Shel_B

Never would have thought to use orange zest. Ancho is easy to come by, and I'm quite familiar with it. I might also play around with Aleppo pepper, as it's not too hot but has a nice flavor (to my taste). No meat grinder here. I'll be dicing by hand or with the food processor.

Toots has been after me to make her some sausage patties, you might call them breakfast sausage, but in reality, she'll probably want them for dinner with eggs and potatoes. Now, I've not made sausage patties before, at least not pork patties, which is her preference. She also likes the taste of fennel in her sausage, and she doesn't like her food too hot. So, a mild fennel flavored sausage is the starting point. How might fennel pollen work? I've never used it - does it taste like fennel seeds, or is it milder, stronger ... ? Beyond that, I'm sort of stumped. What other spices might work well for this type of sausage? Would mace be a nice addition? It doesn't seem to be used that often, so might it add an interesting flavor component? I think we'd both like to stay away from sage, or at least minimize it's use - too much like Thanksgiving turkey stuffing - but it seems to be a somewhat typical seasoning for sausage, so I'd certainly consider it. What else might make for an interesting and perhaps complex flavor profile?

I stopped in at the Natural Grocery earlier today, and the troublesome almonds were marked as organic and unpasteurized. There must be something strange going on with them because the local organic, unpasteurized almonds do not cloud up the water nearly as much, and there is no slime or scum on the surface. I certainly won't buy them ever again.

Has anyone mentioned a goulasch? Goulash? What's the correct spelling?

What about beer? I've made a wonderful beef stew a couple of times using Guiness.

And how about thickness? Would a heavy saucier, i.e., thicker material, be a better choice than a thinner one? I'd think that a pan that would slow down temperature changes, and maintain a more even temp, would be a better choice.

I know many places that carry it, but I may not have time to head across two towns to get it. Might be difficult to find in the stores along my regular route.

It might be easier and quicker to find pomegranate juice than the actual molasses. No need to go across town to the appropriate markets. Thanks!

Pomegranate ... Subject says it all. I have a couple of salad recipes that call for the ingredient and I may not have enough time track it down before the weekend, which is when I'd like to use it. If I have time to search for it, what's a good commercial brand?

I've not made the salad before, but do plan to toast the pita. I'll have to take a look at the Three Pepper Shakshuka Pita. ETA: Took a look - it looks like a nice recipe. Added it to my files. Thanks for the pointer!

This coming weekend I'll be preparing dinner for a few guests, and I want to make a fattoush salad using some of the sumac I recently got from Istanbul. Does anyone have some good dressing recipes using sumac?

Many of the recipes I looked at contained mayo as well as bread or bread crumbs and eggs. So mayo must be used for flavor and moisture in those recipes, as well as a binding agent, yes? Would a low fat mayo behave differently than a full fat mayo? I'll be using a full fat mayo in my next batch of salmon burgers, so I'm more curious than anything.

What is the purpose of adding mayonnaise to salmon croquette ingredients?

I am not 100% sure that the almonds I bought were labeled "organic." They were in a bulk bin, and I am certain that they were labeled as unpasteurized. I'll double check when I next visit the store, which may even be today, but definitely this week some time. The store does claim to carry 100% organic produce,however, I don't know if their bulk items are 100% organic.

The last two batches of almond milk were somewhat disappointing. The soaking almond produced a very cloudy and somewhat slimy soaking water, and I had to change the water about four times during the 16-hour soak. The current batch of almonds that have been soaking now for about six or seven hours produced a much cleaner, slime-free water. The two problem batches were from organic, unpasteurized, Spanish almonds. I purchased them from the local Natural Grocery, which gets much of their grocery items from corporate organics rather than local, small, independent vendors, although their produce items are generally locally sourced. Today's batch is from a nearby orchard, organic, and unpasteurized. I've used almonds from that orchard before with excellent results. So, any idea what causes the slimy, cloudy soaking water? I read that a lot of "raw" almonds have been pasteurized, some with a chemical called PPO (http://www.almondboard.com/Handlers/FoodQualitySafety/Pasteurization/Pages/Default.aspx) Could this be causing the slimy water?

An idea worth thinking about. Thanks!!

No, not even close. With all the exquisite fresh fruit around here, baking seems like the wrong direction to go, as does adding chocolate and ice cream.

Citrus is out for this salad, although I like Valencia oranges and they are in at least some of the markets around town.Mostly from Texas, IIRC.

Yes, stone fruits and berries are stellar, right now, and Toots and I would be happy to just enjoy them out of hand. The dressing would be served on the side, so each can make their own decision. I like the idea of Cointreau, and I do have a 50+ year old balsamic in the cupboard. Nope, no pastries. Thanks for your input.

<LOL> That's very similar to the dressing I now sometimes use. Mine's yogurt, honey, vanilla bean, and maybe a scosh of cinnamon. I like the idea of the nutmeg.

Don't know - it depends on what looks and tastes good at the market. However, there will definitely be no citrus and no apples.

On the 19th a few people are coming to dinner, and for dessert I want to make a fruit salad. I usually eat my fruit salad plain - actually, Toots and I rarely eat fruit salad, rather, we just eat a few pieces of fresh fruit - so I don't have many ideas for a fruit salad dressing - just one, actually. And the one I have, although quite good, was given to me by one of the dinner guests, so I'd like something different. Any ideas for dressing a fruit salad - nothing too sweet or loaded up with sugar? Thanks!

I agree - many of the recipes I've tasted and looked at are overamped with sugar and other spices making the bread taste too sweet and cloying. The recipe Norm Matthews linked to above has more than twice the amount of sugar than a recipe I'm considering, and more sugar than the total amount of zucchini in the recipe. I'm hoping to find a line where the zucchini or similar squash is more than just a filler, and adds some real flavor (but not too much because I don't want the bread to be too vegetal) and texture. I was thinking that zucchini may not be the ideal squash for zucchini bread because of the high moisture content and the way it practically dissolves when baked (that's the way it seemed when I was on my tasting quest). Perhaps a firmer, drier squash, like a Costata Romanesco might work a little better as it has less moisture and is a firmer squash. Of course, I could also squeeze out the excess moisture from the more typical zucchini - none of the recipes I looked at mentioned doing that, but why add all that extra moisture to the bread?

I've only seen these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwrCDfQy78Y http://www.amazon.com/Toastmaster-2244-Handheld-Can-Opener/dp/B00006IUZV What else might be out there? Has anyone used such a device? Comments?

I though I'd bump this thread as we'll be loaded with zucchini and summer squash in short order, and I'd like to try my hand a baking some zucchini bread. A lot of recipes I've seen are loaded with sugar, and others just don't seem right based on my limited baking experience. I'd like to find a zucchini bread that's heavy on zucchini flavor, but not so much so that the bread tastes vegetal, not overly sweet, and not too airy or fluffy. Any suggestions. There's one recipe I'd like to try except that it uses a large amount of sugar. I'd like to cut the sugar back by about 20% - 25%. Would I have to make any other adjustments to the recipe because of reducing the sugar? Thanks!