Bella S.F.
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Posts posted by Bella S.F.
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(I don't know how do get the quotes to appear. If anyone can let me know.... "Thanks")
hummingbirdkiss, I actually have quite a few of the Sunset cookbooks. I haven't used them for years, but I can remember making fairly easy meals many of which, if I remember correctly, were pretty good. It is interesting how my cooking has evolved, and what I once thought of as special, I now would not ever make.
I don't know why you might have two, I do know why that has happened to me...
In cleaning out a closet to get it ready for friends who will be visiting from Chicago, I found TWO copies of the politically incorrect 1001 Oriental Recipes. I don't think that I ever made anything from that book, but I must have found it so special, that I bought an extra copy so that I could give it as a present to someone else. (I tend to buy extra copies of books that I like to give as presents. I have turned a lot of friends onto Donna Hay that way.)
In the same bag as the "Oriental" cookbooks was another I can add to my earlier list of "I can't believe that I own this." ... Favorite Brand Name Recipe Cookbook by the Editors of Consumer Guide What was I thinking? Now I know what to do with that can of Stokely's Finest Chopped Sauerkraut. If I only had a green pepper.
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Oh, where to begin... some of these I know I got from my mother, although some of the "treasures", such as the Joy's of Jello series, I cannot remember her ever using. Then there are the Cambell Soup cookbooks. I do think that she used these because she could get home from work late and still get "dinner" (a different time and a different definition of the word) on the table.
In another bag in the garage there is a series, the "Lytton Microwave Cookbooks". I am guilty of purchasing them back when I bought my very first microwave. I did not realize that microwaves were really just for reheating or defrosting. I had visions of creating amazing meals in no time at all.
These would not fall under the "embarrassing" label, but rather the "amusing" and "period pieces" category. I have some booklets, (I am not sure how else to describe them) that bring back the Ozzie and Harriet era. For example, one of the books has a woman on the cover... dress, pearls, apron... standing at the stove, stirring something in a pan. The first page states, "Now you do not have to panic when your husband calls and says that he is bringing his boss home for dinner. Casseroles are the way to go..." The pictures and the writing are both quite amusing, and the recipes ... dreadful. Great fun!
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Kim, that salmon looks wonderful. Can you tell us what you did?
Thanks!
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Someone who cuts raw chicken on a cutting board, quickly brushes her towel over the board and then cuts onions for the salad.
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I am not familiar with the term "silk" as in silking shrimp or chicken. (David Ross and dockhl's entries) Could someone explain that to me?
Thanks!
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I use a squat, flat mason jar with a spring lid (with one of those rubber sealers around the lid.) It has a nice sized opening on the top which makes it is easy to get my hand in and grab what I want. I also like the fact that it is completely covered so that it does not get unidentified flying objects in it.
If I am seasoning meat, I try to only touch the meat with one hand and use the other hand for getting the salt and sprinkling it where I want it. If I know that I will need both hands for the meat, I put some of the salt in a small bowl so that I won't contaminate the rest of the salt. It drives me crazy when I watch people on cooking show working with the meat, then they stick their hands in a large bowl of salt, and then they use the pepper grinder. All without washing their hands. Yeh... I would really like to use that pepper mill to grind some pepper on my salad after that.
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jende,
I don't know what area you live in. Do you have a true Italian deli around? They usually have the best prosciutto. I like buying it at a place that will slice it fresh for you. There is a deli here that carries amazing things from Italy, but has the prosciutto aready sliced and layed out on paper. I have found that often the only really good pieces are those at the top.
Many Whole Foods stores carry a few different types of prosciutto. I buy what looks good. Sometimes it is the Parma and sometimes San Danielle. There are also more and more GOOD American meat companies that are making prosciutto. I have found some of them very good. One thing to do... ask them to slice you a piece before you buy it. That will let you know if you will want to use it.
When I can't get to a deli, I often buy the packages of Prosciutto di Parma from Costco. I do tend to look at a lot of packages till I find one that looks good. Of course, you are still taking a chance that the top stuff is much better than what is underneath. However, I find that when I am cooking with it, (wrapping something in it to bake or using some in a pasta sauce) it doesn't always matter if it is really the perfect stuff that you would like to just pop in your mouth. Baking it in a hot oven sort of melts everything together.
Good luck finding what you want!
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Made the Strawberry, Rhubarb, Ginger Crisp tonight. WOW!!! Served it with some Haagen-Dazs Light Vanilla Ice Cream. You'd never know that it was light ice cream. Even gave us the excuse that we could have extra crisp because we were saving so many calories on the ice cream.
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Made another wonderful dish from her book, The Instant Cook, "Roasted Prosciutto and Bocconcini Salad". Could have eaten a whole platter of them. Actually, we can't think of a way to make enough to be able to serve company as an appie.
Marlene, have you gotten your books and tried any of the recipes yet?
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I have read this thread avidly for a few years now. I have posted our meals only a couple of times , quite a long time ago, because I don't take pictures (tried to get a picture posted once, it looked great on my computer but never made it to the web-site).
Anyway, I want to try to share some of our recent wonderful meals.
Sunday we made another great and simple but delicious dish from one of the Donna Hay books. It was "Roasted Prosciutto and Bocconcini Salad". Bocconcini "balls" (fresh mozzerella), wrapped in prosciutto placed on thin slices of crusty bread, drizzled with really good olive oil (brought back from Tuscany), and pepper, baked, then plated with tomatoes (I used halved small sugar plum tomatoes, recipe called for regular), and basil leaves, drizzled with good balsamic (also brought back from Tuscany). The recipe also called for arugula but I didn't feel like going to the store, so we just used extra tomatoes and basil. WOW, it was really delicious. We thought that it would be an amazing appie for company, but we would never be able to make as many as people would want to eat.
Followed that up with some wonderful filet mignons, seared in a cast iron griddle pan and finished in the oven to a beautiful medium rare, and roasted asparagus.
Yesterday tried a new recipe "Lamb and Eggplant Gratin with North African Spices". It was yummy. The recipe came from the Leite's Culinaria web-site. I've gotten quite a few wonderful recipes from that site. The recipes tend to come from well known chefs and their books. It is really worth looking at it.
I wanted to make the Strawberry, Rhubarb, Ginger Crisp that Klary had made, but I was too tired. So tonight it is leftovers (the eggplant/lamb gratin is supposed to be better the next day) and hopefully, I will get the crisp made.
Here is a link to the home page of the Leite's Culinaria web-site.
http://www.leitesculinaria.com/
Click on "Recipes", then go to "Cookbooks". Most of the recipes I have tried come from that area, but there are great things in all the other parts of the site also. You can often just find something great to read. And... they are always updating the site and adding new recipes.
I hope that some of you will enjoy.
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I never know when it is going to be silly question...
When a recipe calls for say 2 bunches of fresh spinach, stems removed, is it O.K. to use the baby spicnach leaves that come bagged, without all of the grit that you get with fresh bunches of spinach? I am talking about recipes where you are going to cook the spinach first. Does it seem to make a difference? (Why don't they just say __oz. of fresh spinach?) The bagged spinach is just so much easier.
Thanks!
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Grew up with Charles Chips in the Philadelphia area. They would be delivered to your door by, what else, a Charles Chips truck. I couldn't imagine or find anything better. They came in a large can, the contents of whicn would hardly make it to the next delivery date. This is where you came up with the famous "nobody can eat/order just one." (in this case can, NOT potato chip.) They also made many other treats, (great beer pretzels), all delivered to you in cans. When the delivery truck made its rounds back to you, you would just turn your empty cans in for new ones. We actually have an empty can down in the garage. I guess we missed a delivery somewhere along the way.
I make it a rule, which I can usually follow, not to buy potato chips. I cannot seem to open a bag and then not eat the entire contents. When I have them at someone else's house I do like the bags of Terra chips, the mixed variety. I also like the plain is it Tom's or Tim's? (I think that that is where this whole thread started with a striped bag that someone could not identify.) Kettles waffle chips are also good, and there is a Hawaiian chips that Trader Joes makes that is really good also.
Gee, now I'm hoping that at the next party we go to, they will be serving ptoato chips.
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lucylou,
Thanks for the tip. The stores on the list are easy enough to get to. I have been trying hard not to buy ice cream, (there is a corrolation between the fact that I buy it and then we eat it), but that sounds like it really needs to be tried.
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lucylou,
I have never seen dr. bob's ice cream. That particular variety sounds amazing. Is it just local for the Sacramento area? I've never seen it down here in the Bay Area.
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doctortim,
Could you please share how you made your "best ever" carbonara. I have been trying different recipes since we had some amazing carbonara in Lucca and also in Montecatini Terme. Nothing I have made has come close to what we had. I realize that some of this may be the fact that just about anything tastes better in Italy, but I am sure that I can do better here.
I would appreciate any guidance.
Thanks!
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I have been trying to figure out how to "cut and paste" a picture and have not yet been successful.
Marlene, your rack of lamb and Potatoes Dauphinois from Tuesday, look so delicious. How did you get the lamb cooked that perfectly? We like our meat medium rare, but often the outside gets a bit more done than the inside. (This happens with prime rib also.) Did you bake it?
Curious also... did you get your Donna Hay cookbooks yet? We made the Thai Lime and Lemongrass Chicken from The Instant Cook, and felt like we were a really good Thai restaurant.
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We made the Thai Lime and Lemongrass Chicken from The Instant Cook tonight. The house smelled like a Thai restaurant, and one bite of it made us feel like we were in a Thai restaurant. (a good thai restaurant.) Thinking of adding peanuts next time. Also looking forward to trying her variations one with shrimp and the other with pork. I recommend it highly.
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I hate feeling, I'll say unintelligent rather than the "st" word, but I needed to Google "tourne" in order to find out what they are. Do most of you folks know what they are and I just missed out on that part of my cooking education?
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I actually always offer two sauces, one tomato based and one mustard vinegar. You should try them both. perhaps you will educate some folks and they may surprise themselves and like it.
Here is a link to a Marlena Spieler recipe. She contributes articles and recipes to the San Francisco Chronicle. This is a great recipe that lends itself to tweeks of your choice.
http://www.marlenaspieler.com/recip200406.shtml
For a vinegar sauce you can't do much better than this one in the eGullet recipe file.
http://recipes.egullet.org/recipes/r509.html
I make this using Chipotle Tabasco Sauce.
Let us know what you choose and how things turn out.
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Thought that I would make this easier to read for folks who do have her cookbooks. Wanted to do this the first time, but felt badly about taking up too much space, however, Iwant it to make sense.
In Classics Book 1
Really like her chicken stock. I substitute chicken broth for some of the water
"Toasted Cheese Sandwiches" on P.36 are just amazing. Who would think you'd need a recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich? She mixes grated cheese with sour cream and dijon. Wow! You relish each bite.
"Chicken, Pancetta, and Mushroom Stew" P. 100 I make extra sauce but use less stock, (I like it a bit richer) and use it over pasta the next day or so.
In The New Cook
"Roast Pork with Apple Stuffing" on P. 110 is great. I sometimes make it with pork tenderloin.
"Saffron Porcini Risotto Cakes" P. 38
For some reason I can't remember what I have made from Off the Shelf or New Food Fast. Perhaps I am just looking too quickly.
The Instant Cook
"Carmelised (her spelling) Pear and Rocket Salad"
"Asparagus with Lemon Risotto" I added prosciutto to it. I also made it on the stove, where the recipe was an oven version. I just felt like making it the other way. The flavors were wonderful.
I know that I have made other things from that book also, but at the moment, can't remember what.
I have tried the different salads with pears and some sort of blue cheese that she has in different books. Have enjoyed different risottos. One of the things that is nice about The Instant Cook is that for many of the recipes she gives three variations. For example under her recipe for "Thai Lime and Lemongrass Chicken" she tells how to adapt it for "Pork with Lime and Peanuts", "Prawns with Lime and Lemongrass", and "Beef with Lime and Tomato".
The New Cook
The only dessert recipe that I have made of her's is the "Peaches and Berries Baked in Cream" P. 174. It was really very good. It did need to bake a bit longer than the recipe said, but I was making so many other things that night that it could have been me.
I am looking through these books now and making a list of what I want to try, hoping that that way I can just pick something off of the list. The books are so "chock full" of great recipes with delectably pictures that if I try to pick one on the spot, I just keep turning and turning and can't choose.
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Marlene, where did you order the books from? I am not that familiar with Flavours and I have never seen or heard of Donna Hay Christmas.
I'm interested in hearing about those two books as well as how you like the others. Please let us know what you make.
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Marlene, which books did you order?
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torakris, looks like we both have really good taste! I also first saw Donna Hay's cookbooks at Costco, the one here in San Francisco. We have a wonderful book store here called Green Apple. They have a HUGE section of cookbooks some new but shelves and stacks of remainders and books they were able to swing a good deal on. They also have an amazing collection of "used" cookbooks. Most of them look like they have never been opened. That's where I satisfy this particular addiction.
Let's see. In Classics Book 1 I like her recipe for chicken stock. The "Toasted Cheese Sandwiches" on P.36 are just amazing. Who would think you'd need a recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich? She mixes grated cheese with sour cream and dijon. Wow! You relish each bite. Really like the "Chicken, Pancetta, and Mushroom Stew". I make extra sauce and then server it over pasta the next day or so. I have tried the different salads with pears and some sort of blue cheese that she has in different books. Have enjoyed different risottos. Really liked the "Saffron Porcini Risotto Cakes" in The New Cook The "Roast Pork with Apple Stuffing" on P. 110 is great. I somtimes make it with pork tenderloin. For some reason I can't remember what I have made from Off the Shelf or New Food Fast. Perhaps I am just looking too quickly. In The Instant Cook there is a "Carmelised (her spelling) Pear and Rocket Salad" which is very good. Made an asparagus and lemon risotto adding some prosciutto to it. I made it on the stove, where the recipe was an oven version. I just felt like making it the other way. The flavors were wonderful. I know that I have made other things from that book also, but at the moment, can't remember what. Looking through these books now,, I am making a list of so many things that I want to try. One of the things that is nice about The Instant Cook is that for many of the recipes she gives three variations. For example under her recipe for "Thai Lime and Lemongrass Chicken" she tells how to adapt it for "Pork with Lime an Peanuts", "Prawns with Lime and Lemongrass", and "Beef with Lime and Tomato".
The only dessert recipe that I have made of her's is the "Peaches and Berries Baked in Cream" P. 174 in The New Cook. It was really very good. It did need to bake a bit longer than the recipe said, but I was making so many other things that night that it could have been me.
What do you like to make from her books?
cherie, as it seems to work with addictions, one person being able to admit what is going on, helps others to do the same. "I'm Bella S.F. and I am a cooking and cookbook addict." I do not know if there is a twelve step program for this, but I am not interested in one, even if there is.
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I noticed that some feel that lox should be used in a pure sense, the way it came from where you bought it (or made it), not cook it. As a matter of coincidence, I was just going through a small stack of Food Sections from the Chronicle that I haven't really read yet. There is a recipe for "Butterfly Pasta with Smoked Salmon & Asparagus." The recipe calls for "6 ounces smoked salmon in small dice." I would think that if they wanted the "other" smoked salmon, they would have stated "6 ounces of smoked salmon flaked". They do have you add the salmon to the sauce at the end. It would just be easier if they said "lox". If, of course, that is what they want you to use.
Hard Boiled Egg 101
in Cooking
Posted
The San Francisco Chronicle did one of their "Best Way" blurbs on what they call hard-cooking eggs. I was unsure of this method because of the amount of time involved, particulary after reading that some people swear by letting them cook covered off the heat, after an initial boil. I tried this methiod, however, and the eggs come out perfectly every time. Sft tender yolks with no trace of a green ring.
They say that they tried a dozen different ways to cook the eggs and this one was fail-proof.
For extra-large eggs, place in a pot in a single layer. Cover the eggs with cold water. Make sure to have the water cover the eggs by at least 1 inch. Bring to a rolling boil. Cook for 8 minutes. (I turn the heat down a bit so that the eggs are not dancing all over the pot.) Remove from the heat, drain off the water, add cold water to cool down the eggs, and peel under cold running water. They say that eggs that are at least a few days old are easier to peel.