Smithy

I was in Minnapolis last weekend and had a chance to visit a Middle Eastern grocery store and deli. The purpose was to stock up on Egyptian feta cheese that we have trouble finding. Of course I had to browse their other offerings. I came away with a small stack of Iraqi Tandori Bread. I thought the name a bit puzzling (read it as "Tandoori") but the stuff was supple and looked good. It was also HUGE. After I got it home I texted my best friend for ideas of what to do with it. She allowed as to how she'd probably just eat it out of hand, but then suggested a bean salad with a nice vinaigrette for that bread to mop up. What a great idea!

That salmon noodle bowl is beautiful! Yes to the cauliflower shawarma recipe being good. It's quite compatible with chicken; I cooked thighs here by doubling the spices and cooking the thighs with the vegetables on a single sheet pan. For those interested, the recipe is also provided by the Seattle Times, not behind a paywall. Here it is!

Lovely plate, as usual. Was this by any chance Melissa Clark's Cauliflower Shawarma with Spicy Tahini, from the New York Times? I've made it several times and we've always been delighted. If not the same, maybe you can point me to what you did? I might like it even better!

I had to think about this one for a while to get the right word out of it. And then I found out that there really was someone named Aaron Cheney!

This. I finally got around to watching the video. I found Young's explanation of how the devices worked (one motor vs. two) and the relative strengths and weaknesses was interesting and useful. I was even more intrigued by his discussion about the structure of the ice cream coming out of either of these devices, compared to the churned style. I think I learned quite a bit about ice cream structure in that short video -- well, enough to sound knowledgeable to folks outside this forum, anyway. I don't think I'll be getting rid of my Cuisinart ICE-50 any time soon, although right now the CREAMi is hogging all the culinary fun.

I have a Holsem air fryer that I bought several years ago during an Amazon Prime sale. (It's this one (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), for those curious.) I don't use it much, partly because I have to haul it out of storage (it hasn't earned a permanent spot on the counter) and partly because of its design. It has the round basket that nests inside, and supposedly latches to, the bottom tray. As a couple of people have discussed above, the basket sometimes drops the tray when I'm pulling stuff out to shake it. I also find the round configuration to be inconvenient for most of my uses: too small a diameter, too tall; stuff needs frequent turning. If I were to buy another air fryer I'd go with one more oven-shaped, but I'm not sure this does anything that the CSO or BSOA couldn't do at least as well for my uses. I know a convection oven isn't the same as an air fryer, but I haven't become convinced that an air fryer is useful for my cookery. YMMV.

I'm not very familiar with Filipino food, but I've liked what I've tried. I'll hope that future visits (if you try them again) are better.

No seasoning needed. Do be generous with oils in order to avoid sticking. (A houseguest once used my largest All-Clad skillet to cook eggs for a house full of guests. He meant well, but the cleanup was awful! My large nonstick skillet would have been a better choice for eggs, but he was already cooking by the time I arrived in the kitchen.) Handwash if you want to keep that beautiful exterior shiny. Enjoy the sauces you'll make from the fond!

Smoked salmon pasta Alfredo, with additions: red bell pepper, ramps, shishito peppers, asparagus, parsley. The usual Alfredo components of butter, cream and parmesan. (It's been recently asserted here that the cream -- or is it the butter? -- doesn't actually belong, but this is the way I learned it from Lynne Rosetto Kasper's radio show.) Pepper and/or Danish smoked salt at the table. Could have used more sauce, but the flavors were good and well-balanced. Now, for a note about those shishito peppers: I've been reading about them here from the enablers. I spotted them in the store and decided to see what the fuss was about. I tried blistering half that package but cooked them to a crisp. Out they went. This finished dish has a handful of shishitos sliced, then sweated along with the red pepper and ramp heads before more ingredients were added. The raw shishitos tasted unfortunately like green bell peppers. That is not a compliment. The cooked shishitos blended in well enough that I can't say much about them. My question to the shishito aficionados is: what is special about them?

Daaang, I'd be happy with that too. Happy birthday to Moe! Best wishes to both of you! (and I'd still be happy if you wanted to relocate here)!

I didn't know that they grew cherries in Stockton, and I'd never have guessed that they'd be ready by now. Thanks for the reality check!

I just had a smackerel of last night's ice creams for an afternoon snack. Both were firm but not icy. Both melted quickly (as we and our guests noted last night) but not so quickly as to seem wrong. Both were as delicious today as they were last night. I am very, very pleased that I started trying this gizmo and using the booklet's recipes. I'm so pleased, in fact, that I ordered 2 more Ninja pints so that I can have multiple choices hanging around.

I've never had green garlic before, but I have a bunch of ramps right now. Do you think they'd work in this dressing? Would they be (heh) wildly different, or only slightly?

What's the humidity issue? The possibility of corks drying out?

Yes, I think. I may have used Re-spin, but now I think I just had a brain fade and did Ice Cream.

I haven't noticed a hot electric motor aroma. I used mine last night for 2 batches of ice cream: chocolate, and vanilla with mini chocolate chips, both from the recipe booklet. Our dinner guests were horrified by the noise, amused at my love of kitchen toys, and very impressed with the ice cream. We all were impressed. None of us noticd a hot motor smell. (Incidentally, I spun both batches twice to get the right texture. For the chocolate chip ice cream I didn't add the chips until the 2nd spin.) cdh, if you continue getting that smell you should contact Ninja before your warranty runs out. They made return of my dead CREAMi and arrival of a new one painless and free. I'm quite impressed with their Customer Service.

I have a handful of Jiffy (or equivalent) cornbread packages from over a year ago, and still haven't used them. Thanks for the inspiration.

Please forgive me if this has already been asked and answered: got a recipe and/or technique?

Now I regret getting rid of most of my Egyptian cookbooks. The sole survivor doesn't list anything like it. The recipes I've just looked online at agree that it's basically the Eygptian version of fried chicken medallions (pounded, dipped, coated, fried, similar to schnitzel). The seasonings range from lemon and grated onion to lemon and garlic and ginger to simply salt and pepper (all with bread crumbs, of course). I'm also seeing some marinades. I doubt that anything we ate got the marinade treatment first, but it couldn't hurt to try it at home. If I were to try it I'd go with bread crumbs seasoned with ground cumin, ground coriander seed, paprika, salt, maybe a touch of white pepper, and see where that got me. It looks like the coating on yours included some sort of chopped green: coriander leaf? Parsley? I'd try one of those. Since parsley dries nicely and keeps its flavor when dried I'd try that first. Does that sound like the right flavor profile? In case it doesn't seem like the right flavor profile: other chicken treatments I remember were the shawarma treatment (lemon, garlic, paprika and a hint of cinnamon, to my husband's disgust and my delight) and the shish tawouk treatment (lemon, garlic, olive oil - chicken chunks skewered and grilled). Neither of those matches my escalope memory or your picture, though. This BBC recipe may be close, although I doubt that my escalope ever encountered sage: BBC Food Chicken Escalope Recipe

I do miss good, truly good, fresh strawberries. We may get them during a 2-week window in northeastern Minnesota, but it isn't a sure thing.

Joke all you like...but how I wish we had an Egyptian restaurant or snack stand here in northern Minnesota! (I'd forgotten all about chicken escalope! Must try to make that soon.)

How very timely! I'm going to need those instructions too. I have now pinned a link to that post near the top of this forum, so we can all find it easily.

@Shelby posted in the Cuisinart Steam Oven topic about this method, after she discovered that her oven's water line was clogged. Many, many times since then, people have asked for those instructions. To find that post, click here.

I have 3; that's what came in the kit so most of us probably have at least that many.

I have that book, and have yet to actually cook from it. If you do, please post about it. Maybe it will get me going!