andiesenji

You can make kefta from cooked lamb, you simply grind it and mix with the herbs and spices, fry them, drain well on a rack till completly cool, then freeze on a sheet pan and transfer to a ziploc bag when frozen. (This way they won't stick together) Recipe here They can be reheated in the microwave or thawed and heated in the oven, they can even be steamed. you do not have to shape them in the traditional shape, you can form patties, etc. You can use other herbs and spices for a different flavor if you wish, use the same proportions. Sage and cumin with some ground hot pepper is an alternative flavor which is good with lamb.

I do have a granite one (green) that is fairly large (8 inches across) and a smaller black one (both bought at the Phillipine market here in town). Two porcelain, Mason Cash, one quite large the other medium, (both from England). A lava rock molcajete 8 inches in diameter, a large wooden M&P mostrly for decoration. The brass one I mentioned, for pounding hard spices such as star anise, cloves, cardamom, etc. I also have a thick glass laboratory one and a small agate one that has a pestle that is shaped like a mushroom which I use for grinding pills for my dogs. I also have two of the Japanese suribachi bowls. I have been collecting these over the years, trying to find one that worked better than those I had. Actually I find one works well with some things, others work better with others.

Check the selection at Fantes here I have several of different materials. I have a large brass one, made in Turkey, which is my favorite. I found it at a middle eastern grocery for $15.00.

I order the Tehama Gold from this place It is unfiltered and very fruity. You have to use it up rapidly, it loses a lot if left to stand for very long.

This is a joke, right? Not a joke see the link: Real Salt

I know this is the Fine Spirits and Cocktails topic, however I would like to add a note about Rose's Lime juice. I buy it in the industrial-sized bottles, not because I use it in drinks, but because it has become an integral part of my seasoning ensemble. I have found that a dash or two of this potion is great for adding a bit of pizazz to a salad dressing, a marinade, soups, particularly cold soups such as tomato and also carrot. Yesterday I roasted some figs with cheese and drizzled a bit of the Rose's over some of them an the flavor was excellent. It didn't mask the flavor of the figs but rather enhanced it. I began using it about 15 years ago when I happened to be out of fresh limes and was making glazed carrots with Marsala. The original recipe called for orange juice and zest. I liked the lime better and changed the recipe.

Sorry, I meant to type hogweed, because it is also called that in certain areas of the south. It has many other local names. In western Kentucky where I grew up I knew it as hogweed or little hogweed as it is noted on this site: purslane/little hogweed Here in So.Calif. it is always labeled in stores (Mexican) as verdolaga, occasionally with purslane in brackets. Here is another site which notes the health benefits: pursland If you look through herbal texts, you will find about 40 different names for purslane depending on when and where the books were written. (I have an extensive collection of herbal books)

In my opinion, the KA attachments are overpriced. Check on ebay. I have seen seldom used attachments sold for much less than the original price. In fact one of the food mills was on ebay a few months back, purchased to make baby food and little used, and it sold for about $40.00 as I recall. There was some discussion about this on another list which is the reason I recall it. The Moulinex is tricky to adjust so that it works easily because the spring assembly on the bottom has to be adjusted just right or it "snags" which has been a complaint for some time. Unless you are going to be processing a lot of fruit and veg, opt for the Foley or the less expensive Matfer, both have a long track record of ease of use. As I said earlier, I got the larger Halco because I process a lot of fruit. I used to have a stand-alone electric food mill (Kenwood) but had problems with it forcing too many seeds through the holes in the fine straining plate. It was about $70.00, less than I paid for the manual Halco, but only held a little more than a liter and the switch required constant thumb pressure, not easy with arthritic hands. I gave it away.

It was 2001, all of my basenjis are getting up in years and now too old to show. Since my daughter is moving to Scotland it is doubtful I will get up to that area soon. I do envy you.

I like Ina Garten's kitchen and also the herb garden. Rachel's kitchen is cute but too small for me. I wouldn't trade any for my own kitchen.

Did it look like this. I have some in my fridge that is very mild flavored. The flavor somewhat depends on where and how it grows, much the same as many herbs. Here is another photo which shows common pigweed, (another name for purslane), pigweed

It may seem strange to some people but I "collect" salts from various places around the world. Since it doesn't spoil, it will still be good when I am long gone as long as it is kept dry and clean. I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt for my general cooking. I also have pickling salt for (of course) pickling. There there are the so-called "gourmet" salts which I have collected over the years. Lima French Atlantic salt which is a moist salt and has to be kept sealed or it solidifies into a solid lump. La Baleine Sel de Mer, fine, medium and coarse. Didier Aube's Sel Gris Marin from Guérande and Fleur de Sel de Camarque. Pacific "organic" sea salt from New Zealand, fine and coarse. Halen Mon from Wales (plain and smoked) and Maldon Salt from England. Hawaiian pink sea salt. Black salt from India (very strong aroma, has to be kept tightly sealed). I have a small container of salt a friend sent me from South Africa but it has never been opened. I also have a large jar of "Real Salt" from Ogden, Utah (mined sea salt) which is white with tan flecks - Real Salt also certified kosher.... and 2 1/2 kilos of Mexican sea salt from Colima, brought back from Mexico by neighbors who paid 20 cents American for the more than 5-pound bag. I also have some huge salt crystals sent to me by one of my cousins who found them while he was exploring around the salt springs in southern Illinois. There are other gourmet sea salts and eventually I will try to collect all available. It is sort of like my collection of hot sauces. It gets to be a rather mild obcession, I will never use all of them but it is fun to keep adding to the number.

if only they would package cereal in zip-lock bags, as they do sliced deli meats. i've found that cereal will stay fresh for years in a zip lock. For several years I have transferred my cereal to the ziploc bags myself. Actually, I don't like just one kind of cereal, I like a combination so I always open the cereal bags and pour the cereal into one of the jumbo ziploc freezer bags and have done since the jumbo (2 gallon) bags became available. Since my pantry has some shelves that are the metal grid shelves, I put S-hooks on some of the shelves and I clip one of the large bindery clamps onto the top of the bag below the seam and hang them from the upper shelf. You can imagine how much space this saves. Consider the volume of a cereal box, such as Cheerios. If you have two cups of Cheerios in the bottom of that box, 3/4 of the volume is wasted space. I do the same thing with any dry item that comes in a box with an inner bag. If it is something that is not easily recognizable I simply cut off the part of the box that has the name and tape it onto bag. Chips, and crackers, get the same treatment. They stay much fresher and are easier to store. This also gives me the advantage of seeing at a glance how much I have of a particular item when I am getting ready to shop and if the supply is low I can add it to my list.

You can compare several food mills at this site: food mill I have the Halco because it holds 5 quarts. The mid-size Matfer is another very good mill. I have seen the All-Clad, similar to the Cuisipro.

On the left from top to bottom the tomatoes are Faribo golden heart (also in the center), Cherokee purple and Beefmaster. Several other tomatoes were also picked but I gave them to my gardener and some to my neighbors. On the right are 3 pineapple tomatoes, two beefmasters and one Cherokee purple. The dark green peppers are poblano, very mild, Sweet Hungarian, Anaheim and Caloro. Underneath the fruit the basket is full of basil, flat leaf parsley and sorrel.

Add some extra nitrogen to the soil to promote more foliage. If you have an extra wet year or not enough sun this is the first thing to go. As soon as you see the plants producing new stems and leaves, apply a high phosphorous compound such a bone meal to promote flowering and fruiting. By the time this begins to have an effect the plants should have developed enough new foliage to support fruit production. I always dress newly planted tomatoes, peppers and squash with a higher nitrogen organic fertilizer to promote vigorous plant growth then add phosphorous to promote flowering and fruiting then shift a couple of weeks later to a regular vegetable fertilizer that is balanced for maintenance. I always pinch off early blossoms on immature plants.

Beautiful photos Walt. Thanks so much for giving us a virtual tour of the market. I didn't see any pictures of the garlic guys, though it might be a little too early in the year for them. When I was last in Plesanton for the Northern California Basenji club specialty I had a chance to visit the market and was very impressed with the quality of the produce. The two guys who had the garlic/onion stand had seven or eight varieties of garlic including a rose colored hardneck that has to be the best garlic I have ever tried. It was so sweet it was almost like candy. The garlic flavor was there but not overpowering. (I was there in late August) Thanks again for the spectacular walk-through.

I haven't made cookie cutters, but I have made forms (bezels) for large gems (semi precious and things like agates, amber, fossil ivory, etc.) that are odd shaped with acute angles, curves, loops, and so on. Some made from copper, others from silver and a few from gold. I used a home made "peg" board for shaping with holes drilled that would take a 1/4 inch steel rod that I had cut into short sections. This bending gig makes it very easy to shape strips of metal and keep the face level. It saves a lot of time and you get clean bends with no jaw marks on the metal. If you can afford it, you should try and find a used, hand-cranked machine for "hemming" one edge of the metal strips. That is folding one edge down which makes for a stronger piece of metal and no sharp edged on that side. I used to borrow the use of one in a metal shop at the place where I used to live. I made a couple of pieces for the owner's wife so he never charged me for the use of it.

Check the recipes here And check this site: verdolagas/purslane It grows like a weed in my garden. I have several neighbors who are from Mexico and they help me keep it under control by harvesting it. I chop it and stir fry it with sugar snap peas, garlic, onions and add grated cheese at the end sometimes I add a chopped tomato. It is very good nutritionally.

My gardener picked a bunch of tomatoes and peppers in the big garden and I picked a few in the kitchen garden plus basil, parsley, sorrel, more peppers and a couple of small cukes. Pesto is on the schedule. And chiles rellenos for tonight. I just had a tomato and onion sandwich for lunch.

When the silk turns brown the corn is ripe.

Not many people still clean their own chickens, but I wonder who first noticed that if you get the gall sac out without breaking it there is no bitterness in the meat. That was the first thing I was cautioned about (after plucking) when I was given my first chicken to clean.

That is like the lupini bean, a favorite Italian snack. I don't know how poisonous it is but it is very, very bitter until it has been processed through many changes of water. I do know that it can be a problem in places where cattle, sheep and other domestic animals feed.

You use your hot ice pick thingie? I buy 1/2 inch cotton twill "tape", which is like a ribbon, at the yardage store, because it comes in handy for a lot of things in the kitchen. I tie it in a figure-8 around the chicken then run the free end through the hole in the center of the weight and have enough to lead out of the pot and tie around a handle. Since it is flat, the lid will still fit tightly. When the chicken is done I untie the tape, use a hook to snag the chicken then lift it out of the pot and the cloth tape slides free. I use this same method when brining a turkey or pork roast. You can put stuff on top to weight them down but this is easier, it just requires some thinking ahead.

Believe it or not, my first teacher,(a Hungarian pastry chef that my mother sponsored following the revolution in 1956), told me that he had learned to make pastry cloches or domes, using a (sterilized of course) pig's bladder which had some sand poured into it to weight it before inflating. I wish I had thought to write down all the tips and techniques he taught me. I recall some but many have erased themselves from my memory. He made one layered creation with thin sheets of puff pastry, blind-baked between two sheet pans, then assembled into a stack layered with pastry cream and fruit pureés then topped with whipped cream that was simply ambrosial. He also did a choux paste horn into which he poured melted chocolate then quickly poured it out again so the horn had a chocolate lining before it was filled with pastry cream.