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A quick lunch that presented well. I bought a tray of pre-cooked tiger prawns from Sam's that had been marked down and served some over cheese grits that I had previously cooked and frozen in silicone molds. I microwaved the frozen grit pucks for a minute to defrost then browned in an olive oil and butter mix. The grits were topped with the shrimp, red onions, garlic chives, capers, oil cured olives and sun dried tomatoes that were sauteed in olive oil. Served with a simple salad dressed with olive oil and champagne vinegar.

I'm still trying to work through the bucket of potatoes given me last October. Sometime last week I boiled a bunch and mashed them, peels and all. I had the idea of making potato madeleines (see this old topic) but decided I didn't have the energy for such fussiness. Besides, they probably aren't smooth enough with all that peel. So...potato ball fritters! I rolled them in a mixture of bread crumbs, corn meal, garlic salt and oregano, then deep fried in my Fry Baby. I know I've shown this before but I'm showing it again. The "dipping sauce" that's working out best is mayonnaise and Boursin with garlic and cheese. The pictures aren't pretty, but the flavor is good. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the insidee, and not nearly as watery as the original mash.

Attendees Chocolot Kerry Beal alleguede curls RanaMN Melani RobertM DianaD Lisa M citowolf - Celia D Lambrecht gourmet +1 Sue PEI (possibly with Jane) GRiker

Count me in!

Attendees Chocolot Kerry Beal alleguede curls RanaMN Melani RobertM DianaD Lisa M citowolf - Celia D Lambrecht gourmet +1 Sue PEI (possibly with Jane)

Improvised Thai red curry with shrimp and roasted butternut squash. Jasmine rice and cucumber salad to go with. We had cubed butternut squash that needed using so I roasted it at 400°F with olive oil, black pepper, and Aleppo pepper. Meanwhile, I combined pre-made red curry paste with red chile, ginger, garlic, shallot, and lemongrass and whizzed it up in the Preethi. Sauteed onion, fried the curry paste, and then simmered with coconut milk, fish sauce, palm sugar, and spices. Poached the shrimp in the curry, and then mixed in the roasted squash. Could have used something crunchy, but I liked the flavor combination.

There's two blowers, one is only used when turned on "high". The all-the-time blower has no visible grease. The high speed blower, which isn't used as much, has a few greasy blades, just a few. They've not been cleaned, or even looked-at, for about 10 yrs. The housing has the same greasy film that I ignore on the inside of the hood. So for ten years of use 5 or so days a week there isn't much to clean ETA I just checked the specs on my hood its a B200 MSL Magic Lung ...which is 900 cfm

Unfortunately, that often doesn't work. Many websites (especially media sites) detect and block VPNs.

I only tried the stuffed pepper soup and it tasted just fine. The friend that I made them for really liked all of them.

What about grease coating the blower housing and the blower itself? This is where I've seen videos of the cleaning process and felt like the whole idea was problematic.

This is a paraphrase of Mario Batali's Molto Italiano (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). The recipe name is Red Cabbage Braised in Vinegar (p.424) and I have a note on it that it's "Excellent!" although I confess I'd forgotten all about it. Cut a medium head of red cabbage into 1/2" strips. Thinly slice a medium red onion. Saute the onion and 2T caraway seeds in hot olive oil until the onion is soft. Add the cabbage, 2T sugar, and 1/2c red vinegar; stir; cover, and cook until the cabbage is tender. He says that's about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. He says it can be eaten warm or cool. I have no idea how well it would take to being frozen.

@MaryIsobel How does the taste of these meals compare to those cooked conventionally (if that's the right word)?

Several times. Easy. Reach up and pull off the grease trap then scrape the grease into the trash. Takes about 60 sec.

I agree, the description sounds quite appealing. I generally avoid prepared meals from TJs or elsewhere. Usually due to salt content, meaning too much for me. Occasionally I try something but there’s nothing I’d recommend so despite being a very regular shopper, I’m no help in that area. On the upside, here are a few items I’m liking. The soup is in the refrigerated section. A friend served it recently at a ladies lunch. She thinned it with chicken broth and added extra broccoli so that’s my plan. I suspect it would be rather rich on its own. I’ve been buying the cherry & pecan shortbread cookies for a few months now but haven’t mentioned them because it seemed like there was never much stock and they might disappear. And they might, but if you like shortbread and see them in your store, try them. I bought 3 boxes this morning. The Greek EVOO from Crete is very good. It was $8.99/500ml bottle. TJ’s used to carry a Greek Kalamata olive oil that’s been MIA for some time. It was my go-to cooking oil. This isn’t the same thing. It’s actually a lot nicer.

Yes, it is not one of the two standard sizes. Greyas calls the size "Series 4000." The mold is 322mm x 203mm, each cavity is 30mm x 30mm, and weight is 16g. So the capacity is about the same as the large dome from CW that I use a lot. In comparison, the mold size for CW's Series 2000 is 175mm x 275mm. Greyas makes a Series 2000 version that has the same cavity dimensions except it's not as tall; I got those from Chef Rubber. For some odd reason, the smaller version does not have the "chocolate creeping up the outside and spoiling the color" that many shallow molds are prone to, but the larger version does. The first time I used the mold at least one third of the bonbons were spoiled by that problem. I scraped off a few, but that doesn't always work. So--long story short--that's why the lemon bonbons have not been sprayed with CCB, it's just dark chocolate you see. I think it's fine, and it does have a nice shine (some of which I edited out because the reflected lights ruined the yellow flowers).

Is that larger than the standard size? How big are the cavities?

Have you cleaned it? What was that like?

I did call last week and again this morning. The woman who answered my call said she would look into...with a distinct lack of interest and enthusiasm. I can't say as I blame her. Our MP is not in the party which is in power and food adminisration is not his known interest. So, now we sits and waits.

I'm still happy with the ventahood I have on a 6 burner BS range

Yup, I saw it with a lasagne when my kids were young. I'd put it down to just the acidity, though I scratched my head a little over the severity of the deterioration. Good to know what was actually happening.

Five minutes ago (via a crossword puzzle in The Atlantic) was the first I've heard about a "lasagna cell," aka "lasagna battery." Has anyone ever experienced this?

Quick addendum ... That Prestige hood I mentioned above is discontinued. They're no longer making anything in a functional size. Another company called Trade-Wind makes a solid looking contender. I've looked deeper into commercial hoods; they seem viable if you have space / tolerance for something 48" wide or more. Anything smaller would mean custom fabrication. Be aware that commercial hoods all work with remote blowers—either inline (installed in the duct, probably in an attic) or a powered roof exhaust fan.

Yes, please!

Far Breton... The Agen prunes were soaked in Armagnac, because it would be rude not to.

@AAQuesada If you want some homework, the bon appétit Bake Club podcast recently covered all things pavlova, explaining egg/sugar ratios, the role of acids and cornstarch, etc..