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Eden

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    Gnudi

    in Italy: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    I had no idea you could make them in advance! I will have to try that - I adore gnudi :biggrin:

    My recipe calls for squeezing the spinach in a linen cloth pretty much till your hands hurt to get as much moisture out as possible.

    Cooking and baking for those with severe food allergies intolerances/sensitivities

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Poor kid! one of my friends has almost the same set of allergies, and it took her a while to build up a repertoire of good dishes.

    I'm blithely assuming you have a Whole Foods or similar grocery available in your area to get things like goat yoghurt and gluten free pasta? I love meyenberg goat butter since unlike other brands it doesn't taste "goaty" so you can use it for sweets.

    You should check with the mom, but I'm guessing that sheep based dairy is also an option, which allows sheeps milk feta for greek salad and pecorino romano instead of Parmiggiano if it turns out that Parm is a problem after all.

    Here's the Gluten Free Flour mix that I use. Once you have a working GF pie crust then you can make a jillion sweets of course, plus some basic savories like pot-pies suddenly come back on the menu etc.

    Here are a couple recipes I've served successfully for my friend:

    This fruit stuffed pork loin is really good & you can either sub in goat butter or lard or use a soy free crisco.

    Eggless oatmeal cookies using GF flour and raisins instead of chocolate chips.

    Tembleque :wub: (a Puerto Rican coconut pudding)

    Chicken salad made with goat yogurt instead of mayo/sour cream (I sub this in a lot of recipes for her & it usually, though not always, works quite well.)

    Roasted portobello mushrooms with goat brie melted on top and a little pepper/spices :wub:

    Chicken sauteed with madeira and fresh grapes and a dollop of goat yoghurt.

    IT's hard to think around the limitations sometimes but really there are so many options out there. And the more practice she gets, the easier it will be to think "oh if I just substitute X" this recipe would be great!

    And Pontormo, don't be dissin' the asafoetida, it's scary on it's own sure, but a little pinch in a big pot of food can add a fabulous depth of flavor to a dish :smile:

    Vancouver/Western Canada Ingredient Sources Topic

    in Western Canada: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    A friend recently introduced me to "Luc Bergeron's Number 3 Dark" maple syrup that she picked up on Granville Island (I've only ever had the light stuff you find here in the US), and now I need to get some of my own, because "my god, why did nobody every tell me????" :wub:

    I meant to post this earlier, but hopefully it's not too late... I'll be up in Vancouver for a fairly overbooked trip this weekend, so we will not have a chance to swing by the GI mkt, but will be passing through the Downtown, Chinatown, and we usually leave town by taking Main street down through Little India Anyplace where I could find a similar good dark maple syrup in any of those locales?

    I gotta have another fix man! :biggrin:

    Confections! (2006-2012)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    drooling over the butter mints!  what recipe did you use??!!  thanks!

    Here is the recipe. Kim

    I was just thinking about making butter mints for the holidays. Do you think this recipe would work well with molds as well? I have a jillion candy molds, and need to justify their existance every once in a while :wink:

    I'm guessing that the ingerdient "16 oz. box (4 c.) 10X, sifted" is superfine sugar?

    thanks for any guidance, I've never made mints...

    Teaching a young cook

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted · Edited by Eden (log)

    Don't forget casseroles, and rice pilaf type dishes - big budget stretchers for me back in the day...

    but annecros is right - it's important to emphasize balanced nutrition and not living on beans and pasta alone no matter how cheap they are :smile:

    Also help her find your local "grocery outlet" and if you have one, a wholesale grocer that's open to the public. Both great budget helpers.

    ETA: Oh and growing your own fresh herbs (even if in a windowbox) because that way they're right there when you need them, plus they often cost a fortune in the grocery store!

    Prepping pumpkin

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Now I have to try a side by side test. There's just no way around it.  :biggrin:

    Next step is finding the right pumpkin. Have no idea where...

    In the meantime while I agree that jack o lantern pumpkins don't have enough flavor for pies they do OK as a light squash in other (generally savory) applications. Soup, gratin etc...

    Waste not, want not, right? :smile:

    If You Were an Expat...

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Hi Klary,

    something you might also take into consideration is knowing good markets in different neighborhoods. Knowing where to find the best butcher in town is great, but knowing where to find a good butcher near one's home is often more important...

    Also from Nina C's comment re ettiquette, I bet for the newer expats it would be helpful to know any little rules/norms for shopping. How are you supposed to greet the shopkeepers, can you touch the produce, etc. And yes a quick kitchen vocabulary they could take away would be helpful. Dictionaries almost never tell you the difference between a stock-pot and a saucier, or baking powder vs. baking soda etc....

    PS I found packaged stroopwaffels recently and while I know they can't compare to the ones you get fresh, they were very tasty & made me think of you :smile:

    Quinces

    in Cooking

    Posted

    according to my notes, (and I've never done a side by side to test this) the variety that is not as fragrant actually has the better flavor, but I don't think I've ever actually had a choice, so I just take whatever I can get :smile:

    I have a batch of quince-butter working away in the crock pot right now :wub: I'd never tried this technique before, but will be making apple butter etc this way form now on - it's SO easy!

    Quinces

    in Cooking

    Posted

    poach them in red wine (Beaujolais ) with little sugar, a cinnamon stick & a vanilla bean husk for about 20 minutes then add pears & poach for another 10 minutes or so.

    Quince sorbet is also spectacular as the pectin really helps the texture.

    eG Foodblog: divina - Over the Tuscan Stove

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    gallery_28661_3841_60272.jpg

    this photo just caught my breath - I love sfoglitelle :wub:

    I hauled a kilo of zolfini home from your Market on my last trip to Firenze, they're just wonderful & there's no other bean that replicates the flavor. I'd love to know if the growers are right in their claims that the bean has been in cultivation since pre-Columbus. (most beans we eat today originated in south america)

    I'm supposed to get together with friends soon to plan our next Europe trip and I suspect I'll be using links to your blog to help convince them we need to spend more time in Tuscany :laugh:

    thanks for taking the time to blog, I'm really looking forward to the rest of the week!

    eG Foodblog: Eden - Italian Renaissance Banquet in Seattle

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Thank you everyone for your kind words!

    Eden that was amazing. I am especially impressed that everything looked so beautiful, I know from experience that when you are cooking for large numbers, garnishing can suffer. You did a terrific job and should be really proud of yourselves!

    Now go and play with the ferrets and then put your feet up!  :smile:

    That pretty food was all Team Garnish. And I can't tell you how much I respect what they do. I can throw a piece of parsley on a plate, but it would never occur to me to tuck gold dragees among the petals of a rose... I do sometimes give a little direction, especially if there's something in a recipe I'm trying to enhance, like asking them to put the candied rose petals & ginger on the cheesecakes, or in the case of the carrots the original recipe called for parsley as a garnish, but mostly I just let them do their thing & the results are amazing!

    Wow and Double Wow. Do you have that benumbed, without direction feeling this morning that always hits me after the completion of a crazy-busy project's completion?

    yes, that's pretty much how I felt all day yesterday. I actually had trouble sleeping saturday night because I could still hear everyone's voices in my head trying to get my help for stuff "Eden, where's the saffron?, "Eden, the beef isn't heating", "Eden, we're out of Ricotta", "Eden" "Eden", "Eden"... :laugh::laugh::laugh:

    If you're fixing large quantities, I guess bulk saffron makes sense, but I thought it degraded fairly quickly.  Does it?

    All I can say is: Oh, wow! That was one impressive event!  You don't do this often, do you?  I can't imagine putting out Herculean efforts like this one on a regular basis, or even a semi-regular basis.

    This has been a fabulous blog and an interesting departure from the more traditional fare.  Thanks for inviting us vicariously to dinner!

    actually saffron lasts longer than you'd think - I have a little bit of really excellent saffron lying around that's still stronger that stuff that's a full year fresher!

    And goodness no I don't do this often. we do one really big banquet like this once a year (and usually even that isn't quite so lavish) and then 2-4 smaller projects each year. We also rotate who's in charge to avoid burning people out...

    Thanks for coming along & watching, it was exhausting, but a lot of fun!

    Seattle opinions and recommendations

    in Pacific Northwest & Alaska: Dining

    Posted

    Restaurants I will be visiting outside the city:

    Le Gourmand

    35th St. Bistro

    Lombardi's

    Since when are we in Ballard/Fremont outside the city??? :raz:

    I'd move Lombardi's down on your list, they are not as good as they once were (which was never fine dining) and add LeGourmand's adjacent Sambar for lovely coctails & yummy frites.

    Also to consider is Via Tribunali for Neapolitan style pizza (they seem to have up/down quality, but my experiences have been positive)

    eG Foodblog: Eden - Italian Renaissance Banquet in Seattle

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    That's genuinely awe-inspiring, Eden.  And to do it on $7.33 per person -I just totally prostrate myself at your feet!

    The only way this works is that I'm not buying the lovely carrots from the farmers market that I would get if I was making a dish for myself, or the pasture rasied beef, or the really good saba, but the cheap stuff in jumbo paks from the Costco or the Cash & Carry etc. and saffron's not so expensive when you buy it in bulk :biggrin:

    I should have a little time tomorrow to answer any last questions. I do apologize if in the craziness of my week I missed anybody!

    And now I'm going to go to sleep, and try not to think of all those projects I've been putting off till "after the banquet"...

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