Smithy

Could it have been this one by @HungryChris? Or at least based on it? Or this one by @RWood?

Over in the Trader Joe's topic, @rotuts celebrated the arrival of this year's California walnuts. That reminded me of family lore. I grew up on a California citrus ranch, but there were plenty of walnuts in the same area. We took them for granted. We knew deciduous from evergreen. We knew crops. We knew seasons. One year, my cousin from southern Florida visited while on leave from the Navy. He must have been in his early 20's at the time, but it was his first time away from his subtropical home in the winter. We were driving along a country road. It was lined with dormant walnut groves. He groused: "Why doesn't someone cut down all those old dead trees?" Lordy, I hope I was kind at the time...but I was in my mid-teens. We've stayed on good terms anyway.

Please report back after you've done them: what you did, how well they turned out!

There's a very nice review of the book in today's L.A. Times food newsletter: https://www.latimes.com/food/newsletter/2024-10-13/the-bean-book-steve-sando-rancho-gordo-cooking-editorial?fbclid=IwY2xjawF4_lpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHfr16-c4BCMiw6iIo1PQP1KuU6tKTTnTqmS5qIIMVDxEV85gY3ySOjphqQ_aem_0R-2y_eG-FfxKDE5PVw8PA

I had a houseful of family/company last weekend. When they left they willingly took the things they'd eat but I wouldn't, but that still left a LOT of food here. Last night the crudites had to go; I'm tired of chewing on a bowlful of raw cauliflower, broccoli, carrots (etc) and they weren't going to last much longer. Sheet pan dinner to the rescue! I cut it all into bite-sized pieces, added a few chunks of pancetta and a half sausage I found in the freezer. Tossed all with olive oil, yogurt, turmeric, cumin and a bit of salt, and stuck it in the oven until it was the right golden brown. It needed more sauce at the table. I was out of yogurt and couldn't be bothered to make tahini sauce at the time. After I shot the photo I added sour cream. It tasted good, but I'll spare you the photo. Trust me, some things taste better than they look - and sour cream mixed into that bowl of goodness is one of 'em.

Could you have ordered hazelnut ice cream instead of vanilla, or else asked them to leave out the Kahlua? (I realize that last might not be possible, since they may make the affogato ahead. Or maybe alterations are frowned upon there.) At any rate, it all looks delicious and wonderful. I'm intrigued by the watermelon with the tuna tartare. It seems as though watermelon is working its way into more savory applications -- watermelon and feta salad is another example -- than it used to. How did you like the combination?

That. Is. Gorgeous. Would you give a bit more detail please about the method? Time, temperature for both stages of the cooking?

I did a double-take when I saw your photo above, and had to go reread the text. Do tell more, please! (Or have you already posted about them in the Gardening topic somewhere?) What are they like? They're darned cute-looking in the picture. 🙂

The difference between roasting and baking is a perennial question! About a year ago it was discussed here and our own @blue_dolphin was good enough to provide a link to a discussion about it in a Master Class, "Learn the Difference Between Roasting and Baking in the Oven". As to parallels, if any, to sous vide vs. turbo sous vide...well, I'm staying out of that one. 🙂

Helping out here: Heirloom Beans, by Steve Sando and Vanessa Barrington (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), $1.99. Thanks for this notification. It reminded me that I actually bought this book, in Kindle version, in 2018! Must dust off the electrons and give it a try.

This is a good time/place to remind y'all of our Chili Cook-Off. Cook-Offs are always open for reading, discussion and new posts!

I wish I'd thought of that trick before now!

This used to drive my darling crazy. Where he couldn't be bothered to scrape even a wide-mouthed jar of peanut butter when it got low, I'd dig in with a spatula and get out as much as possible. 2, 3, maybe even 4 more uses! "You don't need to be so thrifty!" he'd exclaim. "Our parents were of the Depression generation, and we've both been broke as grad students, but that doesn't mean we have to behave that way now!" I'd calmly respond that I wasn't worried about money so much as resource conservation -- but yes, the money also added up. And I'd go on scraping. 🙂 Now, to be clear, I should add that I still tend to overbuy food. A sorry amount of herbs and other vegetable matter ends up on the compost pile instead of in my food. But still, I scrape. How about you? Are you of the use-it-all-up variety, or the don't-have-time-for-that variety? Got any good stories to share?

Toasties: sourdough slice, lightly toasted. Spread with Dijon mustard, then a layer of cheese slices. 20 seconds in the microwave. Tomato slices topping it afterward. Accompanied by a Bartlett pear that was about to turn, to my surprise. The outside still felt firm and there wasn't much aroma. Glad I checked it out. Its partner is in the refrigerator. This is far more, and far earlier, than I usually eat for breakfast. Now I want to go into a food coma! But I'm waiting on a service call -- which is of course open-ended, both for the start and finish times.

Sorry, I'm breaking the shrimp theme. Maybe I'll be the night's outlier. I've been pecking away (heh) at a rotisserie chicken I splurged on a day or two ago, so by the time dinner time rolled around I only wanted vegetables. Green beans -- already trimmed several days ago -- and tomatoes demanded to be used. This was loosely based on a favorite green bean recipe from the Cookie + Kate web site. Brown chopped walnuts or other nuts in a dry wok. Remove them from the pan; throw in the beans and a bit of water; slap the lid on it, cook until the beans are tender-crisp, then remove the lid and let any remaining water boil off. Add a lemon vinaigrette, feta cheese, and in this case the forlorn tomatoes that also needed to go. Stir. Serve. Add the forgotten walnuts, and remember how much good crunch and flavor they add. Tasty. Crunchy. Got some refrigerated goods out before they went off.