Smithy

Lemony Greek Chicken, Spinach and Potato Stew (unlocked article). This is my second time making the stew; last time around, my best friend was visiting and we collaborated. This time it's all mine. MINE! My-eeen! (insert selfish cackle here) The potatoes are too soft this time. I fear I cooked them too long. Still, the flavors are good and I don't recall our having problems with leftovers last time despite the potatoes' getting softer. If I want to, I can add more potatoes and cook them less. I probably won't bother.

I've never pressed a crusty piece of bread, and I assume you're trying to soften the whole thing in the APO. Yes? Assuming you can split it lengthwise without having it all fall apart into crumbs, the world baguette is your oyster, so to speak. I'm partial to spreading mayonnaise and mustard on the interior, then putting in layers of meat and cheese. Any meat, any cheese that you like together will work. You could even put in slices of roasted red pepper, or roasted mushrooms, or other roasted vegetables that will lie flat. Certain sandwich additions that I like (lettuce, tomato, pickle, sprouts) I generally wait until after the sandwich is grilled before adding them. That's a matter of preference. I like the contrast of soft and crunchy, and hot and cold. Some kind of fat on the outside will improve the griddling: olive oil or butter would work. @rotuts has noted that he likes mayonnaise on the outside of some of his grilled sandwiches. Get the press good and hot, then do your best to mash the sandwich in the press. If it's too hard and round to get much contact on the outer surfaces, you might consider cutting it in half and griddling the halves separately (face up or face down) to get them cooked properly. Then the meat, cheese, etc. will have to be added separately, and possibly griddled separately. Caution: use fairly thin slices of cheese, and monitor the process to the best of your ability so you don't end up with cheese melting all over the griddle! It's delicious that way, but messy. Ask me how I know. 😉

That's a wonderful-sounding spread! I'm glad the menu gives so much detail. Gives me some ideas for things I could try making at home. I have to admit, though, it would be very gratifying to sit down with friends and family, enjoy that excellent meal, and let someone else take care of the cleanup. 🙂

That salad looks very good. I'll have to try it on a much smaller scale for my own dinner one night! Or maybe wait until I have dinner guests and try it on them. My Thanksgiving plans, however, call for me to bring my green beans and bacon dish to a feast with friends. The gathering will only be 8 people, so it won't require 5 pounds of green beans as needed 2 years ago. (That was an adventure!) I've never had, or thought of, fermented Brussels Sprouts, but it makes sense that they would ferment like cabbage. I'll have to try it! Thanks for the recipe. As for your proposed additions: if you have people who like spicy heat, then add a couple of chili peppers as you suggest. Or mustard seeds? Ginger?

I wonder how the skin would affect the overall texture. Would it separate from the rest of the potato on the upper level? Would it get as crispy? One way to find out, I suppose. 😀

I've made that gratin, and I agree that it's delicious! Thanks for your link. I'm not generally a video watcher for recipes, but Kenji's discussion and demonstration were interesting. (I was fascinated to see him pour the sauce over the potatoes while the casserole dish was sitting atop the unprotected stove. That would be a sure recipe for me to spill onto the grate and make a mess!) I don't know whether folks who aren't NYT subscribers can see that video. In case they can't, here's a gift link to the recipe: Cheesy Hasselback Potato Gratin.

Thanks for the hint, @Kerry Beal! Phoodle #1288 1/6 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://phoodle.net Not only did I come out looking like a genius today, I also got a good laugh out of the Phoodle Fact and accompanying video clip!

Go for it! Here's the topic:

This part made me laugh. And I can understand your feelilngs, especially if it's something like "this cornbread is much too sweet," which is my principal objection to most cornbread. Someone may be thinking that their goddess has clay feet after all. 😀 Remember, however: that cornbread must have passed muster with some taste-testers, so it isn't as though you served them something outrageously bad. Onward and upward!

My neighbors' neighbors had a commercial grove of them in central California, near where I grew up. I wasn't impressed with them when I tried them, but I'm a bit of a traditionalist (give me good Satsuma Mandarins, please) and it may also have been an off year. Those I tried weren't very juicy, although the zipper skin was as gratifying as with any of their brethren. What is your take on them? (If you commented on their quality uptopic, I apologize for missing it.)

Today was busy, with successfully-completed chores but not much down time. That won't sound unusual for working folks, but this mostly-retired woman found herself quite hungry, and with no desire for elaborate cooking, at the end of a packed day. Boy, I love my panini press. Dinner: A griddled salami and cheese sandwich with crisp outsides and crisp edges where the cheese had oozed and hit the griddle. Accompanied by a green salad and some woefully, horribly over-roasted vegetables from a couple of nights ago. Some of those vegetables are atop the green salad, where they provide more crunch than flavor. Well, maybe carbon / charcoal has nutritional value. 😉 But the rest of the salad is great, and the sandwich is unbeatable.

Turnips and turnip greens! I'd never think of putting those into a pasta dish! Thanks for the report....and for the prompt for me to make compound butter. Assuming I can find some freezer space. 🙂

@patti, I too am amazed at your energy and accomplishments. And the food does look good! As for reusing the plastic food containers: I think it's a great idea. Too many of those things are used once and then tossed. It's terribly wasteful. Reusing them makes good sense from an economic and environmental standpoint.

I've never heard of an orange tree that blossomed and fruited twice per year. What variety? Do you remember? Or do you just mean that the two trees bore fruit at different times, as a Navel and a Valencia would?

Phoodle #1285 4/6 🟨⬛⬛⬛🟨 ⬛🟨⬛🟩⬛ ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://phoodle.net Interesting 2nd choice you made, @gfweb.

My parents had a Meyer lemon tree as well as a "normal" (Eureka, I think) lemon tree. The Eureka was by choice and planted near the house. The Meyer was an accidental inclusion in the orange saplings that they'd purchased for the grove. My sister and I loved that Meyer lemon tree and raided it every time we went home. Mom never liked it -- too insipid for her! Luckily for me, Meyers are now often available at the grocery stores.

I'll have you know that you are solely responsible for my buying bacon ends and pieces at the grocery store today.

That looks gorgeous and delicious, @Norm Matthews. Wonderful plating! Did you have any sort of sauce to go with the rice?

This is my current fave among Sauvignon Blancs. It's light and crisp, and although it has enough minerality to be noticeable I don't think it's as pronounced as many of the Marlboroughs. Goes well with chicken and probably fish although I haven't tried it. Sips very nicely on its own, too.

The third line from the bottom is 2 tbsp sweet paprika. And the almost-as-cryptic line below it is 2 tbsp Lawry's Seasoned Salt. It is good. We used it for breading pork steaks and chicken thighs, then oven-roasting them. Our own version of Shake'n'Bake. I'm glad you like its looks!

Me too, and I think I bought a bottle of that once for that reason. I don't remember what I thought of it, which probably means it was okay be not stellar. How do you like it?

I'm wondering the same. The words that I do recognize (ROCKS, WHOLE) are -- as @liuzhou pointed out regarding WHOLE -- words that can have culinary applications but have plenty of other applications too. Then there are words like today's that are quite obscure in this part of the world. I only found it by guesswork. In the middle there may be words like PLATE or TABLE that to me simply aren't interesting challenges. (And what sort of Phoodle Fact would go with them?) So I'm not sure what the Goldilocks "just right" medium may be, if there is one.

Learned a new word today. Phoodle #1284 4/6 ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://phoodle.net

Now that I think of it, it's the Bourbon Barrel aged Cab (I think from Josh Cellars) that I've tried, not the Zin that @rotuts likes so much. Once was enough on the Cab, but the grapes are different. Maybe I'm maligning that Zin unfairly. If I get a chance, maybe I'll try it out...but since I'm a couple hundred miles from the nearest TJ's, I'm not holding my breath!

I bombed it today. Still got to see the associated fact. Phoodle #1283 X/6 🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://phoodle.net