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I’ve been dehydrating Meyer lemons for the past couple of weeks. I use them in my morning tea and in my water bottle. They’re also great in chicken piccata- they re-hydrate quickly. I’ve also zested lemons, juiced and frozen the juice and zest.

@Smithy Yes it was good. My way of making tabbouleh is to use equal amounts of mint and parsley… don’t think I’ve had it with cilantro but I can imagine it’s good. The dressing was not measured just a good glug of evoo and a splash of apple cider vinegar with a squeeze of lemon juice … plenty of pepper and salt. I used couscous not bulgur which was ‘soaked’ to fluffiness with a hot vegetable stock.

Sausage-Bean Stew/Soup/Chili - simple mix of hot dogs, red kidney and navy beans, onions, leeks, pancetta, passata, tomato paste, beef broth, cayenne pepper and tabasco

Wow, I never would have thought to toast whole black peppercorns. What does it add to your dishes? I'm really curious, since it must be a really good taste to use it almost daily.

I didn't die. I didn't even have any bad after-effects. But I also didn't eat the leftovers. I didn't want to press my luck.

Thank you for this posting!

Without having tried it myself, my guess is that if you toast some and store them unground, you'll be able to keep them in pretty good condition for at least a week...maybe 2 weeks? A month? From what I've read, the degradation in flavor begins when the peppercorn is broken apart, i.e. ground. A good way to test your own tolerance for flavor degradation would be to devise a flavor comparison, if you have the equipment to do it. Toast some peppercorns and store them in one grinder for, say, a week; toast another set and grind them the day of the test. See if you can tell the difference. Keep working at that until you reach the level of perfection vs. convenience that works for you.

Whole black peppercorns are used here daily. Often they are pan toasted. It's tiresome to toast a small amount almost daily. I'm thinking of toasting enough to fill, or half-fill, the pepper grinder. Will toasted peppercorns hold their flavor for a week or more? Will long-term storage of toasted peppercorns end up with reduced, or changed, flavor? In short, is there a benefit to doing this? Thanks

Throw away your induction and gas coookers! China's social media is awash with tales snd demonstrations of something revolutionary. Electric flame cookers! Quite how they work is not revealed but the manufacturer lists their advantages.

Coconut chicken soup (tomm gai kaa onn): Sequentially simmer coconut milk with 1) a paste of galangal, garlic, cilantro stems, roasted white peppercorns, lemongrass, and shallots; 2) chicken thigh chunks; and 3) bruised lemongrass stalks, lime zest (sub for lime leaves), sliced galangal, sliced Holland chiles, and fish sauce. Finish with lime juice, palm sugar, Thai basil, and cilantro leaves. I made the base soup mild for Mrs. C, and added a dollop of roasted chile paste to mine. Bean sprout salad (yam tua nork): Make a paste of grated and roasted coconut, roasted peanuts, and salt in the mortar. Mix with bean sprouts, sliced shallots, and cilantro leaves, then season with coconut cream and rice vinegar. Will make again.

That looks delicious, and I love tabbouli! You mentioned mint and parsley, but do you not include cilantro? My recipes call for equal amounts of parsley and cilantro, with a bit of mint. Not that it matters: I've been taken to task here for the relative amount of bulgur, so I'm certainly no expert. 🙂 More to the point: what sort of dressing do you put on the tabbouli? Oh, and...did you make those spring rolls, or buy them prepared?

Maybe good to set out a few things that can go wrong with sauerkraut in general, not specific to packaged products. The first and obvious one is mould. In homemade kraut this tends to be white to green spots that float on the surface of the liquid, or attach themselves to bits that are at the surface. That is why it is so important to keep everything submerged with cabbage leaves, weights, mesh or whatever. Easier said than done when dealing with things like caraway seeds that float up. Some people say a brine with 2% by weight salt is ok to eat if you skim the mould off. Others are adamant that you chuck it if it is mouldy. The second is Kahm yeast. This is a wild yeast that forms filaments or a layer on top of the ferment. It is basically harmless and can be skimmed off. Best to skim then keep the sauerkraut in the fridge. I previously mentioned my sauerkraut turning to mush. I generally prefer my kraut crispy so don't pound it to draw out the brine the way some people do. I'd rather top up with salt solution if necessary. One thing to remember is that people have been making sauerkraut for a long time using much less sophisticated crocks, jars, etc. than we have these days. That doesn't mean their techniques are safe, but I believe it means they are quite safe they won't usually harm you. You can go down a whole rabbit hole of fermentation methods and variations. My tendency is to accept some risk but ymmv. Report back if you die

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I went into town for a few supplies. I'm sorry: I was overwhelmed by the first place I visited, the nearest Fleet Farm. This place is huge. It has massive areas of hunting supplies, pet and livestock supplies, gardening supplies, machinery, automotive supplies, clothing (work and casual), assorted hardware, barbecue equipment, snack food of types I generally avoid. I was looking for a propane tank heater to try for better performance in these cold temperatures. I'll tell you in the morning whether it helped, if I can tell. The strange thing is, I walked in and thought "WOW! I could spend hours in this store wandering and having fun! WOW! I need to take a lot of pictures and share them around!" About 15 minutes later I was thinking "WOW! I've spent hours in this store wandering and I'm exhausted! Lemme outta here!" So, no photos. They do have a lot of culinary equipment, but I can't show it to you. I had the same experience a few miles later, when I'd grabbed more salad mix from a mega-mall masquerading as a grocery store and only then realized that the wine I was after was in a different building altogether. Sorry, no photos here either. I did get more bottles of the Kono Sauvignon Blanc that's my current favorite. By the time I got home, unpacked everything, installed the new equipment, and did other routine chores, I was hangry. I'm very grateful to my best friends at home, whom I've mentioned before, for many reasons including helping get the Princessmobile unstuck and loading the refrigerator. Tonight an additional reason was the dinner they'd packed for me from the remains of a dinner we'd shared 2 nights before I left. Slices of pork roast from their latest locally-raised happy pig. Cauliflower from their garden, steamed, with cheese over the top. Persian rice, complete with raisins. I didn't get any of the tahdig, but I'm not complaining. I am very grateful for these friends, for many reasons, but tonight I'm especially grateful that they packed this Care Package for me.

A light meal of crispy spring rolls with tabbouleh made from garden mint, parsley and tomatoes.

Another enoki recall, for listeria. So far the only "for sure" market affected is BC, but they've kept the door open to other locations as well. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/mushmoshi-brand-enoki-mushroom-recalled-due-listeria-monocytogenes-0

We have a couple we picked up a couple of years back - selling them for about $10,000 plus the shipping. New they are around $17,500 from Savage Bros

That’s a beautiful loaf, @Tropicalsenior! I would love to try toasting a slice for breakfast!

This is my second attempt to make yeasted gingerbread. I used this recipe and modified it a bit. I increased the cinnamon and ginger to one teaspoon each and added one tablespoon each of finally minced stem ginger and Mandarin zest. I also added about 3/4 of a cup of rum soaked raisins. It took a long time to proof but it did finally make up into a nice tall loaf. It's not at all like a traditional gingerbread but it does have a good texture and a great flavor.

I really liked the Creamy Sesame Ginger in a slaw and on roasted winter squash, sweet potatoes or carrots. I loved the House Dressing on the warm potato salad. That one seems to go with everything! So far, I’ve found the Tahini Sbagliato the least versatile, maybe because mine came out quite garlicky due to giant garlic cloves. However, it was excellent as a marinade for chicken thighs, as a sandwich spread and as the base for a herby hummus. Probably shouldn’t have said it wasn’t versatile as that’s a pretty good range! The Creamy Oregano was also excellent as a chicken thigh marinade (she calls that variation “souvlaki-ish”), on roasted veg and in several bean salads. I’m on a mission to try all the dressings in that book. I have a small batch of the Roquefort on hand at the moment but I’m not crazy for it. I prefer blue cheeses like that as crumbles rather than blended into a creamy dressing. Maybe I need to put it on a wedge of iceberg!

I did a 7-11 shift at the hospital (volunteering) this morning and was starving when I came home. Quick and easy - toasted cinnamon raisin bread with old/sharp cheddar. Hit the spot. Now I just have to figure out what happened to the 4 servings of jambalaya that I froze on New Years Day. My husband and I have both looked and cant find it but I KNOW it's in there. After some lunch, I will have another look!

Honey/mustard and pretzel crusted pork tenderloin

@blue_dolphin Brussels sprouts for breakfast ... now that's challenging .

I made the roasted Brussels sprouts with pancetta vinaigrette from Six Seasons, put a poached egg on it and called it breakfast. I had the pancetta vinaigrette leftover from a pasta salad in Six Seasons of Pasta so this was very quick. I also had some little potatoes left from the same dish so they got thrown in, too.

Lunch was a slice of Mrs. C's delicious apple crumble pie

Welcome to eG, @Sassy_Momma! My favorite so far is still the pasta with fresh corn, jalapeños and brown butter that’s in the first post in this topic. You really need the best fresh sweet corn for that so it’s no good for this time of year unless you’re in Australia! The turnips with turnip greens, anchovies and garlic surprised me with how good it is for something so easy. If you have the garlic butter made, the rest comes together in a flash. I quite liked two of the cabbage dishes. I thought the one with cabbage, whipped lemon ricotta and chile crisp was really interesting with different flavors and the one with cabbage and pancetta is a real homey, comfort food dish. I’ve barely dipped a toe in the ragu chapter but liked all the ones I tried: the nut ragu, the green lentil ragu and the short rib ragu with black peppercorns.