Pat W
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Posts posted by Pat W
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Thank you all for the great ideas & recipes. I mean to try them all, although the vegetables in olive bread seems a bit daunting. It looks like a lot of vegetables are going to be roasted around here.
I combined a couple of your suggestions for lunch. We happened to have half a baguette & some feta cheese. I split the baguette, brushed on a little olive oil & toasted under the broiler. Then tossed the half cup or so of vegetables left over with the feta, piled them on the baguette & put them back in the oven for awhile.
It was yummy but I think if we had had some pesto lying around, it would have been a spiritual experience.
Sooo, I'm off to buy some pine nuts, there is a bunch a basil in the back yard calling my name.
You people are so nice.
Pat w.
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First of all, I apologize if this has been done to death. I did a forum search but it didn't really work out
We bought a share in a CSA this year & at the moment have a refrigerator full wonderful, organic vegetables. Tonight, while my husband was out fishing, I roasted several new potatoes along with some onions, red & green peppers, summer squash, celery & a handful of garlic cloves, all of which had been tossed with a little olive oil & balsamic vinegar & dusted with freshly ground pepper & sea salt. (The sea salt was Maldon thanks to advice received in an earlier thread.)
The end result was scrumptious. We (the husband having returned sans fish) devoured the whole pan. It was almost as good as ravishing a box of chocolates.
My question is.... having even more vegetables available, if I roast another bunch, what else can I do with them?
In the late sixties there was a wonderful small restaurant here that did something similar with brown rice beneath & melted cheese above.
It seems that these delectable morsels would lend themselves to some kind of pasta treatment.
This is new territory for me & any suggestions would be much appreciated.
pat w.
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Just wanted to add an unsolicited testimonial.
Those of us in Nebraska have been able to get Smart Chicken for a couple of years now. (Finally! A reason to live in Nebraska)
Everyone I know says the same thing. If our local grocer is out of it, we eat something else. It's Smart Chicken or no chicken.
pat w.
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citric acid... How do I find it?
vitamin C powder - from your local natural foods store, or drugstore
Duh! I didn't realize she meant that citric acid. I was expecting something complicated & mysterious that had to be shipped in from afar. Thank you for clearing that up.
Slinking away in embarrassment, pat
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1 gallon of whole milk and a pinch of salt heat to 185F, 1/4 c. cold water and 1 tsp citric acid dissolved. When the milk hits 185F stir in the dissolved acid and skim off any foam that rises. Turn off heat and let sit for 10 mins. Pour into a strainer lined with cheesecloth and let drain. viola!
Many thanks Wendy. I'm pumped about trying this. At the risk of wearing out my welcome.... citric acid... How do I find it? A Google search didn't help me much. All the other variables are in place.
pat
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This thread now has me dreaming about ricotta. Unfortunately (actually it's more tragic than unfortunate) there is no good ricotta available where I live. We used to be able to at least get Frigo, but the stores here no longer carry it.
So please forgive the dumb question, but how do you make your own?
pat with tummy rumbling & eyes filled with tears of longing....
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I have a question that I have never been able to get an answer:
How do you make store bought spaghetti sauce not so sour?? Everytime I cook with the jar spaghetti sauce, it's really sour....
Thanks!!
My first thought would be to add sugar, which would help combat the acidity of the tomatoes which is what you're tasting. Don't overdo it though.
Of course the first response is "make your own sauce" but it's not always tomato season.
You can go halfway and use the whole peeled stuff (run it through a food mill or the like to get the seeds out and mash it up a bit) and make your own -- it really doesn't need to cook for all that long.Giada De Laurentiis (Everyday Italian on the Food Network) has a simple tomato sauce based on crushed tomatoes that I've made a few times and really liked. At the end of the cooking time if the sauce seems too acidic, she suggests adding a tablespoon or two of unsalted butter to mellow it out. It actually works. I think it might do the trick with bottled sauce as well.
pat w.
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Sigh.... eyes are filled with tears of longing. They are a thing of beauty indeed.
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I got side tracked for a few days with a health glitch but all is well now.
I just wanted to thank everyone for the encouragement and ideas. I am a convert, no cake mix shall darken my door.
And to those of you who suggested lemon curd, I can only say - brilliant! I suspect we will soon be knee deep in lemon curd around here, at least until I can find the packaged egg whites.
Is it true that one should avoid baking angel food cakes on rainy days or when the air is very humid?
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Just a word of warning re: cream cheese icing:
While it is unlikely that an otherwise healthy person would become sick after eating cream cheese icing that has been at room temperature for some time, the risk is still a concern for immunocompromised people. For a normal person, all the sugar in the icing would most likely act as a slight preservative. However, for someone who's undergoing cancer treatment or has HIV, those low levels of "harmless" bacteria can be quite dangerous, even lethal.
Just the doctor part of me breaking out. I'll get off my soapbox now.
Oops! My cream cheese frosted Wendy's banana cake just went into the refrigerator. Thank you.
Pat w.
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Definately make your own from scratch. Martha Stewart has a chocolate chip angel food cake that's very good. I make it often. You should be able to find that recipe easily on-line.
Ok, it should be easy, but I haven't found it yet. Will try tomorrow when hopefully I'm slightly more lucid (very long day, but by golly we got our taxes mailed).
Edited to say: Not noticibly more lucid but managed to find the recipe this morning.Coincidently Wendy, I made your banana cake tonight & we just had our first piece. I baked it in a 9X9 spring form pan & topped it with a cream cheese frosting dusted with chopped walnuts. That was of course gilding the lily, it would have been fine with a smidgen of powdered sugar. None the less, describing it as a spiritual experience would not be overstating the point.
Thanks so much for sharing your recipe. It was stellar. (Just sneaked back into the kitchen for another piece.)Pat w.
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Thirty years ago when I first started cooking and baking for a living, angel food cake was one of the first things I made. It's easy, cheap, teaches you a lot of good lessons, tastes good, and is worth the time and effort to make from scratch. Go for it.
That was exactly the kind of advice I needed. Thank you for saving me from myself.
Pat w.
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Scratch is infinitely better but if you are worried about having leftover egg yolks, take a look at your local grocer -- they now sell egg whites all by their lonesome! Way easier and much easier to justify.
BTW, I'm a tremendous Angel Food Cake fan, often making them with a swirled chocolate and white batter...
Yes, that actually is part of the problem. The yolks would almost certainly be thrown away. Are you talking about powdered egg whites?
Swirled chocolate & white sounds amazing. I think you just planned out my Sunday for me.
Pat w.
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If this topic has already been addressed, I apologize. I've been searching the forum without luck.
I am the happy owner of a new angel food cake pan. I love angel food cake & am anxious to try it out. Not being a professional, I find the recipes somewhat daunting.
So are the mixes any good? Is "from scratch" noticeably better?
Should I start separating a dozen eggs or can I take the slackers way out?
Eagerly awaiting your advice,
Pat w.
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I agree with Cala Massey. I bought my Vita Mix before mini-processors came on the scene. Now that I have one, I use my mini-processor for just about everything I used to use the VM at low speeds for. These days I mostly use the Vita Mix for things like smoothies, ice creams & soups (which it does splendidly). The variable speed is handy for making a slower transition from low to high, which keeps liquids from crashing against the lid, but hardly necessary. The lid has a nice tight fit.
Enjoy your 4500. (Wow, what a fantastic gift to have received!)
Pat w.
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"Epi" is short for "epis de bles," or "sheaf of wheat." An epi loaf is a baguette that is cut so that it has several pointed sections, roughly resembling a wheat stalk and convenient for passing around the table and breaking into dinner rolls.
I posted a picture of some epis of mine way back at post #283 of this thread, but I'll post it again here for your convenience and because I'm proud of how they came out!
Here's an updated link to the King Arthur tutorial on epis (offering the wisdom of Jeffrey Hamelman).
Thank you Dorie & Seth. And thank you Seth, for reposting your photos. I remembered seeing them but it was beyond me to work my way back through the thread. My goodness! You should be proud. Those are gorgeous. Thank you for the KA tutorial link. It couldn't be clearer.
Sigh, yet another thing to add to my "to do" list.
pat w
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I'm also one of the people who after a hard day, pours a glass of wine and starts slicing & dicing. I don't know why it's so therapeutic, but it is.
Oh yeah, I try to get the most serious slicing over with before the second glass of wine. Sigh, learned this the hard way.
pat w
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Oh dear, I finally made eye contact with this thread & the morning has flown by. I've just ordered the Cooking With Julia from Amazon and hope to be joining you soon.
But first I have a dumb question. What exactly is an epi? There was a link much earlier in this thread to a King Arthur page which regrettably no longer works. I've searched through the King Arthur web site without luck. Can anyone help?
Must go to work now. Will no doubt spend rest of day with tummy rumbling and sugar plums in my head.
Pat w.
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(I use a dark pan), season them and then simply drizzle olive oil on them. I roll the stalks around a bit on the pan so they get a light coating of oil and spices and that's it (make sure you don't use too much oil). Then roast away.
Would a little Meyer lemon olive oil be a good idea here or would 400° be to much for it?
Pat w.
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Thank you Michael. And thanks again for your original post. This has become my new favorite fast food. It works especially well with the Enchilado anejo because the warm tortilla melts only the outside of the cheese bringing out the flavor but a nice texture remains. In a word... yummy.
Pat w
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Just tasting straight salt on your tongue is difficult.
I have found that the best way to taste a salt is to spread some plain bread with unsalted butter, cut it into squares, then sprinkle a bit of one type salt on one piece of bread and butter.
Aha! That clears up yet another mystery. I've tried the tasting on the tip of the tongue method with limited success. The bread & butter method never occurred to me. Thanks very much for the suggestion. It wil be fun to try this.
Pat W.
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As for the sea salt, carswell is absolutely right...I use kosher salt for everything in the kitchen, and generally save the sea salt as a kind of condiment for steak, potato chips and focaccia.
Thanks everyone for the answers. This brings me to another question. Why do you many or most of you cook with kosher salt? Why is it better? And another, perhaps even more naïve question, are there any circumstances in which the old Morton's Iodized would be appropriate? (Other than salting the sidewalk after an ice storm)
Pat W.
Oops! I just found the kosher salt thread on another forum. Does anyone here have a favorite brand? It seems like there is quite a bit of difference between Morton & Diamond. -
This is an absurdly stupidly simple sea salt question. I accidentally bought a container of coarse La Baleine sea salt. I'm not sure what to do with it. Do I go out and buy a salt grinder & use it for table salt? Do I use it as Kosher salt? Can I toss it in a pot of water when I cook pasta?
Any guidance would be much appreciated.
Pat W.
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I used to go to a hole in the wall place in Queens, NY (La Casa del Puebla) that made these wonderful brightly flavored enchilladas, not baked but freshly made on the grill, and have been copying them ever since. Sometimes they would even whip up the salsa verde (tomatillos, poblanos, and all that) upon my order.
The corn tortillas are placed on a hot griddle for a minute and then flipped. Onto that goes the filling (queso blanco, chicken or beef) and then they are rolled. Line up about four on a plate, cover with your sauce, and then a layer of shredded lettuce or cabbage. On top of that goes chopped tomatoes, crumbled queso fresco, sliced radishes (do not discount the power of the radishes- they make the whole thing work for me) and a squirt of crema. Garnish with lime wedges. They would always brighten up my day, though I cannot speak for the authenticity of the method.
I just happened to have all these ingredients on hand tonight.... OK, I didn't have the radishes... I never have radishes on hand.... So... after picking up the radishes I followed TongoRad's directions. The only thing I did differently was spoon a little of the red chile sauce on the plate under the enchiladas. I've never made enchiladas this way before & I have no idea if I did it correctly, but they were delicious. The hot tortilla wrapped around the crumbled enchilado cheese & chopped onions.... ¡Que delicioso! Half way through the munching part of this I went back for more red chile sauce and more radishes. I completely forgot to slice the lime. Thank you TongoRad for a very tasty dinner.
Pat
Things to do with roasted vegetables
in Cooking
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Ahhhh thank you for posting such delightful news! I shall definitely give it a try.
pat w
Thank you also, divalasvegas..... That sounds yummy. Sigh, must stop reading this forum when I'm hungry. Tummy is rumbling out of control.
pat w