(no subject)

[bunrab]

Last weekend, I bought a pot to cook pasta in. We have a perfectly good 6-quart saucepan, with a lid that has a section with strainer holes in it, but who knows where it is? The only pots and pans we had been able to find so far were our 3-cup saucepan, our 6-cup saucepan, and our frying pan. None of which is useful when one needs to boil 4 to 6 quarts of water. Well, we wound up getting a 12-quart pot, because it was on sale for $40. That was as cheap as, maybe cheaper than, most 8-quart pots, which would have been more practical, I guess. But here this was, only $40 and included a steamer insert. We didn't get it from Amazon, but here's a picture of the exact thing, from Amazon (click the link, I'm not going to use up bandwidth bringing the pic in here): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0006U6530/102-8025638-9057763?v=glance

So, this thing is monstrous huge. Even though it was a bargain, and even though an 8-quart would have cost a little more, perhaps I shouldn't have. Yes, it's certainly easy to put 6 quarts of water in it, and boil up some pasta. But... it's hard to wash! I can fill it by pouring water in from a pitcher, but one can't wash it out that same way. Of course, part of the fault is the apartment kitchen - sink is not the largest thing around, and does not have a pull-out hose thing, which would help. So perhaps this will be less of a nuisance once we find a house. Of course, at that point I will have found my 6-quart saucepan...

I shall have to invite people over to supper once we find a house, so that there is a good reason to use this. If it's too late in the year to steam corn, and too far beyond our budget to steam lobsters, I will find SOMETHING to cook that requires a larger pot to justify this thing!

Comments

[avanta7.livejournal.com]

Chili. Or gumbo. Chicken & dumplings. Or ham & bean soup, served with cornbread and Beano.

[bunrab.livejournal.com]

mmm, yes. Once it gets cooler again, chili. Have I ever mentioned my terrific vegetarian chili recipe? This seems like a good moment to mention it:
Cashew Chili
2 cans beans - kidney beans or black beans or black soy beans
3 white onions, diced (other onions would work too, I'm sure, but if you use red or yellow, get smaller ones, so you don't have massively too much onion)
1 red bell pepper (green would do too, but red looks better in the chili), diced
1 cup diced celery (somewhere between one and two stalks, or one small pre-chopped container from the supermarket salad section)
2 cans diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 small can tomato paste
1 Tablespoon each ground black pepper, chili powder, cumin, oregano, minced garlic (I buy jars of minced garlic. I think this would be a couple cloves worth, if you did it from scratch)
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 cup raw, unsalted cashews (the bulk bins at Whole Foods are one place to get these)
1/3 cup raisins

Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan, and sauté the onions, peppers, celery and garlic until the vegetables are translucent. Move them to a biggish stew pan/dutch oven. Add the beans and tomatoes INCLUDING the juice from the cans. Add everything else, stir thoroughly, and bring to a boil. As soon as it bubbles, cover the pot, lower the heat, and simmer for an hour and a half.

Serve with cornbread, seasoned with cumin; or corn chips and green salsa.

If you want slightly milder chili, make one can of tomatoes plain instead of with green chilies; if you want really bland chili (why?) make both cans of tomatoes plain.

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

You could steam some crabs in it...