Christmas prep/spontaneous cookalong thread. Just decided to

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Lightly bubbling away.

The garlic and the oil will play some pretty solid rolls in a salad I'm making on the day, as well whatever other uses I can think of for it.

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Then some eshallots that need to be pickled. No mandoline, so lets start slicing.

Note: the lighting will get worse as these go on. Without natural light my house gets kinda yellow in photos. Not fun.

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Pickling brine.

200ml apple cider vinegar, 100g white sugar (and a little more after adjustment), 50g salt. A couple bay leaves, some dill seeds and peppercorns.

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While that's coming to a boil, let's toast some almond slivers.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how activated do you think they'll become?

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Let the pickling begin.

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This is bush dukkah. A mixture of some Australian ingredients and other lovely things.

Pepperberry, saltbush, West Australian sea salt, lemon myrtle, wild mint, cumin, coriander powder and black peppercorns.

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And this is a lovely roasting cut from the rear leg of a lamb.

You can see where this is going.

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Sear it off in some of the confit garlic and its oil, as well as some olive oil.

On Christmas I plan to do a lamb shoulder in the smoker. I'm really just testing how the lamb takes to the rub tonight, and if there will be any adjustments I'd like to make.

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While that's starting in the oven, I've jarred up the stuff I'll be holding onto for game day.

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Score some eggplants.

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Brown those fuckers, let the flesh separate and open while encouraging fat to bubble away underneath.

>>8362753
>>8362756
I've never seen this, what are we doing here?

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Slicing some apricots and onions while that's going.

Was going to cut the flesh out of the eggplants, mix it with the apricots and onions and pack it back in with some yoghurt on top. But I don't think I'm feeling that so much anymore. Going to combine it with some of the almonds as a tart side salad.

>>8362761
Just setting up the eggplant before it goes into the oven, the process should encourage the eggplant to soften and make it easier to work with once it's out.

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Apricots and almonds in the pan. Dish is starting to come together.

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End result. Photo really isn't the best. But what can you do.

Lamb was alright. Needs more salt, and the flavour could have done with more depth. I'm sure the smoked version will be much better, though.

The sweet potatoes were great. Just roasted off some slices with the lamb. Can't go wrong there.

Apricots, almonds and onions tasted great together, but the eggplant being in there was a bit too much. Need to think of what I'll do to resolve that.

Anyways, thanks for reading, it was a fun afternoon of tinkering.

>>8362792
Heads up. Was lurking but not bad.

>>8362715
>no water
0

>>8362797
Sweet.

>>8362726
Noice.

>>8362780
Ah. Guess I don't work with eggplant much. I just cut it into little eggplant parmigiana circles and call it a day. Any rad cooking suggestions?

>>8362853
Honestly, this was my first time cooking eggplant.

Got the idea by watching this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=669SSRqT7MI

The miso glaze seems like a neat idea, but if I'm cooking veg in miso, I'd rather just do it with green beans (it's glorious).