Smithy

We tried the CREAMi again last Sunday night when friends were here. The first batch was from the recipe booklet: dairy-free coffee ice cream, using cashew milk as the base and an espresso powder for the coffee. We all liked it. By the end of that batch it was starting to separate a bit, with water appearing from what had probably been fine ice crystals. The peach I'd spun up wasn't as good as my usual peach ice cream, but that could easily have been because I'd put it in the freezer over a year ago without all the necessary ingredients. (My label notes were sketchy.) No complaints about the texture, though. No pictures, either. Sorry.

If not "sprinkle police", then perhaps "sprinklegate". It's used more than once in that article. Catchy, isn't it?

My mother did that by accident one morning. I don't think she liked it.

We're working our way down through our refrigerator and freezer contents. Last night I roasted a whole chicken over a bed of par-cooked rice. The rice finished in the oven with the chicken juices. It came out pretty well, although the chicken may have roasted too long. This morning's brunch was some of that chicken-flavored rice, with a very small bit of chicken. I wanted the rice juicier. I considered butter, then looked through the condiments in our refrigerator. Behold! I had a tiny container - about 2 tsp's worth - of Little Green Dress that had been hiding among the other condiments. I mixed it into the rice. Oh, my. I think I'll have to make more of that, soon. So much for emptying the refrigerator!

Have you tried their all-white fish package? I've stuck with the mixed because I generally prefer salmon to any of the white fish, but I think I've had better results with the cod and halibut. I'll give the company credit: they make it very easy to pause deliveries if necessary. I also like their responsiveness to email.

My experiments with Wild Alaskan salmon continue. Somewhere uptopic it's been mentioned that wild salmon is much less fatty than farmed salmon. My husband claims now that he has always thought salmon was a dry fish. This surprises me because I've always found salmon to be much more flavorful, and generally more fatty, than the white fish we get (cod, halibut, tilapia, pollack) in frozen packages. I have not always bought farmed salmon; when the Copper River salmon is running it can be purchased in Duluth. Still. I have to admit that this salmon from Wild Alaskan is leaner than I'm used to. I love salmon pretty much any way; my husband is less than enthusiastic. His favorite treatment so far has been pecan-crusted salmon with sorrel sauce. There is no sorrel in our yard or house, but we have basil. There may be pecans, but after unearthing 2 packages of ham bones (pea stew tonight!) while looking for them in the freezer, I settled for walnuts. The treatment: grind the walnuts finely; dip the salmon in beaten egg and then dredge in the walnuts; shallow fry in butter because it was that or EVOO and I'm running short on oil. Add a green sauce of basil, garlic and EVOO. At table, pour the remaining butter - now nicely browned - over the fish and over the corn we had on the side. The flavor was good. It seems rather perverse to slather "heart healthy" fish with butter, but there it is. What wasn't so great was that the fish flesh was still a bit overcooked and/or dry. I think it would have been better with a slightly shorter cooking time. He thinks it's the nature of the beast. Next time, I'll try someone's earlier suggestion of using steam bake* in the Cuisinart Steam Oven. I may like the texture better that way. He'll be sorry it doesn't have a nice crust. *What time and temperature should I use? Anyone remember?

The lakes up here are pretty clean, and the walleye come from open waters, not near the shore where giardia is most likely to occur. The fish filets were cleaned well too, with clean water (both before and after freezing) so I wouldn't worry too much about giardia. The same handling considerations apply to fecal coliform. I admit I couldn't find any assurance that an acid bath like lime juice would kill the cysts if they were present. If I'm misinformed, please feel free to set me straight. (You probably know more about microbiology than I do.) This is the first time I've done ceviche with a freshwater fish, but it's been done uptopic (with some discussion regarding parasites) and within our own family.

*bump* This was our family's wood-cutting weekend, in which the youngsters come help the oldsters cut, split and stack firewood for the season. It was also our first time seeing each other in over a year due to various life events and inconveniences. We had a lot of elaborate food plans so we could make up for lost time. "Do you know how to make ceviche?" my DIL texted. A relative had caught a monster walleye / pickerel at their cabin and DIL thought it too big to fry properly. She dimly remembered an uncle making ceviche and her enjoying it when she was small, and wondered whether it might change her opinion of fish. To her, fish is a thing everyone in the world around her adores and she has to deal with...she's an excellent cook, but long since has lost her enthusiasm for the creature. I dug into this Cook-off to refresh my memory of freshwater fish ceviche, then asked her whether it had been frozen. Yes, it had: the filets were skinned, vacuum packed and frozen the day that fish left its watery home. That satisfied me about potential parasites. Still, I diced the fish finely - partly for textural reasons but also to ensure there weren't any nasties hiding in there. The diced fish marinated in the juice of 6 limes for 3 or 4 hours, until I liked the texture. In the meantime, I chopped red onion, part of one small red hot pepper, a bunch of heirloom tomatoes languishing on my counter (shame on me) and a perfectly ripe avocado. A touch of salt and pepper went into the mix. Unfortunately I'd run out of limes and had to use some of the drained brine. Unfortunately I'd forgotten the cilantro! I remedied both those shortcomings today, after we'd all unstiffened enough from our unaccustomed exercise to get to a grocery store. Success! She who doesn't like fish likes this! "It doesn't even taste fishy!" she proclaimed. High praise indeed.

@ElsieD, I'll let you know how it comes out. I used our family's longstanding recipe for peach ice cream, I think. It's been sitting in the deep freeze, waiting to be churned, for over a year...what happens when I overdo the peach purchases! I heard back from Ninja Consumer Services regarding my accusation of false advertising: Think that might be a form letter?

Our family's annual wood-cutting/splitting/stacking cum gluttony gathering is scheduled for this weekend. My DIL is excited to try some lactose-free recipes, starting with the coffee ice cream in Ninja's recipe book. She also thinks the idea of sorbet is a great idea. i am most of the way through the mango sorbet I made. It is icy around the edges, and difficult to scoop after sitting in the container for nearly a week...but it has an ethereal texture and taste. What a simple thing to make from a can of diced mangoes! I've committed one pint jar to respun peach custard for ice cream; that's already in the freezer. Another pint is for the aforementioned coffee ice cream. The third is still occupied with mango sorbet. I now understand the desire for A LOT of extra pint jars. Alas, the web site says they're on back order. Ninja has given me a 10% discount code toward more pint jars when they're in stock. Since the booklet says to register your Ninja CREAMi for a coupon for more jars, I've accused Ninja of false advertising. I know how far that's gotten @Kerry Beal and @mgaretz so far, but I figure it's worth a try.

I've only taken the baby step so far of making mango sorbet from a can of diced mangoes, but we were pleased with it. The first spin was powdery - what an odd texture for sorbet! - but respinning, and then judicious scooping, hid the evidence.This weekend is our family wood-cutting weekend. We have a family member who can't take lactose, and she and I are eager to try some of the non-dairy recipes.

Thank you for the suggestion. Two of us had already posted there, but now I've linked to this topic on their memorial page.

Now that I've opened the box and perused the contents (and washed the items that will contact food) I see that I'll get another pair of pint containers simply for registering the product. That should do me for a while, I hope. A can of diced mangoes is in the first pint jar. It may be a couple of evenings before I actually process it. While I was in town picking up my (crikey, why do I do this to myself and what do I get rid of?) new toy, I also hit up a grocery store for heavy cream and huckleberries, the way I could try huckleberry ice cream in David Ross' honor. No frozen huckleberries to be found, but I'll think of something. He notes that any summer berry will work. I'm pretty sure I have blueberries in the freezer.

I don't seem to have a choice but to wait on getting more pints, but I wonder whether I'd need them, really. There are 3 pint jars in the set. Won't that be enough? Are the rest of you stocking up with a variety of concoctions in the freezer all at once?

Save some for me! (I'll have to look into that recipe. Thanks for the reminder, @blue_dolphin.)

I do use a spatter screen, but whenever I lift it to move something I get spatters anyway. I'm probably just too fussy about it! I marvel that my mother used to make fried chicken in her electric skillet on a regular basis! I'm grateful that she did, but I still marvel at it! (She admitted later that yes, she hated the mess. But we all loved her chicken, so she did it. )

I'm with @donk79 and @&roid: more information, please! Photos would be a welcome addition.

Happy Sunday! Your food, energy and photography still continue to amaze me, but the eggplant parmesan is the one still haunting me. I know what a pain it is and how good the reward when it's done right. (The same is true for doves, as I recall, but I don't have access to them.) My question: when you fry those eggplant slices, do you do that inside the house, or outside where spatters won't matter? Or have you worked out how to fry them without spattering? Please give more detail. I'd love to have some of that golden-brown goodness in my repertoire.

I swear that "Out of Stock" label wasn't there 20 minutes ago. These things must be flying off the shelves!

4-pack Ninja CREAMi pint containers, on Ninjakitchen.com. I see no evidence that they're out of stock, but I haven't tried to buy them...yet. I'm waiting for my $20% coupon to arrive from BBB. Another enablee here! Damn you lot!

@Kim Shook's post above reminds me...I've made a couple of peach pies using a modified version of a New York Times recipe. The crust needs some work to keep it from getting a soggy bottom, but I was quite pleased with the appearance and flavors of the latest attempt. (I'll just gloat over the uncut pie, since the filling was runnier than I'd have liked. 🙂 )

I LOVE eggplant parmesan, but am generally too lazy to make it. I think yours look delicious! But then, I think all your food looks delicious! Would you see if the guys can get a more closeup picture of the mystery plant? Are those bean pod thingies growing from the same plant? Can those shishito peppers be roasted and skinned, then frozen? Or is it too much given everything else you're doing? I ran across a note saying that I'd given the same treatment to a bunch of peppers that I'd given tomatoes, more or less following ElainaA's recipe, and been quite happy with it.

I received the shocking news last night that David Ross, our beloved host who has been running the eG Cook-offs for quite some time, passed away last Wednesday, Sept. 15. It must have been sudden: he was here Monday, encouraging @Shelby in the latest episode of her Hunting Time blog. David was a skilled food stylist and inventive recipe developer. I always enjoyed his posts. Better still, he was one of the nicest people I've ever met on the internet. If he had a snarky bone in his body, he never let it get near the keyboard. I wish I'd known him in person, but my food life is richer because of him. His obituary page is here.

Welcome, PadreANT! This is a good time and place to tell more about yourself, if you wish. What sort of food do you like to cook and eat? Is your current full-time gig related to food? What did you have for dinner last night, or breakfast this morning? C'mon in, take a look around, and join the fun! You've already started with your questions, and that's good. If you have any questions about how to use the forums or where to post, feel free to ask a host.

In addition to @CentralMA's answer above, I'll note that the unglazed clay pots produce more intensely flavored sauces because of that porosity. Somewhere around here is a protracted conversation about unglazed vs. glazed. It began in the Truth About Braising lab discussions and went on in the cooking forums, thanks to Paula Wolfert's suggestions. I'll post links when I find them again.