LindaK

Welcome. It's never too late to revive an old topic, so when you find something interesting, please post--it will be be new to lots of members. We have a decent food truck scene in Boston and Asian food is well represented. Two of my favorites fit your profile of Asian influenced food featuring locally-grown (not necessarily organic) ingredients. They started with food trucks and were so successful that they each launched a bricks and mortar cafe too. If you're interested, you can look at their menus here: Mei Mei and Bon Me. There's an earlier topic about starting a food truck here that might be helpful to you. Good luck, keep us posted.

Nice muffins. One of them would hit the spot right now. Last night I made gougères, a savory version of choux puffs that includes cheese. I used a mix of emmenthaler and parmesan. I always add a generous pinch of cayenne pepper, which isn't enough to add any heat but it does boost the flavor. They're very nice as a nibble with drinks and people always love them. Alas, I forgot about photos, too busy getting the rest of dinner together before guests arrived.

Some recent news of Aaron: ‘Top Chef’ contestant arrested on domestic violence charges

Open-faced meat pies with spicy lamb filling. I forgot about photos until there were only two left, Recipes for the filling and yogurt-based dough came from Paula Wolfort's The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean. Easy and very tasty.

Still thinking about the main course, but I'd include brioche, as in the comment attributed to Marie Antoinette, "qu'ils mangent de la brioche" (let them eat cake, a rough translation) to the hungry masses who could not afford bread. We know how well that went over. Actually, there's a tradition around here of having school bake sales near polling stations (indeed there's an election day kerfuffle in RI to reinstate them, they've been banned as a felony), So in my house, dessert would come from an election day bake sale.

Another alternative for that smoky flavor would be a bit of smoked paprika. Sweet or hot, as you prefer. It's potent, so don't overdo it, but I love the flavor it gives to beans.

I regularly add lots of finely chopped crystallized ginger to butter cookie dough, and if you have any ginger syrup to sub for a bit of the sugar even better. Let the dough rest overnight in the fridge to boost the flavor. it's not the same thing as your biscuit, but it's still awfully good. I like to add a bit of orange zest too.

Darienne, if it makes you feel better, I'm very lazy about removing the sticky coating on my tomatillos. After pulling off the husk (I find it easier when they're dry), I put them in a colander in the sink, and just roll them around in my hands under running warm water for a few minutes. That's it. I do like to roast them and usually do so under the broiler. Unlike baking them, you do have to watch them so they don't burn. I generally shake the pan a few times so they turn/roll over and cook more evenly. By the way, roasted tomatillos freeze beautifully. A quart freezer bag holds about a pound. Let them defrost in the fridge and they're ready to use. It's wonderful to have fresh salsa verde or a tortilla verde soup in February.

Another one remembered from this morning's baking session: I always put wax paper beneath racks of cookies if I'm going to frost or glaze them. The paper catches drips and make cleanup easy. Not only that, but when I run out of glaze with a few cookies left to go (as happened this morning) there's usually enough accumulated on the wax paper below to finish the batch. This made me remember that when frosting a cake, I put wax paper on the cake plate first. Pull it away when I'm done and voila, a clean plate. Professionals surely have better finesse or tricks for these things but wax paper works for me.

FlyingChopstik, that looks great. I'm curious about the dough. Since I know I won't attempt to make it from scratch, I'm wondering about substitutes like your brik dough or others. I found some "country style" filo recently, which is supposed to be a thick filo. Would that be appropriate, so you think? I've used regular filo before, it was good but very delicate.

On the question of broth, I stake out the simple-is-best position. If I'm making clam chowder from scratch, I want pure clam flavor from my broth. That means when steaming clams, I use water only. Additions such as wine, tomatoes, etc. are fine if I'm going to serve up a bowl of clams, mussels, etc. and sop up the broth with some bread. But for chowder, keep the broth simple. You might want to look through our Chowder cook-off to see how others do it. I also highly recommend Jasper White's 50 Chowders if you want recipes for chowder beyond just the broth.

Latest tasting: a Scottish cider from Thistly Cross. Nice flavor but rather flat. I don't know if that's intentional or if I bought an off bottle. I like a bit of fizz. Expensive at $8. For the record, I found a photo of a cider-based "aperitif" that I last tasted about a year ago from a small French producer. They make excellent cider as well as a fabulous award-winning apple spirit (can't be called Calvados because they aren't in the proper district). Their aperitif is a blend of the cider and apple brandy, and it's just wonderful. I don't know it it's sold commercially but if you are ever in Giverney to visit Monet's home and garden, do yourself a favor and take the short drive to the farm, Le Verger de Giverney, and buy some of each. Cute label, non? Sadly, that bottle has long since been empty.

I didn't grow up with wax paper but it's become a staple in my kitchen for all the good reasons already mentioned. I'd add that it's especially convenient whenever I grate hard cheeses or chocolate. Not only does a sheet catch all the stray bits that inevitably fly away, but you can then easily pick up the whole thing and move it to a scale if needed. Likewise sifting flours or sugars. Also, I always use it to wrap pastry doughs for their rest in the fridge before rolling out. Better than plastic wrap, which can cling too much to delicate doughs.

afn33282, I liked the Malgieri olive oil dough very much. It was very tender, a little flaky, with a subtle olive oil flavor. I think I prefer it to the first recipe I tried, at least for a two crust pie, which was just too rich to have that much olive oil in each bite. I used Malgieri's recipe in a spring form pan. You can see the photo here in the Savory Baking topic. Though it was easy to work with, it was very soft and needed more refrigerator time than I gave it. Here's what I said about the dough: By chance, I recently picked up a used copy of Paula Wolfert's The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean and found a recipe for yet another style of olive oil dough, this one with yeast. I hope to give it a try soon and will report back. Wolfert's book also has a recipe (complete with a story and illlustrations) for Macedonian phyllo dough, which sounds similar to what you describe. It looks tricky, but if you like pastry dough and a challenge, you might want to give it a try. And I agree, Franci's photos are beautiful!

Yesterday I was introduced to this style beer, a "Smoke and Dagger" from local brewery Jack's Abby. The beer is a medium bodied brown ale, very smooth, and the smoked malt creeps up on you. After half a bottle, I'd had enough. That's not to say it wasn't good, it was. Just that the smokiness was a little much for me. The friend who brought it happily finished two of them, though. I can see this almost as an aperitif, good to sip a small glass slowly. And it would absolutely be great for cooking when you want some smoke flavor.

I've also been enjoying cider's renaissance in the U.S. Perhaps because I first came to enjoy Breton-style cidres while in France, I prefer the dryer style that's more typical of imports than in the U.S. ciders that I've tried, though I do drink them. My latest favorite is from Samuel Smith, a British producer that also makes great beer: Light bodied, lots of flavor, very dry.

I gave this a try last year and found it very easy, so long as you get the roux right--rather thick and pudding-like--and at the right temperature. The crumb was super-soft, the crust thin. It was good, but personally I prefer my bread with more forceful personality so haven't kept up with it. I'd probably use if for rolls rather than loaves, it seemed awfully soft for sandwiches. It's interesting that Andie says you can use rye (and presumably other non-white flours) with this technique, that might be more to my liking. I found a picture, not of the interior though:

That sounds fabulous, I will. I'm coordinating a visit w/ friends who live nearby, so hopefully I'll get there in the next month or so. Thanks for the recommendations.

Andrea Nguyen recently wrote about her strategy for doctoring up a prepared curry paste: Smart Cheater’s Beef Massaman Curry Recipe

You might want to consider a French variation: Tourteau de chèvre. It's not really like an American-style cheesecake, more like a fallen souffle baked in a tart crust. It features goat cheese. It can be slightly sweet or not, you can cut back on the sugar to your taste, but even when it's sweet, it's barely so, nowhere near as sweet as cheesecake. I love it, and think a mushroom sauce (esp with a bit of sherry in it) could be fabulous. I first made it during our Cooking with Dorie Greenspan's "Around my French Table" topic, you can see a photo and my description here.

Thanks for the suggestion. I did a quick search for it and stumbled across another option in Fall River: Portugalia Marketplace, a retail outlet of a Portuguese importing company. The Boston Globe did a brief write-up, which I missed: Portuguese specialties fill a former mill in Fall River It sounds like they sell everything Portuguese, which is exciting enough. But this: "a room devoted entirely to salt cod, a staple of Portuguese cuisine; every portion of the fish is available — loins, faces, cheeks, and the chewy tongue" has me dreaming of a field trip (Fall River is about an hour south of Boston, for those not from these parts). When I go, I'll report back for sure.

I never commented on the lovely salt cod gratins and the avocado dish but that's not for lack of interest. They look great. Bethesdabakers, if you like salt cod and eggs together, try the salt cod frittata, it's easy and a keeper. And I love the idea of avocado with the salt cod-prawn mix, and of course the use of chiles. I am still looking for good salt cod fillets with skin. Maybe it's time to order online somewhere. The detailed posts about using salted fish in Chinese dishes are fascinating, thanks for adding them here. I'd love to see your own examples. I'm afraid this area is daunting for me, who has no real experience making Chinese food. I need to find a way to approach this vast topic. Back to my comfort zone. Now that the temperature is dropping, here's an end-of-summer vegetable and salt cod gratin. Layers, from top to bottom: Zucchini and summer squash Sliced tomatoes (and few cherry tomatoes) Salt cod—fillets sliced, dredged in flour, and sautéed in olive oil til lightly golden but not cooked through. Caramelized onion and garlic Sliced potatoes Fresh parsley, thyme, and basil liberally sprinkled throughout and extra basil after baking Based on a recipe from the Union Square Café Cookbook by Danny Meyer and Michael Romano. I simplified the layering to fit into individual gratin dishes and added the potato layer at the bottom to absorb all the lovely juices. Very easy and delicious, even if it doesn’t look very pretty. I'll make it again before summer vegs go away and will work on the presentation.

Nancy, that tartlet looks great but what I really covet is the pan. I'm a sucker for single-serving pans and dishes of any sort. Is the name of the maker stamped on it, by any chance? Love the tree photos too, I'll bet the apple blossoms in the spring are beautiful.

cheddar, bacon, and scallion scones for breakfast.

Ingredient list for filling: 1 lemon 4 globe artichokes 1/4 cup evoo for frying onion and artichoke slices 3 Tbsp chopped onion 1 lb swiss chard, large stems removed, cooked in salted water for a few minutes 1/2 lb ricotta 1 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese 2 eggs salt, pepper The changes I made to the recipe were: I used frozen artichoke hearts, not fresh, so didn't need the lemon. I did slice them and fry them til golden (patted very dry first) but I'm sure they weren't as good as using fresh. Next time I will plan ahead and buy fresh. I cut back on the cheeses, just my preference. I increased the onion, using a whole small onion, chopped Marcella uses a yeast dough (still with olive oil), I used an egg/baking powder olive oil dough to save time, no rise required. I liked it a lot. As I made it, the filling wouldn't quite hold together without a crust. If you used all the cheese called for and added an additional egg, I bet it would.