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Cheese tortellini soup recipe courtesy of the Washington Post.

Oooh, I am jealous!  This is the only thing I asked for as a Christmas gift.  I don't think I am going to get it though.  Your pizza looks delicious!
 
 
I just used the apples that came in my CSA box.  I checked the listing and they are sun gold?  I have never heard of that variety before.
 
Tonight, pineapple fried rice and sole roll ups with a chile, cilantro, fish sauce and palm sugar sauce
 

Tonight, Celery Gratin. I started with the same basic white sauce that I used for the Dungeness Crab Gratin but omitted the Worcestershire sauce. Instead of Swiss cheese, tonight I used Parmesan.
I cut the celery in 2" chunks and turned it into the sauce raw. I didn't want to blanch the celery first because I wanted it to remain crispy in the finished baked gratin. I also used the celery tops and leaves and chopped them up to go in the gratin. Those are fresh breadcrumbs on top. They are so simple to make, just plain white sandwich bread pulsed in the food processer with some melted butter. Baked the gratin for about 30 minutes until bubbly then passed under the broiler for another 2-3 minutes to brown the top. And I agree, cooked celery is so wonderful in flavor and texture I wish we all ate it more.

Post in Food Funnies

Baked eggs with baguette toasts and arugula salad
 

A favorite holiday cookie my Mother always made, that I thought needed a bit of a refresh and new style.  I made this cookie last year, and will be making it again this season.  The buttercream is very rich!
Snowy Mexican Tea Cookies with Dulce de Leche Buttercream-
For the Cookies-
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups finely chopped pecans
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Powdered sugar for dusting
2 tbsp. finely ground pecans for garnish substitute walnuts
1 tbsp. gold cookie glitter crystals for garnish
 
For the Dulce de Leche Buttercream-
8 oz. Mexican Dulce de Leche
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. heavy cream
 
Preheat the oven to 350.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Add the flour, chopped pecans, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon to a large bowl and stir to combine.  Then in the bowl of a mixer, add the butter, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar and beat until the butter is combined and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and combine with the butter.  With the mixer on slow, gradually add the flour mixture and blend into the butter to make a soft cookie dough. 
Dust the counter with flour and roll out the cookie dough to 1/4 ” thick.  Use a round 2 ½” cookie cutter and cut the cookies.  Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, just until the edges start to brown.  Remove the cookies from the oven and place on a cookie rack to cool. While the cookies cool, make the buttercream.
 
Add the butter to a mixer.  Slowly add the powdered sugar while mixing at low speed. When the butter and sugar are combined, add the vanilla and cream and mix until combined.  Add the dulce de leche and continue to mix to create a creamy buttercream frosting.  Add more heavy cream if the frosting is too thick.
Dust the tops of the cookies with powdered sugar.  Pipe a rosette of the buttercream on top of each cookie.  Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with some ground pecans and gold glitter crystals.

Post in Food Funnies

Roasted butternut and onion with tahini, zaatar, pine nuts. An old Ottolenghi recipe.
Deviled eggs two ways - classic with tarragon and lots of pepper & with yogurt and sumac.
 

Rosé wine, ouzo, pomegranate molasses, rose water.
 
 

Baked a pan of fluffy dinner rolls
 

 
And served them with grilled steak with garlic scape butter that I dug out of the freezer (no beef for me or my sister), creamed spinach, roasted honey nut squash, and a potato galette.  My niece was very happy to be home and have "real" food again.  She told me that they serve the same thing for dinner every night at college: rice, overcooked unseasoned vegetables, and overcooked chicken or pork.  
 

A user just posted this single serving egg nog. It's really a flip, but, well, close enough. It calls for Snap, but I bet you could use another ginger liqueur and perhaps some Pimento Dram or something. (I'm not buying Snap until I find a use for the 720ml of Root that I have. )

2. Chinese people regularly steam their vegetables because it's healthier.
 
No. They don't. Most vegetable dishes and sides are stir fried, preferably in lard (rendered pig fat). They do so because it saves waste and because theysay they taste better that way. They are right!
 

Lard fried spinach

Post in Food Funnies

It's several months since I baked bread, and yesterday for a variety of reasons I was none too sure there was any baking mojo left in my life. Nonetheless I'd been asked to bring bread for a dinner party. I went with a straight - lean dough no-knead recipe from Peter Reinhart's bread baking course, with some of the last herbs from my garden mixed in. At the last minute I decided to forget the steam and use my cast iron Dutch Oven as the baking vessel, per Jim Lahey. That works a treat for oven spring and color!
 

 
The crumb was good and open, though I didn't get a shot of that. The bottom was a bit tough, but that may have been their bread knife. Figuring out how to get a good crust without having too tough a base is a project for this winter. Overall, I was pleased. They liked it too...but unfortunately the other host had decided on cheesy biscuits to go with dinner! That was a very carb-heavy meal. 🤣

Vanilla ice cream with with malt syrup and caramelized salted peanuts.
 
 

Welcome back to our eGullet Cook-off Series. Recent Cook-Offs challenged our skills with Grilled Chicken, Gratins, Shrimp & Grits and Savory-Filled Pastries. (Click here for the Cook-Off Index).
Today we’ll be launching eGullet Cook-Off 57: Bolognese Sauce. We've discussed Bolognese in the past here, but let's revist this classic dish and get into the heart,(with lots of discussion and photos), of one of the most traditional of all Italian sauces.
Bolognese Sauce, (often called “Ragu” Bolognese), dates back literally hundreds of years to the 5th century when the Romans were in power. Yet the historical records as to who actually created Bolognese Sauce are somewhat sketchy. Even more unclear is the question as to what is the “definitive” Bolognese Sauce. The argument over the ingredients that go into a Bolognese is probably as deep as the complex, rich flavors of this classic sauce.
As with many legendary recipes, there are literally thousands of variations of Bolognese-the meat, the vegetables, the spices, the “tomato” element and the pasta are all points for heated discussion and that’s exactly why we’ve chosen Bolognese sauce for our latest Cook-off. Along the way, I’ll be sharing a few suggestions for Bolognese from a James Beard Award-Winning Chef known for his expertise in Italian cuisine.
Start scribing your shopping list and assembling your ingredients and let's get in the kitchen and cook some Bolognese Sauce.

As others have said I think cost would be the hugest hurdle to overcome. I do know that in Wellfleet the fishing crews started to sell direct from the dock, and if you went there the cost was much less than buying it in the market, but you would have to live close to a dock.
 
Last night, miso glazed salmon in miso broth with noodles, tatsoi, shiitake mushrooms, crispy shallots, scallions, cilantro, and what was supposed to be a jammy egg but I overcooked it.
 

 
 

tonight's pre dinner cocktail.
Classic daiquiri...except I used small hand gum syrup and aquafaba. Which together made the drink a little thick.

tonight's pre dinner cocktail.
Classic daiquiri...except I used small hand gum syrup and aquafaba. Which together made the drink a little thick.

It's several months since I baked bread, and yesterday for a variety of reasons I was none too sure there was any baking mojo left in my life. Nonetheless I'd been asked to bring bread for a dinner party. I went with a straight - lean dough no-knead recipe from Peter Reinhart's bread baking course, with some of the last herbs from my garden mixed in. At the last minute I decided to forget the steam and use my cast iron Dutch Oven as the baking vessel, per Jim Lahey. That works a treat for oven spring and color!
 

 
The crumb was good and open, though I didn't get a shot of that. The bottom was a bit tough, but that may have been their bread knife. Figuring out how to get a good crust without having too tough a base is a project for this winter. Overall, I was pleased. They liked it too...but unfortunately the other host had decided on cheesy biscuits to go with dinner! That was a very carb-heavy meal. 🤣

Post in Dinner 2020

Pretzel buns
 

Kale caesar salad with chicken
 

Very pleased today with my pizza in teglia, super thin, nice crumb and crunchy 

Yet another friend's daughter, not yet three-years-old, making jiaozi dumplings.