laniloa

After a very Dorie Thanksgiving (Chocolate Cream Tart, Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie, and Alsatian Apple Tart) from Baking From My Home To Yours, I turned to the new book for dessert for a dinner with friends this Friday. orange-almond tart p. 460 I subbed apples for oranges because it seemed more seasonally-appropriate and I had them in the house. This was a fantastic blend of flavors and textures. I pretty much always make Dore's sweet tart dough with almond meal and thought this just took that great almond flavor to a new level. It was sweet without being cloying. Despite my guests protests that they were full, nearly the whole tart disappeared as little slivers made way for seconds and thirds. The thing I really appreciate about Dorie's books is that I know that even a new-to-me recipe will be guest-worthy on my first try (even if I improve after a few attempts). The lemon-steamed spinach on p. 331 was a very easy, quick way to round out my meal. I appreciated not having to spend a lot of time in the kitchen making this once my guests had arrived.

leek and potato soup p.66-67 I have a few different leek and potato soup versions that I make, but I hadn't seen one that included milk from the start of the simmer. I used about half called for in the recipe and it still had a very rich and creamy texture and taste. I sliced the leeks very thin and pureed about half of the soup. I prefer it a bit chunky. This was a very nice version of a classic.

What recipe did you use for the macarons?

Just reporting back that I was seduced by the gorgeous Magness pears at the market and they made a wonderful tart. I had a hard time telling when it was done, but it was delicious. This could become a brunch staple.

I had a chance to catch Dorie's reading in VA last night and found her as charming in person as she comes across in her books and here. She was also as generous with her time -- taking more than a few moments to chat with each of us as she signed books. I highly recommend catching one of her signings (check out her blog for locations). I asked her what I should cook for dinner tonight and after asking if I wanted meat or fish (I picked meat) she immediately said My Go-to Daube...and then reconsidered because it has been a bit warm here. cafe salle pleyel hamburgers p.240 it was. A suggestion quickly endorsed by her husband, Michael, who seemed pleased that I’d be cooking them in a cast-iron pan to get all over char and not just stripes of char from a grill. I had slow roasted some tomatoes this weekend so I used those instead of sundried tomatoes packed in oil and skipped the cheese. These were some fantastic burgers. The roasted tomatoes and briny cornichons and capers add to the meatiness of burger while also lightening the texture a bit. As Chris mentioned upthread, don't expect typically seasoned burgers, these pack a good veggie punch. I really enjoyed the onion marmalade that went with it and will be making a larger batch of that to use as a sandwich spread to add a little oomph to my lunch. baby bok choy, sugar snaps, and garlic en paillote p. 348 I made this to go with my burger. I really enjoyed the play on flavors -- veggies often used in Asian dishes with French seasonings. The mint really made this dish pop. I think I'll add a bit more zest next time to bring out the citrus a bit more. I also want to try it with lemon as I love pairing lemon with mint. The best part -- 3 more burgers waiting for me in the freezer.

Y'all are making me very hungry. This pumpkin sounds fantastic. I'm very excited to be picking up a copy of the book at Dorie's signing tomorrow.

I'm about to start the Brioche Plum Tart on p. 54 subbing with either peaches or pears depending on what catches my eye when I go to the farmers' market tomorrow morning. For the thin-skinned pears, I could see not peeling them but wonder about the thicker-skinned peaches? Which would probably steer me towards making this with pears!

You can also cook ahead. I make 4 servings at a time and stick them in the fridge. I put a little milk in the container before I reheat in the microwave.

Wow! Great job -- looks like a lot of work and a lot of love. Richard's recipe is in Happy In The Kitchen and that page is available on Google books. I've made it before and while very good, it doesn't quite live up to the restaurant's version. It is greatly improved by the use of feuilletine instead of crushed corn flakes.

I also use frozen fruit instead of ice in my smoothies. I don't like to dilute the flavors. I use soy milk or soy yogurt for creaminess since I also don't like dairy in the morning and want to up the protein. I've played around with various protein powders and they all add a grittiness I find unpleasant. I've found peanut butter to be too domineering but have had luck with almond, cashew, and sunflower butter. I find fruit blends work better than a single fruit. Unless I'm doing a bananas foster riff with some brown sugar added along with yogurt.

As if I would have forgotten to take home my precious Jabber Jaws lunch box!

← This breaks my heart. I used to work with a bunch of Maine fishermen and wish them all the best.

I'm back in school this year so both unemployed and paying tuition so I feel your pain. A lot of great suggestions already that I've embraced. I'll add buy proteins on sale and freeze. Every week the grocery has something else on sale. This has helped me make far more interesting meals without feeling like I'm skimping.

The good news is that there is decent sandwich bread in this area so you shouldn't have a problem setting up a relationship with a wholesaler.Have you been to Hi-Rise? They have great sandwiches with a variety of interesting toppings and fresh bread. I'd go more often if their service was a bit friendlier and their prices a bit cheaper (I'm a student with a tiny budget). I have gone a handful of times and the place has always been packed. I happily come in for one of your meatloaf sandwiches.

Mine come out more or less like the picture. I gather the crumbles on the counter, roll into a log (this may collapse and need to be pressed together a time or two before it really comes together), then I wrap in plastic wrap. To get a smoother shape, I roll the plastic-wrapped log on the counter to shape. I do store in a paper towel tube in the fridge to keep them from flattening. If I slice them thicker, they will take on the shape in the picture with slightly sloped sides. If I slice them thin they will be more uniform circles.

Thanks for the tip! Picked some up tonight. Tossed them with roasted potatos and asparagus, lime juice and a touch of cumin.

I tried the Alsatian Apple Tart today and it got rave reviews -- including a request for the recipe and another person saying she was going to go buy the book. Wonderfully simple but delicious. It'll be making an appearance at my family's Thanksgiving.

Well, she certainly failed in one aspect of the new job -- her people management skills. Cry, deep breath, and re-group. You have a wealth of budget info and reactions to dishes posted here that you can use to demonstrate your unbelievable efforts to give the group what they want, within the budget constraints you have, and while trying to provide them with something good. I haven't posted on this thread before but always read it with interest. This annoyed me enough to post my support for you.

Had my first opportunity to bake for my new classmates and decided to give the chocolate caramel crunch tart a try. What a great tart - the honey-roasted nuts really set it off. It got rave reviews and this is one of my favorite things about this book -- I don't have to worry about trying a new recipe even when I have to serve it to guests as I know it will come out great.

I'm another CI fan. I was never bothered by the "best" labeling since they give you variations for the recipes. If there are variations, clearly there is no one best and they are inviting you to play around. And I never had to deal with customer service so don't have that bad experience. Several have hit on recipes I enjoy. I also like their oven recipe for brown rice. I had only used a rice cooker and mine is a cheap model without the programming for brown rice. I burned several stove top attempts but love the oven recipe. I freeze portions for later use. Other favs include artichoke-lemon hummus, brown sugar cookies (major office fav), honey-lavender biscotti, raspberry streusel bars, and I can always count on skimming through the listing of various pan sauces (which I have copied from the initial article into a separate sauce file) when I'm tired of the same old chicken.

Delfa rolls -- ribbons of red licorice. Very chewy and could last you a good part of the afternoon. Necco wafers Bit-o-honey And I'm with Verjuice on the circus peanuts. They had that totally odd texture that dissolved on your tongue.

I made these last night and they were also pretty flat. When they came out of the oven they were really sticky. I had to put them in the freezer to get them off the parchment. I switched to a silpat and the rest released fine. I was a little worried someone would lose a filling but overnight they softened and had a great chewiness. I agree that something crunchy would work in these cookies because malt balls are crunchy but I think I might try rice crispies to better mimic the expected texture. I'm also going to increase the amount of malt powder or try another brand - I used Carnation and the malt was too subtle. I wasn't sure how these would go over at work but they disappeared before staff meeting was over.

This sounds like the LA law is going one step further then the federal country of origin labeling law. The federal law covers unprepared retail but does not extend to prepared food (even uncooked but prepared for cooking -- marinated, kabobs, etc) or to restaurants. At the time the federal law passed, it was considered too burdensome and their were questions about responsibility for accuracy of the information. It was envisioned that after the marketplace got used to providing the information through regular retail chains it could be extended to outlets such as restaurants. This was partly in reaction to mislabeled foods, the growth of eating local popularity, and the complexities of not being able to label wild caught seafood as organic but still wanting comparable health and environmental info about the catch that location, and implied catch methods, provide.

This is what finally got me to rely full time on cloth bags. I use the acme bags that fold into their own pouch and toss them into my work bag since most of my shopping is on my way home. I used to use them only part of the time because I would re-use the grocery bags as plastic bags. I stopped when I went through my stash of about 20 and couldn't find a single one without a hole.As a backup, I toss all the conference tote bags everyone seems to give out in my trunk.

http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/eat/quality0/meat.html ← There was a big fight in Congress a few years back that pitted the fillet types against the surimi types. Executives from McD had to beg for the future of the beloved fillet-o-fish. Glad to see it was all worth it!