FrogPrincesse

mskerr, You could make Flammenküche (tarte flambée). Although puff pastry is not traditional it works well too. It's just puff pastry with a thin layer of crème fraîche, sliced onions and lardons (diced smoked bacon) - one of my favorite simple meals with a green salad. There are a couple of ideas for savory tarts on the Lucques thread: Young Onion Tart with Cantal and Applewood-Smoked Bacon and Swiss Chard Tart with Goat Cheese. The book also has a tomato tart recipe (with onions and anchovies) and a mushroom tart recipe both with puff pastry that look good but that I have not had a chance to try. Pissaladière is another French savory tart that can work with puff pastry - the topping is caramelized onions, olives and anchovies. I think that it would be fairly easy to come up with your own version based on what ingredients you have at hand. I found that the key is to have a light hand with the toppings (especially the wet ingredients). If you are feeling more ambitious I know that there are savory versions of tarte tatin with puff pastry that use tomatoes or endives for example. I love TJ's puff pastry! (It's also great for pithiviers/galette des rois - see my icon picture - if you ever get in the mood for something sweet).

I dislike the flavor of canola oil as well. In France sunflower oil was very common, but not so the US. I use a lot of olive oil and peanut or grapeseed oil for high temperature applications.

Thanks; just checked and I have a long forgotten jar of spiced asian pear in the fridge that will be perfect for this recipe!

Kerry, You are killing us with all these beautiful pastries. Everything looks incredible. Chocolate croquants - brilliant idea. Never heard of crostada before. Is that more or less like a crumble in tart form? Or do you use pastry cream in there?

Franci - this looks delicious. Is it lamb neck?

Regarding Don't Give Up the Ship, I noticed that the recipes floating online seemed to differ quite a bit from the Bartender's Choice app version that I used. Most of the online versions call for Dubonnet and reduced amounts of curaçao and Fernet. For reference, the version I used had 1.5 oz gin and 0.5 oz each of sweet vermouth (I used Vya), curaçao and Fernet Branca. I was curious about this and last night, while looking up this cocktail online, I found a detailed discussion of this drink on a local San Diego blog so I thought I would reference it here. It goes over various versions of this drink. In the end, when using sweet vermouth the ratios from the Bartender's Choice app seemed to work the best. Dubonnet worked better with Grand Marnier than with Cointreau, with the amounts of Fernet and Grand Marnier reduced to 0.25 oz.

Last night I had a Newman cocktail with gin, dry vermouth and Picon, another find from Bartender's Choice app. A very nice way to enjoy Picon.

seabream, The liners have little ridges which are barely visible on the cakes. I remove the liners before serving. I always make a few extra cakes for the next day that I reheat briefly with their liner in a microwave or in a warming drawer.

I bake mine in a cupcake pan with paper liners. That way unmolding is never an issue.

A Martinez prepared according to the PDT specifications with Hayman's Old Tom gin, Dolin sweet vermouth, Luxardo maraschino, Boker's bitters, orange twist. I opened the bottle of vermouth for the occasion. It's a good thing that I like the Boker's bitters because my dashes were extremely generous (my bottle pours way too fast even when I am very careful). Great drink. Martinez, the PDT way: Hayman's old tom gin, Dolin sweet vermouth, Luxardo maraschino, Boker's bitters by *FrogPrincesse*, on Flickr

Good catch. Gloria has more gin (1.5 oz) than Lucien (1 oz) but the other ingredients are the same at 0.5 oz each. It's enough to change the feel of the drink although a side-by-side comparison may be in order.

Yes - how to make something great with practically nothing. I love this kind of recipes.

Don't Give Up the Ship I was introduced to this drink by Sam Ross when he paid a visit to Noble Experiment earlier this year, and was happy to see it in the Bartender's Choice cocktail app. It's a harmonious mix of gin, sweet vermouth, fernet branca and curaçao. For some reason I decided to finish my bottle of Cointreau but did not have enough so I ended up using half Cointreau half Clement creole shrubb. Next time I will use the Pierre Ferrand dry curaçao. In any case, I liked the interplay between the fernet and the curaçao a lot.

I've been using it in cocktails a lot and it's great. Most recent example, this Antilles cocktail with sweet and dry vermouths and just a touch of orange blossom water. In the past I used Remy Martin VSOP in my cocktails but always found it a little rough and I was never completely satisfied with the end result. So far I like the Pierre Ferrand 1840 much better (see here and here for other cocktails successfully made with the 1840, including this wonderful Tantris Sidecar). The price seems fine too (at least in the US!). I found it for $37 at drinkupNY. I used to pay about the same for Remy Martin VSOP.

Thanks rod rock. I made this simple arugula, pear and goat cheese salad this weekend. All ingredients were from Trader Joe's. I decided at the last minute to add pomegranate seeds (I had just gotten a couple of pomegranates from my CSA). However pairing bitter arugula with pomegranate is not necessarily the best idea. The dressing was shallots + walnut oil and red wine vinegar. Next time I will replace the pomegranate with some nuts.

The Gloria cocktail is described on the Bartender's Choice app as creation by Vic Bergeron that resembles a fusion between a Negroni and a Martini, so I had to try it. Gin, dry vermouth, Campari, Cointreau. Not as immediately loveable as the Negroni, but nice nonetheless.

Made this kind-of-a Manhattan variation the other night for my husband: Home on the Range (found on Bartender's Choice): rye, sweet vermouth, Cointreau, Angostura bitters. Very nice!

How can I forget... their buffalo mozzarella is wonderful and MUCH cheaper than Whole Foods. Another thing I buy regularly is the salsa - fresca or roasted, both great.

It looks like I have never posted on this thread however I am a Trader Joe's fan and shop there at least once a week. Here are some items that I buy regularly. Their fruit and vegetable selection in San Diego is usually pretty good: organic cherry tomatoes, organic citrus, Haas avocados; the bagged salad mixes are very good. Varied flower selection (and reasonably-priced). Also their potted herbs are nice (I bought a lavender this summer). I don't really love their meat or fish but the whole chickens are decent. The cheese selection is GREAT and prices are about 1/2 of Whole Foods or the cheese shop. Some of my favorites are the cave-aged gruyere, Roquefort, "Toscano" cheese, fresh goat cheese, raclette (in season), Parmigiano-Reggiano (sometimes you can find Stravecchio), Ossau Iraty ("Basque cheese"). There are more that I am sure I am forgetting. They have crème fraîche which can be hard to find. The Greek yoghurt is thick and rich. The Parma ham is great to add to fresh pasta or pizza. Speaking of which, their fresh ravioli are just average but their frozen woodfired pizzas are very good and the flammekueche (tarte flambee) are another favorite. In the freezer section, the mango ice cream mochi is my guilty pleasure. I buy frozen fruit (mangoes, raspberries) to make smoothies or crumbles. The frozen pains au chocolat (chocolate croissants) are fantastic. I also buy their frozen haricots verts, French peas, broccoli, pearl onions. I like the Kalamata olive oil in the square bottle and the Abequina olive oil in the little bottle. The balsamic vinegar is a good deal. I buy their canned tomatoes to make tomato sauce. My husband is addicted to their chocolate chip cookies (the little ones in the big plastic tubs and also the bigger ones in the cardboard box). We like their mango granola and all the nuts are great (cashews, Thai peanuts, Marconi almonds, macadamias). They stock Bulleit rye and have a bunch of solid beers under their own label. Their wine selection changes all the time and you can get excellent deals every once in a while (when we find something we really like, we always come back to get a case but often we are not fast enough and it's all gone already!). Not sure what I would do without Trader Joe's. When I moved to the US from France, I was so relieved to find this store!

Anna - what are the ingredients in the vegetable stock (I see carrots in your photo, maybe some onions) and what makes it "modernist" compared to conventional vegetable stocks?

I did not have a chance to listen to the link but the hard/semi-hard cheeses are usually fine after a stay in the freezer and my French friends and family do it all the time. I've had good success with crottin de Chavignol and raclette. I only do it when I buy a lot of cheese and want to keep some for a future use.

When I make ice cream with egg yolks I always look for good recipes using egg whites. Also I realized that I had bought way too much almonds by mistake and needed to use them. I've made financiers and macarons so far, but recently I found another gem, the Croquants from Ready for Desserts. I was very skeptical at first. The batter of egg whites + flour + sugar was very thin and I could not picture what these cookies were going to look like in the end (the book does not have a photo). But I decided to trust David Lebovitz and I was amazed when I saw them rising in the oven. They were little crunchy delights. Light and crisp, with a toasted almond flavor. Outstanding with a cup of espresso!

I had super-ripe bananas that I needed to use so I made the banana bread again. I still love it. My daughter prefers the version with chocolate chips but I like the crunch and subtle chocolate notes of the cocoa nibs.

The carrots don't seem to give out much moisture, if any, and the water from the butter seems to evaporate rather quickly. I did heat the PC without the lid to melt the butter and coat the carrots.

Chris - no occasional shake and I kept the heat fairly high the whole time (so the rotating valve would keep turning slowly). I think the biggest problem was the cooking time because once reduced from 20 to 12 minutes, the recipe worked for me!