Eilen

Local Ocean is great: http://www.localocean.net/ Also have a look through this thread on another food forum; there are some more recs.

Crackers from December 2007, can't remember the issue number: These are deeelicious, and they impress the pants off people who don't really cook! The recipe is great as written in the magazine, except I would recommend letting the dough rest a few/ten minutes before beginning to roll it out; it just shrinks back if you try right after mixing. In another issue, they published a comment from a reader who had trouble rolling it out; he ended up using a pasta roller. I think that would be a bit of a production for such a small amount of dough, but if it's out anyway, I guess it's worth a shot. I made the ratatouille again this week and used some leftovers for the puff pastry tart recipe in the sidebar. This was also deeelicious, but I used goat cheese instead of feta because with the anchovies I thought it would all be a bit too salty.

Ratatouille from Issue #80: I also posted about this in the Ratatouille Cook-Off thread. Recipe available online here. I made the sauteed version, which then-editor Martha Holmberg preferred for the deeper flavor. She also offers a roasted version that saves time but yields a bit less. I was pretty faithful to the recipe, but I opted not to peel the eggplant or the tomatoes as they were super fresh from my farmers' market. I also left out the few drops of hot sauce at the end--it just didn't seem right to me. The reduced juices and the splash of lemon juice are genius additions, though. I used the best olive oil I had since so much was used I figured you would be able to taste it in the final dish, and you could. Overall, the recipe does take quite a while, but especially for two people, the leftovers are so worth it. When we had it for dinner, I served it with some marinated, grilled lamb chops and a wee bit of bread for mopping up all the juices. Heaven. P.S. I am really glad this thread was started. This is my go-to, never-let-my-subscription-run-out magazine.

nickrey, that looks so pretty. Here's my effort, from last Thursday: I used this recipe from Fine Cooking, and I loved it. You can see in the first picture that I didn't bother peeling the tomatoes, or the eggplant. They were both so fresh that I didn't think it was necessary. I really like the method of reducing the juices and adding a squeeze of lemon juice with the herbs. When I do it again, I'll add more onion, as they were my favorite.

That's funny, I was eating my leftover ratatouille today with pasta and I thought it might be nice with mushrooms. But no, I've never made it that way. Good timing! My farmer's market finally had all the necessary ingredients, so I made some on Thursday. I was going to post it in the Cooking with Fine Cooking thread because the recipe I used was from Issue #80. In short, the ingredients are all sauteed seperately, beginning with the onions and ending with a very quick saute of the tomatoes and garlic. The vegetables go into a colander to drain over a saucepan, and the juices are then reduced to be poured over the dish. A final addition of lemon juice, hot sauce(!), and fresh basil and parsley brightens everything up. I added all except the hot sauce, which I just couldn't get my head around. It's a great recipe! I'll post a picture on Monday.

You could do a tart with dough made from olive oil instead of butter and fill it with some great stone fruit or berries. Or browse through this blog's list of vegan desserts: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2005/12/desserts-and-fruit.html

Thanks! As for straight from the fridge, what weinoo said and also I've read elsewhere that letting the dough come to room temp. overproofs it, and I think they take your bread license away or something if you overproof your dough. For me it's not so much that the dough is hard to handle, especially the recipe I linked to, because I'm really stingy with the amount of water I add. I don't appreciate huge holes in bread, because I'm mostly using it for sandwiches and toast, and I like a slightly more dense bread anyway. It's to get nice slashes--that's my favorite part, the crusty bit in between the slash marks. I read somewhere in this thread about a method of kneading 15 seconds, then resting 10 minutes, then repeating a couple more times. Not nearly as fun (yes, fun!) as kneading 10 minutes straight, but it seemed to work fine. I need to get a bigger stone for my oven, then I'll experiment with different shapes and spritzing (that's scary) and such. For now I'm happy with what I'm doing. Also, I learned from the blog I linked to that a pancake batter consistency is more than 100% hydration, she maintains her starter at the consistiency of the inside of a "perfectly toasted marshmallow." Sounds good to me. P.S. Where I'm from, we aren't quite sure what summer is. Only half joking. I bake early early in the morning or late late at night, and if it's really hot I have a dinky window unit a/c that I can turn on. But that rarely happens.

Oops : I didn't follow directions, simple as that. I missed about three hours of proofing! And here's what happened when I did follow directions: YUM: The crust and crumb were just about perfect. I'm still using my dutch oven to bake loaves in as I'm not sure how to otherwise introduce steam. About 20 minutes with the lid on at 450F, 15 minutes with the lid off, ten minute rest with the oven off. The crust had more crunch than any loaf I've ever done. I bake straight from the fridge so I can slash more easily; I've never tried it otherwise and don't care to. I followed this recipe. BTW this blog has been enormously helpful for me in the past month or so, answering questions about hydration levels, etc. and I feel I have a much more clear understanding of how starters work and how to work with them. I can't seem to shape my loaves into nice batards; any tips? And thanks to gfron and hathor for helping me with ImageGullet!

I've been inspired by this thread, the EGCI course on sourdough, and hathor's post on her blog about the need to knead to really try to make bread on a regular basis for my little family of two. I was so pleased with this week's results, I thought I could actually contribute something by sharing! Unfortunately I just spent an hour reading about ImageGullet and haven't figured it out yet, so I will have to link the photos instead. I started Lulu back in March with some rye flour and slowly switched her over to regular white flour. I don't have any pictures of her, but she's pretty happy hanging out in the fridge in between my baking days. One thing, though, she used to be runny like pancake batter and now she's pretty thick, I'd like to get her back to that consistency, so if anyone has any suggestions.... First loaf: This is a no-knead loaf, loosely based on a recipe from the blog chezpim. Hers was a mixed-flour loaf and I've been doing that (before I had a camera), but I wanted to try an all white loaf using the same method to see if I could get some lighter texture. So I made a fairly shaggy dough using 14.5 oz. flour, 240 g water, 255 g starter/sponge, and 10 g salt (don't ask me why I used ounces and grams! I don't know!). Let it sit covered on the counter for about sixteen hours, folded it envelope-style twice, let it rest 2-3 more hours, then baked it in a dutch oven at 450 for 30 min. with the lid, 15 min. without. Here she is: http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z83/sj_...ze/IMG_0013.jpg Inside: http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z83/sj_...ze/IMG_0023.jpg Really airy crumb, almost too light! I like it a bit more dense than that. Flavor was great, just lightly sour, a wee bit undersalted for my tastes. Second loaf: This is the one I kneaded--I followed more or less weinoo's descriptions, including a 1/4 tsp. yeast just for kicks. Kneaded about ten minutes, using a bastardized version of Bertinet's. Overnight in the fridge for again about 16 hours, then in a preheated 450 oven for about 45 min. I baked it right from the fridge. Weinoo didn't say if he let the dough come to room temp or not, so I was on my own there. Anyway, the result: http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z83/sj_...ze/IMG_0025.jpg Inside: http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z83/sj_...ze/IMG_0031.jpg I liked this loaf a lot more. The crust was perfect, nice and crispy, and the crumb was a bit more dense. It was also easier to slash, in fact I think I got a little carried away there! So, thanks all for inspiring me, if you've got any tips for me, I'm all ears.... P.S. The kneading part of it was easier than I expected, maybe because it was a smaller amount of dough than I've tried before?

The last sentence was the most interesting: So was it the eggs or their generally unhealthy lifestyle that's to blame? These studies are so problematic precisely for that reason. I hate to think of all the people who are going to reduce their egg intake after reading this article.

Miranda, look at this website too: http://urbanedibles.org/ It's a website that tells you where you can find fruit and nut trees around town. It seems silly to pay for unripe apples, when you can ask people with apple trees if you can pick your own. Also a friend told me there are a bunch of apple trees at Powell Butte; I'm going to investigate this summer.

Hi Mirandar, I think she's talking about using homemade pectin from green unripe apples. In my area you harvest them in early summer. It's to avoid using commercial pectin, which may have an off taste for some people. I could be wrong, as I don't have the book! Here's a recipe for apple pectin: http://www.portlandpreserve.com/he-howto.html It's #4 on the list. Hope that helps.

I noticed the new look at the grocery store the other day; it made me want to buy an issue just to see if it was worth subscribing to again. I let my subscription expire last year after realizing that the stories did not interest me that much (I don't really care what's "trendy" in the food world, I just like to know what's good), and I wasn't using it for the recipes either. It seems like the kind of magazine for people who want to be fashionable in the food world--in one issue last year(?) or the year before, they even had a clothing spread, telling you what you should wear for a weekend in the country or something. I wrote the editor to say that, should I require clothing advice, I would subscribe to Vogue and not a food magazine. I suppose I shouldn't be so judgemental, it's just not the food magazine for me.

Check out this thread from about a year ago; I haven't lived in Spokane for a few years, so I don't know how accurate my recs would be. You could also look at reviews in the Inlander, Spokane's weekly. I'm not endorsing them, just suggesting. As for Cheney, I would say you're better off going back into Spokane to eat!

I've been using Lerida for some time now. It's in my price range, and it's good for those times I don't want an in-your-face peppery aftertaste.

My method isn't any different than what folks have said about flour, egg wash, then breading, but I don't season the flour. Rather I season whatever meat is being breaded. I've tried it both ways and I just don't think the seasoning penetrates to the meat when it's in the flour. Anyone else think so?

David, I would love it if you would post your recipe for the huckleberry coffee cake--I've still got about four cups of berries in the freezer from my mother's visit last year. Also, I'm so glad they finally remodelled that Rosauer's! I love the one up north on Division, but I lived on 11th and Lincoln. There used to be a cute little taqueria to the left of the store--have they survived? Looking forward to your pics on LV too!

David, thanks so much for showing us such detailed photos of your kitchen! This blog is of particular interest to me since I lived in Spokane until about three years ago. I'm wondering, will we get to see your favorite places to eat in town? Any preference for grocery shopping? I used to go to the Huckleberry's and the Rosauer's on the lower South Hill... And the huckleberries, I'm so jealous! We used to go every year when I was a kid and pick gallons and gallons of the things, backbreaking work that is. Now what I wouldn't give to pick them every summer. My mom brings me frozen from her stash, but it's not the same. I can't wait to see what you do with them!

I love that pickle, but it stinks up my refrigerator!!! My two current favorites are red onions and radishes. The pickled onions go on banh mhi (that's probably really bad, isn't it?) and fish tacos. The radishes are purely for snacking. These are both quick (think done in a day)--I've never actually processed pickles, though I get my mother's every year.

Emily, I made that last week also! Only when I discovered that I had just one can of chickpeas, not two like I thought, I put in some sliced sauteed chorizo to bulk it up a bit. Not that that's a bad thing! Ate it with crusty bread and a salad with sherry dressing. It really was delicious, a great cool weather meal.

It's not very original, but I love a frittata with peas, mint and pecorino. Sometimes with asparagus too. Or fresh red chiles.

I've made this salad lots of times--it's very tasty. It's got a bit of sweet wine mixed with vinegar for acidity.

I've never intentionally taken them because I've never had reason to but I do recommend them for animals, especially dogs and cats on a dry kibble diet. They need that extra bacteria to help them digest foods like wheat and corn. One thing worth noting is that the bacteria count in yoghurt, etc. decreases significantly the longer it's in your fridge. Best to buy in small containers and eat as soon as you can, if the beneficial bacteria is your goal.

Sherry vinegar, I'm beginning to like it more than red wine vinegar, especially with chicken or in a chickpea/veg stew. Anchovies. Smoked paprika, I just used this in a rub last night and my friend said what the heck did you do to this turkey it's delicious.

You can definitely keep them in the fridge--I think nduran (who seems to be the felafel expert) said s/he keeps the mixture in the fridge for up to a week. Someone else said they froze patties also. I have another question: since we're heading into fava season and we're growing them this year, can I use fresh favas to make felafel? Or will the texture not be the same?