I’ve had a busy year, kitchen-wise. Among my “firsts”:
I used hamhocks–I had seen them and heard of them, but never actually bought or used them before. Now they’re a requirement for my black bean soup.
First-ever purchase of individual containers of cumin, chili paste, and curry. How did I ever cook without these?
Used a few Pioneer Woman’s recipes. Mmmm.
Visited Trader Joe’s and Penzy Spices…and can’t wait to go back!
Cooked something with wine. Not impressed, but still a first.
Got my first stick blender. I still haven’t used it, but I’m excited about it.
That’s all I can think of at the moment; I’m sure there will be more.
How about you?
I joined a CSA (AKA farm share AKA every week you get a box of whatever they’re giving you)
- I used leeks more than I ever have before
- I found out I still don’t like beets, but beet greens are tasty.
I made cheese for the first time (acid precipitated farmer’s cheese, ricotta-like… super yum and so easy)
I made no-pectin cooked preserves for the first time (pear and peach, from an overabundance of CSA fruit). I’ve made jam before but this was a new approach for me.
Made pickles - dill and sweet
Also ate beet greens, but still won’t eat beets
Made soap, which has to be cooked, so technically it counts
Canned peaches
Made homemade pumpkin ravioli, with mixed results
Oh, greens! I discovered that while I like greens, I LOVE collard greens! I usually get greens at the food pantry and they aren’t always identified, so I had to do some sleuthing to find out what these were. I can’t wait to plant some.
Chefguy, I’m so excited that you made soap. I was a soapmaker for fun and profit for years, and it was a load of fun.
2011 was the year I got back to cooking, for the health of myself and my bank account.
Tried several recipes off eatingwell.com with great success. I particularly liked their spinach-parmesan puffs (worked best with a blend of asiago and parmesan).
Cooked some of the historic recipes Living History Farms uses at thier Victorian dinners. One of the vegetable soups that uses allspice has become a standby.
Santa brought me a heavy baking/grilling stone. So far we’ve made pizza in the oven on it. Santa brought me a cookie press! Made zillions of buttery vanilla wreaths and buttery chocolate stars. Santa brought me several bottles of infused olive oils and vinegars, and truffle oil with pieces of real truffle. (Maybe Santa should have brought me a bathroom scale, lol.) I made pizza dough from scratch, other than taking a bit of time to rise, the crust was a snap and better than store bought. I’ve always made bread but never thought of making pizza dough, too.
2011 was (incredibly) the first year it occurred to me that chili might conceivably be improved by the addition of bacon. Joy!
Also, Salmon en croute - And last night I filled my family with beef and rouladen in a brown beer and saurkraut sauce - I think that’s probably the last innovation of 2011.
Breads for me, or more specifically, working with yeast. For so long, I’d been afraid of it–not sure why, but had this fear that it wouldn’t work and I’d be left with floppy goop of flour that wouldn’t rise. Turns out that it’s not as difficult as I’d imagined and I’ve turned out some pretty good rolls lately.
On edit, there were also the heirloom tomatoes I planted in my garden. Many of them, I ate with a dash of white balsamic vinegar (from Trader Joes) and a bit of really nice olive oil and fresh ground pepper. Some though, went into the food dehydrator and I’ve been using them in chili and other tomato based dishes.
There isnt a whole lot I have not tried in the kitchen. With the exception of an ill advised dalliance with contact sports, I have been cooking professionally since 1975.
I was drying tomatoes in the oven and forgot about them. I essentially made chips. I ground them up and wow! I cant imagine not having tomato powder in my kitchen now. I added some to Chicken Paprikash tonight and it really enhanced the flavor dramatically. I’ve also dusted focaccia with it just before baking. I’m going to make some tomato fettuccini with it tomorrow.
I’ve since dried and powdered leeks, roasted garlic, and fennel. I’ve used powders before, but for some reason it never occurred to me to make it myself.
Another first for me will be beer. I start my first batch of IPA in the morning.
In 2011, I decided to start baking bread. Last year, Mr. Ipsum and I went to his aunt & uncle’s for Thanksgiving. On the day after, his aunt used their bread machine to make fresh bread for turkey sandwiches and I thought that was the most awesome thing.
I debated for a while about getting a bread machine, but since I like to have more control over the final product (ie, I like to do things the hard way) I decided to get a KitchenAid stand mixer instead - this way I can use the dough hook instead of kneading by hand. The fact that I don’t knead well is what has put me off of breadmaking up until now, so this was a big help.
I actually came up with a recipe that my white-bread loving husband approves of, but is still healthy. I used a white bread recipe from King Arthur Flour, then substituted half of the white flour for “white whole wheat,” then added wheat germ and some KAF high-fiber stuff.
Then in the summer I tried making pizza on the grill, and it worked out great! Then we had my family over and I made 3 pizzas for the group: two used fontina cheese and pepperoni, and one used mozzarella and vegetables.
Lessee…
[ul]
[li]Roasted my first standing rib roast, AKA prime rib, for Christmas dinner. Turned out well.[/li][li]Made my first decent pot roast (and gravy!) earlier this year - previous attempts have been good, but not the deliciousness I was looking for. This was outstanding.[/li][li]El Hubbo got me a grinder for my KitchenAid stand mixer, so we made sausage for the first time. Really delicious, and pretty simple. It’s worth the investment, for certain.[/li][li]Went to Penzey’s for the first time - it is indeed a place of wonder that I need to return to often.[/li][li]After rediscovering Brussels sprouts and lusting after them, made up a batch following Mark Bittman’s recipe that were divine. I made them again for Christmas dinner, but I’m not certain that they were as good. I was under the gun with several side dishes, along with the roast, and I think I over crowded the pan and let them steam to much. Still good, but not as good as that first batch.[/li][/ul]
I made pastitsio for the first time. It turned out great!
Everything. 
We just finnished a HUGE remodel on our kitchen and downstairs bath. Down to the studs. We sunk about $45,000 into it. It took about 4 months to complete and I’m really looking forward to cooking again.
Forgot to mention that I made both Julia Child’s beef bourguignon and her charbonnade a la flamande (the lowbrow version of the former). Great stuff.
I got a Weber smoker (18" WSM) in the early spring and used it at least every couple weeks. Like most things, there’s a bit of a learning curve but I think I’m getting the hang of it now. I’ve done ribs (baby backs, full spares, St Louis, beef backs, beef short), pork shoulders, cornish game hens, assorted cuts of chicken, hundreds of wings, al pastor pork (no water pan), bacon & cheese jalapenos, potatoes, some turkey drumsticks, beef brisket, pork steaks & chops and probably some others I’m forgetting. While I can’t claim that they have all been perfect, I haven’t ruined much and, as I learned from my BBQ life coach, ‘In BBQ, we eat our mistakes’. I’ll probably be using this thing all winter, too.
I planted my first vegetable garden this year. I had hot peppers (Success!), herbs (Wild Success!), cucumbers (Fail!) and several tomato varieties (Mixed bag but overall success!). I didn’t want to commit too much of the yard to the garden until I could get a feel for my interest level but I’ll be roughly doubling the area for the veggies next year.