Sprinkle with seeds:

From left to right: fennel, caraway, cumin, black mustard, fenugreek, yellow mustard and coriander.  I've seen fenugreek sprouts in a restaurant I used to work at but, as for the rest, your guess is as good as mine regarding sproutability.  

Step 3. More damp paper towels and saran wrap:

I'll check every couple of hours starting tomorrow.  I'm hoping this works because I've been eating a lot of salad lately and am looking for a cheap, cost effective way of spicing them up. 

Enhanced Stock and Coffee Filter Sieve

Instead of the usual crap I've been serving up lately, I decided to post something useful and informative.

First, enhanced stock.  Have you ever wanted something better than store bought stock but were too lazy to start from scratch?  Easy: enhanced stock.  Just take stock/broth from the store and throw in some onions, carrots, peppercorns, whatever.  Let it simmer and, in 30 minutes to an hour, you've got something infinitely better than plain ole store bought. 

For my stock, I threw in half of an onion, sage, chopped onion and serrano ham bones.  There might be some garlic hidden somewhere in there. 

Cover with your store bought stuff and bring to a simmer.  If you're simply using vegetables and herbs, give it 30 minutes and you're good to go.  If you decide to really kick things up and use some chicken bones, give it an hour.  If you decide to use beef bones, well, you're an idiot and SHOULD be making beef stock from scratch.

What to do once your broth is done simmering?  How about a coffee filter sieve?

Uhhh, it doesn't take a genius to figure this one out.  Strain your stock of the veggies and big chunks.  Let it cool a bit.  Ladle the liquid into the filter and let 'er rip!  See that nice, clear, clean liquid?

Coffee filters...not just for coffee anymore.  :)