quiet1

'I think it looks vaguely like parts of the bones I've bought for my dog, the ones in pet stores that have been coated in some mystery sauce and dried, but I wasn't going to say it until this comment.

Strictly speaking this was more of a 4am snack, because I had a migraine yesterday and that throws my schedule all out of whack (I can't eat while I have the headache so I end up eating at odd times once I start feeling better.) But it was tasty - grilled cheese with some leftover cheddar from the deli (so nothing super fancy) and a nicely ripe pear from a local farm. Could've done with a cup of tomato soup too, but we don't have any. Gotta put that on the shopping list.

I keep passing the subject line of this topic and thinking "are you kidding me?" It is very silly and I'd have a hard time buying from someone who marketed it that way because that is too hipster to be tolerated.

The best I've seen that takes into account this aspect is something like "a bunch of carrots without tops (about 2lb)" or similar. So you have a ballpark for what the recipe author's bunch looks like. It isn't quite precise but doesn't leave you completely guessing either.

I don't understand anyone who doesn't consider a bookshelf for cookbooks to be a vital part of a kitchen-area in a home. (I am willing to allow for the cookbooks to be kept elsewhere, like in a den, for more leisurely reading, but no cookbooks at all anywhere is highly suspicious.)

Did you under cook the egg a little from how you ultimately wanted it to allow for a bit more cooking while the whole thing was being browned? I'm definitely going to experiment with that idea, browning the tortilla makes it look much more appealing than other egg wraps and breakfast burritos, as does having some fresh vegetables included. My housemate likes some sliced avocado with ground chipotle or similar sprinkled over it with his eggs - I bet that would be a tasty addition also.

They spend the dinner money on places like support groups now - my mom's cancer support group a few times a year has a meal sponsored by a drug rep, including the annual Christmas party. I guess getting patients asking for drugs by name is the next best thing to trying to bribe the doctors? (Alas, I don't think much of the place they always have the Christmas party. For the price I think they could do much better - it's an Italian cafe type place so it's basically just pizza and some pasta also with cheese in the sauce, and maybe a salad. There isn't a lot of variety and if you have any kind of diet restrictions you're out of luck unless you order something else and pay yourself off the normal menu. Which I find particularly absurd given salad is usually the only vegetable option and yet people with my mom's type of cancer are generally recommended to stay away from uncooked vegetables that can't be peeled or scrubbed. Like, they can't do a pan of some kind of sautéed vegetables?)

I know it's an old post, but any chance of a quick overview of ingredients and method? That looks super tasty. My breakfast this morning was leftovers. Cottage pie from the other night topped with some of the gravy from last night's pot roast, which significantly improved the not-enough-sauce issue in the cottage pie. (The gravy was made from water and some red wine and a couple bay leaves cooked with the roast, which I then reduced a bit on the stove top before adding some extra salt, pepper, and a shot of low sodium soy sauce. Thickened with a slurry of corn starch as I wanted it to cling to the pot roast.) The meat mixture in the cottage pie also has a better flavor in general having sat in the fridge overnight, so I think if I wanted to make The Ultimate Cottage Pie I might experiment with making the meat mixture the night before so the flavors have time to blend. Then heat, top with mashed potatoes, into the oven. I'm probably too lazy to actually try that, though, unless I do it sometime as a way of partly preparing dinner in advance. (Meat mix and potatoes in the freezer separately, to be combined and heated before serving. Benefit being you don't have to put it in the freezer in a large oven safe container.)

They need some kind of gift wrapping and gift shopping detritus scattered around them and suddenly everyone would empathize entirely.

Has never failed me. Although I don't like huge roast potatoes, so I cut mine into smaller pieces (1-2 bites worth) before cooking. I also haven't always been able to set them on a burner (due to lack of space while cooking other dishes) to keep the pan hot while the potatoes are added - using a very heavy pan usually holds enough heat that the burner isn't necessary. You do also need the right sort of potato - waxy potatoes aren't bad roasted, but they won't have the same crispy exterior.

I didn't think it was for the insides, it is to soften the outsides so when you drain them and they dry out a little they go fluffy, which gives a nicer crisp shell on the potatoes once roasted. I also salt the water, which gets some seasoning into them. I prefer to use a heavier pan than a sheet pan, too. Something like a shallow oven safe sauté pan or lasagna pan that has some mass to it, so when you add the potatoes it doesn't all cool off too much. Keeping the heat up is key. The British cook Delia Smith is a roast potato queen, my method is modified from hers.

Cottage pie experiment with baked Parmesan asparagus. Per my mom's request I used a recipe she found for cottage pie instead of winging it as I usually do - I'm not super thrilled with the end result. Not enough gravy to my taste plus it is missing a little something. I did keep the salt super low for my mom, which didn't help, but even with salt added it needs something. Going to make a gravy tomorrow to perk up the leftovers. The asparagus by contrast ended up too salty. The recipe I used for that called for salt and pepper and olive oil and I think for my taste the salt from the cheese is enough. Still have a bunch of asparagus to eat so need to come up with a new experiment for tomorrow. I find the peeling and chopping and boiling the most tedious part of making mashed potatoes so I made a huge pot and from this meal also put enough in the freezer for a side dish on another day, win.

I don't want to brine because my mother is on a low sodium diet, so I try to save the salt for where it is absolutely necessary. (I'm still trying to work out how I will do Thanksgiving, my favorite turkey method calls for brining.)

Yup, standard boneless skinless from the grocery store. I will check for the tendons, thanks for the tip. Might it be worth putting a tiny bit of chicken stock in each bag too? I have some frozen that I made from a good chicken (you know, one with flavor) - I'm wondering if it might help improve the blandness of supermarket chicken? Or just make a sauce with it to drown the chicken breast in after?

No photos, but we had quite a nice dinner tonight: Raclette cheese (which my housemate brought back with him from Switzerland - it's the store brand and we like it better than the imported stuff you can get here, go figure) with slices of locally-made bratwurst and the requisite potatoes, lightly buttered asparagus (didn't want to go too heavy on the fat because the cheese is so rich) and sliced ripe pears and some leftover mixed leaf salad (did I mention how rich the cheese is?) The bratwurst was the experimental addition this round and I'm quite pleased with how it balanced with the cheese - it was a bit spicy for what I've come to expect as bratwurst per German family friends, but mellowed out by the cheese that worked quite well and the flavors were complimentary. Better than the sliced ham we tried last time. (My housemate couldn't find anywhere serving raclette with meat when he was in Switzerland, and the Internet is all full of crazy ideas, so I have no idea how traditional it is to serve raclette with meat, but there's a place to heat meat on the raclette grill we have and I prefer having a protein source in addition to the cheese, so I've been experimenting. The ham was okay but it didn't add much.) Definitely a meal to repeat. I suspect it would really hit the spot on a cold winter day if you'd been out being quite active and really needed some calories.

I'll try some sage with at least a couple then. These are not the greatest chicken breasts ever so I don't expect them to be super flavorful plain, but everyone knows buttery sauces can hide a multitude of sins. I'll report back with how they turn out.

I am a total SV newbie - I have an Anova I got as a gift to break in, though, and I keep thinking I need to do something special but reading this thread I realized I should just use it already. Currently I have some chicken breast I was going to do in a pan to accompany some gnocchi in sage butter sauce, but perhaps SV would work just as well with less chance of overcooking? Should I do the chicken breasts plain or should I stick some butter and sage in the bag with them? (I'm wondering if the sage flavor would be too strong?)

Those are some great ideas. Thank you. I know they're not super expensive but they're expensive enough and cleaning the oven is enough of a pain that I keep shying away from experimenting. I kept having mental images of a complete blowout and sauce and cheese all over the oven. But with the various issues in the household, being able to have good food in the freezer that is easy to heat up is a lifesaver, and freezing stuff in normal pans either requires a massive stash of normal pans or a lot of fiddling to freeze something in the pan, then remove once frozen, then put back in the pan to thaw and cook, etc. And I've done smaller lasagnas before in small loaf pans (for immediate consumption) that worked out very well when I had a vegetarian housemate. (I just set up an assembly line with meat cooked separately from the sauce, and some extra vegetables for the vegetarian one, and mixed as I layered. Didn't take much more time and everyone got good food.) I love the quiche idea also. Do you serve in the paper pan or peel it off before serving?

#1 reason I didn't go to cooking school.

That's an interesting idea. Although most of the pans I've seen aren't really in a condition I'd consider acceptable for giving - but maybe I only see stuff that has already been picked over. I do buy nice plates and platters in consignment shops, for gift giving, though. Makes a nicer presentation of cookies or if I take a cheese plate or something to a party, I leave the plate if the host/hostess wants it. Anyone with lots of experience with these things think they'd work okay for lasagna or would they turn into a soggy mess like I fear?

I've primarily seen them used in gifting or selling (at a bake sale or similar) something like a quick bread or fruitcake type item that benefits from having the added structure of the pan for transport and packaging. i also used the tree shaped ones one year to give a gift of frozen cinnamon rolls that the recipients just had to let thaw and rise and pop in the oven. I kind of wonder about using them for freezing individual sized portions of lasagna and other 'bake' type dishes, but I've never been brave enough to try since I'm worried the moisture level of the sauce will be too much for the paper to handle. And of course with the aluminum pans you get reaction between tomato sauce and the metal.

I have a pretty bad shellfish allergy (yes, I take Benedryl and my epi pens anywhere we go to eat) and frankly, I don't mind being told if a place doesn't feel they can serve me safely. (Usually this is at ethnic restaurants where some stuff is prepared in advance or ingredients are imported and so they can't be 100% certain there isn't cross contamination or a stealth ingredient.) As long as they handle it politely, we just go elsewhere and usually if friends or family go back later without me, I find out if the food is good and then will recommend it to other people who don't have allergies, because good food plus good service is worth it. Though I would be sad if all places took that approach since then I'd never be able to go to restaurants. Which would be sad.

My mom's lasagna recipe uses regular noodles without any pre-soaking or cooking. Just add a little extra water to the sauce (I think like 1/4-1/2 cup? I just eyeball it) and cover tightly for the first 30-40 minutes so the noodles have time to cook in the liquid before it bakes off. Then uncover, top with final cheese layer (shredded cheese - easiest just to do it after uncovering or it tries to stick to the foil/lid) and cook until browned and bubbly.End result has always been nicely cooked noodles and a lasagna that behaves itself on the plate - actual visible layers, doesn't try to slide apart when you try to get a bite. I hate slippery soggy lasagna. (Eta: not saying people who do use no cook noodles get wet lasagnes! Just describing what my mom's recipe ends up as. I was so very confused when I first ordered lasagna after moving to England and got what looked to me like a pile of soggy noodles in a confused puddle of pasta and bechamel sauces. Yuck. I have since had a good version of that type, but I had to get over the shock to my system before being brave enough to try again. )

I have exactly one and I use it in a non stick pan for my version of scrambled eggs. The eggs and the occasional reheating of soup are the only reason I have the non stick pan, too. It works well for eggs (but I had a couple duds - had to work to find one that wasn't stupidly floppy) but if I actually need to whisk something like egg whites, it is not the tool I reach for.