Pat

Cold salad plate: Jumbo pasta shells stuffed with curried chicken salad; garnished with small tomato halves. I usually don't use too many fresh tomatoes in the winter because they're not very good and/or are very expensive. I respect seasonality, but sometimes I want a tomato in the winter . My fallback used to be buying plum tomatoes, which tend to be far better off-season than beefsteak tomatoes. For some time now, though, I've been buying the Campari tomatoes at Costco. The quality is quite good. They're advertised as greenhouse grown, vine-ripened, and herbicide-free. I'm not quite sure what the trick is to these dream tomatoes, and I don't think I want to know, because I want to keep buying them

FWIW, I just got an email from the folks at Great Country Farms about this weekend's opening of their vineyard in Bluemont: http://www.bluemontvineyard.com/

green salad chicken and mushroom puff pastry pie The puff pastry pie was really good. I couldn't figure out if the chicken was supposed to be kept whole or not, so I chopped it into about 1" squares. I haven't been to the UK in a really long time and translated the twice the thickness of a pound coin measure in the recipe to be about 1/4 inch.

leftover arugula, etc. salad baked spinach-cheese stuffed shells

That was my initial reading, but the mashed potatoes thing had me waffling. Is it a compliment to say someone's mashed potatoes are professional?

The fuller context sounded more positive than that to me, unless he was being obliquely sarcastic: OK, re-reading that, I guess he was being sarcastic. I sometimes enjoy watching her cook on her show, though I find the dramatic pretense/narrative kind of stupid.

Does the rate at which you add the liquid have anything to do with the gluten development? My mother used to pour cold milk from the jug into the potatoes as she mixed them. The milk didn't go in all at once. And she threw a couple of chunks of butter in there somewhere too. She made wonderful mashed potatoes.

Whipped Potatoes with Olive Oil and Parmesan (Bon Appetit, Sept. 1992) Boil 2 lbs. russet potatoes until tender. Drain, peel, and put in a large bowl. Add 3/4 cup hot chicken broth and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually beat in 6 tablespoons olive oil and then 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese. (Add more broth if too thick.) Stir in 1/2 cup chopped fresh chives. Season with salt and pepper and additional parmesan. Serves 6.

My mother always used a handheld mixer for her mashed potatoes, and they always came out great. She poured in milk as she mashed them and some butter as well, I think, plus salt and pepper. That was it. I wish I could remember the specifics now. I could never understand why people claimed that a mixer turned potatoes into glue, because hers never had that problem at all. Unfortunately, I believed that and stopped using the mixer and now I don't remember how she did it. There's one whipped potatoes recipe I like (using a mixer). It's from Bon Appetit 15 years ago, but it doesn't seem to be online. It's not what I think of as being terribly conventional, but it's very good. It uses chicken broth, olive oil, parmesan, and has chives. I'll post the amounts, etc., later in case anyone's interested. It's more creamy than fluffy, though.

salad of baby arugula and pea greens, tuna, tangerine sections, tomatoes, olives, and toasted almonds; vinaigrette zucchini-cheese casserole This was another "clean out the refrigerator" meal. The casserole was the remaining uncooked mixture from the zucchini balls I made a few days ago, topped with bread crumbs and parmesan and baked for an hour. It was okay but needed something else. The salad was pretty good.

Aha! Thanks. No wonder I couldn't identify it.

You're doing better than I did. I could get the first page to turn, but I couldn't get the menu to work. I don't think that sounds bad at all, so long as we're talking eggplant (How did they spell "peas" correctly in one place and not in the other?)

We had dinner at Zaytinya before the Springsteen show last night. Despite all of my intentions to get there, I'd never been before. The meal and service were good overall, but I should have reread this thread before going, including Rocks' post above The falafel were dry, too dense, and the only plate we didn't finish. Later on in the night, it finally occurred to me that they were supposed to be served with tahini sauce . No wonder they were so dry. Looking at the menu on the website, I see a photo of them plated in a pool of tahini, with a garnish of sprouts on top. We got the garnish. We didn't get the pool. If there was any sauce with them at all (my husband thinks there was a tiny bit underneath), it wasn't remotely enough. Too bad it didn't occur to me at the time or I could have asked for more sauce. We also had the fries with yogurt, which were excellent; the grilled pita with ground lamb and the couscous tagine, both of which were quite good; and the salmon balls, which were okay but not my personal favorite. I loved the pita in the bread basket. I probably ate more of them than was advisable. The olive oil for dipping had a flavor that I quite liked but can't quite describe. When I saw how crowded it was, I felt less stupid about having made a reservation for dinner a month ago. They seemed to handle the crowd pretty well. Our server was attentive and helpful. I really wanted to order dessert but was too full. The chocolate cream with cherry sorbet and caramels was calling me and I had to fight it off . I didn't want to be overly stuffed for the concert. I'd like to go back and I think I have a better sense of the menu now. Maybe I'll order dessert first next time .

Yes, it is. I'm glad I discovered it. I decided I'd scan the beer selection at Marvelous Market before trying the liquor store, since I was starting out kind of late in acquiring my ingredients. When I saw that in a single bottle, I figured it sounded like a good bet for a short rib braise, and it was. I doubt I'd ever have bought it to drink if I hadn't stumbled upon it this way.

half of a leftover grilled ham and cheese sandwich (with pickles) from yesterday's lunch I wasn't hungry enough to finish it yesterday and I hated to throw it out (I made it on oversized bakery bread, more like a sandwich X 2). I was hungry a little while ago and was wondering how long it would take to heat the remaining sandwich up (and how), when I decided to try it cold. it was surprisingly good, straight from the refrigerator.

Salad of baby arugula and pea vines; buffalo mozzarella; vinaigrette Short ribs braised in porter ale with maple-rosemary glaze Greek potato balls (but shaped as large potato pancakes this time around) The short rib recipe was from All About Braising. Porter isn't something I usually drink (or keep on hand). For the 1 1/2 cups I needed for the recipe, I picked up a bottle of Stone Smoked Porter at Marvelous Market that worked nicely with the flavors of the dish. The remainder of the (1 pt. 6 oz.) bottle proved very drinkable .

Hotdish is a midwestern (ca. Minnesota/the Dakotas) name for a casserole. It typically has a starch, a protein, a sauce (often a can of cream of something soup), and sometimes a vegetable and/or a topping of some sort. I've become acquainted with them after reading years of rec.food.cooking .

Mushroom Veloute with Almonds* Greek Zucchini Balls (Kolokythokeftedes) Greek Potato Balls (Patatokeftedes) leftover fried chicken *from Pepin's Fast Food My Way. The recipe is accessible via the search inside the book feature at Amazon and is reproduced with some changes here: http://www.thecookbookcritic.com/archives/...od_my_wa_5.html

That sounds like it might be a mistake on the web site. If it's not, then something is amiss.

Soft ground beef tacos with roasted hot peppers Refried black beans White rice with peas Chopped tomatoes, shredded jack cheese, and chopped lettuce accompaniments for the tacos

Given the article in today's Post, that deal must haven fallen through. He's retiring but without a buyer for the cart.

buttermilk fried chicken green beans salad of baby arugula, pea vines, tomato, cucumber, and proscuitto (w/Caesar dressing)

soup rice pilaf risotto coq au vin

What do you have to say for yourself, Al? Giada's enceinte.

I just bought a copy of James Peterson's Cooking at Costco. I love Splendid Soups, so I figured I'd give this a try. It looks wonderful. It starts with the basic cooking methods and ends with a cooking glossary. There are many how-to photos. I'm actually finding myself reading this, which I rarely do with cookbooks. I usually pick and choose and skip around. The expository writing in the book is engrossing. I haven't tried making anything from this yet, but I don't think that will be a problem . BTW, the Pentagon City Costco still had a few remaining discounted copies of Happy in the Kitchen.