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Pallee

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Everything posted by Pallee

  1. Like I said, the topping was quite grainy, almost gritty because of the raw cornmeal. I also wonder about the cooking time on the squash itself. By the time I sautéed it, it was pretty much cooked, then you bake it covered for half an hour, steaming it. Then put the topping on and bake it some more. If the squash was as cooked as mine was after the sauté, I'd just top it and bake it uncovered. And used cornbread crumbs instead of raw cornmeal. I took the leftovers and turned them into a soup. Added water, cooked out the cornmeal, hit it with a touch of cream - was delicious.
  2. I made the Chicken with Mustard, Butternut Squash Crumble, and the Green Beans with Snail Butter last night. I followed the recipes but did garnish the beans with chopped almonds. We liked the chicken, the skin does tend to stick a bit to the pan, so wait a good long time to turn it and use a strong metal spatula. I was concerned about the uncooked cornmeal in the squash dish, and the topping was more grainy than I like. Next time I'll either use cornbread crumbs or crumble cooked polenta in place of the cornmeal.
  3. Pallee

    Steven Shaw

    So sad to hear this. But Steven Shaw, you made a difference. The world is a better place because you were in it. Wishing your family well.
  4. Happy to have found this thread. I've been baking from this book since it came out, so fun to see everyone's bread. I recently started adding cooked grains to my dough. Here I sprouted a cup of spelt, then boiled it for 12 minutes, cooked cornmeal and amaranth seeds and added them. Also went up to 50% whole wheat flour. Loved the results.
  5. I have made 19 of the cakes from "Vintage Cakes" by Julie Richardson. Each one was really good. I like the flavors and textures. Even people who say they don't like cakes have asked for seconds of cakes I've made from this book. Host Note: eGullet Society friendly link to the book
  6. My two favorite cookbooks of 2012 (so far, anyway) are "Vintage Cakes" by Julie Richardson and "Flour Water Salt Yeast" by Ken Forkish I've used them both extensively and been very happy with the results.
  7. I picked up fresh shelling peas, morel mushrooms, asparagus, carrots, basil and surprisingly delicious strawberries today at the Wednesday Portland market in Oregon. So sad that next Wednesday is Viridian Farm's last Wednesday market. Guess I'll have to start getting up early on Saturday to avail myself of their fabulous produce.
  8. I've had smokers for over 30 years - many different kinds. And I keep going back to the Big Chief electric. I make bacon, ham, smoked salmon, pastrami, you name it. It's simple, easy to use, fairly low temp and inexpensive.
  9. The Wednesday farmer's market doesn't begin until May 4th.
  10. Well, I swore off buying any new cookbooks for a while until I saw this thread. Thanks, everyone! The book came, lamb was on my mind, my tagine hadn't been used in a while, so today I made Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Winter Squash and Toasted Pine Nuts. Had a delicata squash on hand as well as some pumpkin in the freezer. What aromas filled the house all afternoon while I cooked through the steps! Never gave a thought to taking any photos, but we are most happy with the results. The house still smells Divine and my belly is most happy. Now the next thing is to decide what to make next. Thanks to Paula for a really wonderful new book!
  11. I cook with lobster mushrooms alot. I cover them with water and use a pastry brush to clean them. They don't absorb much at all and it's nice to have them clean. Here's a recipe of mine that folks seem to like. You can mess around with it to your taste. SHRIMP AND LOBSTER MUSHROOM CHOWDER 1 slice thick bacon, cut into small dice 1/2 sweet onion, chopped 1 carrot, chopped 2 red jalapenos, part of a habanera, chilies to taste 1 finger fresh turmeric, minced (or 1/2 t dried turmeric) 3 cloves of garlic, minced 1 stalk lemongrass, cut and tied salt and pepper to taste 3 rounds galangal 1 kefir lime leaf, bashed 5 cups chicken stock 3 - 4 lobster mushrooms, cleaned and diced 2 lb. shrimp, peeled, shells reserved 1 plum tomato, chopped 2 ears of corn, kernels removed and the cobs scraped of any remainder (save the cobs) 3 small potatoes, diced (include a small sweet potato) 2 teaspoons corn starch dissolved into 1 T cold water 1/2 cup heavy cream (or coconut milk) Fish sauce and lime juice - 1 T each (optional) 1 T cilantro, finely chopped Sauté bacon, add onion, carrot, chilies, turmeric, garlic and sauté over med-low heat until soft. In a small heavy pot, combine the shrimp shells, corn cobs and chicken stock. Add the lemongrass, galangal and kefir lime leaf. Simmer for 20 - 30 minutes and strain. Sauté lobster mushrooms in butter in hot pan and add to stock. Add diced tomato. Add sautéed onion mix. Add diced potatoes. Heat gently until potatoes are soft. Add salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, add shrimp and corn. Bring to boil. Add cornstarch dissolved in 1 T cold water. Simmer a couple minutes and add cream. Add fish sauce and lime juice, if using. Adjust seasoning. Garnish w/ cilantro
  12. Pallee

    Popsicles

    I just made strawberry creamsicles a couple days ago. Two parts strawberries pureed, one part simple syrup, one part cream. Delicious! Had to buy the molds. The checkout clerk asked if I had kids. She laughed when I said no, these were for me, then proceeded to tell me her favorite rum popsicle recipes! Haven't gotten to those yet.
  13. Pallee

    Shoulder of Lamb

    Lamb shoulder grills beautifully. If that's not an option, you sure could tie it together and roast it. You could even put a stuffing between the slices. Or cut it up further for stew.
  14. I use it in cassoulet. It's usually pretty salty, so I also use it in soups and sauces before I add salt.
  15. Check out the grilled vegetable terrine from "The Soul of a Chef" by Michael Ruhlman. The recipe is from Brian Polcyn and is really nice. You grill slices of many vegetables and make a balsamic vin that you've added some bloomed gelatin to - brushing the grilled veggies with this as you layer them in a terrine lined with plastic wrap. Wrap it tightly and chill overnight. Slices beautifully and they stay together. You can arrange them on a platter and drizzle some non-gelatin balsamic vin on top. Or your parsley sauce would be nice as well.
  16. A couple crazy friends and I decided to do a pulled pork party. I've been making beef pastrami for a few years and was asked why not make it out of pork. So I followed the same Ruhlman method with pork shoulder and it was the hit of the party. We ended up with 9 types of pulled pork. We had puerco pibil, adobo pork, goan pork, java rubbed pork, yellow curry pork, kahlua pork, pork rillettes, traditional southern bbq pulled pork, and the pork pastrami. All from pork shoulder and all smoked from 8 - 10 hours. Quite the feast. Desserts went well, but we were left with a bunch of salads and vegetables. Not a balanced meal but no one complained!
  17. Pallee

    Making Bacon

    Why don't you split your batch in half and do one with and one without the nitrite? There is a certain cured property you get from using the nitrite that you won't get without. It's kind of a combination of flavor and texture difference. As well as being a protection against botulism. I always use it but then again, I smoke my belly for around 10 hours and that's a long time in an anaerobic environment.
  18. I always had a rather good natured, hard to enforce rule, as the chef, that if I hadn't used a word, whether a swear word or just something derogatory, in the kitchen, then no one could use it. Kept the kitchen quite civil. Until I let something slip. Then I'd hear that word no end. But it made people think about what they said.
  19. Whole Foods bought Wild Oats, which used to be Natures. As far as I know, New Seasons is still locally owned.
  20. I'll also use wings if they are on sale. My local Asian market has duck wings cheap and I like the flavor they give stock. They also have duck heads but I thought the brains might cloud the stock. Anyone use heads?
  21. Another thing that helps me is wearing wrist braces when I sleep. It's a cheap, non invasive treatment that's really worth trying. When I was really bad, I wore them when I was awake as well - hard to do when you're at work as you lose mobility and have to wear gloves over them, but for the rest of the waking hours it does help. Of course you have to put up with people's stupid comments like "Where's the bowling tournament?" and stuff like that. Never comes across as funny to me when I'm in agony.
  22. So when I first read this thread I wondered what the big deal could be - I mean I've never met a chocolate chip cookie I didn't like (unless it was store bought). Then I got Elizabeth Falkner's "Demolition Desserts" and made her Chocolate Chip Cookies Version XS and decided there was a cookie to make a big fuss about! This one blew me away. The XS stands for extreme sugar, meaning muscovado and demerara, which add a great crunch. Also calls for oats you toast in butter. I subbed white whole wheat flour for half the AP. She gives the cooking times based on the texture you're looking for in the cookie. This takes my vote for the best chocolate chip cookie ever!
  23. Pallee

    Confit Duck

    I, too, have eaten year old confit and lived to tell the happy tale. It was delicious, no ill after affects, and I'd do it again! Guess it depends on how good your sanitation was when you put it up.
  24. I used a product called "drivert" sugar that contains 8% invert sugar. Worked great for fudge and fondants, really smooth and not grainy. It's a dry sugar and I never had any problem with shelf life.
  25. Thanks, that's a lot of great info!
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