cacao

Its been a long long time since I've posted here... so I'll start by posting my absoulte favorite winter breakfast, as had this morning - Glutinous rice congee, cooked with ginger root and turkey necks and/or backs in the crockpot; served with miso and lots of black pepper, maybe a bit of honey. Yields a nice warm tummy glow to start the day with, and the protein component helps the calories burn slower, in case lunch is a long ways off...

Back when, when I was a vegetarian, I used to make an eggplant moussaka-like casserole, and I would puree about 1 part chickpeas to 2 parts goat yogurt, as a low fat 'bechamel' topping. Quite tasty and protein-enhanced. Nowadays, when I splurge the extra $$ for goat yogurt, I tend to just eat it straight! -Cacao

So, I managed to turn on the crockpot, but not plug it IN, this morning, leaving for work. I had veggies and a cooked chicken carcass in there, hoping to make stock. Came home 8 hours later... ...And I imagine to be safe, I have to toss it all out, since the albeit cooked, poultry, was at room temp all day. Right? (sigh.... ) Cacao

I'm dropping in after not being around on the board for a while, to see this thread. Great topic! The first meal I cooked for my sweetie was two days after our first 'real' date (that I asked him on). It was early autumn; my favorite time of year. I made a risotto with pureed butternut squash and fresh chantrelles. He seemed impressed ( he'd never seen a risotto in the making, I gather). There was a salad, too, and he bought tomatoes and basil. I know there was red wine, but I can't remember what; I just remember I enjoyed it. I do remember I barely ate my food, and I love risotto ... That meal was also the beginnings of much foraging of the fungal kind for the two of us together. Mushroom love! Cacao

Hi - I love Indian food, and use yogurt in cooking a lot. I would suspect one of two things is happening - 1) you are heating the yogurt too fast. Try a gentler, slower heat, also, bring the yogurt out and let it reach room temp before heating in the pot. 2) Is there an acid ingredient present in your curry while adding the yogurt? That might be causing it to curdle. Try adding the acidic ingredient after the yogurt has 'cooked' and see if that helps. Of course, if you get too much curdling, you could always make paneer My 2 cents... hope it's helpful! Cacao

Love the merged topic! Most helpful. Ah, so many ideas, so little duck! Love the duck pot sticker idea. Not a good match for this meal, (too time consuming) but I have got to try that sometime (I like mushrooms, so the shiitake pairing is interesting!) I'm still figuring it all out, I think I will making be a simple pan roasted oven finished duck breast with a port and wild mushroom sauce. The cooking tips are most helpful, since I am more familiar with roasting a whole duck. I've got a few of Paula's books, but not the _Cooking of SW France_. I'll peek at that in the bookstore and look up 'duck' in the index I tend to have great success with, and enjoyment from, her recipes. I'll let you know how the B-Day meal turns out! Cacao

Hi all: My sweetie's birthday is coming up soon and since he enjoys duck quite a bit, I'd like to prepare a duck dish for his birthday. I've in mind to cook a deboned duck breast, as I can get really high quality Muscovy duck breasts where I live, and, as the day of honor is a weekday, I need something a bit simpler than a whole duck to cook. I'm looking for suggestions/ideas, and wondering if some of you might have some memorable duck breast dishes you've either made or had in a restaurant that you would reccommend. Cuisine of origin is totally open; but a red wine friendly dish would be preferable; as we both enjoy red wine, too; weekday be damned Anyone? Thanks, Cacao

Hi folks: I'm considering trying my hand at cooking guinea fowl, for an intimate Christmas dinner for two, after my tasty success with a salt rubbed turkey, this Thanksgiving . But I've no idea how guinea fowl really even tastes, let alone a solid idea how I ought to cook it. I get the impression it's somewhere more gamey than chicken (this is good) yet less fatty than duck (this is also good, to me). I intend to consult my small collection of cookbooks, but I was wondering if anyone here might have some suggestions? I'd appreciate it. Thanks! Cacao

In my copy of Paula Wolferts' marevelous Mediterranean Grains and GReens (think that's the proper title), there is a recipe I've been meaning to test my bread making mettle on - it's a Greek bread, I believe?, that uses a fermented chickpea batter as the 'starter'. It sounds really tasty - and tricky - but certainly a novel use (in my mind) of spouted chickpeas! Cacao

Hi folks: I'm sure I'm obsessing over this too much, but as a 'recovering vegetarian' I'm not sure. I want to pre-salt (Judy Rogers style; not in a brine) my thanksgiving turkey, but I want to roast it in pieces, and hence, salt it in pieces (so I can freeze the legs, and make stock from some of the carcass, ahead of time). I've read on some USDA page or other that turkey parts (vs. a whole bird) are more apt to be at risk for contamination .. so, should I be worried about storing my bird in parts for the better part of two days, or not? Advice from you long term meat eaters appreciated.. thanks! -Cacao

I have an Artisian - er, I think. It's a gorgeous emerald green, and it cost me about $179 on sale about 3 years ago. And I love it. It is my first stand mixer, so I've nothing to compare it to. I've had no problems with it whatsoever. I bake bread quite often, and I used to always knead by hand. The KA handles my doughs fine (and I make bagels, too); but with stiffer doughs I often break the dough into batches so the mixer doesn't walk all over the counter. It's terrific for egg whites, cream, etc. I'm happy with my artisianally colored, 4.5 qt, KA... Cacao

I was vegetarian (ovo lacto) for many many years. In all that time, I found the 'limitation' of vegetarian eating led me to explore and learn much about other culture's foods, and so I became a very exploratory cook, first by necessity? and then for the joy of it. In the San Francisco Bay Area, we are blessed with great Farmers' Markets, produce stores, and restaurants that excel at utilizing the bounty. One of my favorite cookbooks is from the vegan restaurant, Millennium, in San Francisco. The cookbook (their second one in particular) is even better than the restaurant, IMHO (though I do enjoy the restaurant, too). There's a great recipe in that book for an 'appetizer' that I serve as an entree; it involves beets shredded and blended with spices and made into cakes that I then oven bake with some drizzled oil, and served with eggplant sauteed in pomegranate molasses and an Indian spiced mung dal. Kind of Middle Eastern inspired. Colorful, flavorful, inventive.. the kind of cooking I enjoy. That's just the first dish that sprung to my mind this morning when I read this post. -Cacao

Wow; a pound of those lovelies for $8.99? I'm jealous.. until my 'secret' patch starts showing some... (collecting your own in the wild always yields the tastiest chantrelles!) For one thing, get them the heck out of the plastic, and wrap them in brown paper bags; they keep much better that way. The mushroom soup idea is a good one. I also adore golden chantrelles in an omelet. Somewhere, I have a recipe for chantrelle 'puffs'; rich little eggy biscuits with sauteed chantrelles inside; they are terrific! Hmm, I think if you go here: htrtp://www.mssf.org and click on the cookbook link to the left, you will find the chantrelle puff recipe, and some others. edit: here's the chantrelle puff recipe, from the above page: -------------------------------- Golden Chanterelle Puffs Makes about 35 puffs Chanterelle puffs are a light and elegant party food. Serve them with a white wine such as Gewurtztraminer, riesling, or sauvignon blanc. * 1 cup chicken broth * 1/2 pound chanterelles, minced * 1/2 cup (1 stick ) butter * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour * 3 eggs Heat the chicken broth in a heavy medium saucepan. Add the chanterelles, butter, and salt and allow to come to a boil. Stir in the flour, mixing constantly until the mixture is smooth and almost leaves the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat. Beat one egg at a time into the mixture. Drop tablespoons of the dough onto a buttered cookie sheet, spacing the spoonfuls about 2 inches apart. Bake in a preheated 450º oven for 15 minutes or until firm and golden. Cool the puffs on a rack. --Louise Freedman ------------------------------ Another good trick with chantrelles, if they do get a bit soggy on you, saute them in _salt only_ - no oil - till they shed their moisture; then add a bit of oil or butter. A bit of pricey truffle oil drizzeled over sauteed chantrelles and served on thin toasted baquette slices is pretty tasty, too Whatever you do, don't try to dry them - they do not hold their flavor well, when dried as the morels and porcini do - at least, that's what I've found. -Cacao the mushroom hound

Thanks for the advice (and the book references - I read cookbooks like novels, sometimes, I think!), everyone. I'll see how it turns out. The separate roasting pans for light and dark meat are a good idea. I'm not too worried about the presentation - where we are going, it will still be the best looking turkey for miles, I suspect! I like the 'reassembly' idea, too. II have a story about a psuedo turkey I made when I was vegetarian - wheat gluten pieces, wrapped and basted in soybean skin - designed with drumstricks and all. Oh, that was work. Wish I had a photo of that! It really was tastier than it sounds... I swear! Now I'm digesting the debate on brining vs. salt curing for the turkey pieces... oh, dear.... -Cacao

Hello: After being primarily vegetarian for a very long time, and newly rediscovering poultry, I've elected to prepare a small turkey for Thanksgiving. However, I'll be in a strange kitchen for this holiday - a primitive, small one with a _propane_ range. See, I'll be in a little getaway cottage literally in the woods; but the price of the peaceful setting is the lack of my tried and true kitchen toys! At any rate, to simplify my life, I'm thinking to brine the turkey, and roast it in pieces. I figure this also improves my chances of the light and dark meat getting evenly cooked, as I can remove the breast first, for instance. My only remaining problem, is, I'm not sure how long this method will take, or what a good temperature is to roast at? I will bring along my oven thermometer, but I don't own a meat thermometer - my oven at home has it's own electric probe, so I've not bought an 'old fashioned' one. Any advice how to test for doneness? I wouldn't mind the legs being a touch undercooked, as I plan to reheat them buried in mole sauce the following day. thanks, Cacao

Great thread Christmas eve dinner for two: steamed leeks in a mustard vinagrette Roast whole duck Peking style, with pomegranate glaze served with winter wild mushroom fig sauce fingerling potatoes and gold turnips roasted in duck fat baked figs with sweet wine soaked blackberries and hoemmade vanilla ice cream ... anyone ever make duck soup from a duck carcass? My Grandmother used to make turkey soup in that way... ought to work with duck, no? WOuld make nice leftovers for Christmas day....

Good points made, about how to realistically interpret forum responses. It does seem what typically happens is you hear more about the bad than the good, as dissatisfied customers are more likely to post, methinks. For me, though, what I in particular was trying to find out, was if there was a consensus on particularly unreliable models or makes. Our current range happens to be a GE, and the parts that are broken cannot be replaced (no longer made).... I suppose I would pay more for reliability and customer service, over particular features and good looks, to avoid being in my current condition anytime soon (of having only half an oven, basically!) . Perhaps I'll just go with the longest warranty I can find and hope for the best .... Cacao

Thanks for the ideas, all, Ok, I am definitely planning the Peking duck style cooking process of steaming and then roasting. I'm inclined to try stuffing some aromatics into the duck during steaming, and then roasting with a basting of pomegranate /soy/honey ( that combo sounds good to me). For those in the know, methinks I've got myself a Liberty Duck on order The smoked duck sounds terrific... I need to get me a smoker one of these days! I'll let you know how Xmas dinner turns out! -Cacao

Hi folks: I am a 'recovering vegetarian' who used to love to eat duck - something like 20 years ago. My significant other loves duck, and so, as cooking is love to me, I've decided to try roasting a whole duck for Xmas eve dinner for my sweetie and I. Since it's been a long time for me, I want to make as greaseless a duck as I can, so I will be able to enjoy and digest it, after all these years! I'm hoping to find a good recipe, perhaps in the 'Peking style' of cooking (as in steaming or boiling the duck before roasting) , but with perhaps Frenchified/Westernized seasoning. Any advice or favorite recipes out there? I saw something on epicurious with a fig and mushroom sauce that looked interesting... any other ideas? Thanks much, Cacao

Hello: I love fennel raw, broiled, braised, etc; but I've only just recently discovered baby fennel in the market. I'm having an Italian themed dinner party in a few days, and I'm wondering what to do with the lovely baby fennel I just purchased! I'm making a simple young veggie stew of artichokes, baby potatoes, peas and asparagus, and I know I could do well to toss the baby fennel in that pot. But I think I'd prefer to let it stand more on it's own, in a salad course. I Was thinking with some belgian endive and blood oranges... but, my question is, is baby fennel as good as mature bulbs, sliced thin and eaten raw? Or should I really stew or broil them, for taste or texture? I'm afraid, for instance, that the young bulbs are extra fiberous, as the stalks can often be. Does anyone know how to best treat young fennel bulbs? thanks, Cacao

Jen, that's lovely! Hmm.. Mustard and chard - I hadn't thought of that combination. And I adore good mustard. I have an interesting chipoltle lime mustard open, right now, too. Thanks for the ideas, everyone. Kellytree, the chard stem recipe sounds great! I have made simple gratins with the stems before, but with cream/milk. The tomato sauce baked idea sounds tasty. -Cacao

Hello: I love swiss chard, and it seems to be in great abundance in the markets I frequent, lately. I have a lovely bunch with pink stems in the fridge waiting to be cooked! But, I am a bit tired of the way I near always cook it - sauteed in olive oil, garlic, with currants and pine nuts. I'm looking to try something different, interesting, fun, even! with it. I was considering some sort of stuffed chard dish.. not sure what Id want to stuff in it (I am a 'fish-eating vegetarian', by the way). Or.. maybe chard pizza? Any suggestions, from fellow chard lovers? -cacao

Hello: OK, I know, it's a rather simple device, but, I was hoping for a few words of wisdom on what I should consider in a food mill to purchase. I have a Cuisinart food processor, but I want something to strain out fiberous bits, when pureeing soup, straining fish stock, tomato sauce, etc. But I've actually never used a food mill. I rather like 'doing things the old fashioned way', so having to turn a crank doesn't bother me. I do want something that works well, for what it is, and that is built to last. I figure Stainless is the material of choice (right?) Anyhow, any advice on brands I should consider and that sort of thing, is most welcome! thanks, Cacao

Hello, Paula: The skins were tight and the 'peas definitely on the firm side (tender to tooth, but not really fork-mashable.) I thought the heat setting was a bit on the high side, but I was going by the recipes given in the Romertopf literature I have (which doesn't amount to much). I did place it into a cold oven to start. In my ignorance, I'm not sure what you might have expected - would the results have been different at a lower heat, in your opinion? -Cacao

I made it myself. The traditional T'eff flolur is pricey, but you can find it in some health Food stores (I got the Bob's Red Mill brand). I made it with half T'eff, half white, flour, a cup each, and a tsp of yeast, let sit for 2 days 'or so' until it bubbles and smells soughdough-ish. After that, it's as easy as making pancakes (cooked on one side only, and a bit on the thin side.) It sure absorbs the stew liquid in a yummy way. Actually, I think RomertoPF is the brand name, and RomertoF is an easy to make spelling error! But now I'm not sure, and I'd have to go back and look at my pot and/or instructions to check. You're most welcome - I myself have Paula to 'blame' for getting me interested in trying this, via her cookbooks, so, she has my thanks. For the claypot concept, and, the Harissa recipe! -Cacao