[Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )]

I don't make a lot of pastries, but this was really good.  Somewhat similar to a pecan pie.  This is a Walnut Tart with Candied Walnuts as the garnish.

[Vintage Cooking Booklets and Pamphlets]

3 hours ago, liuzhou said:

If this is vintage, what does that make me? Prehistoric? But I feel I need it.

 

 

Published in London, January 1st, 1965.  Still available used on Amazon USA (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).

 

That is classic, and wonderful.

 

[Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )]

I don't think I've ever made a Walnut Tart, but I am glad I did.  It's really sweet, much like a pecan pie, but a small slice was perfect. I use my standard shortbread pastry recipe I've made for years.  It's simple, just powdered sugar, butter and flour, and is easy to just press into a tart pan with your fingers.  The filling was just walnuts, butter and sugar.  The candied walnuts weren't perfect looking, but tasted delicious.  Just walnuts tossed in hot caramel.  I finished it this morning and had a slice for breakfast!

[Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )]

5 minutes ago, heidih said:

 

I thought so on the fork marks. I prefer crunchy but enjoy soft if there is some chew - so I'll be right over. Ice cold milk? And I'm not a milk girl generally.

I'm not a milk drinker myself, but will have a small glass with these cookies.

 

[Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )]

4 minutes ago, heidih said:

Are they on the crunchy side? I like the dry roast peanut sprinkle. No cross hatch fork pattern huh?

I did do the cross-hatch but you can't see it very good with the peanuts.  These are nice and soft, chewy peanut butter cookies. 

[Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )]

On a whim, I decided to take out my Mother's 1950 edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book.  I hadn't made peanut butter cookies in a few years, and this was the recipe she used. The only update was a garnish of dry-roasted peanuts on top.  

 

Inside the cook book with classic illustrations and the different Betty Crocker test kitchens.

 

[Dinner 2021]

20 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

@weinoo – love the plate with the trio of salads!  I’ve decided to make shrimp salad for a mother’s day tea on Sunday and I have to say your picture cemented that idea!

 

@Shelby – with your dental issues, I think I’d prescribe batch after batch of your lovely deviled eggs!  They should go down a treat!  And that swoony pie!

 

@alwaysdrawing – I very much like the look of your pasta and wish my first (and only, so far) try had been as successful.  I’ve determined that I’m going to try to find a pasta class when it is safe and get someone who truly knows what they are doing to help me figure it all out.

 

@David Ross – I think your beef braise looks scrumptious and bravo for going ahead and giving into your cravings “out of season”.  I decided some time ago that life is too short to live by food rules.  I now wantonly break my spaghetti in half, put cheese on seafood if I like, and crank up the AC and slow cook short ribs in July! 😁

 

Sunday night I made filets de hockey puck😡.  I got some nice filets and did them sous vide.  Haven’t yet figured out what was wrong, but they came out of the water underdone.  I popped them in the CSO to bring to temp, got distracted and seriously overcooked them.  Hence filet de hockey puck and Rice a Roni:

 

It was basically inedible.  We piled on the béarnaise and ate it anyway:

 

Luckily, I’d also made corn and wedge salads:

 

 

Night before last I did a sheet pan dinner that I’ve done before.  It is normally done with Italian sausage – this time I tried bratwurst.  We liked it even more.  Served with butter beans, Rice a Roni, slaw, and whomp cornmeal rolls:

 

 

Last night:

Aldi’s “famous” red bag chicken breast sandwiches, chips, and broccoli salad.  Aldi fans are wild about these frozen boneless chicken breast cutlets and put them right up there with Chick Fil A and Popeyes.  Not quite.  They are fine for no-work things that you can just chuck in the oven for 40 minutes.  But they do not measure up to CFA and don’t even approach Popeyes. 

all looks so delicious!

[Vegas Uncork'd 2010]

I thought it would be fun to look back to 2010 and this report and photos I filed about Vegas Uncork'd.  Founded by Bon Appetit, it was a grand culinary affair that included classes, seminars, plenty of parties, private dinner and a grand tasting. It was the best of times for dining in Las Vegas and the big French names had come to town as fine dining was replacing some the old, tired casino hotel restaurants.  Sadly, the even dwindled over recent years and was merely a shell of itself, but the early days were memorable. 

[Dinner 2021]

I did something I normally don't, yet I'm glad I did.  I've always gone by some sort of family rule that you only serve braised dishes in the fall and winter during cold weather.  And, if I had a new braised beef recipe I missed posting in January, do I really want to deny not posting it until next year? No.  This recipe is best over two days.  Braise the beef day one, then day two reheat it, strain the sauce and serve.  Beef Braised in Red Wine.

[Cinco de Mayo...What will you make??]

One thing I'll make is salsa.  For the past year my favorite is a Tomatillo Salsa.  Served with homemade tortilla chips and on occasion, a guilty pleasure, I serve them with fresh fried chicarhonnes from the local Mexican market. 

For the Roasted Tomatillo Salsa-

1 lb. tomatillos, husks removed and rinsed

1 small yellow onion, skin on, cut in half

4 cloves garlic, skin on

1 ½ cups fresh cilantro

1 small jalapeno, chopped

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. each salt and black pepper

2 tsp. dried Mexican oregano

 

For the Homemade Tortilla Chips-

12 thin corn tortillas, cut into quarters

8 cups canola oil for frying

1 tsp. chipotle chili powder

1 tsp. each salt and black pepper

Instructions

 

Make the Roasted Tomatillo Salsa-

-Heat a cast-iron skillet on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Do not add oil or butter, leave the skillet dry. Add the onion, flesh side down, to the skillet. Add the unpeeled garlic cloves to the skillet. Let the onion and garlic char and get some black bits and start to get soft, 10 minutes, turning the skillet a few times.

-Remove the onion and garlic from the skillet. Remove the onion skin and cut it into chunks. Remove the skin from the garlic cloves.

Heat the broiler. Remove the husks from the tomatillos and rinse. Place the tomatillos in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Place the tomatillos under the broiler and roast until they start to char and soften, 8 minutes.

-Place the tomatillos, onion, garlic, cilantro, jalapeno, sugar, oregano and salt and pepper in a food processor or blender. Blend the salsa to combine.

 

Make the Tortilla Chips and Serve-

-Heat the oil in a deep-fryer or heavy stockpot to 350. Cut the corn tortillas in quarters. Deep-fry some of the tortilla wedges until golden, 2 minutes. Deep-fry the chips in batches. Drain the chips on a rack over a cookie sheet and season with chipotle chili powder, salt and pepper. Serve the chips warm with the tomatillo salsa.

 

 

 

[Cinco de Mayo...What will you make??]

What's on your menu for Cinco de Mayo this year?

[Cook-Off 60: Banh Mi]

11 hours ago, FeChef said:

So, ive made this sandwich almost every day since friday. I went with local bolillo rolls. They are light and airy with a nice skin that isnt crusty until you bake it for a few minutes. I will say, i prefer Braggs amino over Maggi. And a sweeter marinade then a salty one for chicken thighs. I am still undecided if i like the squeeze tube cilantro or the fresh cilantro. The tube cilantro adds and extra umami element, but the fresh cilantro adds that fresh element , so maybe next time i should add a bit of both. Thin sliced japeno's are a must. And Diakon is much better then standard red radish. Cucumber and green onion is a great addition.

 

 

Looks delicious and I like how you used the rolls.

[eG Cook-Off #86: Rabbit]

3 hours ago, Shelby said:

As I wrote on the dinner thread, we had a rabbit wreaking havoc on our asparagus.  I'm usually willing to share a bit...but this guy was biting off the top of every asparagus spear!  

 

So.  He became dinner.

 

He was a really old buck.

 

 

I felt like he was going to be really tough.

 

 

So, we brined him for a day while I thought about what I wanted to do with him.  Ronnie wanted me to either sous vide or pressure cook and then fry him up, but I wasn't in the mood to fry anything last night.  We can do fried a different time.  It was cold, so I thought Rabbit Ragu sounded lovely.  Ronnie deboned the meat for me while I prepped everything else.

 

Here are the tenderloins.  These were actually not tough at all.

 

 

I didn't start this early enough to do it on the stove,  so IP to the rescue!

 

 I browned the rabbit chunks in some olive oil then removed them and added onions, celery, carrots and garlic and cooked until a bit soft.  Deglazed with a bunch of red wine.  Added mushrooms,  the browned rabbit, some tomato paste, a jar of my canned tomatoes, salt, pepper and some bay leaf.  High pressure for an hour.  

 

Meanwhile I made pasta

 

 

Finished dish

 

 

I woke up in the middle of the night wanting to sneak down and eat another bowl.  I restrained myself....this might be what's for breakfast :)

 

 

That is one fine rabbit dish.  The meat of the rabbit looks really good and I'm glad you mentioned it was tender.  

[Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )]

My favorite spring desserts, both using rhubarb.  Rhubarb Pot Pie and Rhubarb Bread and Butter Pudding with Mascarpone Cream.  

 

[Cook-Off 60: Banh Mi]

12 minutes ago, Shelby said:

And we have a SUCCESS!

 

I quickly ran in to the Asian Market a few days ago --it was very busy and sadly, a ton of their coolers\freezers were broken so NO pork belly and hardly any meats.  BUT, I snagged 4 banh mi breads for $1 and right next to the breads I found pork liver pate.  Well, that cinched it.  I had pork belly in the freezer so I thought I'd try one more time to make Ronnie like this lol.  

 

 

I'm no pate expert.  This was like $2 something a can.  But, I love it.  Someone, somewhere around here told me to not skip the pate, and they were right.  

 

Pate, a mix of mayo and Sriracha, and pork belly that marinated overnight in fish sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce, jalapeños, garlic and oil.

 

 

Pickled carrots and radishes and cilantro on top

 

 

I'm sad I only made enough pork for one sandwich for us to split --I want more!

Perfect and delicious.  I know when I first started making Banh Mi some of my snooty friends confused it when I said I used canned pork pate from the Asian store.  I think they thought that was terrible and I should only use some expensive French "pate de fois gras."  Hah, I got them on that one.  The pork pate is delicious and just perfect, (and what I know is used on many Banh Mi sandwiches in Vietnam.

[eG Cook-Off #86: Rabbit]

This is close to what I am thinking about for the Southern-Fried Rabbit with Gravy and Grits.  This is a Rockfish I did last spring with a ham hock red wine sauce.  It's a bold sauce but surprisingly didn't overpower the rockfish.  What do you think about this with Rabbit?

[High-end Cookware - What you get for the money]

One of my dreams is to own some Mauviel French Copperware pans.  A local kitchen shop carries it and can special order from the entire line.  Anyone ever had the experience of cooking with it? This is a stock image of some of their pans

 

 

 

[Dinner 2021]

On 4/7/2021 at 7:41 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

That is a gorgeous photograph.  About how much did the piece weigh before cooking?

 

it was 4lbs.  just the perfect size.

[eG Cook-Off #86: Rabbit]

5 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I bought one of the supermarket's roast rabbits.

 

 

Removed legs and hand-tore the body meat.

 

 

Served with a dry dip containing bay leaf, ginger, cinnamon, star anise, fennel seed, sichuan peppercorns, chilli powder, cumin, salt and sugar.

 

Dry dip

 

and some stir-fried purple bok choy (napa cabbage).

 

 

The front legs and other bits of leftover meat will go into some wontons for breakfast.

 

Thanks for sharing that's looks really good.

[Dinner 2021]

For Easter a Leg of Lamb.  I find these smaller legs of lamb at Winnco.  Frozen from New Zealand but tender and flavorful.  In our main grocery stores leg of lamb is only available at Easter, and usually not the whole leg but a cut of the leg, and huge.  These true small legs of lamb are better for my tastes.  Marinated overnight with white wine, whole-grain mustard, olive oil, salt, pepper and chopped rosemary.  I cut slits in the meat and studded it with cloves of garlic. Then roasted, first at 425 for 25 minutes then at 350 for 14 minutes a pound. THis one was just under 4 lbs. It was more on the medium rare side than I prefer, but most folks like it at that doness.  Then a pan sauce of wine and more mustard, and studded with fresh rosemary for the table.  It was delicious, and the leftovers will go in sandwiches and a lamb stew.

[Dinner 2021]

3 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

@liamsaunt– I would do a LOT to have a scallop and a lobster roll.  We have two lobster tails in the freezer and Tom Leonard’s has them for $4.99 this week.  I’m putting them on the shopping list!  I’ll at least have the lobster rolls😁!

 

@patti– I’m “liking” all of your crawfish posts (especially that incredible looking bread), but I know it would probably be too spicy for me.  If I ever want to eat crawfish, I think I’d have to order and cook my own.  Maybe with Old Bay – if I go easy on it, I can manage that level of cayenne. 

 

@kayb – delicious looking Easter dinner!  We served a lot of the same things.  Like I told you, I wish I’d thought of mac n cheese.  When Jessica and I looked at your post on FB we both thought that your corn casserole was pineapple casserole (like hers)!

 

@Shelby – Wow!  A slew of great looking meals.  I am really craving some smoked turkey.  Your ham is truly drool-worthy.  And your grandma’s deviled egg plate is adorable, but is it hard to get the eggs out?  Also, this is for you:

😄

 

@Dejah – I hope you are feeling better.  Back pain is a difficult thing to live with.  My mom lived for years with it and I know it’s not easy.

 

@David Ross – beautiful potatoes.  I love having leftover potato casseroles.

 

@Ann_T– as always, lots of love for that chicken dinner.  For me, the logical next meal would be open faced hot chicken sandwiches with gravy!

 

Our Easter dinner - Ham w/ Maple/Pineapple sauce:

This looks a little dry but wasn’t at ALL!

This was delicious on the ham but extremely sweet.  I think next time I’ll add a squeeze of lemon juice or something.

 

Jessica’s Watergate salad & Pineapple casserole:

 

The pineapple was really, really sweet.  I said to Mr. Kim that this is the kind of thing Europeans mean when they say American food is too sweet.  But, especially in the Southern states, this kind of dish IS traditionally served with a celebratory meal.  Growing up spending summers in NC all holiday meals and Sunday post-church dinners came accompanied by things like spiced apples and crab apples, “congealed salads” and Cool-whip “salads”.   They were served with the meal, not as a dessert.

 

Jessica’s Deviled eggs, along with all the relish/crudité items:

 

She and my MIL make the best deviled eggs in our family. 

 

Jessica’s Roasted asparagus Caesar:

She and Mr. Kim thought this was the best asparagus dish they’d ever had.

 

Creamy Dijon Garlic Potatoes Dauphinoise:

Small pleasures, but I love it when a potato dish lines up like this:

 

Jessica’s salad & dressing:

The salad was various baby greens, arugula, mango, blackberries, blueberries, and candied pecans.  The dressing is one that she developed with honey, lemon juice and zest, oil, poppy seeds, and paprika – among other stuff.  It was amazing.

 

Jessica’s liptauer cheese and cocktail loaf pumpernickel bread:

A family tradition.  I learned to make it in college.  I fell in love with it at the deli around the corner from my apartment, but couldn’t afford it very often, so I started making my own.  Jessica has always loved it.

 

Sweet potato rolls:

These go so perfectly with ham. 

 

My coconut cake was a disaster (chronicled in the Sweets thread).  Luckily on Saturday Mr. Kim and I went to the Ukrops Food Market for the first time since it opened.  I’ve talked about it before, but Ukrops was a local and successful family owned supermarket that was open from 1937-2010.  It closed business, but never really went away.  It still produced it’s most popular prepared things and sold them through the grocery stores in the area.  Even Publix and Wegmans, which only opened in Richmond in the last few years, stock the Ukrops products.  In December of last year Ukrops finally opened their much talked about food hall.  They have their bakery, prepared savoury foods, fried chicken, pizza, panini – all their most popular stuff - on hand.  There is usually a line for the chicken/panini orders and when they first opened, you had to go early in the day and get a ticket with a time to pick up your chicken.  Things have calmed down some and it was fine on Saturday.  We got a package of Coconut cream tarts:

So, dessert wasn’t all chocolate bunnies and jellybeans! 😁

wow those are beautiful layers of potato and the whole meal looks delicious

[Dinner 2021]

24 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Looks quite amazing but inquisitive  minds want to know: did you pre-simmer the potatoes? 

Good question but no.  They are sliced pretty thin.

[Dinner 2021]

A side dish to Easter lamb, Potato Gratin.  I haven't made this for a few years and so pulled out my scribbled notes and made it to go with a roast leg of lamb.  Sometimes I'll change the cheese, maybe add some diced onions to the layers, but this time it was the basics.  So delicious and really good leftovers heated for breakfast the next day.

[Dinner 2021]

8 hours ago, Shelby said:

@weinooBetween you and @liamsaunt you're both killing me with the seafood.

 

@kaybGreat Easter spread!  You too @Norm Matthews!

 

Another tea leaf salad that @pattihas gotten me addicted to.  I have enough for one more small one and have ordered another kit.

 

 

Sausage pizza to go with

 

 

Used up the last of the smoked turkey

 

Had a tiny pork roast in the freezer so I threw that in the IP along with some peppers, tomatoes and spices in order to make enchiladas.  

 

 

I had some avocados that needed using.  Pickled radish and RG beans on the side.

 

 

For Easter I did a Broadbent's Ham

 

 

Deviled eggs --the holder was made by my Grammy.  I just love it.

 

 

 

Scalloped potatoes and baked beans 

 

 

A wonderful cake that I ordered --I just don't like making desserts.....and I had a coupon.....It's a delicious lemon cake.  Very light frosting with lemon zest in it.

 

 

 

 

Their hams are so good.

[eG Cook-Off #86: Rabbit]

10 hours ago, paul o' vendange said:

 

Thanks David, I’d forgotten that.  I’ll never forget the touching episode of - can’t remember which show, but Tony Bourdain on a Scottish estate hunting red deer. That, and the equally touching episode where he spends time more or less stunned to dine on hare with M. Bocuse, then ventures out for an informal morning bird hunt with Chef and his almost comically hapless pup.  I know these are somewhere in play.

I loved the Bourdain episode and seeing that hare with the sauce made from the blood.