[Snacking while eGulleting... (Part 3)]

A few weeks ago, a co-worker of Mr. Kim's made a quick loaf and left it in the freezer for the people still working on his floor.  No one else would touch it, so he brought it home.  When she heard how much I loved it, she sent us the recipe and made us another loaf – Crumb-Topped Cocoa Banana Bread:

  

[Breakfast 2020!]

This morning:

\

Toasted rye and the perfect fried egg.  I know that the toast is underdone, but I wanted it soft enough to mop up that gooey yolk. 

[Eating "Wrong"]

I quite like a sweet bagel sometimes.  But not with ham and mayo.  

 

I peel my tomatoes.  😁

[Dinner 2020]

Took a “safe” road trip on Sunday and it is amazing how tired sitting in a car all day can make you.  Mr. Kim had to be on the computer for work, but I spent most of the day on the couch in front of the TV on Monday!  Dinner was tuna salad sandwiches on rye toast and canned tomato soup.  With some fresh asparagus for Mr. Kim (done in the CSO):

 

 

 

Last night I made @patti's oven fries for dinner last night.  They were excellent – the best I’ve ever had.  The two of us at this entire pan all by ourselves:

Thank you, @patti!

 

We also had salad with Momofuku dressing:

 

And fixed up Sloppy Joes:

[Breakfast 2020!]

Breakfast on Monday was my disappointing eggs (not hard-cooked, not soft-cooked – IP fail for me) and some toasted semolina bread:

[Hello from kentucky]

Welcome, Rob!  There are all kinds of folks here.  You'll have a chance to get support and give it, too!  Looking forward to your contributions!

[Experimenting with my Bread Machine]

9 hours ago, TdeV said:

@ElsieD, thanks. Did you forget to post a picture?

 

FWIW, my paddles are frozen in position, with the left paddle ~2mm higher than the right. I have never been able to move them.

 

It occurred to me after posting, that the dimples are maybe from too much yeast?

All this talk about "moving paddles" reminds me of a question.  I can certainly swing the paddle back and forth, but I cannot pull them higher or push them lower on the post and can not remove them at all.  I've used three different bread machines over the years - my dad's and two of mine and I've never, ever been able to remove them once they have been put on before the first bake.  Are people really able to remove the paddles?

[Bolognese and garlic bread?]

2 hours ago, shain said:

Being such a globally poplar cuisine, Italian definitely have many local variations in other countries.

For example, I know of no other country in which pasta is seen as a primi as it is most often in Italy.

Here in Israel, the idea of eating pasta with bread will strike most people as odd. Italian restaurants here don't serve bread other than as an appetizer to accompany various spreads, in which case the bread will likely be a warm ciabatta or focaccia. As for mopping the sauce, we usually don't. Most pastas will be served well dressed, with little sauce left not clinging to the pasta. Seafood sauces are an exception, since they are often very loose by nature, and need mopping.

Miss Manners would not approve of mopping sauce in a restaurant.  And since my life motto is WWMMD? (What Would Miss Manners Do?), I would never mop in a restaurant.  But I'm sure that she would give me a pass in my own home surrounded by family 😁.

[Show us your coffee cups!]

On 9/13/2020 at 3:18 PM, blue_dolphin said:

My current favorite are these vintage brown drip mugs from McCoy Pottery that I retrieved from my late parents house.

The shape of the small handle includes a perfect rest for your middle finger below and feels very comforting to me.  Good memories. 

I love a LOT of these mugs/cups, but I have to say that these are special to me.  My parents had a whole set like this (copies, perhaps) that they used as everyday table pieces.  I'm guessing that the last mug bit the dust when I was still a child, but I loved them.  

[The Crusty Chronicles. Savories from Bakeries.]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

@Kerry BealWill likely be quite horrified. I got distracted while I was reheating this Opie’s beef sausage roll. 
 

However in spite of being just a little too well browned, it was a very satisfactory snack. The pastry was extraordinarily flaky and the filling was quite satisfactory both taste- and texture-wise and the proportion of filling to pastry was right on. 

So this wasn't a Freudian thing? 🤣

[Dinner 2020]

45 minutes ago, patti said:

I was surprised by how much I liked it. Might have to do it on purpose sometime.

[Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)]

I am truly losing confidence in the IP.  Or at least my ability to use it.  I attempted to make some hard-cooked eggs on Friday.  This is what my hard-cooked eggs from the IP looked like:

 

This is how they’ve looked with the exact same time, same method, same egg temp, same everything for months:

 

So that’s my hard-cooked egg issue.  Just recently, I had a problem with my long-standing method of soft-cooked eggs – they also turned out undercooked when I cooked them the same way and time that I’d been doing them for a few months. This was how they looked recently:

 

Then, back in February, I did a “tried and true” spaghetti and meat sauce recipe in the IP and it turned into mush.  I honestly don’t know what’s going on, but if I can’t count on results, I know that this will turn into another attic appliance like my rotisserie oven and Mr. Kim’s giant juicer.  (I ended up cooking them ‘old-school’ on top of the stove.  They were fine.)

[Breakfast 2020!]

@weinoo – that lox breakfast looks perfect to me.  Exactly the right amount of lox on the bagel and the bread.  Whenever we went for breakfast with my mom, she would order lox and bagels and get them to put an extra bagel in a bag for her.  She’d take half of the lox and the extras off the bagel she was eating and put them on the bagel she was taking.  It gave her lunch, dinner, or a snack later.  She wasn’t cheap – they just put on too much for her taste! 

 

@chefmd – seeing as I grew up in NOVA and spent vacation times on the eastern shore – mostly MD and DE, it seems so odd that I’ve never tasted scrapple.  I’d like to, though.  Is it mushy inside when it is heated?  That’s what stopped me from enjoying Spam when I finally tasted it.  I actually liked the flavor and the crisp crust, but the insides were mushy and hot and that texture just put me off. 

 

@Ann_T – your cheese biscuits are absolutely, positively perfect and, as a fellow cook, I’m awash with admiration.  As a Southerner, I’m a tad jealous. 😁

 

On Friday, I tried out a new recipe - Coconut Sour-Cherry Granola:

 

This is supposedly the same granola that NYC restaurant Eleven Madison Park gives to customers at the end of their meal for breakfast the next morning:

Really good.  Not super sweet.  It contains sour cherries, pepitas, pistachios, coconut, maple syrup, and – interestingly – EVOO.  It made enough to share:

 

Mr. Kim’s brother is in town to visit their dad and stepmom and came by for a quick, masked, socially distant breakfast visit and to pick up the food that I’d make for them.  I served fruit salad:

Strawberries, pineapple, grapes, mandarin oranges.  Scrambled eggs:

Served right from the pan – family style!

 

Tomato Jam and Benton’s Bacon Bruschetta:

This is one of those easy, delicious things that I forget to make.    

 

Sunday before church (parking lot, masked, socially distant service):

Bread machine white bread, toasted, and leftover fruit salad. 

 

After church, Mr. Kim, Jessica, and I took a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Stopped on our way out of town at one of our favorite bagel joints for Hobbit’s breakfast.  Jessica had a salt bagel with scallion cream cheese (no picture).  I had an ET with bacon, egg, and cheese:

 

Mr. Kim had something that I would have never thought to order and was absolutely fantastic – a chicken, egg, and cheese on a salt bagel:

Only issue was that I wanted to go over to the deli up the street and get a biscuit to put that chicken on.

[Ice Pick - Recommendation needed please]

This is the one that I ended up ordering from Amazon:

It is similar to, but not exactly the one that @Hassouni referenced.  It was just over $20 with free shipping.  The other was $20+$10 shipping.  I did check and it doesn't seem to have a coating to flake off.  I'm loving the 3 pronged model - thank you, @Hassouni!  It has those weird little noodle-y things for protection, but I think I'll try @Margaret Pilgrim's suggestion and just try a cork from the next bottle of wine we open.  

[Dinner 2020]

@Margaret Pilgrim – you’ve inspired me.  I need to cook Chow Fun again soon.

 

@robirdstx – your frittata looks lovely.  So often, I think they are much too dry and overcooked (even coming from “professionals”), but I’d love to sit down to that!

 

@Shelby – I’ve just gone to my recipe for Lasagna soup and added a note to get campanelle pasta next time I make it. 

 

@liamsaunt – all I can say is that your Cape cooking causes an occasion of sin in me.  I truly covet your lobster and scallop rolls.  I have a good friend in Sudbury who is thinking of buying a retirement home on the Cape and she is always after me to come visit (when it is safe again).  I am going to be sending her the pictures of your food and saying that is what I want to find when we come up north!!!😁

 

Mr. Kim’s stepmom is not doing well (they think a mini-stroke), so his brother is in town to visit with their dad and her.  I made a dinner for him to take out to them on Saturday.  Just a casserole (which she loves like the elderly Midwesterner that she is!), salad and rolls.  I did my grandmother’s prize-winning beef casserole:

She actually won 2^nd place in a recipe contest held by the Greensboro (NC) Daily News and Record newspaper in 1973 for this recipe – I have the clipping with her cooking in some strange kitchen I’ve never seen🙂 .  This is basically Hamburger Helper – ground beef, shredded cheese, macaroni, tomatoes, cream of mushroom soup, etc.  I remember her making this when I was a little girl in the 1960’s, so this pre-dated HH.  This will get baked when they want it, so the cheese on top isn’t yet melted. 

 

Saturday’s dinner was a pull together of various leftovers:

Broccoli salad, flank steak and gravy, and the same bread as that morning’s bruschetta, except with fresh tomatoes and Duke’s. 

[Caesar Salad]

Thank you, @heidih and @rotuts!  I just went and looked and the brand I have is Thai Kitchen - probably because I'm trying to lessen the number of different stores I go to and that's what Food Lion or Kroger stocks.  We love fish sauce and use it the same way I use Worcestershire - drop by drop when a dish needs "something", but you're not sure what!  Mr. Kim is not a huge mac n cheese fan, but when I was testing recipes for @Michael Ruhlman, I cooked his Macaroni and Cheese w/ Soubise, which has fish sauce, and Mr. Kim loved it.  I'm convinced it's the fish sauce that makes the difference in that for him.  

[Caesar Salad]

9 minutes ago, rotuts said:

I also use RB-40 in place of anchovies 

 

if I open a can of A's , they never get used.

 

it just gets the job done.

 

I cook a 1-minute egg , out of the refrigerator into

 

simmering water , then rinse in cold water to handle , and use that egg

 

being careful to scrape out all the solids that cling to the shell.

Googled RB-40.  All I can find are references to early retirement (Retire Before 40).  I need to know bc I have the same issues with opening anchovies and using 2 filets and a year later throwing the scary jar away.

[Source for Le Crueset?]

On 9/12/2020 at 1:26 PM, kayb said:

Bumping this old topic because I need a lid for a stoneware Le Crueset.

This is my pot roast dish. A couple of years ago, I took a pot roast out of the oven, took the lid off and put it in the sink. Moments later, I forgot it was still hot, turned on the water and...well, you know.

Any sources where I can just buy the lid?

Google "le creuset stonewear lids" and see what comes up.  I found this., which I don't think is the right one, but keep checking and it may turn up.  I also found some (le creuset and other kinds) on ebay.  Again, keep checking.  You can also find square (or rectangular - it was hard to tell from the picture) silicone lids on Amazon - they are cheap and work really well, so you could get one of those to use until you find what you really want.

[Cooking and the spaghetti taco incident...]

You win.  Love this so much!

[Cuisinart Combo Steam/Convection Oven (Part 3)]

5 hours ago, KennethT said:

Anyone have a setting/temperature for re-crisping left over duck skin?

I know this is too late for tonight, but I was out of the house all day.  I haven't done this with duck skin, but have with chicken skin.  400F on Bake/Steam for however long it takes (sorry, I don't remember exactly - but since you were just re-crisping, I'd guess 10-15 minutes?).

[Bolognese and garlic bread?]

To be fair, if you don't have garlic bread how do you mop up the last of the sauce on the plate.  And if you don't have leftover garlic bread, what do you pile cold spaghetti on top of the next morning? 😁

[Dinner 2020]

14 minutes ago, patti said:

Oy vey. I posted that from my phone and it seems to have gotten away from me. I meant to add that the photo is from my Instacart shopping when I ordered the potatoes! I usually think of new potatoes as small. These were nice and chunky and largish.  This was actually my first time using potatoes in baked fries. I do it with zucchini fries all the time, but usually use frozen fries for baking.

 

PS - Your entire meal looks fabulous!

Thank you, ma'am!  I'll look for those later.  So, thin skinned, but bigger and it looks like they were peeled.  Honestly, have you ever seen someone so fixated on fricking potatoes?  I am a carb fiend!  LOLOLOL

[Experimenting with my Bread Machine]

30 minutes ago, dtremit said:

 

One other thing that occurs to me — are you doing liquid on the bottom, then adding dry ingredients, and finally adding yeast on top? I know there are a few brands that do it the opposite way, and it seems to really make a difference.

Yes! I've always done it with the liquid at the bottom and the yeast on top and away from the salt.  Do you mean I should reverse that?

[Dinner 2020]

@patti – thanks so much for the oven fries directions.  I’m planning on doing those soon.  You said you used “red potatoes”.  Does that mean they are new potatoes?  Have you used russets, and have you noticed any difference?  Sorry for all the questions.  They just looked so good that I want to make sure I get them right! (Right next to the “quote” is a + sign – I think that you can hit that for every post you want to directly address.  Someone will correct me if I’m wrong.)

 

I use my iPhone for photos but run them through my computer for a Picasa makeover before posting. 

 

Dinner was one of those rare meals where every single thing turns out really well.  Menu was SV flank steak, gravy, roasted cipollini onions, @Marlene's Crispy Smashed Potatoes, broccoli salad, and yeast rolls.  The flank steak was done at 133F for almost 3 hours and it was incredibly tender:

Might do 130F next time.  The onions were so deeply flavorful and sweet.  Starting – just salt, pepper, butter, and onions:

 

 

Broccoli salad:

I’ve made this and other versions over the years and all three of us thought this was the best I’ve ever made.  Not a clue why – though I did run short on bacon and end up adding some small diced Edward’s country ham.  Even the gravy turned out especially good:

 

The yeast rolls where store-bought, but they were our favorites from the Kroger bakery – pillowy and slightly sweet:

 

Plate:

[Breakfast 2020!]

@blue_dolphin – those poached eggs are my poached egg goal!  They look perfectly cooked – nice, gooey yolks and completely cooked whites.  And it doesn’t look like you’ve lost much white to the poaching water!

 

Breakfast this morning was a freezer gift:

My MIL’s Hot Cross Buns.  The “cross” had become brittle and fallen off and the buns were too warm to pipe on a cross, so I just blobbed on some icing.  Hot Blob Buns?  These freeze so well.  It was like she brought them to us yesterday.