naxos

NYE

It’s been a year like no other and I decided to treat myself and Mr. to a caviar sampling. And then because I had just made chicken soup the day before, I decided to try my hand at pho. Of course it wouldn’t be authentic but I had all ingredients on hand and we miss our local pho dinners. And for dessert we were gifted a box of Mallomars which we microwaved to perfection-

Has anyone ordered caviar from Browne Trading Co.? Or order from Black Salt?

A treat for this NYE seems to be something to look forward to since we have not dined out nor ordered takeout  since March.

2 hours ago, curls said:

I’m making holiday treats to give to our neighbors and will be making spritz cookies, chocolate chip cookies, caramilized peanuts (per the David Lebovitz recipe), and cinnamon marshmallows. I’m thinking about dipping some of the marshmallows in dark chocolate.

David Lebovitz recently  had a recipe for chocolate marshmallows that looked interesting.

34 minutes ago, weezy said:

I was at the Giant this morning checking out butters, and Land O Lakes now makes an extra creamy butter in black packaging, salted and unsalted, that is a higher fat butter, higher than Plugra at half the price.  I bought a couple of pounds and will try it out.  On sale this week @ $3.50/lb.

I have been baking with this for at least a year and have been very happy with the results, especially in butter cookies and shortbread. It goes on sale from time to time at Harris Teeter.

Cookie baking time. Using the 1995 Gourmet Magazine Basic Butter Cookie recipe and all it’s varieties, I made mocha butter balls and coconut sticks (which are my favorites.)

https://www.caskata.com/blogs/news/new-blog

Also Greenspan’s world peace cookies.

Now to deliver to friends 

Sheet pan chicken thighs- with apple, shallots and  kalettes which were  tucked  under the chicken which kept them from burning for the 45 minutes at 425.

17 hours ago, Pat said:

For my husband's lunch, I repurposed the excess liquid (seasoned coconut milk and turkey broth) from making the curry chard into a Thai chicken soup. I simmered a skinless chicken thigh in the liquid (with a little additional water) until it was cooked through. I removed it and shredded the meat and added back in with some of the green beans and pieces of chard leaves and stems from the original dish. At the time I had stored the liquid, I put a bunch of chopped cilantro stems in with it, so that also contributed to the mix (which started with ginger, garlic, hot peppers, and green curry paste). I finished the soup off with some freshly squeezed lime and chopped cilantro leaves. My sampling of it was quite tasty.

He also got the last of the squash salad with cider vinaigrette, boosted with some more baby arugula.

I wasn't that hungry and had a variation on what has become my staple lunch: yogurt with a generous pinch of rolled oats and blueberries, plus whole berry cranberry relish from Thanksgiving. The cranberries are fabulous in the yogurt and the mix of the red and blue berries makes the whole bowl look like abstract art.

Thinking about trying to recreate Black Salt’s Thai Coconut seafood stew- which might be mor like Tom kha goong- but the green or red chili paste might be good to add

Today’s lunch was from Bon Appétit turkey leftover recipe- but I subbed poached chicken thighs for the turkey.

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/mouthwatering-turkey-with-glass-noodles

Comfort food dinner last night. My Twin Springs produce order included an enormous cabbage and I decided to make stuffed cabbage with a side of mashed potatoes.

My daughter has a Thanksgiving Birthday.

Every year she requests this Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake from Epicurious.

Any updates on the available fish?

14 hours ago, reedm said:

Well, if you wanted a smoked turkey, this is disappointing news. https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/fire-forces-greenberg-smoked-turkeys-to-suspend-orders-ahead-of-thanksgiving/2474946/

 

While I am sorry to hear about the economic fallout of the business, the last Greenberg turkey I ordered 2 years ago was basically inedible- too much smoke and too much salt.

Garlic crumb crusted oven baked halibut with roasted Brussels sprouts and small purple potatoes.

To me, fresh halibut is most delicious when cooking time is very carefully monitored, otherwise it can become dry.

Today is set aside for comfort food- chicken soup grandma’s way.

Last night Julia Child’s  French Onion Soup- definitely a blast from the past but very delicious.

Last night NYT Takeout-style Sesame Noodles but added poached chicken.

With fall chill in the air today, made a batch of soup with sweet potatoes, honey nut squash, leeks and chicken soup which was in the freezer.

17 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Risotto? With clams, mushrooms and sausage?

23 hours ago, Pat said:

The steak recipe -- from the Post -- turned out delicious and very spicy. The carbonized pan from all the honey was a little more problematic, but my husband cleaned it 🙃.

Delegation is a good thing😂

Sourdough raisin- experimenting with einkorn flour which was substituted by WF

Julia Child’s Chicken Bouillabaisse and a romaine, avocado and red pepper salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

I had all the ingredients except an orange for its peel which I bartered with a friend  for some Twin Springs corn.

Oops... forgot text

NYT spinach and feta pie recipe by Ottolenghi 

And with the chermoula on top

Hoisin-Glazed baby back ribs (Milk Street recipe), rice, cilantro lime slaw and whoopie pies on the deck.Niman Ranch from Harris Teeter.

I was the recipient of a large portion of 

candy roaster squash from Buffalo Gap Farms in the Shenandoah region.

I am not a squash fan but I roasted some for soup and puréed some for my infant granddaughter. It’s a very mild tasting squash that needed some punching up with some curry flavor. Will serve it chilled pranks with a dry coconut cilantro almond jalapeño chutney .

9 hours ago, saf said:

A number of years ago, after a run like that, I gave up on mainstream stores for avocados. Now, I only get them at central American stores, and have MUCH better luck.

In my opinion, the best avocados are from Mexico and California. The season for Mexican avocados runs from end of summer til May. Now this season we find mostly Peruvian avocados which I find to be inferior- often totally unripe until they ripen after a week or so and then often have large rotten areas or those nasty small fibrous brown spots.

The Peruvian avocado supply is relatively new to US. About a dozen years ago I travelled with a group of college students to Peru and we met with some agricultural minister who purported to have found a way to export perfectly ripe avocados.My experience has been that he over promised.

Check the label on the avocado. the Mexican avocados will hopefully be back in the market soon

A neighbor found the last box on the shelf at HT.

Not certain why there is a shortage 🤷‍♀️

51 minutes ago, Rhone1998 said:

I've been doing the whole sourdough thing, really starting to get happy with the results (though I am still terrible at the final shaping stage...the bread winds up rising to a decent shape but I still struggle to get it from a blob of dough to an actual round loaf before putting it in the oven).

I have settled on a version of this recipe except I use a 2:1 ratio of regular white bread flour to whole wheat flour, and I cut the hydration back to 70% from 80% (I can barely handle the 70% version).  You get a tighter crumb that way but I still like the way it turns out.

My latest loaf.

I’m intrigued by the tiny amount of starter!

I too have some shaping problems but the bread usually turns out ok. This one is softer with a tighter crumb- I think it needs a good  Stilton to or epoisses to accompany it. Sadly I have neither but might do a rush WF order.

I’ve gotten the basic sourdough bread down to where I am baking a loaf a week easily. So decided to branch out and adapt yeasted pumpernickel raisin bread( what I called Russian rye growing up) to using a sourdough starter. 

I used a Silver Palate recipe which promised the bread I recalled as a kid but I think the ratio of flour to water was wrong and I ended up with a very dense grainy dough. After 3 hrs or no rise, I added some yeast and kneaded it in.

Loaves  did not rise overnight in fridge but I baked anyway - little oven spring but the bread has a nice soft texture a bit heavy on the molasses. Not quite what I remember but pretty good.