Help choose a dish for the next 'Cookalong'

morning glory said:
I think its too generic and probably too easy for the Cookalong (unless everyone makes their own noodles from scratch). It would be fine for the Dish of the Month.
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I am probably thinking that if home made pasta or ravioli was an option, then this would actually be harder if the noodles are homemade. Afterall, there are far more components to make with it and then bring together. I've got a dish I'd like to try that's a Japanese noodle broth.

Plus from the list so far, I'm not seeing anything that actually allows those in the southern hemisphere or close to the equator to participate, let alone anything that could easily also be vegan or suitable for hot weather/summer cooking.

Options such as pasta carbonara, collard greens, veg sauces, coq au vin are really not that suitable and would instantly rule me out. Ravioli is something we've done before and tbh, I found it very easy even with making my own pasta (again something that isn't difficult at all even without a pasta maker).
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Plus from the list so far, I'm not seeing anything that actually allows those in the southern hemisphere or close to the equator to participate, let alone anything that could easily also be vegan or suitable for hot weather/summer cooking.
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We are never going to find something to suit everyone. The Recipe Challenge usually includes most people (potentially). If we have to allow for hot weather cooking then are you saying it rules out any hot dish? After all, India is a very hot country and a lot of curry is consumed!

Pasta Carbonara can easily be made vegetarian (or vegan). Indeed, if you google Vegetarian Spaghetti Carbonara you will find literally hundred of results. So that gets one of my votes. And of course, one could make the pasta from scratch too.
 
A lot of people on here have shown no interest in baking bread and/or eating a tremendous amount of it (even more so the ones that can't have gluten or have wheat allergies) so that would probably leave quite a few out or greatly limit their participation.

As far as collard greens, cabbage is easily substituted, as are pretty much any large leafy green vegetables, i.e. chard, large bok choy, and I'm sure there are quite a few others that just aren't on the tip of my tongue. Cabbage grows pretty much anywhere potatoes or beets can be grown, as can the other 2 mentioned. Stuffed cabbage/collard/large-leafed green vege rolls can be vegan, vegetarian, or contain animal protein. Rice, couscous, faro, barley, etc can be used as part of the stuffing, and the rest of the filling can be pretty much whatever you want. We've used dirty rice as a collard greens stuffing, then put a Cajun tomato sauce on top. You could go Greek, Asian, German, Italian, etc. You imagination and ingredient access would be the only limitations.

Soups are good, but, honestly, if I'm going to make a soup, I'm going to concentrate on the broth and other things in the soup, and not mess with making noodles. I have done that, but only because we decided we wanted noodle soup because neither one of us was feeling well and neither of us wanted to go to the grocery, so I just made a quick dough and rolled/cut noodles. They are extremely simple to make so I'm not sure that would be a good cook-along dish either. To narrow it down, we could specify a type of noodles, say Ramen or something similar that's available world wide, and do fusion Ramen bowls.

I'd love to do a cassoulet cook-along, especially since I have duck legs in the freezer that need to be confit'd, but honestly am not sure how that could be made vegan/vegetarian since the meat and sausage are such a big part, besides the fact that it has to be cooked for a good while if I remember correctly (been a long time since I made one).
 
medtran49 said:
A lot of people on here have shown no interest in baking bread and/or eating a tremendous amount of it (even more so the ones that can't have gluten or have wheat allergies) so that would probably leave quite a few out or greatly limit their participation.
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I tend to agree - we have a sour-dough thread and only three of us participated.

medtran49 said:
As far as collard greens, cabbage is easily substituted, as are pretty much any large leafy green vegetables, i.e. chard, large bok choy, and I'm sure there are quite a few others that just aren't on the tip of my tongue. Cabbage grows pretty much anywhere potatoes or beets can be grown, as can the other 2 mentioned. Stuffed cabbage/collard/large-leafed green vege rolls can be vegan, vegetarian, or contain animal protein. Rice, couscous, faro, barley, etc can be used as part of the stuffing, and the rest of the filling can be pretty much whatever you want. We've used dirty rice as a collared greens stuffing, then put a Cajun tomato sauce on top. You could go Greek, Asian, German, Italian, etc. You imagination and ingredient access would be the only limitations.
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I think maybe SatNavSaysStraightOn meant it was a winter dish and she is suffering extreme high temperatures - well I think that was what she meant. Not sure.
 
morning glory said:
I think maybe SatNavSaysStraightOn meant it was a winter dish and she is suffering extreme high temperatures - well I think that was what she meant. Not sure.
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I understand the hot weather thing, but she did mention baking bread, so... Besides that, if Craig and I limited what we make to the seasons, there would only be about 2 months out of the year that we'd have chili, soups, roasted anything, etc.
 
medtran49 said:
I understand the hot weather thing, but she did mention baking bread, so... Besides that, if Craig and I limited what we make to the seasons, there would only be about 2 months out of the year that we'd have chili, soups, roasted anything, etc.
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Sure - well I think we now have quite a few suggestions. I'm inclined to make a decision or otherwise we will be debating back and forth forever!

The dish that has had the most positive mentions is Pasta Carbonara. This happens to include the possibility of making home-made pasta which has also received several positive mentions from other members. So all in all, given that it can be made vegan or vegetarian, does not require long cooking in an oven (for those in hot climates) and has ingredients accessible to all, Pasta Carbonara it is.

A big thanks to everyone who contributed to this discussion and/or made suggestions. We are never going to please everyone but we do our best! If there is enough interest we could also run a Dish of the Month for Noodle Broth.
 
Pasta carbonara sounds good. I'm in!

I do want to point out, just as an FYI, there are plenty of veg* recipes for cassoulet online. They might not fit the "traditional" definition of a cassoulet, but then veg* cooks are used to making allowances, so I'm sure anyone here could conquer that.

As my veg* niece likes to sing to me over the phone, "Anything you can make, I can make vegan! I can make anything vegan, woo-woo!"

Then I mention runny fried eggs...:)
 
CraigC said:
Can you get pancetta or guanciale? I think guanciale makes the best.
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I know I can get pancetta. Probably most people can. I don't know about guancale, but I do have a recipe to make it.

CD
 
I can get guanciale, it's whether I want to stop off at the specialty place to get it, a 50-minute drive plus paying for parking, when Kroger carries pancetta 15 minutes from my house. :)
 
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