Adam Kuban: Kublog

I would pay good money for this: a website or cookbook with good, mostly vegetarian make-ahead meal menus (eg., dinners for an entire week that you could prep on your day[s] off, freeze, and then reheat day-of). Bonus if many of them were “throw and go” (that is, freezable uncooked but then thawed and finished on the day of eating). The few websites I’ve been exploring so far have the structure I like, but the majority of recipes seem too meat-heavy and aren’t very progressive.

I was going to make pizza today, on New Year’s Day, but it so worked out that I made it last night on New Year’s Eve. That was probably for the best. I’ve had a couple sticks of Vermont Smoke & Cure pepperoni that I’d been itching to use. The stuff is seriously good. But then I also remembered I had a jar of Kim’s Market candied jalapeños that I got in a food exchange with some folks on Facebook.

I’m now feeding Cavanagh with a 100% hydration feed (equal parts flour-water) but I’ve been using a varying proportion of inoculating starter each morning. This morning I think I used too much of all components, because Cavanagh overflowed its modest jar. Lucky I placed it on a towel in anticipation of this. (The fact that I placed the towel there, I think, shows that I truly am getting to know Cavanagh’s life cycle.)

Nothing much to report. Cavanagh continues to thrive. After mistakenly adding the 50-50 white–whole wheat flour mix to it two days ago, I’m back to white flour, and it looks the same as before.

I’ve brought Cavanagh up from off the bench (i.e., the refrigerator) and have revived it after months of neglect. Which is first-hand proof for me that you really can resuscitate a starter you’ve all but left for dead. What I’m going to do is keep feeding the TB starter and see if I can get it to take, but if not, I’ll use Cavanagh next weekend to make my first loaf of the Basic Country Bread.

Seriously, don’t bother watching this video. Nothing much happens. I got the notion of setting up a time lapse thing so I could see if the starter really was bulking up as part of the feeding cycle, as the book suggests it will. This is about 3 hours’ worth of time here. I’m thinking I [...]

[This photo is part of my 2011 Picture a Day project »] I’m trying to perfect my recipe for chile-infused honey before posting it on Slice. Credit where due: It is 100% inspired by Mike’s Hot Honey, which is available online or from the bar at Paulie Gee’s. I’m playing with the spice levels. The [...]

Inspired by the semi-dried cherry tomato topping at Di Fara, I did a trial run of semi-dried grape tomatoes (my market didn’t have the former in stock). Lesson learned here? Shoot before-and-after photos under the same lighting conditions. Duh. The top photo is shot under our range’s built-in fluorescent cooktop light, while the photo just [...]

When I worked at Martha Stewart Living magazine, staff members used to get a $20 meal allowance anytime we worked past 8 p.m. Among the places I used to order from was Afghan Kebab House. I’d get this dish called Kabuli palow. A palow is simply a pilaf; Kabuli here is obviously referencing Kabul.