meredithla

I've made this two days in a row. Seared tuna with a Meyer lemon, shallot and olive salsa. The Meyer lemon adds such a floral note to the briny olives, honey, vinegar and shallots in the salsa. It hits all my favorite flavors!

Round 2, week 2 of my little one being home with a virus. After a long morning of playing Polly Pockets, Mommy deserved this for lunch...if only it were not too early for a glass of wine. Duck Breast with a Sherry Shallot Reduction & Asparagus

LOL! That's right, you'll notice it's curling it's lip up and sneering at me. For that insubordination--the bottom of the stack!

Pille & AmritaBala, Well done!!!!!! For Valentine's Day-Chocolate Caramel Sandwich Cookies

Kim, thanks for the Nut bar link, I'll be trying those soon. Today I made a Meyer lemon gelato. Very refreshing!

Kim-could you pm or recipe gullet those nut bars? I must make them. Your pictures lately have been really nice too! I think you said you got a new camera?

I made two cakes and a cupcake bouquet for a school cakewalk this weekend. Not very sophisticated amongst all the beautiful desserts on this thread but the kids were happy!

Santa brought me a new camera for Christmas. The food and I thank him!

I made a Suzanne Goin recipe tonight. Pasta with cauliflower, cavolo nero , currants and pine nuts. It was pretty labor intensive and the taste of the kale was kind of lost in the final product. I could have stopped after sauteeing the kale with garlic, chile, rosemary and onion and eaten that alone--it was delicious!

I tried a recipe for Raspberry Chipotle Brownies from Cookie Madness. I'd notch up the heat next time, I like things spicy!

Ann_T, it's so good to see your posts and pics again-especially your breads! I think of you everytime I make bagels following your recipe and tutorial. Baguette split. ←

Suzanne Goin has a lot of recipes using cavolo nero in her cookbook, Sunday Suppers at Lucques. I have not been able to find black kale near me but I'm on the lookout.

Thank you for the info, this helps a lot! I have actually never ordered a dal in an Indian restaurant but with the pressure cooker and a new Indian cookbook, I wanted to try some recipes. I've now done two recipes with the masoor dal and I have a package of chana dal to try next. Thanks for the help, you are all "dal-lings"!

As for the Cuisinart pressure cooker, this one has no whistle-everything is electric and digital. You set it for low or high pressure cooking, the amount of time and then choose a natural pressure release or turn a lever for a quick pressure release. What I haven't tried yet is quick releasing the pressure as soon as the lentils have cooked under high pressure for 1 minute. That would be the other variable involved-a slow natural release vs. a quick one. But this still begs my main question...what is the proper texture that I'm looking for? Is there a right and a wrong dal texture? Thanks!

I have a new Cuisinart electric pressure cooker that I'm playing with. I've been trying to make a dal. What should the proper texture of a dal be? Should the lentils still have their shape and some bite? Should they look more like a really thick puree or mashed and soupy with a layer of liquid? Here's what I've tried. Using red lentils and following a recipe: 1 cup of lentils 4 cups of water -Bring to high pressure, cook for one minute and then let pressure release naturally. These came out totally mashed, no original shape left or bite and about an inch of liquid on top. Then I played with the porportions and made it again with: 1 cup red lentils 2 1/2 cups of water -Bring to high pressure, cook for 1 minute and let pressure release naturally. Now I had a really thick puree with no extra liquid but again totally mashed. Both tasted delicious but....what texture am I aiming for and how do I get there with this pressure cooker? Can anyone adivse?

Wendy, What did you think of the Smart chicken? My mom and aunt swear by them but I can't find them sold anywhere near me. Did you taste a difference in the quality?

GTO, Lovely pasta in Easter egg shades. My household is on the mend and I am cooking again. A couple of dinners this week: "Asian schizophrenia"-Thai grilled shrimp with lemon grass, dark soy, garlic, fish sauce and lime; vegetable potstickers with ponzu & edamame Roast chicken, twice baked stuffed potatoes with garlic & Boursin, broccoli

Bruce, I did make the cake myself! Those wings look good! I've been trying to get to a recipe of black bean wings done in the wok. Maybe next week...!

Thanks for the cake kudos, everyone!

Yes, big ups to MiFi for the beautiful tower and Chufi's stunning photo/cake! A house full of sick people here, the cook included. All I could muster up was pasta with basil, Benton's bacon, scallops, and tomatoes. It was good comfort food. We all managed to rally for 3-year-old daughter's birthday. Cinderella cake for dinner anyone?!

Alinka, beautiful pic! gfron, I love the lavender desserts and I especially love that they are served on dixie plates! I made a lavender shortbread once and found it was way too strong the first day but mellowed considerably the next. Did you find that? Joe, Yum! That looks like something I'll need to make soon! This was our dessert last night...a Cinderella cake I made for my daughter's third birthday. Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and vanilla buttercream. Very sophisticated, non?!

Looks great! What type of olive oil did you use? I assume it was evoo, but was it fruity, spicy...? I have an olive oil cake recipe in an an excellent olive oil cookery book but still haven't tried it. It is the type of thing that intrigues me and seems questionable at the same time since olive oil has such a strong presence. Seeing that photo though has just about pushed me over the edge into trying it. ← It does call for EVOO. I used my favorite everyday brand, DaVinci. Suprisingly the olive oil flavor is not what I taste in the final product. The anise seed, lemon zest, rosemary, orange juice and triple sec are the more predominant flavors. It is really moist and the flavors I find to be more sophisticated than the usual dessert. I brought it to a party and I've had four people call and ask for the recipe. PM me if you'd like the recipe I used. Next time I may try a rhubarb/strawberry compote on top.

Tonight's dinner was braised oxtails in a cherry and red wine sauce with roasted cauliflower risotto. The risotto was inspired by a previous dinner post. I did my own version roasting the cauliflower and adding bacon with spicy fried bread crumbs on top. It blew the oxtails out of the water! For dessert (not pictured) I made a chocolate bread pudding with Cherry Chocolate Bread from Zingerman's and a chocolate custard. Served warm and topped with vanilla ice cream.

Wendy, Your clean oven reminded me to clean mine tonight! Ann, RHUBARB!!!! I bought some two weeks ago and made a crisp and now can't find it anywhere. Sigh. Shaya, What a delicious and colorful meal! Tonight to ward off our Nor'easter and nonstop rain, Zuni Cafe Roast Chicken and Bread Salad with a side of arugula. I used the convection oven to roast the chicken and it was done in under an hour. The chicken is really good but the bread salad is the best part of the meal-vinegar, oil, currants, pine nuts, garlic, scallions and pan drippings.

I love this-it looks like a mosaic!