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Man, I looked at Valrhona pricing the other day and it's crazy out there. 🙃 This hobby is getting expensive hah.

Soup for lunch again. Chicken and chicken stock, carrots, glass noodles, garnish green onions and chilli crisp.

Okay, time for a bit of culinary levity again. Some treasures from the last of the local famrers and their markets have been languishing in my baskets or refrigerators drawers. Tonight I decided that they had to be dealt with: Asian egplants; a red (ripe) bell pepper; a bunch of broccoli; a no-longer green tomato and another not-quite-ripe yellow tomato. I sliced them, tossed them with olive oil and salt, and let the oven do its magic. When I'd decided that it was done enough. I served it over reheated Rancho Gordo Rancho Domingo Bens and added lemon vinaigrette and tahini. It tasted a lot better than it looks, but it's a dinner that will keep on inspiring good dinners.

Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup - diced eggplant gets roasted under the broiler. Half of the eggplant is cooked with diced tomatoes, red onions, garlic, ras el hanout, cumin, raisins, bay leaves in vegetable broth. After pureeing everything you add the other half of the roasted eggplants and finish with toasted slivered almonds, cilantro and lemon juice

@Jim D. thank you for the information and topic link! I did search eGullet but did not find your previous experiments. I might have the very same issues that you did but will have fun experimenting.

Thank you @JeanneCake! I’ll pick up a container of the unsweetened Clement Faugier chestnut purée and see what I come up with.

Yes, matsutake. I meant to say so. Will now edit. American matsutake (Tricholoma magnivelare) are a different species from Asian matsutake (Tricholoma matsutake) and I've only eaten the latter. Reports suggest the Asian are more valued. I don't know how my friend cooks them, but I'll ask.

Here is a very nice mushroom dish I made recently. It's called smoky mushroom kapnista and it's from Zaydinya by Jose Andres (kapnista means smoked in Greek). The mushrooms are browned in a pan with a little bit of hot oil for about 5 minutes, seasoned with salt, then smoked for 30 minutes (I used a Cameron counter-top smoker with cherry wood chips). Then they are added back to the pan with olive oil, dates, and toasted walnuts. Finally they are served over labneh, and garnished with flaky sea salt, chives, and cumin. The smoke reinforced the umami character of the mushrooms and made them irresistible. That dish really surprised me by how delicious it was. Here is more on this technique from his substack.

Are these "pine mushrooms", aka matsutake? I don't think I have ever seen or eaten one. What are they like? How does your friend prepare them?

There was a thread about chestnut bonbons. Sadly, my experiments ended sadly, and I had to abandon the idea. There was no discernible chestnut taste when it was mixed with chocolate.

My dear friend, a Tujia ethnic minority woman rom Hunan, China, now resident in the USA sent me these. Foraged matsutake from Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Washington State. She's just trying to make me jealous!

Hi hi! Sorry for delay in answering! Like others have already suggested, I'd just blanch the beans in salted water, put in an ice bath, dry well, place on a flat tray, freeze and then bag. After that for sure you can do the cooked to death version that Kim and I always do. And, I know I've roasted some that I've frozen but they aren't going to be AS crisp as fresh would be.

Oh damn. Is this the green beans? I'm so sorry. So much work and, yeah, food prices. Don't give up.

CRAVING linguini and clam sauce. I even have decent canned clams...... Now THAT is a hot dog. And those buns look amazing. Good on your wife for doing great on the low carb thing! I've found it....challenging and I cheat too much. Ronnie is doing good, though, still. I have cauliflower on hand at all times it really comes in handy. I make a bake like that frequently. If you haven't tried it already, cauliflower "potato" salad is really good too. That looks so fresh and delicious. I think (fingers crossed) things are finally slowing down around here--I don't want to jinx myself. The last few days have been very rainy and coldish. I'm loving it. I guess one upside of a hailed out garden is that I'm not worried about cold and when it's going to freeze. We've made the trip twice now to buy tomatoes from the Amish farm.....I'm thinking about trying one more time but I better hurry up because it's supposed to frost/freeze later this week possibly. So, big salad night still has decent tomatoes. My mom came to see us! We were talking and having too much fun so I forgot to take a ton of pictures but here's a few: Welcome mom snack board We try to make two salads that we both love but our spouses don't--this time mom made the delicious ramen salad first and we didn't get the second salad done sigh. Platter of SV'd pork chops, deviled eggs and cheesy squash (did I mention a squash plant bounced back and is producing??? Those things are hardy I'm tellin' ya) Mom sent birthday cupcakes With sparklers! She also had a Skyline Chili kit sent that included hotdogs so Ronnie could have a low carb version. Super fun!!!! Another snack board As always her visit was too short but as always glad it happened Last night yellow squash pizza boats and a galette to use up a lot of the fruits that she and I had snacked on during her visit.

Heads up - felchlin via AUI prices to go up starting November 1. However, orders need to ship/pick-up this week to reflect current prices. Looks like 7.5-8% increase. I also asked my valrhona rep but ooo until tomorrow so will update if I hear anything about that. I wonder how long chef rubber prices will remain stable.

@Tropicalsenior/Yvonne, that looks fantastic!!!

Everything is gorgeous. And I'm sure that it tastes just as wonderful as it looks. I sure wish that I could get some decent Rye flour down here.

Wow, beautiful work Yvonne! I am working a lot these days so was glad to get a few days off. Beginning of cool weather so it's brazing season, starting Wednesday with Coq au Vin. And baking. Just a few from the last few days (incl. an apple tart, with Melrose, Northern Sky, Fireside, Honeycrisp from a local orchard). Levain adapted from the late Gerard Rubaud. Liquid rye starter, 70% bread flour, then a blend of home-milled whole grain - 18% hard red winter and spring wheats, 9% spelt and 3% rye. A German mixed rye-wheat-spelt, seeded with roast sunflower seeds, flaxseeds and sesame seeds, just out of the oven for cutting tomorrow. Then finally that tart.

This week's baking. Wednesday was two loaves of soft sourdough bread. Sunday I made Easy Sourdough English Muffins. The easiest recipe yet and definitely the best. Last week on the dinner thread @MaryIsobel and @Maison Rustique were talking about a Honey Fig Bread. I just happened to have some figs in the refrigerator and it sounded delicious. I looked at about 20 different recipes and didn't like any of them so I made up my own. It turned out great especially for a first effort. Something that I will be making again with very few moderations.

Whoops! Sigh. My first ferment fail just had to be in the year of our LORDHAVEMERCY food prices. Sigh.

Hello Arin. Looking forward to learning more about you. Welcome to eGullet.

I used to make a chocolate chestnut cake for christmas but it was a hard sell in the shop; generally the older clientele liked chestnut better than their younger counterparts. I also had a long time customer order a chestnut mousse cake for his wife's new year's eve birthday for years and I had better luck with the Clement Faugier brand (green and white can); it was just pure unsweetened chestnut puree. The Vanini brand has sugar in it so just be aware the puree can be sweetened or unsweetened.

Welcome! Also interested in Bengali food, and your personal twists on it.

Chorizo and butternut squash fried rice with onion, garlic, ginger, jalapeno, red curry paste, cumin seed, fish sauce, and an egg.

Welcome, Arin! I look forward to learning more about traditional food from Bengal, as well as your modernist spins on it.