FrogPrincesse

It's great on crêpes, with a little bit of whipped cream (bananas optional).

I had three large leeks from my CSA that were taking up a lot of space in the vegetable drawer, so I decided to make a leek and goat cheese quiche last night. Going in the oven: After the oven: Quiche is such an easy way to use excess vegetables, or leftovers. It's fun to come up with different combinations of ingredients. I made a double batch of pastry dough so I have another tart pan lined with the dough in my freezer, ready to go for the next quiche.

It's fun to see what everyone is doing with grapefruit. We had another grapefruit cocktail last night: the Brown Derby (via Bartender's Choice). 2 oz bourbon 1 oz grapefruit juice 0.5 oz honey syrup For me the bourbon was very prominent in the drink, with the grapefruit and honey highlighting it. It was a balance of sweet and sour, on the boozy size (but my husband didn't think so). A very pleasant sipping drink.

Jane, The Swiss Mist sounds great. I was going to make one the other night but then realized I had run out of lemons. It's been on my list of cocktails to try for a while now, thanks for reminding me!

Same here. Bought this a few weeks ago (all deveined - I didn't know that was even available). Went back this week to get this one (almost 1.5 lb!). I suspect I will buy more as the date approaches and I start to go in panic mode.

For the sake of completeness, here are a few other drinks I have made with grapefruit recently, from other threads. In the PDT cocktail book there are quite a few good grapefruit cocktails. I am listing three that I have tried so far. Paddington: white rum, lillet, grapefruit juice, lemon juice, bonne maman marmalade, absinthe rinse Brown Derby: bourbon, grapefruit juice, honey syrup Edgewood: Plymouth gin, grapefruit juice, Punt e Mes, Lillet blanc, kosher salt Then there is the excellent Mother's Ruin Punch by Philip Ward: sparkling wine, gin, sweet vermouth, grapefruit, lemon. It's fresh and crisp - a perfect summer punch. Finally, there are quite a few tiki drinks that call for grapefruit (including one of the most famous, the Zombie). The Ancient Mariner from Beachbum Berry Remixed is a fine example: lime, grapefruit, pimento liqueur, Demerara & Jamaican rums.

I got a couple of oro blanco grapefruits in my CSA so I am using them to make cocktails. First I tried the Nevada. I used the ratios from the Bartender's Choice app: 1.5 oz white rum (I used Flor de Cana) 1 oz grapefruit 0.5 oz lime juice 0.5 oz simple syrup 2 dashes Angostura bitters. What a beautiful drink. Very delicate, subtle, intriguing, as other people have noted upthread. Then yesterday I tried the Siesta that was also mentioned in this thread, but with the ratios from PDT: 2 oz tequila 0.5 oz Campari 0.5 oz lime juice 0.5 oz grapefruit juice 0.5 oz simple syrup grapefruit twist I liked it a lot. It reminded me of the Jasmine but much more subtle.

I made this Pimm's Cup a few days ago. 2 oz Pimm's No. 1 cup 6 oz homemade ginger beer borage garnish Very refreshing. It was my first time using borage and I liked it (despite it being very hairy!).

Heidi- My grand-mother used to pickle them. Similar to capers, with more crunch.

Dorie Greenspan's chocolate cupcakes The recipe used volume measurements (at least the online version - I don't own the book). I must admit that this was a little disappointing, although this seems to be the norm in the US. The instructions were very detailed and made more sense (e.g., mixing the cocoa powder with the other dry ingredients). I had to make one substitution - I had forgotten to buy buttermilk so I used milk with a little white vinegar. I had a small issue with the melted chocolate re-solidifying very rapidly before being mixed with the other ingredients. So in the end, there were a few little chunks of solid chocolate in the cupcake, but this was not a bad thing and I may want to replicate that in the future based on feedback from my daughter, who thought that this was a great surprise. As is apparent in the pictures, my liners are not the right size and therefore they make these weird folds. Since I have a thousand of them (literally), I am using them for my trial runs. I will use correctly-sized brown Regency liners from amazon for the birthday party; hopefully they will look nice. The top are cracked; but so far all of my batches have had the same issue. I am not too worried about it because the frosting will cover any flaws. Here is finished product. They are a little difficult to frost because the ganache solidifies quite rapidly. The cake itself was much better than the recipe from Confession of a Tart: less crumbly (but still a little too crumbly), more moist, overall a very nice flavor. It was a nice cupcake, but nothing especially memorable. I liked the ganache frosting from Dorie's recipe a lot, but everyone else preferred the much richer buttercream frosting from Sprinkles (and I have to agree that it looks more festive). Dorie's recipe seems more restrained, more refined maybe (more French dare I say it?). But my "client" is my daughter and she is not looking for subtlety. Cross-section (minus test bite) I am starting to think that macarons are easier to master than cupcakes. I made two batches of Pierre Herme chocolate macarons so far without any major issues (keeping my fingers crossed)...

I don't own the momofuku cookbook, but I got a craving for roasted pork belly after reading Kerry and Anna's fooblog. So I bought a 4-lb pork belly and made a batch this weekend. I realize that the online recipe that I used (from epicurious) differs from the book in several respects. First, in the online recipe the belly is brined for 12 hours (instead of being dry-cured). It is roasted at low temperature first, and high temperature at the end. Despite these differences, I got an outstanding result. I did not attempt making the buns so I used high-quality dinner rolls from a local bakery. I served them with the quick-pickled cucumber from the book, chives (I did not have scallions), and hoisin sauce. Absolutely delightful This is a great recipe because it can be prepared in advance and reheated as needed.

What a great blog! Thanks for sharing your culinary adventures with us.

Last week I made a cocktail called the Stork Club (found via Bartender's Choice), which is a close relative of the Pegu Club. I am referring to Paul Harrington's ratios, with the addition of orange juice. 1.5 oz gin 0.5 oz Cointreau 1 oz orange juice 0.5 oz lime juice 2 dashes Angostura bitters I used a blood orange and liked it a lot. The Junipero worked well in the drink, it was not overpowering. Going through this thread, it looks like JAZ also tried a blood orange variation a while back.

This whole thread puzzles me. I cook rice in a regular pot on the stove, in a large excess of water. I never measure the ratio but I would say it's easily 4 or 5 parts water to 1 part rice. I start with the rice in cold water, then boil until starchy bubbles start to form, which usually means that the rice is ready. I do this with Jasmine or Basmati rice and it works every time, no soggy rice. Obviously I drain the rice once it's cooked.

Always looking for good genever cocktails, I tried this one last night. Holland Razor Blade (Eric Alperin) Genever (2 oz), lemon juice (3/4 oz), simple syrup (3/4 oz), and pinch of cayenne pepper sprinkled on top (I substituted piment d'espelette which is a little more fruity/less fiery). I was a little skeptical but intrigued by the ingredient list. I loved it immediately. The chili pepper + genever + lemon combo is a great one; the cocktail had layers of flavor and was just fun to drink.

I tried Sam Ross' Chin Up a couple of nights ago (from the Bartender's Choice app). Gin, cynar, dry vermouth, muddled cucumber. It can be described as a dry martini with a touch of Cynar and cucumber. First I thought that the dry vermouth tasted too syrupy in combination with the Cynar. For a moment I thought that my vermouth was bad, but this is was a recently opened bottle - maybe Noilly Prat would be a better choice than Dolin for this cocktail. Overall, the cocktail felt a little out of balance for me. I could not enjoy it on its own but realized that it was much better in combination with a very pungent goat cheese such as Humboldt Fog. With the cheese it became great, the strong herbal aromas in the cocktail were a good match.

I recommend Yves Camdeborde's Le Comptoir du Relais (9 Carrefour de l'Odéon, in the 6th arrondissement). I had a few excellent meals there last year (eGullet discussion here). It's a very casual restaurant that serves elevated bistro food (more on the traditional side). Outstanding terrines, beef cheek daube, charcuterie plate, etc. L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon has excellent food but felt a little impersonal (I went last June). It was fascinating sitting at the counter and watching the cooks in action. Other places that I would love to try are Frenchie, and Inaki Aizpitarte's Le Chateaubriand or more casual Le Dauphin.

I love negronis. It's the perfect pre-dinner drink, it really gets your taste buds going. I like adding a few dashes of orange bitters in mine (Regan's + Angostura orange bitters).

I made a few of bourbon cocktails for my husband this week, all of them instant favorites for the warner weather. I used Woodford bourbon which works well, although it's not my favorite in that price range for mixing - I find it lacking personality and prefer Buffalo Trace. Elijah Craig 12 years, a recent discovery for me, is also very good for mixing. Bourbon smash (à la Dale DeGroff) Bourbon, lemon wedges, simple syrup, mint, angostura bitters. (from the Drinks thread) Bourbon Shake Bourbon, lime juice, simple syrup. It's essentially a classic daiquiri with bourbon instead of rum. It's really tasty and the lime extracts a lot of great flavors from the bourbon. Kentucky Breakfast (Jeffrey Morgenthaler) This one has bourbon, lemon juice, rich simple syrup (I used demerara 2:1), apricot preserves, and egg white. It is creamy and smooth, more subtle than the first two. It would obviously be an excellent choice for brunch.

deensiebat - your salad looks incredible. Rhubarb, beets, and blue cheese, I would never have thought of that. dcarch - beautiful as always. Kim Shook - great looking sandwich - I cannot resist a good crusty baguette! Last night's dinner was cooked on the grill. We had locally-caught black gill rockcod fillets with salsa di Giovanna (olive oil with garlic, mint, and marjoram - based on a recipe in Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italy), and rainbow chard with home-cured tesa/pancetta. Grilling the chard was nice (I had to blanch it first though), it gave it a nice smoky flavor. It was based on this recipe from Food and Wine, with some tweaks.

This was originally a Jamie Oliver recipe that I have adapted for the pressure cooker after multiple trials/errors. I change the ingredients based on what I have on hand. Steps 1, 2, 6, and 7 are the same as for a non-pressure cooker recipe. 1. Sweat the aromatics (I used shallots and young red onions) in olive oil. 2. Increase the heat and add the rice (7 oz), stir for 1 minute, add a small glass of white vermouth and cook until absorbed. 3. Add the stock (2.5 cups). Close the pressure cooker and bring up to pressure over high heat (3 to 4 minutes). 4. Lower the heat to medium, cook for 5 minutes. 5. Remove from the heat, let stand for 6 minutes. 6. Open the lid, add the butter (2.5 tablespoons) and plenty of parmesan cheese. Stir gently, cover and let stand for 3 minutes. 7. Plate and add your garnishes (Parma ham, crumbled goat cheese, parsley). I found that this technique works very well with carnaroli rice. Arborio overcooks easily so it's hard to get right in the pressure cooker.

There should be nothing wrong with using mayonnaise in your cupcake recipe. If made properly, it's just oil and eggs, ingredients which you'll find in most chiffon-type cake recipes. Sorry, I just can't bring myself to doing it. It must be a cultural difference, but I used to bake a lot when I grew up in France, and never once encountered a recipe using these ingredients. It has to be butter for me.

I made risotto last night in my pressure cooker. It's what I make when I don't have the energy to spend a lot of time cooking and the fridge is getting empty. This version had plenty of shallots, young red onions, marjoram, and dry vermouth. At the end I added a ton of parmesan, goat butter, fresh goat cheese, Parma ham, and parsley. Pure comfort food and minimal effort (with only one pot to clean).

I made this simple but delicious Bourbon Smash last night for my husband: bourbon, lemon wedges, simple syrup, mint, angostura bitters (I did have a sip of it for quality control purposes). My mint is doing really well right now so it's a good time to take advantage of it!

A few cocktails that I made recently with crème de violette (the first two from other threads). The Water Lilly from PDT: equal parts gin, violette, Cointreau, lemon juice; orange twist. The Aviation... of course And the Deep Blue Sea (Michael Madrusan) that I just tried last night: gin, Lillet, crème de violette. Maybe it's the name but I thought it tasted almost salty... the combination of Lillet and crème de violette is quite intriguing.