Emily_R

Roast peppers and cut into slabs. Smear with softened goat cheese, and place a row of anchovies in the middle. Roll up, slice into bite sizes and skewer with toothpick, drizzle with olive oil and fresh black pepper...

ChefCrash -- this is exactly the texture I'd like to create -- could you give me a sense for what consistency the flour/water batter was? And did you just go straight from that in to the flour? Or was there multiple dipping process? Thanks! Emily

While I haven't had this, I've heard young women around my local college campus out at bars rave about what's called a "Cake Batter Martini". There are a lot of variations on the web... Here's a few of them... http://everything2.com/title/Yellow+Cake+Martini http://grinandbakeit.com/hello-world Emily

This is fantastic news! Great list of contestants!

Thanks for this recipe -- looks great and I too have been running out of inspired ideas for what to do with broccoli. Will try and report back soon!

I hate hate hate my side-by-side. Even though it is a large, full-size model, the biggest problem is that because both fridge and freezer sections are narrower, that actually makes it harder to use the *depth* of the fridge. Stuff has a much greater tendency to get lost in the back, because the openings are so much narrower that the stuff in front blocks the stuff in back and you don't get as much of a visual as to what's there... I just don't see what the problem with having to bend down for a bottom freezer is -- otherwise you have to bend down to get to the crisper in a normal top freezer model, and I access the crisper much more often than I access the freezer.

WOW. This is insane. Just the thought of it makes me shiver all over.

I love green peppers -- raw, cooked, whichever! And I think stuffed green peppers are much better than stuffed red...

Nolnacs -- those pies are beautiful! I love the sheen you're getting on your top crust -- what do you use? Is it an egg wash? I usually do a wash with heavy cream instead, but those pies might inspire me to change my ways...

R-Wood -- That lemon chiffon with lemon wafers looks amazing! So summery -- any chance you could share the recipe while my raspberry bushes are providing? :-)

Yes yes yes! I thought I was the only one with an air vent right below where I do most of my chopping. With the amount of stray veggies that end up there, I'm probably creating my own compost pile beneath my feet.

Just made by far the best zucchini pancakes I've ever had. The addition of parmesan, lemon zest, and lots of fresh herbs took these over the top. I increased the amount of herbs dramatically -- recipe calls for 1/4 tsp of fresh oregano and thyme, but you wouldn't even taste that small an amount of fresh stuff. I used closer to 1/4 cup. Otherwise followed the recipe exactly and it was perfection -- right down to the minutes for the cooking time. Served them with a light lemon-dressed salad and it was the perfect summer dinner! http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/08/the-crisper-whisperer-zucchini-pancakes-recipe.html

That was just crazy cool. Thanks for posting - can't wait to hear if it works!

Holy moly Dan! How long does it take you to go through 10 pounds of meatballs six at a time? Also, Shalmanese -- the zucchini sounds like a fantastic idea. (Roughly) how much do you typically add to your batches?

Well I made the meatballs tonight in the oven, and that was a success! Flipped them once, and so they got lightly browned on two sides... Then put them into the sauce, and put the pot of sauce in the oven to simmer gently. The texture was really nice -- tender, but they held together well. Froze batches in the sauce, in freezer bags with the air frozen out. Thanks everyone!

Thanks Susan - I swear I searched! I don't know how I missed it... Hungry C and Chris -- I'm intrigued about cooking them raw / roasting, but I use the browned bits in the pan to get flavor in the tomato sauce that they eventually cook in. What do you do for your sauce?

This recipe is my new hands-down favorite way of using zukes. My only change is to up the arugula. In fact, just got some arugula at the market this morning so I can make this salad tonight! http://www.formerchef.com/2010/06/21/zucchini-and-arugula-salad-with-lemon-anchovy-dressing/

Hi folks -- I searched but was surprised that I couldn't find a topic on this already started... I'm planning on making spaghetti and meatballs tonight, and bought extra meat... Do you freeze your meatballs? How do you do it? Raw/Cooked? Plain/In Sauce? And how do you cook them -- raw dropped into the sauce, browned in a pan and then sauced, baked in the oven on a rack... Looking forward to hearing all your meatball making expertise... Emily

Totally agreed on the pita chips and pita bites -- they are both fantastic!

Holy crap! Mangosteens at Wegmans? How was the flavor? Have you had them in Asia? If so, how did they compare? I haven't had one since I was 9 years old, traveling in Indonesia with my parents... In my memory, they were the best fruit on earth, and I ate them until I got a stomach ache... And then still ate them some more.

Had a really great one tonight. Some of you may have seen smittenkitchen.com's recent post on scalloped tomatoes, her adaptation of an Ina recipe combining tomatoes and bread, topping with parmesan, and baking. Made my version of this tonight and it was fantastic! Luscious texture, rich flavor without being heavy... Would be a perfect brunch dish with a fried egg, but also made a perfect side accompaniment to grilled chicken tonight. I'm posting the recipe below since I've made adaptations to both the ingredient list as well as major adaptations to the cooking method. In the comments on smittenkitchen's blog, many people had trouble with the texture of the finished dish being soggy. With that in mind, I modified the cooking methods in several ways and came up with something that I thought yielded a perfect texture -- luscious and melting, but still with distinguishable bread chunks in it. This recipe is a major win. Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons, heavily adapted from smitten kitchen, who adapted from Ina Garten 3 tablespoons olive oil 3 cups cubed bread + 1 additional slice, separated. Sourdough is good. No need to remove crusts unless they are very heavy. 2 1/2 pounds plum whatever good tomatoes you’ve got, peeled, cut into 1-inch dice, 2 large cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon) 2 teaspoons sugar 1 teaspoon Morton Kosher salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup thinly slivered basil leaves, lightly packed 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese Preheat the oven to 350°F. Combine tomatoes and salt in a colander to drain. Heat 2 Tbs olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high. Add the bread cubes and stir so that they are evenly coated with oil. Cook cubes, tossing frequently, until toasty on all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove toasted cubes from the pan and add to a shallow 8 cup baking dish. Add remaining 1 Tbs of oil and garlic to the pan and saute garlic until golden. Add tomatoes and sugar, and cook stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, to cook down some of the juices. Add one slice of un-toasted bread (cubed), and let that bread mush into the tomato juices to thicken. Remove from heat, and stir in the basil. Pour the tomato mixture into the baking dish with the toasted bread and stir to combine. Top with Parmesan cheese and bake 30 to 35 minutes until the top is browned and the tomatoes are bubbly. Serve hot or warm...

Maybe something like Citra-Solv?

Considering that I hull about 50 pounds of strawberries a year, a paring knife is essential to me!

So last year I made a ton of black raspberry freezer jam (we are overrun with black raspberries on our land). However this jam (maybe because removing the seeds also removed a lot of the pulp) was pretty thin -- more like a thick black raspberry sauce. On Wednesday I melted some 70% Valhrona Manjari and added in about an equal amount (by volume) of this black raspberry jam. OH MY GOD. I nearly fell off my seat it was so good. My husband tried it and told me I could charge $3.00 a lick. Put the black raspberry chocolate ganache inside chocolate macarons, and the result is heaven. Now I can't wait to make a cake and pour this stuff over it...

Thought I'd revive this thread as I just made the Sauteed Zucchini with Za'atar and Crispy Chickpeas from the August/Sept 2010 issue. And it was... Good. Not bowl me over good, but solid. Surprisingly heavy, especially considering that while you fry the chickpeas, they didn't appear to absorb much oil. I did like the combo of the za'atar and the zukes, and my husband thought it brought out their zucchini flavor (whatever that is :-) )... Cooks Illustrated doesn't give a recipe for za'atar, so here's roughly what I used (combined from various recipes on the web): 1 tsp sumac 1 tsp thyme 1/4 tsp hot paprika 1/2 tsp marjoram 1/4 tsp black pepper 1 Tbs toasted sesame seeds The textural contrast of the crispy chickpeas was nice with the more pliant zucchini... I served this with rice.