beccaboo

Here in Seattle there's both Dreyer's and Breyer's.

That looks like good bread! What hydration is your starter?

I generally buy them pre-blanched at Trader Joe's. If I forget, though, I just boil the whole almonds for a couple of minutes, and the skin pops right off. The boiling makes the almonds temporarily less brittle, too, so they're easier to slice neatly.

1) I use skim milk, as that's what we have around. 2) Yes. Be sure to either serve these immediately or cook them a little longer, or they'll collapse like little soufflés.

I have some dark tart pans which I like (the darkness helps the pastry get done at the the same time as the filling), but they aren't non-stick. They're made out of some especially-prone-to-rusting steel which has to be carefully dried before putting away. You can just let it sit in a warm oven for a while after washing.

Me, I use a muffin tin and I think my popovers are fine. I've read that the fancy popover pans are better, though.

I usually use canned. I mainly make pumpkin popovers when I have some extra pumpkin around, like when I get a giant can because they're on sale, and don't need all of it for my pie. Fresh is good too, though, as long as it's not too wet.

If you have a tilting-head KA, not locking the head prevents the "crawl." You have to be sure to stand nearby, though, as this makes the mixer walk around .the counter more.

My recipe takes 35 minutes. For 8 popovers: For 18: 1 C flour 2 1/2 C flour 1 C milk 2 1/2 C milk 2 eggs 1 1/2 t salt 1/2 t salt 5 eggs 1 T oil 2 T oil Beat everything together thoroughly--beat and beat, as this is the key to getting them to pop--then pour batter into well-geased muffin tins and bake at 425F for 30-35 minutes. To make 18 pumpkin popovers, use 2 C milk, 1/2- 3/4 C pumpkin mush, 1/4t each cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. These don't pop as well, but taste nice.

If you should want to make it in a pressure cooker, I've discovered that Vialone Nano works best--it's less likely than other risotto rices to prematurely turn to mush.

I like fennel-grapefruit salad: Thinly sliced fennel, soaked in ice water then drained, pink grapefruit, optional olives (whatever kind you like), lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, salt, pepper.

They look like they're in the mustard family. One thing I might do is blanch them for a minute, then fry them on high heat with some salt and a couple of dried chiles, pressing them down into the pan to sort of singe them, and then at the last minute stirring in a water-and-arrowroot (I don't like cornstarch) slurry to make it all nice and glossy.

I made some lasagna once with really thin pasta (I rolled it to the thinest setting on my machine), pesto in the layers, and besciamella on top. I think it was from a Chez Panisse book, but in any case it was good and had no mushrooms or ricotta.

I make a broccoli salad for Thanksgiving. It has steamed broccoli, wild rice, toasted walnuts, roasted red peppers, and thyme.

I like spicy cookies: Lebkuchen, Printen, Pfeffernusse....

I make fadge (potato pancakes) with my leftover mashed potatoes: Rub in enough flour (and a little baking powder) that the potatoes are roll-out-able, then roll them out into 1/6-inch thick circles about 7 inches in diameter. cut into farls (wedges), then cook on a lightly buttered griddle, turning once, till both sides are browned. To make apple fadge, roll out two circles of dough, cover one with thinly-sliced apple, stick on the other, and bake the entire sandwich-circle on the griddle at a lower heat than you would have for the plain fadge.

They had the turkey and gravy soda last year, I think, and ran out because they didn't expect it to be as popular as it turned out to be!

I make those, and also her panforte (the chocolatey version's really good). I've also made several jams from Mes Confitures--the Nostradamus-Spiced Quince Jam turned out really well, as did the Caramel-Pear. I also made a lot of apple pectin to have on hand, as a lot of her winter recipes require it. Besides that I usually just make a bunch of biccies and tat people some Xmas tree ornaments.

What's really astonishing is popover mix. You still have to add eggs and milk, so all that could be in it is flour with a little fat and salt.

I've always wondered--who calls them chickpeas and who calls them garbanzo beans? Everyone I know says 'garbanzo bean,' and that's what the labels on the cans say in California and Washington, but cookbooks always call them 'chickpeas.' Is it just that we on the west coast are more Spanish-influenced, and everyone else is Italian?

That sounds great. Recipe, recipe! ← Christmas Pie Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 2 tablespoons olive oil 500 grams pearl onions -- peeled 1 sprig thyme 1 bay leaf 4 stalks celery -- cut into 6 cm lengths 6 small pears -- such as seckel pears, peeled, cored, and quartered 2 cloves garlic -- crushed 500 milliliters vegetable broth 330 milliliters strong cider 3 sprigs sage -- leaves roughly chopped 125 grams prunes 350 grams self-raising flour 175 grams vegetable suet -- (or use 100 g vegetable shortening if you can't find vegetable suet) 1/2 teaspoon salt 225 milliliters water 3 tablespoons minced parsley 2 tablespoons cornstarch -- mixed with 1 tablespoon water 250 grams cooked chestnuts -- (canned or vacuum-packed) salt and pepper 2 egg yolks -- beaten, or water and soya milk if you want this to be vegan fresh bay leaves and cranberries -- for decoration Heat the oven to 350F. Heat the oil in a big, deep pan and fry the onions, thyme, and bay leaf till the onions are golden-brown. Add the celery, carrots, garlic, pears, broth, and cider. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the sage and prunes and cook for another 5 minutes. Mix the flour with the 1/2 teaspoon salt, parsley, and suet (if using shortening, rub it in). Mix in enough of the water to make a soft-but-not-sticky dough. Roll 2/3 of the dough out into an shape 5 cm bigger than your pie dish (I use an old semi-rectangular Le Creuset dish that's about 18x28cm, and this recipe just fits). Using your dish as a guide, cut out first a piece of dough the shape of the dish's top, then a second piece around the outside that's a strip about 2.5cm wide. Mix the cornstarch slurry into your pear mixture, bring to a boil, and cook till thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste and pour into the pie dish, picking out the thyme sprig. Scatter the chestnuts artfully over the top. Dampen the rim of the dish and stick the strips of pastry to it. Brush with some of the egg yolk (or water) and affix the dish-shaped piece of dough, pressing it to make sure it's stuck. Brush with more egg yolk. Roll the rest of the dough out into a rectangle and cut into six little strips and six long ones. Arrange the little strips on top of the pie to make a decorative lattice, and use the long ones to make two long plaits to stick around the edge of the pie. Brush with egg yolk (or soya milk) and bake for 40 minutes. Garnish with bay leaves and cranberries. Source: "Adapted from BBC Vegetarian, December 1998" NOTES : You can make the up the day before and keep it in the fridge till you're ready to bake it. It'll take a little longer to cook that way, though.

I make a pie for Christmas every year that would also be good for Thanksgiving. It has pearl onions, pears, carrots, and chestnuts in a cider gravy. The pears and carrots are left pretty big. I bake it in a deep pie pan, and it has an herby crust on the top only. It doesn't really seem like too much pie, even though there's pumpkin and apple pie afterwards.

Chiogga beets are less earthy tasting, too. At least, back when I didn't like beets because they taste like dirt, I thought Chioggas were not quite as bad as the regular ones.

Honeycrisps aren't tart, but they're very crisp and have a nice red skin. That's what I used when making this waldorf coleslaw last night, which everyone liked really well. The recipe made a ton, so I'm going to finish it up for breakfast.

I always make my mother's birthday cake from that book--she likes the Ginger Cake. It's the dark, squidgy kind of gingerbread, and we eat it with Wensleydale for those that want it, or whipped cream for those that don't.