lovebenton0

So, you lucky gal, when are you starting these magic seeds? Have you grown these before, jess? I haven't -- but would love to! May need to check out ebay myself. I wouldn't have thought of that for seeds -- good tip.

If you're as much of a virgin at tamale making as I am you might want to check out the Tamale thread, JPipes. I've learned a lot there already! Will be doing my first tamales for Xmas soon too. I made carne guisada a couple of weeks ago when one of our brief cool fronts passed through. Mmmm-hmm! Love that in the fall. Nice big bowls of panang (coconut beef) curry for tonight with rice. Was good for a chilly and rainy day like today. Heated us right up.

WoW! I need a bigger Xmas tree, not just stocking, Andie. Now that is a fine work station! We designed something similar for my kitchen. So lucky to have my own (DH) cabinet maker. I was looking at the OXO mandoline recently (I really want one! and it seems to have good safety features -- well about as safe as a mandoline can be. ) at www.chefscatalog.com and came across this OXO cheese grater for under $15. Good for nuts and chocolate also.

Susan, that all looks delicious! You're earning your larb stripes! I'm curious about your broccoli salad also. Will you share? Please? Tonight we had thin slices of toasted boule spread with today's experiment -- cinnamon basil/onion confit -- as an appetizer. Big bowls of spicy panang coconut beef curry with rice, topped with lime zest cilantro, basil, and sliced hot Thai peppers. Edit to add: Also a bunch of crisp, sweet red grapes to share. Great juicy treat with the hot curry. These grapes are about 1/3 white (pale green) at the stem then deep red along the oblong fruit body. Does anyone know this variety? Someone brought a lot of these for Thanksgiving and we just finished them last night. They're so good -- but I don't know the variety.

Made beef larb for lunch. With rice. Lots of lettuce. Used the last fresh Thai bird I picked off the plants for topping with cilantro.

Beautiful, fifi! Thanks for the pics. That is a substantial amount of rosemary -- and good to know that for later on. I wish I had had five lbs of onions to start, but that will give me an excuse to do another 3.5 to 4 lbs of onion confit with mint next time. Soon! I didn't take pics all along the way this time, as it really wasn't looking that different and I didn't think about doing pics of the wine infusion (cinnamon basil) or crushed dried cinnamon basil later on. But this is what I did. Note: I have been slicing my onions fairly thick also, and varying the the thickness somewhat (intentionally, not just out of klutziness ). Cinnamon Basil Onion Confit 3 lbs yellow onions, quartered and sliced (not sweet) 2 large purple onions, quartered and sliced 1/3 cup EVOO 1/4 cup chicken fat (rendered) 3 Tbsp demi glace 1/4 cup red wine (Beaujolais or other) 4 to 6 cloves minced garlic (1 Tbsp) 3 bay leaves 2 Tbsp cinnamon basil infused in wine 2 Tbsp cinnamon basil leaves (dried and finely hand crushed) 1/2 tsp Kosher salt 3/4 tsp ground black pepper Sweat onions on med high (4) in crockpot uncovered, for 45 minutes with bay leaves in EVOO, fat, and demiglace. Cover. Add wine infusion at hour 2. Reduce heat to med (3) at hour 3. Add crushed cinnamon basil at hour 7. Reduce heat to med low (2) for next 2 to 3 hours. Finished at low (1) for last 90 minutes until marmalade stage has been reached. I uncovered the crockpot for the last 20 minutes and stirred the onions frequently as they were in the final marmalade stage. This produced a little over a pint jar of confit. Just fit into jar nicely after we had some on bread as a quickie appetizer before dinner. For testing purposes of course. The cinnnamon basil held up nicely throughout the cooking stage. As with your rosemary, fifi, it is a nice flavor note, still obviously onion confit, but with that little extra warmth and spicy flavor of the herb and the pepper. I think if I wanted more of a cinnamon flavor to come through (the cinnamon basil smells strongly of cinnamon, but the flavor, even fresh, is not really that exactly as it is still distinctly a basil) I would add a few shards of stick cinnamon to the onions. Cinnamon onion confit complete at 13 hours. Priscilla, how's the sage enhanced confit coming along?

Ooooh! Yes! I think bacon fat would do quite well -- consider the extra salt you're adding by using that. And braunschweiger with bacon fat onion confit -- that does that sound like a lunch begging to be eaten! Sage, good! Another herb spoken for. Yes it is, virtuous fifi! Update on cinnamon basil confit. Started cooking at 2:20AM. I infused the 3 Tbsp of red wine with the cinnamon basil and added that at hour 2 this time. Then I finely hand crushed more of the cinnamon basil leaves (to yield about 2 Tbsp) and added that this morning at hour 7. I still added the bay leaves (for a nice low note) at the beginning of sweat, and I upped the black pepper in this a bit more than strict proportional increase. (Just because I like the combo in other uses, so why not? And cinnamon and black pepper are such standard savory companions it seemed the right thing to do.) O! M! G! I wish I could jet this to you! The flavor is fantastic! Warm and spicy with a back side to the black pepper and subtle bay coming through as there, but not bay marked as such. Have to credit those lovely herbs from the garden outside my back door. They must love me. We need sensorynet! I have followed my first experience as far as timing and temp control of the crockpot. Seems to be doing a good job. Since my batch is about doubled this time it took longer for the onions to sweat all the way out and start reducing, but seems to be on schedule otherwise. Or at least close to it. I think I have about two hours to go, leaving it set on medium low (2) for now, probably another hour (? I'll be watching it ), then finish on (1) for last 60-90 minutes this time. That wil be hour 12, so I'll see at that point. Reduction is almost done and the confit is a deep carmelized amber with a red sheen as was the first one at this stage.

I wanted to use the pressure cooker to get the cooking time down. It did help, as I was able to finish it in a wok for about an hour. Still too soft, like carmelised onion jam. So the next try will be 4 min. in the pressure cooker as you have suggested. This may provide a firm/soft texture, and keep the initial onion smell down, while yielding a good base for finishing in the oven. ← Great! We love testing! I arrived at the four minute suggestion because that's how long I cook sliced onions in mine as part of a recipe or to add to something else. If it's not what you expect at that point, try a couple more minutes, no harm done.

It must be turning a beautiful amber about now. How's it going? How much rosemary did you use, fifi? Yes, duck fat! It must be time to roast up a lovely, Shalmanese. This time of year is when I enjoy the rich bird flesh the most. Continuing with confit prep, slowly, now that I'm feeling more even. I've stripped the stems of the cinnamon basil, have leaves and budlings in separate piles. Pics, fifi!

I would have used duck fat in mine if I had it on hand. However, I did use the rendered chicken fat instead and the result was delicious -- though not as healthy as the duck fat, no worse than butter I imagine. Fifi, I started to do prep work for the cinnamon basil/onion confit. Will have to start cooking mine tomorrow due to problems this afternoon while cutting onions. Vertigo and knives are not good companions! Heading to bed -- again -- just checking in. More tomorrow. Will be looking for your pics!

There are many things I used to do strictly by hand that I can no longer handle on lots of days. When I can I do, when I can't I either have had to find an alternative way, including gadgets, and utilizing specific tools for new purposes, or not be able to cook what I wanted to. Hey, when you think about it most people don't really need a pizza cutter either! But it sure makes it easier and better to use one. I've adapted that to use for thick slicing vegetables and potatatoes. Not an option on my food processor, thin is great there. But when I can't safely use a knife the old pizza wheel comes in handy. I don't have a KA or any kind of mixer -- wish I did, but I don't right now -- so I still mix and knead bread by hand. But more power to anyone that uses the dough hook available to them! Can you imagine what it would take for your fav restaurant with a baker/pastry chef (or your fav bakery) to hand mix and knead all the dough for everything they need to produce? It just wouldn't be happening. No complaint there, though, eh? So, as one with disabilities, I have to say yeah! for the gadgets that I need to use. As far as marketing goes -- consider the awkwardness of prefacing ads with "If you are a person with disabilities, just don't have time to do it "right," or could care less about the process . . . " Get the idea?

Sounds like a kaffir lime tree to me! ← Me too! You can go to this link that chrisamirault posted for a look at his Kaffir lime tree. the leaves are pretty visible at the top of the little tree, and good double leaf conformation can be seen in the shadow image also.

Yes, I like the idea of later herb addition too, fifi. Thanks, Andie! Adding the herbs later might be just the thing. As mine did not take over 11 hours, perhaps I ended up with more of the herb flavor than one cooked for 18 hours or more. That would seem likely. I was thinking lamb when I mentioned the mint. and I have a nice bed of mint out in the yard. I don't do the mint jelly thing with lamb, but I do think the mint onion confit could be outstanding! We usually do lamb for Christmas when we stay put, and we are definitely "put" here this year. My mr is on call for work all of Christmas week. I don't mind, it will be more relaxing this year, and for a change we haven't invited anyone to stay here for several days either. Rosemary. I think I would contain it if I were using rosemary, because of the hardness of the leaves, as you suggested, fifi. The basil will become part of confit as the thyme leaves did when they disintegrated off the twigs during cooking. Maybe I should add the basil about half way through cooking/carmelization, as Andie noted -- knowing what that looks and feels like now. That's good, I can wait to pick some more fresh when the rain lets up -- or better yet let Chuck do it when he gets home. edit to add: I just saw your infusion method, Andie, thanks!

Thanks for the report, Susan. Great weekend. I need an annual escape like this! Ah, my mind was on Blue Fin Bay over the holiday weekend -- several times -- and I've never been there. No pics? None of the girls in their rakish chef's hats? Or cooking bacon at 3:00AM

This is intriguing, fifi. When I did my confit I adjusted it a bit from the other suggested recipes because of 1) ingredients on hand, 2) and more importantly to me, thinking about how I wanted to use it. I used as much herb in my small batch as was suggested for the larger batches you all had been doing. Perhaps that's another reason why mine does not have that "cloying" sweetness some have mentioned. . . . hmmmm. The idea of an over the top rosemary/onion confit, basil confit (I'm really thinking of my warmly aromatic cinnamon basil ), or how about a mint/onion confit, could be very interesting. You want to experiment with me? I think we could do a do for the OC team, and each try a different herb and see what the results are. Are you up for testing? Anyone else? Jump in here.

Larb on! Snowangel taught me that when I can't get the Keffir lime leaves the zest of a lime stands up deliciously as a sub. Just in case you don't have any tenders at the moment. BTW, just curiousity, as obviously you larbed on tastily as you said . . . What kind of lime tree? And could you smell/taste the lime leaves appreciably enough to be aware of them in the larb?

Holidays are difficult times for many people, either emotionally, physically or financially, and can cause some hidden depressions or stresses to leap out at us, and more strain on our physical well being as well. I was considering this in conjunction with not only our own holidays this year but with the situations among a few dear friends. So, I thought of this thread and was wondering . . . Are these times that anyone is especially grateful for the comfort and relief of cooking? For either your own families or for gifts and goodies for your special others? Or contributions to families in need during the holidays? When I worked for the City for several years our office sponsored three or four families every Thanksgiving, and the December holidays. Everybody would be so rushed and stressed with doing and taking care of their own, getting through the often difficult holiday period. Yet, when it came time to put together the family meal baskets to deliver you could see how much it brightened many of us to bring in the foods we had prepared to share with others we didn't even know. It was as though we had been given a gift ourselves and on those days it just seemed lighter and easier to deal with everything. Do you rely on cooking at holiday times to bolster you through a stressful season? And perhaps extend that comfort and the joy you feel to others (your own circle or anybody else?) through the little goodies you make?

Nah, not really, Susan. Or at least a highly creative and energetic dinosaur. Maybe one those little guys that ran around really fast! And damn! But you remind me how much I miss not having a sewing machine any longer! Update on what I'm actually giving for this year. Definitely more of my Tabasco sauces, they are always a hit. Spiced Peach Butter. Peach jam. Sweet potato boules (will accompany the one of preserved peach goodies). Onion confit in pretty half-pint jars with my recipe attached (for a couple of special people in family and friends circle that will appreciate it, and probably go on to make their own ). Doing that today. Herb bouquets of our fresh rosemary, with accompanying jars of our own dried cinnamon basil or lemon thyme or bay leaves, or bottles of rosemary/pinenut infused EVOO, or jars of crushed red peppers, cayenne or Thai (which combos depending on the person). Probably no candies this year -- as I really enjoy doing (and giving them as a family gift) most with the girls -- and they are appropriately pre-occupied with college, work and love lives. They are a big help for me when making candies, and handle some of the things that are physically difficult for me to do all at once. But, on the other hand, what's the holidays without some stress and sugar?

I would agree with no inedibles on the plate! Good idea for the oreos or other cookie/cracker for the "dirt" -- and I like the symbols as presentation better than writing on the plates. All of that can be done ahead of time. Also -- you might consider an edible flower in the middle to pull it together, say propped on a bit of frisee maybe. edit to add: The bubble toast pics are intriguing. I may have to try this myself -- soon. Also, I've gotta ask . . . How did you stumble on this process for the bubble toast? I'm trying to picture you accidentally smashing and toasting a piece of de-crusted bread.

I like rice with my larb, we both do. (And lots of lettuce -- I like the salad.) But then my mr will rice cold from the pot or out of fridge even at anytime. So I have a rice addict in the house. Sticky rice is nice. Haven't had jasmine rice in house lately, thanks for the grocery list reminder. Sorry if this is larb heresy, but even good ol' medium or long grain rice cooked "sticky" will do for us.

You would have completely emulsified onions, and probably burned emulsified onions and PC at that time range! Way before that you could have cream of onion soup with just a little wisking and added cream. The pressure cooker might be good for a few minutes to get it started if someone needs to sweat and collapse fast -- say before going to bed -- then transfer to the crockpot to finish for however many hours that takes. We seem to be all over the clock on that, depending on our equipment. I'm doing a second try today -- with more onions, to do a bigger batch. I'm going to stick with the yellow and purple combo with the red wine, just up the proportions a bit for the greater weight. Two big purple onions (about 1 lb) and another 2-1/2 lbs of the yellow onions. Bought a three lb bag last night of the yellow, so they're smaller onions to start. BTW, the onion confit on toasted bread (mine was a sweet potato boule I baked recently -- not really a sweet bread, but a rich dough) topping a few smears of Port Salut cheese and wow! what a nice lunch. Thanks again everyone for all this input. I feel like a kid with a new toy.

I do -- and here's my first attempt at sharing a pic: I put Julia in there to show height (the book is about a foot high). The purple xmas bulbs are miniature, btw! You can see a few little sprouts coming through, especially on the highest branch. The tree is in a northeastern window right now, though I think I'm going to move it to a southern window soon. ← Thanks! Good pic, I can see the double conformation of the leaves. Pretty pot, too. It looks very happy! If you can grow one that nice in Providence, even inside (lived there as a tiny girl myself and have vivid memories of the snow! ), I'm sure Chef Metcalf will be encouraged! I certainly am. Now I just need to get on a horse and ride to get my own! Questions. How big was the tree when you got it? About this same size, which looks to be about 12" tall? Have you used any of the leaves for cooking yet? Or are you waiting until it gets bigger? Can you smell the lime from the leaves if you touch them?

What do you prefer in your restaurant desserts? Smaller but more creative items? Larger and decadent items? Style over substance? A single theme such as chocolate in any way, shape, or form? ← I prefer something smaller but more creative, but also prefer substance over style, without foregoing the visual appeal of an enticing dessert. For instance I'd rather have a small tart with beautiful fruit and a simple drizzle of fruit glace than a six-layer wall of chocolate -- most of the time!

Well, I'm not sure what I did, but the onion confit I made yesterday is not overly sweet, just sweet enough, and quite flavorful. If you go by the advice that fifi posted, i.e. sweet onions cook up less sweet than sharp onions you would actually end up with a less sweet confit. However, the other point is that the sweets carry less flavor, but perhhaps with the addition of other herbs you might tailor your confit to a more specific purpose. And maybe the use of the red wine in mine opposed to the sweeter port had something to do with the less sweet factor, also I added no sugar, at all. Also I did not use butter -- which is naturally sweet, but used rendered chicken fat with the EVOO. And hopefully, someone with much more confit experience than I have, will jump in here for you, NulloModo. I am afraid that you are probably right. Thanks for takin' one for the team. Just a comment here, jayt -- if the purpose for trying the confit in the pressure cooker was to insure the softness of the onions then subsequently finish it by crockpot or in the oven (I remember a discussion upthread about the onions remaining too firm for some), then 30 minutes in a pressure cooker is a long time for sliced onions! I would suggest 3 to 4 minutes at the most -- if that is your intent. If you were just seeing what it would do and taking one for the team on onion confit in a PC, then disregard all of this, except my thanks for doing so. And use the onions for cream of onion soup!

I made onion confit for the first time today so it was featured in tonight's dinner, topping baked potatoes. Braised beef short ribs with beer/bacon/shallots/garlic/fresh picked bayleaf and thyme sprigs, and a broccoli/scallion gratin with jack cheese and gorgonzola. Thanks, Jaymes for the link. I really liked the soup cold, and think it is going to be a summer time fav of ours when the warm weather returns -- in another three months or so.