Pierogi

The key is to use a layer of hot frijoles as the first step to building your tostada. That's not only the glue that helps to hold all the other toppings in place, but it also sort of "seals" the surface of the tostada so it doesn't get too limp from any liquid-y ingredients. You can make the layer of frijoles as thick or as thin as you like, depending upon how much you like refrieds. However, if you're using the tostada shells as a base for a seafood cocktail or a ceviche, no beans. Just eat quickly ! There are a million options for these. You can use them as a base for "super" nachos, or for a tostada salad, as well as layering on the toppings and eating out of hand. Just about anything you'd put in a taco can go on a tostada. Be sure to toss the tostada shells into a warm oven (~300°F) for a tiny bit (no more than 5 minutes) before you use them. This will refresh them, crisp them up, and take away some of the stale taste.

Chris, I made this about 6 months ago, after having seen Bayless make it on his latest PBS show. I didn't love it as the soft taco filling he suggested, but the next day on tostada shells, drizzled with a little Tapatio hot sauce, was outstanding. Did you use some of the oil from the tuna in the dressing? That, to me, was the key. Water pack tuna would be way too bland. You were definately on the right track putting it on top of the chips. Something about the crispy, salty corn enhances the taste a lot.

Several more ideas just came to mind.... Fig clafouti sounds like it would be delightful. Fig crostatas are classic of course. For more savory, the August Bon Appetit has a recipe for a grilled pizza with figs and Italian sausages. I believe the dough was dressed with a vinaigrette made with pomegranite molasses. Unfortunately, the magazine's already been picked up by the recyling guys, or I'd give you more details....

Nope, and there was no little leaflet in the box either. Just a rough (and very roughly translated ) image and description of how to use it. After drying, the long, hot soak seems to have gotten off most of the sticky residue. I'll give the Cascade-in-the-sink a try, and if that doesn't work find some citric acid cleaner. Thanks all for the help.

Over in the dinner thread I described what one reply lovingly called "fig bombs". Such they will remain named.... Figs, sliced in half and each half smeared with a mixture of 4 oz. softened cream cheese, about 2 oz. crumbled feta, and 2 large garlic cloves, minced. Sprinkle the cheese topping with coarse black pepper, and wrap each little figgy jewel in a strip of prosciutto. It was amazingly good, and kept well until the next day's lunch also. You could also use a bleu cheese in place of the feta, but with that one I think I'd skip the garlic. Last night I made a quick, fig crisp for dessert. Chunked up the last of the fresh ones from last week, a little sugar, cornstarch and water in a small ramikin, and topped with the traditional crunch topping of flour/sugar/butter. Baked and served with thick cream. That was pretty good too.

I just got a brand new tortilla press as a birthday prezzie ! YAY, me. It seems to be a really good one, not cast aluminum, but cast iron that has a hot-tinned coating (the thing weighs a TON). It seems to be covered in some industrial lubricant that was probably a remnant of the machining process. It’s clear on the press, but has darkened the box where it’s seeped into the cardboard. I’ve soaked the thing in hot water with an excess of hand dishwashing detergent (Dawn, which in my experience cuts grease really well), and then scrubbed it with a brush. My fingers still feel sticky after handling it, even after a 2-hour soak in near boiling water, and a thorough scrub. I’m reticent to put it in the dishwasher, although I feel that will cut the grease coating. I know the tortillas will be encased in a plastic bag when I press them, but just handling the thing leaves me with sticky fingers, like touching a griddle that’s been heated too long with low flashpoint oil. As I said, it’s cast iron, with a “hot-tinned” coating. The brand is “Victoria”, imported from Columbia. Can I run it through the dishwasher to get the slime off, understanding that the dishwasher experience will be a one-off? Subsequent cleanings, assuming the slime DOES come off, will obviously be by hand. Thanks in advance...

Both the California State Fair (in Sacramento) and the Orange County Fair (local to me) have opened this week. The State Fair, according to coverage on the news, is featuring deep-fried butter. The OC Fair has deep-fried M&Ms. Evidently, they mound cookie dough onto a stick, roll it in M&MS, batter it and into the Fry-O-Later it goes. I'd try the M&Ms. The butter, eh, not so much.

In my experience, at least with my recipe, picadillo freezes really well. Doesn't seem to harm the raisins, nor the almond slivers I have in mine....

Could NOT live without it. I'm way too clumsy to be trying to trim produce with my chef's knife. I personally like having 10 fingers and opposable thumbs. They sorta come in handy.... Hulling, coring, cutting the ends off carrots, scallions, celery, getting the ribs out of bell peppers, all that kind of stuff. If I had better hand/eye coordination, maybe I would feel that way, but like I said, I'm sorta attached to my fingers. 4 knives for me...3&1/2" paring, 8" chef's, 10" bread and 6" boning/filet knife. I have others, but those are the ones I use. Chef's & paring daily, at least.

As soon as that line came out of his mouth, I knew he was doomed. Not only from the judge's perspective, but from just about anyone who loves a good salad's. A salad is not a garbage bowl to throw in every ingredient you can lay your hands on. I flinched when he said that, because I knew his dish would be a disaster.

Kim, as I recall the cauliflower was already cooked and semi-processed when it jumped off the table. I want to say it had already been pureed? In my mind's eye, it was in a large metal bowl, and certainly wasn't the whole head.

Dinner time found more blistering hot temps, with much more humidity than coastal SoCal is used to. No way was I turning on the oven, nor the range top. Luckily, I'd found the first beautiful figs of the season at my Trader Joe's yesterday. They were perfect. I had 1/2 an 8-oz. block of cream cheese that needed to be used, so I let it sit at room temp for about 1/2 an hour (all it needed in this heat to soften....), minced up a couple of fat garlic cloves, and mashed in maybe 2 oz. of crumbled feta cheese until the mix was fairly smooth. Smeared that over the cut side of my halved figgy gems, sprinkled the cheese mix with fresh ground pepper, and wrapped a ribbon of prosciutto around the little package. They were sublime. With a crusty pain rustique roll, and a ripe heirloom tomato (again thanks to TJ's for both these) sprinkled with coarse sea salt, and a very cold glass of Chardonnay, it was an entirely lovely, and cool, evening. No pix, my brain was too melted from the heat of the day...maybe next time I make the little figgy flavor bombs. Because there *will* be a next time.

Oh, yay !! Cool, this is excellent news. Thank you to all that responded. *Mental note* buy extra limes at the store tomorrow....

My father was a "floor man" (sanded and refinshed residential floors as his occupation). I have had oak parquet floors in my kitchens since I was a child. Note - I do NOT have a built in dishwasher nor an icemaker in my fridge. My hot water heater is outside. All these are pluses for a wood kitchen floor. But I have had NO water damage problems with the wood in 30-plus years of living in this house. It does need to be refinished, there are definite wear spots by the sink and by the primary prep area, and a couple of the parquet blocks need to be replaced, but ZERO "warpage". As FG says, spills need to be dealt with immediately. You cannot let water sit on it, especially parquet. But I damp mop every couple of weeks, as did my mother before me, to no detriment. Wood, IMO, is more forgiving to dropping stuff. Don't get me wrong, glass, especially thin glass, will still break if it hits the floor. But many other things won't. It's also quieter, and doesn't show dirt too badly. Easier to stand on, as well. And, on the other side, it's also fairly durable. So long as you don't drag heavy things across it, or sharp things, and its got a good finish, its going to stand up for many, many years. If you have things (plumbing, appliances, kids) that are prone to leaking and leaving undiscovered, standing water in your kitchen, wood is probably not for you. If you don't, it's certainly my floor of choice, but YMMV.

Even in SoCal, I've only ever seen fresh in the ethnic markets or the supermarket chains that target the Hispanic population. I have never seen dried in the stores.

As I was topping off my first jar of preserved lemons (discussed at great and very educational length over here...EG Preserved Lemons thread ) the thought occurred to me that the same technique might work with limes. At least in my mind it would . Has anyone ever tried it? And if so, was it a success? I love the flavor of lime juice/zest even more than lemons, and if I could apply the same process to the little green beauties, I'd be a happy, happy girl.

Or, conversely, maybe I've tried the wrong brands of frozen corn. To me, the texture is always awful. Mushy. Canned corn, on the other hand, seems to better retain its crunch. Although I'm with you on the canned green beans. I don't get that, either. ___________________ One thing I discovered long ago is NOT to cook your frozen corn, peas or small cut green beans ! Just thaw them under running hot water in a strainer. They're blanched before they're frozen. Whole green beans are too big to do this successfully, but it works like a charm for the others. Miles beyond canned, and almost...almost...as good as fresh.

I always, always add a pinch of salt to anything sweet I'm making, whether the recipe calls for it or not. Custards, ice creams, sauces, syrups, whatever. The other day I made a cherry crisp with some Bings that were about to go south, and both the fruit and the crisp topping got a sprinkle. IMO, it just really does bring out all the flavors, even in a sweet dish.

I had one (which, as a matter of fact, just went to the Big Dump in the Sky last week, well, and the recycling plant in the sky too.....) several years ago. Mine had its own stand. Expensive POS it was.... The plants just did not thrive. I had put the contraption in the same bed where I'd successfully grown tomatoes for several years running before I developed RA and could no longer tend to things in the ground. So I know the location should have been fine. I got one marginal crop, and then nothing. I was careful to select indeterminate varieties, and varieties I'd grown before. I like indeterminates, because you get a harvest over the whole season, rather than in one massive glut. The vines just sort of stopped growing and flowering after the first small harvest. The tomatoes I did get were small, too. I think there were 2 things that doomed the concept. First, even though I watered religiously, sometimes twice a day, I think the heat build-up in the plastic bag made the soil too hot. Second, I think that there wasn't enough room and soil in the bag to support 3 full sized plants. Maybe if I'd planted one normal size variety, and then cherries or grape varieties, it would have worked better. But I think the roots got too crowded in there when they got to be mature. I had high hopes for it, because I LOOOOOVE vine-ripe tomatoes, and as I said, can't do the ground level gardening any longer. But for me, it was a quite expensive fiasco.

YES ! Absolutely. I love creamed celery. My mom used to make it when I was a kid, and now, recently, I've rediscovered it. Gently boil some sliced celery, about 1/2 inch thick, in salted water until its tender to your liking. Make a white sauce, using some of the celery cooking liquid in it. You don't want to use the celery water as the only liquid in the sauce, too assertive. Just a dribble will do. Milk or chicken broth for the balance to the thickness you prefer. Add in the drained celery. Yum.

Love, love, LOVE the name of the company that made that jam...."The Dark Tickle Company" ! LOVE it !

Am currently reading Russ Parsons' wonderful book "How to Pick a Peach", and just finished the chapter on cherries... Apparently, essentially the ONLY cherries grown on any scale for sale as fresh fruit are Bings. Raniers, even though they're becoming more common, don't even register as a blip on the cherry radar commercially. Sour cherries (Montmorency is the most common cultivar) are grown extensively in the Midwest (i.e. Michigan), but only sold commercially for canned/processed fruit. You can buy sour cherries fresh, but only if you're in the area in which they're grown. They are not shipped in an unprocessed state. So, in a nutshell, the only hope of getting fresh cherries other than Bings or Raniers is to know someone who has an heirloom tree or two, or a farmer with some heirlooms in his orchard.

Yes and YES on the Crystal hot sauce and the Zatarain's Mustard (pretty available in my neck of SoCal, although I always pick up a jar when I see it, because the jars are so small....) The Crystal sauce is good for an all purpose hot sauce, and for specifically Southern dishes. For Mexican food, the hot sauce of choice for me is Tapatio, still family-made locally in SoCal. Cholua is also good, but I prefer Tapatio. Orange marmalade is only King Kelly. Chili sauce in this house is a brand called "Homemade Chili Sauce". Seriously, that's the brand name. Comes in a smallish, rounded jar. Good stuff.... And must'nt forget Best Foods (aka Hellmans') mayo. The only mayo worth buying. Soy sauce is the Trader Joe's private labeled house brand. Best I've tasted, even better than the Kimlan I thought was my previous favorite.

And.....voila ! Just like that, from last week to this, the 1 pound bag of limes at Trader Joe's dropped from over $3 each to it's more normal (normal at least in my memory, such as it is...) price of $1.49 each. The one pound bag I got today had 7 decent sized limes, and the 2 I used this afternoon/evening were plenty juicy. Literally....last week was over 3 bucks a pound for hard, shriveled little rocks, that yielded a pathetic amount of juice, even after priming in the microwave. Today, half price that price for a pound of lovely specimens. Go figure.

Dariene (and interested others....) Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Upon further research (including consulting my *own* kitchen journal, oy.....) I realized I gave you some bum advice in my earlier response. Pasilla chiles are, in fact, sold fresh. They are, apparently, an alternate name for poblanos. According to Bayless (and I also believe Diana Kennedy), the name used depends on the region in which the recipe was developed. Pasillas and poblanos are fresh, large and relatively mild chiles and used interchangeably. If there are any differences, they are subtle. Dried, they are called "chile negros". I *said* chile nomenclature was confusing !