Sony

I did not grow up with much canned fish beyond canned tuna. Grad school changed that for me One of my favorite things to do with water-packed sardines is to drain off the water, and make a garlic vinaigrette for them (just to up the stink factor!) I gently fry some thinly sliced garlic in olive oil until softened and lightly golden, then add in some acid- usually lemon or lime juice. Optional add-ins: -honey or OJ (for sweet-and-sour balance) -Dijon or whole-grain mustard -minced thai bird chili or Sriracha (maybe both!) Pour over the little fishies, grind on some pepper, cover, and let marinate as long as you can stand it. Usually I devour straight from the can

Marlene, your "Sunday dinner on Monday" meal looks wonderful. The meat looks nicely cooked- lots o' pink, beautifully browned on the outside. My condolences on the loss of your mother. Hope you find nourishment in time with your (well- fed) family and good food.

Your idea to use it as a dumpling filling has worked for me. I've used shredded "spent meat", combined with napa cabbage, mushrooms, carrots, onion, ginger, soy sauce and toasted sesame oil as a filling for potstickers. The vegetables added necessary moisture, and the ginger, soy and sesame lent plenty of flavor. Was it as good as using fresh meat? Well, no. But decent.

Do you even have to ask? Excuse me- I just drooled on my keyboard....

That sounds delicious! I'm partial to rubs instead of marinades.....I tend to throw spices together on a whim. The last rub I did had: granulated garlic black pepper cayenne pepper smoked paprika oregano brown sugar Madras curry powder The curry powder added an intriguing twist....definitely had people guessing, but they liked it! I can definitely respect the simplest route...salt, black pepper.....for really good cuts of meat. For regular ol' Choice meat from the supermarket, though, I like to have fun. Sounds like you do too! Keep experimenting, and post up your new discoveries!

Hi Everyone! Just bumping this up because I'm heading to Columbus for business travel next week. From what I've gleaned in previous threads, places that are on my list to try (for dinner only- in hotel-catered meetings during the day ): -Lindey's in German Village (is the Polaris location just as good?) -City Barbeque (don't eat pork, but I think there are plenty of non-pork options) -Jeni's Ice Cream (yes, I might just have ice cream for dinner ) -North Market (any booths you particularly like? I'm hoping to get over there if meetings end in time!) -Alana's -Rigsby Cuisine Volatile Any other places I should add? Places I should take off? (the threads I've been reading are a little old, so I want to make sure nothing's slipped ) I should add that I'd hope to spend $30 or less on food alone. Please point me to any more recent threads I may have missed as well...thanks!

Angel hair pasta tossed with a bit of garlic-kissed olive oil + Something green (steamed broccoli, baby peas, fresh spinach, broccoli rabe) + freshly grated parmesan cheese + freshly ground black pepper + an over easy egg on top =

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! More are definitely welcome, because I froze a lot of the meat in small batches. I typically don't buy such lean ground meat....The person grocery shopping for me (because I've been sick, bless her ) picked it up. The pack is several lbs (and she didn't want to take any) so I think I'll be able to try out all of the great suggestions! And hopefully turn them into some yummy dishes to share with her. Anyway, today I ended up doing a little experiment. I made a batch of meatballs (I was feeling the urge to meditatively roll raw meat in my hands ) I added a lot of blended raw onion (it looked like almost a cup of onion for a pound of meat) , tomato paste, chopped spinach and some milk-soaked bread. Seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, Italian seasonings....They actually came out quite juicy and tender- different than how I usually make meatballs, but a relative success! They're now individually frozen and ready for quick, low-maintenance dinners. One quick question- would smooth natural peanut butter work OK for the peanut butter burgers, or does it have to be the ultra-smooth homogenized kind? Look forward trying out more suggestions. Thank you!

Hi all, Grocery shopper for the week just picked up REALLY lean ground beef, and I'm not quite sure what to do with it. Usually I make burgers, meatballs or meatloaf with ground beef but I have a feeling that meat this lean won't work well in these applications. What do you think? And if it is, what ideas do you have for me to use this? Only stipulation I have is that I don't eat pork, so anything bacon-wrapped is out for me .....

Thanks everyone. Just went with a flavorful rub on the steak.... It wasn't very expensive, but I'll see what I can do with a little sweetener. I'm sick right now and my taste buds are shot....at the most I lose another tablespoon of sugar or honey. I did add water before storing in the fridge for fear that it would permanently become one with my Pyrex container when refrigerated . Thanks for the advice!

I was getting components for a steak dinner ready for tomorrow. Wanted to reduce a bottle of balsamic down by half as part of a simple sauce (reduced balsamic swirled with a little butter)... Well, I accidentally dozed off , and woke up (thank goodness!) to a reduction that's 1/4 the original volume. There's a hint of bitterness, kind of like caramel that's been taken just a shade too long, and this stuff is THICK (actually forms threads when I stick a fork in it and pull it out!) Any suggestions for what to do? I was thinking of mixing in a little honey and water to balance the flavor and texture out...but maybe I should just come up with a different sauce for the steak, and find another use for the balsamic reduction..... Suggestions, please?

The potato finger cracks me up! Truly enjoying the blog so far...looking forward to more great food this week.

To echo what many others have said: -I marinate the meat in red wine or a little balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic overnight. -I do brown lightly floured meat to develop fond. Then, I brown tomato paste till caramelized in the leftover drippings before adding in the vegetables/dry herbs + meat and finally the liquid -I've found that good-quality store broth is perfectly acceptable, but homemade broth can make a huge difference -If you're not adding the vinegar at the very end, you might want to try that. I find that the brightness it adds dulls quickly unless it's added a the very last minute. -If you love spicy food as much as I do, you might want to add a vinegar-based hot sauce in place of some of the vinegar -To add some thickness, a beurre manie does work very well. Sometimes I add roasted garlic into the butter/flour mix for flavor purposes. -More experimental additions that have worked well for me: Chipotles in adobo sauce Citrus zest or orange juice smoked paprika Good luck in your quest!

Yum. Cumin is one of my favorite spices. Especially when it is used in a spice rub for meat that contains... SMOKED PAPRIKA.

I like to stuff zucchini halves with a Greek-spiced ground lamb mixture and cover that with bechamel (riff off of moussaka)- GROUND LAMB.

Kristin, what a wonderful, thoughtful gift! Having the scrapbook can help her feel more confident in the kitchen and welcome, especially if you're including family recipes. You have to make sure your nephew is fed well, right?

Dockhl, I substituted rolled oats for 1/2 cup of the flour in the recipe. I ended up using the same amount of water, but ended up with a stiffer dough (I think the oatmeal had a higher capacity for absorbing water). I thought it was delicious and am now working on a loaf with rolled oats as a substitution for 1/3 of the flour. Not sure if it's going to work with the higher proportion because the weight of the oats maight make the infrastructure collapse, but we'll see! I'd love to hear about any other oat-related suggestions....

That's a great idea! Well, I'll report back on this loaf after I've experimented with freezing and reheating. Hopefully others can too. If nothing revives it appropriately for straight-up consumption, I can recycle it into stuffing, bread pudding, croutons, strata....Thank goodness for ingenious ancestors who figured out uses for less-than-pristine bread!

Annecros (or anyone ), I was wondering if you could comment on the texture of the bread after freezing (especially if you've made loaves with only wheat flours). Also, do you thaw on the countertop? Reheat straight from frozen? I'm making another loaf to experiment with reheating and freezing/thawing methods. And ingredients, too . This loaf has oatmeal subbed for some of the flour and a little old dough (about 1/4 cup) incorporated.

Arriba!, I'd asked about rapid-rise vs. instant vs. active dry. It appears from these posts that all 3 have been used with success. I hapened to use Fleishmann's Rapid Rise for Bread Machines, and can happily say the resulting loaf is delicious! Used 3 cups AP white flour, 1/4 tsp yeast, 2 tsp kosher salt (Morton's), and 1.5 cups + 1 TB water. 1st rise was 20 hours (stuck it out of the way in the oven), 2nd rise was 2 hrs. Probably incorporated another 3 TB of flour with the folding process. Dusted the 2nd rise towel liberally (I mean LIBERALLY ) with yellow cornmeal. I didn't feel like the volume was doubled after the 2nd rise, but the cast iron dutch oven had been pre-heating for an hour and, limited on time, I popped that doughball in. This is where one small problem arose. As the dough rolled in, it folded on itself so that some of the cornmeal was now folded into the internal structure of the loaf. Oh well- shook the pot, covered it, baked on the baker's tile-lined floor of the gas oven for 25 min (450 F), finished off uncovered for 20 minutes. Came out of the pot with no problem. Wow- that was one noisy lil' loaf of bread! I heard it crackling one room over as it cooled. The final shape was rather flat, as the dough as quite wet and I knew it wasn't risen quite enough the 2nd time. Barely waited 45 minutes, and sliced off a heel. Took a little work to get through that crisp crust with an old, dull serrated knife. This bread is the motivator I've needed to finally get a new one. Cornmeal on exterior got nice and toasty. Cornmeal accidentally folded inside the crust didn't adversely affect flavor, though it made a funny yellow stripe through the middle of the loaf . Texture of the crust was fantastically crisp, internal crumb was moist and similar to foccacia. Flavor was tasty but I think a little more salt would be helpful. I'm very curious to see how the bread keeps for a day or two. Or how it keeps for a day. Might not last too long.....

Yay! I've loved reading this thread. I've only been able to see re-runs on ABC family- silly cable co. doesn't have the CW Anyway, 2 Gilmore Girls memories I have are: 1. Scene where Lorelai opens a pack of bagged salad, pours in some dressing and sticks a fork in it to eat right out of the bag. (I think this was the episode after Rory and Dean fell asleep at Miss Patty's) 2. Scene where Sukie is freaking out because Jackson is going to deep fry the turkey for Thanksgiving. I love how she would allow him to THINK he was making the turkey on his own but planned to add her own touches to it in the oven without his knowledge (I think she as going to add some onion or rub it with some herb butter...can't remember specifically....)

Hi Everyone! Today was a crazy day, so 30 minutes before the party, I threw a marinated cold dish together using what looked best at the grocery store. Chunks of mushrooms and bell pepper (red, yellow and green) in a dressing of balsamic, olive oil, roasted garlic, dried herbs, salt and pepper. I usually make marinated vegetables a day in advance, so I was worries the flavor wouldn't get soaked up.... Turned out well enough, and it had a nice textural/temperature to the (delicious) chili. Thanks so much for your suggestions- definitely got my brain unstuck!

I'm so excited to see everyone's results! I have sadly not been able to start this baking project because I can NOT find instant yeast anywhere in local grocery stores! My unserstanding is that instant yeast is different than rapid rise or regular active dry yeast..... What's a girl to do? As a novice baker, I'm not sure is any substitutions for the instant yeast are appropriate. Suggestions, please? And snowangel, I hope your LeCreuset is OK. Thank goodness for Barkeeper's Friend- and helping hands!

Hi Everyone, Tomorrow I'm going to a potluck. Host is providing traditional Texas chili (plus a vegetarian chili-like stew) and cornbread, and we're asked to bring side dish or dessert. Since sweets aren't my strong suit, any suggestions for what to bring as a side? I was going to make guacamole, but the avocados I got don't look like they're going to ripen in time (I could risk paper bagging them with an apple...). Another guest is bringing homemade salsa (not sure if it's red or green). Any other options you can think of? And if it's fried, could you please let me know if it can be done in advance?

Thanks for the tip, Devlin! And I have to echo the sentiment- your breads look AMAZING and I hope my mine will bear some resemblance to those loaves. Just looking at them in a chilly, flourescent-lighted office made me feel warm. rxrfrx, you advice has given me more confidence in trying the bread without the parchment layer. I might try it sans parchment first. Worst case scenario is I have to scrub the bottom layer of crust out of the pot.. and then try it with a parchment round