Proud kitchen moments, anyone? .

[MamaMootz]

Oh, and I forgot - in addition to the bread, I made a GIR cake for my daughter on her last birthday entirely with fondant and a prayer. It turned out pretty darn good. I was so pleased because fondant has usually been a bear for me to work with.

Iris' gorgeous rainbow cake brought it back for me. By the way, Iris, that cake looks delicious!

[joraemi]

I made chocolate pot de creme a few years ago for a lunch gathering of my friends.  It.Was.Awesome.

[RebeccainGA]

Mine is more of a timing thing than an actual dish - I've finally learned how to time things out the right way to get a meal to the table all at once, with nothing holding past its peak. I've actually got it down to the point that I can get three or four meals done, to about a minute, with no pauses and everything done in order. I'll have the toaster oven, microwave, oven, and stove all going at once, sometimes, but it all gets done. DP says she's never seen anyone use as many simultaneous appliances as I do, but it works.

[Seraphia]

I finally got a roux to work, and made homemade alfredo for our gnocchi. I'm so pleased, in part because I hate buying alfredo from a jar when I knew I could get it down eventually. Now, I finally have!

[katcheya]

I'm extremely proud of my reputation within my family, even if I've been dubbed a "hippy" by some. 

I like to make things from scratch.  Sauces, cakes, marinades, spice blends...  I'll try everything!  I've made my own quark cheese (once), tried to make my own butter (failed that one time, but I'll try again!) and planted my own vegetables and herbs last Summer.  My latest project was to bake my own bread.  I've only done it twice so far, but it's something I'm going to keep doing!  Once I run out of bread flour, I'm going to try a different type, probably whole wheat.

[GratefulMaria]

That sounds so yummy Bijou, please share the recipe.

Lately I've learned how to deal with ganache and cakes.  Not that big of a deal, but the stuff is so-ooooo good. 

Lately the favorite birthday cake for several in my family is a vanilla sponge cake baked in 3 layers, with milk chocolate filling and dark chocolate ganache poured over the top.

That cake sounds wonderful.  I wish I didn't have to watch my carbs and sugar!

The soup was so flavorful and savory and had almost nothing in it.
I put a box of low sodium chicken stock in a pot to heat.  Probably about a quart.  It's the kind you can leave on the shelf until you open it.  I added a little bag of those miniature ready to eat carrots. 
I cut about 2/3 head of cabbage into 1/2 inch shreds and added that. 
I heated some extra virgin olive oil in my heavy skillet and lightly caramelized about half to 2/3 cup chopped onions (I use frozen ones) and a good healthy sprinkling of garlic.  I added that to the pot, de-glazed the skillet with some of the broth and added that to the pot. 
I cut one of those big bent links of kielbasa sausage (it's fully cooked already) into 1/4 inch rounds and browned it in the skillet, de-glazed the skillet with some broth and added all of that to the pot. 
By the time I added the sausage everything else was pretty much cooked and I cooked it with the sausage in it for maybe 5 or 7 minutes.   My pepper mill is broken so I didn't add pepper, but ordinarily would have.  I didn't add salt, as it didn't need it.  I added a pat of butter to the pot. 
Ordinarily I would add potatoes, but I didn't have any, and it really didn't need them. 
I always use reduced fat sausage (this one comes in a 'lite' version, but they didn't have any at the store so we got the regular stuff.) 

I wish I had some soup (and cake!) right now.  My husband has been out of town for a couple of days and I have no way to get to the store...as soon as he comes home I'm making another pot of that stuff.

This fellow carb-watcher thanks you!

[Hmmmmm]

I finally got a roux to work, and made homemade alfredo for our gnocchi. I'm so pleased, in part because I hate buying alfredo from a jar when I knew I could get it down eventually. Now, I finally have!

Seraphia, I'm curious about your Alfredo sauce recipe as I've never made it with a roux, just cream, butter, garlic and paremesean.  Would you mind sharing? I'm wondering if the use of the roux would cut out some of the fat from the cream.

[BabylonSister]

I finally got a roux to work, and made homemade alfredo for our gnocchi. I'm so pleased, in part because I hate buying alfredo from a jar when I knew I could get it down eventually. Now, I finally have!

Seraphia, I'm curious about your Alfredo sauce recipe as I've never made it with a roux, just cream, butter, garlic and paremesean.  Would you mind sharing? I'm wondering if the use of the roux would cut out some of the fat from the cream.

I don't know what recipe Seraphia uses, but here's mine.  Basically, it's a white sauce:


2 TBSP flour
2 TBSP butter or margarine
2 cups milk ( I use 1%)
salt, pepper
garlic
Parmesan


In a saucepan melt the butter on low heat and mix with the flour until you have a paste. Cook it for a minute or two.  Gradually add the milk (some people add all the milk at once but I'm too chicken to do that.) Whisk constantly and bring to a boil. Boil it for two minutes, turn the heat off. It's already started thickening and will keep thickening as it stands.  Add the seasonings and cheese.  I add mozzarella in mine too.

[Hmmmmm]

^^
Thanks, my recipe has a cup of heavy cream and a half stick butter.  Yours will definetely cut down on the fat.

[Emmy]

I've always had an interest in cooking, but cooking real from scratch meals and having them turn out edible felt like a milestone.  I never had the inclination to make real meals from scratch when I was single.  It still is a proud moment when I master a new recipe outside of my comfort zone or a new cooking technique. 

My first time making a cheesecake was an amaretto cheesecake.  I brought it to a Christmas party and it got rave reviews.

Mine is more of a timing thing than an actual dish - I've finally learned how to time things out the right way to get a meal to the table all at once, with nothing holding past its peak.

I haven't mastered that one yet, but it will be a proud moment when I do.

Iris, that cake is incredible.

[buvezdevin]

Had a proud moment tonight, coupled with a d'oh, why-did-I-never-think-of-that-before moment.

We are in the last phase of a kitchen renovation, and have been without a stovetop for two months (we were out of town some of that time).  A friend lent me a double hot plate, but we have only used it a bit as we have to set it up and put away each time, not a huge deal - but it involves rearranging things temporarily housed on the currently remaining counterstops.

By two weeks ago, I was tired of almost anything roasted, so we have been using the hot plate, but after years of cooking with gas, it takes a bit more attention to get and keep the right heat.

Proud moment tonight, risotto made on hot plate and it was wonderful with minimal dial fiddling.

D'oh moment, when taking the braised lamb shanks out of the oven, I could not find the large strainer I have long used to strain the braising sauce, and mash some of the braising veg through to make the sauce for serving.  Suddenly realized I could turn all remaining veg/braising liquid into a sauce using an immersion blender.  It was the best sauce yet with lamb shanks.  I have no idea why this had never occurred to me before, but will be doing it this way in future.

[workingmum]

Apart from the Devon Cake mentioned in the spinoff thread, I have been considered an above average cook for the better part of the last 17 years.

I think probably my proudest moment was pulling off a sit down dinner for 20 odd people when we hosted my ex-husband's family for xmas eve dinner. Everything was home made. I started cooking at 6am .. trays of lasagne, 4 different roasts, roast vegetables, salads, 3 different desserts. I had everyone asking me where I got the food. Sure, I was exhausted by the end of the night, but somehow everything turned out perfectly!

[Hmmmmm]

I thought of another proud moment.  We did annual multicourse formal dinner party.One guest had always been open about her weight management process. She only ate half of anything served. At one dinner party, she had eaten half her soup course, half her seafood course, half her sorbet, and half her beef course. Dessert was an over the top molten chocolate cake, with a homemade caramel sauce and fresh whipped cream and berries. Halfway through dessert she put her spoon down, and excused herself from the table. Everyone else finished, practically licking their plates. We were about to have plates cleared when she came back in and happily announced she was ready for her last course.  I looked confused and said, that was the last course. She said, no it's not. The other half of that dessert is my last course. 

[Seraphia]

I finally got a roux to work, and made homemade alfredo for our gnocchi. I'm so pleased, in part because I hate buying alfredo from a jar when I knew I could get it down eventually. Now, I finally have!

Seraphia, I'm curious about your Alfredo sauce recipe as I've never made it with a roux, just cream, butter, garlic and paremesean.  Would you mind sharing? I'm wondering if the use of the roux would cut out some of the fat from the cream.

I don't know what recipe Seraphia uses, but here's mine.  Basically, it's a white sauce:


2 TBSP flour
2 TBSP butter or margarine
2 cups milk ( I use 1%)
salt, pepper
garlic
Parmesan


In a saucepan melt the butter on low heat and mix with the flour until you have a paste. Cook it for a minute or two.  Gradually add the milk (some people add all the milk at once but I'm too chicken to do that.) Whisk constantly and bring to a boil. Boil it for two minutes, turn the heat off. It's already started thickening and will keep thickening as it stands.  Add the seasonings and cheese.  I add mozzarella in mine too.

Yep! I borrowed the cheese sauce recipe from a baked mac n cheese and use parm instead of cheddar.

[BabylonSister]

I finally got a roux to work, and made homemade alfredo for our gnocchi. I'm so pleased, in part because I hate buying alfredo from a jar when I knew I could get it down eventually. Now, I finally have!

Seraphia, I'm curious about your Alfredo sauce recipe as I've never made it with a roux, just cream, butter, garlic and paremesean.  Would you mind sharing? I'm wondering if the use of the roux would cut out some of the fat from the cream.

I don't know what recipe Seraphia uses, but here's mine.  Basically, it's a white sauce:


2 TBSP flour
2 TBSP butter or margarine
2 cups milk ( I use 1%)
salt, pepper
garlic
Parmesan


In a saucepan melt the butter on low heat and mix with the flour until you have a paste. Cook it for a minute or two.  Gradually add the milk (some people add all the milk at once but I'm too chicken to do that.) Whisk constantly and bring to a boil. Boil it for two minutes, turn the heat off. It's already started thickening and will keep thickening as it stands.  Add the seasonings and cheese.  I add mozzarella in mine too.

Yep! I borrowed the cheese sauce recipe from a baked mac n cheese and use parm instead of cheddar.

I figured out on my own it could be made as a white sauce and my family approved of my experiment so I never looked into other ways to make Alfredo. :-P