llc45
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Posts posted by llc45
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Grrrr... I'm kicking myself for posting here earlier but then forgetting to mention the main thing I wanted to post about!
In terms of artisanal chocolate, a fantastic experience is to purchase a Pralus 'tasting pyramid' and work your way through all of the different bars. Pralus make a range of single-origin chocolates, which have the same recipe (proportions of cocoa/cocoa butter/sugar) but each bar uses beans from a different plantation. Their website mentions 18 different single-plantation bars, and the tasting pyramid is a collection of 10 of them.
It's amazing how different they are. Everything about the bars is the same except where the beans have come from. One bar will give you a burst of rich red berries, the next will be nutty, the next will be smoky and so on. It's a fantastic introduction to artisanal chocolate and it's no surprise that the Pralus tasting pyramid has formed the basis of chocolate tasting courses and blogs...
Well worth the effort to find.
Darn - now I am going to have to revise my X-mas wish list to include Claudio Corollo and the Pralus pyramid!
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I would call the Seattle retail location. The manager was really helpful and I plan on calling there for my next fix. I see on the web that they are only selling individual bars but I was able to buy in bulk while I was there.
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Had an amazing discovery this year on my trip in the Pacific Northwest. Right next to my hotel in Seattle was a little chocolate shop called "claudio coralla" that looked intrigueing but was always closed as we came in a night. On last day, decided to detour and am so glad I did. Claudio Corallo is the best chocolate I have ever tasted. Expecially the 80% sandy with crystalized sugar. In the past, Amedei has been my husband's special treat for me at x-mas and Valentine's day - don't need flowers or card. This chocolate far exceeds Amedei.
I just looked up to see if there was any other info out there and found this interesting article: Claudio Corallo makes world's finest chocolate. It is single source chocolate and the maker lives on the island where it is produced. According to the article, Charlie Trotter has already discovered it. It was definitely the best surprise discovery of the trip and I will no longer be requesting Amedei for gifts.
If you are in Seattle area, it is well worth a trip to the retail store. I think the manager may be a partner. She was incredibly knowledgeable and was very interested for suggestions about possible retail outlets in the east. There is already one somewhere near Manhatten - I think maybe Brooklyn.
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Thanks for the great blog - you've inspired me to start making some spicy sauces and salsas. We love spicy things and it would be great to have something standing by in the fridge to kick up the flavor and heat.
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I think transparencey is a good thing and has the added benefit of making the recipe developer work a little harder to make good tasting food without throwing in as many hidden calories. I don't count calories and don't have a problem with weight but appreciate knowing that my possible selection has a ridiculous amount of hidden calories and fat.
One of the chains I used to frequent for takeout near my old office had a spinach salad that I loved and would order at least twice a week. I would order the dressing on the side because I don't like too much dressing. I was shocked to find out that, even without the dressing, the salad was over 2,000 calories! Once the chain started posting nutritional info, they received a lot of flack and quickly started changing some of the worst offenders. My favorite salad went from 2,000+ calories to <700 calories. While not quite the same, it still tastes great. When I am working or traveling a lot and am forced to eat out all of the time, having the nutritional information allows me to decide if some ridiculously high caloric selection is worth it or not.
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I thought tuscan and lacinato were two names for the same kale (also called black kale).
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I love wheatberries and make many different salads from them - depending on what is laying aroung. For inspiration, I am sure that the 101ccokbooks blog has many great ideas.
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It definitely reduces stress in the sense that you have things planned out. But as I read this, I realized that I resist such weekly battle plans because it is the cooking itself -- and not heating and assembling -- that reduces stress for me.
Think about it though. What are you doing now? According to your original post:
"The dinner upshot is that most weeknights I've got 15-30 minutes to make meals for myself, my wife, and my two daughters. We're usually all pooped, take-out is not a regular option, and everyone's sick by Wednesday of the stream of leftovers that flows from the fridge after my weekend kitchen projects."
Then you note:
"Made two massive batches of chili, one meat, one beans & veg. Details here. Bagging them up in small batches today"
and
"Parceled out many two-serving FoodSaver bags of chili yesterday, and am making 20# of sausages today. I think that having smaller servings are going to help out a lot."
You're already not cooking and you are prepping. Planning out the week is just taking it to the next step: you can do as much or as little as you want - you just know and prep for what you are going to do. It does not mean you need to elminate cooking from your daily life. (I can assure you, it has not resulted in me elminating cooking from mine.)
Plus, while I love cooking, I hate cleaning up! By prepping/blanching on Sunday, I use the same pots and pans over and over, maybe only rinsing quickly if I have to. Examples: Blanch a bunch of vegetables in series, use same pot to cook rice and or pasta or use same pan to roast a bunch of veg in series, homemade croutons. One of my quick weeknight dinners - sautee veg like spinach with shallots and garlic in pan, wipe pan out, then sauteed chicken or fish dish in same pan, serve with rice or pasta dish (made ahead of time and reheated or course!).
Definitely agree with everyone on frittata - great way to use up leftover spaghetti and roasted peppers. My favorite is red pepper, tomato, and zucchini with goat cheese.
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Recipe for the turkey breast, please? TIA!
Not really a recipe - generally cut up some onions, celery, sometimes carrots, always garlic and put in bottom of my xlarge crockpot. Add a small amount of chicken broth and some lemon juice or white wine. Put in turkey breast (always get some free ones at Thanksgiving) and cook on low for about 7 hrs or until tender. Have sometimes changed it up with different spice mixes - cajun, Mediterranean (add kalamata, sundried tomatoes, little paste), italian (piccata or marsala). If I add Cajun spices, I also make dirty rice. Sorry I don't have a real recipe - I just came up with this to cook all of the free turkey breasts when we reach a surplus.
UMMM! Sounds good to me, thanks!
You are very welcome - I know it's obvious but forgot to add salt and pepper!
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And I do something similar with garlic and onions and salsa and Mexican chiles that turns into a terrific (and cheap) filling for tasty and low-fat turkey tacos.
I will definitely try that! The reason I love the crockpot for turkey breast (especially the give away ones that are sometimes of low quality), is that it always comes out juicy. I have had very inconsistent results when roasting a turkey breast, which I generally think is due to less than stellar quality of some of them. Never have that problem with the crockpot version. I always buy a better quality turkey (e.g. for Thanksgiving) so those generally turn out really well the traditional way.
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Recipe for the turkey breast, please? TIA!
Not really a recipe - generally cut up some onions, celery, sometimes carrots, always garlic and put in bottom of my xlarge crockpot. Add a small amount of chicken broth and some lemon juice or white wine. Put in turkey breast (always get some free ones at Thanksgiving) and cook on low for about 7 hrs or until tender. Have sometimes changed it up with different spice mixes - cajun, Mediterranean (add kalamata, sundried tomatoes, little paste), italian (piccata or marsala). If I add Cajun spices, I also make dirty rice. Sorry I don't have a real recipe - I just came up with this to cook all of the free turkey breasts when we reach a surplus.
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And if you entertain a lot, which for a number of years we did (and by "a lot," I mean that there were about six or seven years wherein we did not go a single month without having guests in our home an average of three times a week for events that included some sort of food; everything from 30 or so ladies for teatime or an elegant luncheon or an all-day bridge party [that also required breakfast upon arrival and snacks throughout], to cocktail parties, to several families for backyard cookouts, to Sunday brunches and holiday or "game-day" open houses for we-never-knew-how-many, to dinner for 30, 40, 80), crock pots are invaluable for serving heated foods, and drinks such as aromatic hot punches, mulled cider and wine.
Hopefully, you all don't think that I was the one disparaging crockpots
. I actually love them for the uses Jaymes describes above. We entertain a lot like this also and, crockpots are great for this. So much so, that people continue to give me more based on how many we use. In addition to several medium and xlarge ones, I bought some smaller one on sale and use them for fondues and chocolate dipping sauces. Our friends love it. However, based on the way I cook in my every day life of prepping on weekends (and the types of things we eat), still haven't found a way to incorporate them for regular cooking. The only two things I use them for other than parties are cooking brisket and, occasionally, a turkey breast that always comes out really moist. However, since we are not big meat eaters, I don't do this often (unless we are having a party 
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On 02 October 2010 - 08:10 AM, Chris Amirault said:
Thanks for all the ideas -- keep 'em coming!
Made two massive batches of chili, one meat, one beans & veg. Details here. Bagging them up in small batches today.
Can't understand why I need a crockpot when I have a Sous Vide Supreme, which can do everything a crockpot can and much more, with far greater precision. Made that chili with it, for example.
Chris -
I am in clearly in the minority here that doesn't find much time savings in a crockpot, even though I have several. While I love them for parties, I rarely use them for meal prep. It is probably because I do a lot of prep and cooking on weekends and really try to minimize dishwashing in the time savings equation (especially during the week). Why brown stew meat in a pot and then make the crock pot dirty when you can just finish in the pot?
My aunt makes great meatballs in the crockpot that come out really tender - but their not browned! I think it just depends on the methods you use to save time and when you have the time. We are always running around like maniacs in the morning and that would just add to the stress level. That said, I always make chipotle beef brisket in a crock pot because I can put it out on the porch - no heat or smell in the house. While the smell is great on day one, it never seems to leave with as much chipotle as we put in for our love of spicy
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For those of us that like things browned and cook ahead on weekends in larger quantities to freeze, are there still things that are more effiecient in the crockpot? -
I make a szechuan turkey meatloaf my family loves.
LLC - Could you share your recipe for the szechuan turkey meatloaf please?
Here you go:Szechwan meat loaf recipe
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There are a lot of great suggestions here. I like Heidi H's suggestion of a "first" course to take the edge off the hunger. I recently stopped working to finish up a master's program. Prior to that, as Stephanie Brim suggested, I did 95% of the prep on Sunday afternoons. Always triple or quadruple freezeable meals to save effort (meatballs, chile, sauces, meatloafs). I make a szechuan turkey meatloaf my family loves.
Stock quick thaw seafood and chicken/turkey breasts in freezer (currently have flounder, cod, shrimp, scallops, and swai). Used to not like frozen fish but new freezing is outstanding. Can throw together many quick healthy meals like last night's dinner with pantry items and frozen fish: Baked Flounder with caper sauce.
Even though I recently stopped working, I still make a big salad "base" on Sunday that last's us 3-4 days. I add the more perishable things each night (e.g. tomatoes) which also allows me to change it up. Still blanch vegetables on Sunday nights too - blanch 4-5 vegetables in succession in one pot (sometimes have to change the water, sometimes not). Ditto roasted vegetables. Only one pot/pan to cleanup. Then can do quicker stir frys, veg dishes. Blanched broccoli raab might get sauteed with shallots and red pepper one night and then leftovers used another night in a pasta sauce with tomato and turkey sausage or in a frittata. We also like tofu - that is always a quick stir fry one night a week with very little prep, again maybe with some already blanced broccoli or green beans to speed up cooking time.
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Like many here have posted, I grew up in a meat and potatoes household. Iceburg lettuce salad and corn were the staple vegetables to go along with that most nights. I was the oddball of my house that never loved so much meat but didn't discover that I love vegetables until I was in my 20s.
Over time, I feel like we have become the "fast-food" vegetable house. We stock a lot of vegetables and prep them ahead of time so that they are conventient to snack on or throw together a last minute meal. Vegetables with longer shelf lives are always on hand like garlic, shallots, onions, carrots, celery, etc. Right now we are feasting on local tomatoes but otherwise get the vine-ripened ones from Costco that keep at least for a week (and canned in a pinch).
Every week we buy a few leafy veg for salad and other things (always Romaine for my daughter, arugula for me, baby spinach plus others depending on the week). I wash and dry these on shopping day. The romaine is cut up and ready for every day salads which we then throw other things in depending on what we have (canned artichokes for my daughter daily). We also buy a number of veg to blanch every week (our consistent ones are broccoli and broccoli raab, right now also green beans). I then boil water once and blanch 4-5 veg one after the other. Once blanched, they get used in many ways: salads (e.g. green bean salad), soups (cream of broccoli), gratins, pastas (broccoli or broccoli raab with parm, garlic, and crushed red pepper). I could go on but you get the point.
We do a stir fry at least once a week as well as a tomato sauce with extra sauteed vegetables (eg carrots, zucchini, eggplant - or just add the blanced broccoli or broccoli raab at last minute. I also make a big batch of brown rice - I like brown rice and blanced broccoli or broccoli raab with parm reg and olive oil for a quick lunch. I will then generally also make a stir fried rice with vegetable once a week if we have leftover rice after a few days.
I always roast some vegetables every week also. Like the blanching idea, I like to use the roasting pans once by roasting several veg in succession to cut down on dishwashing and minimize prep time. While I roast many vegetables, asparagus and cauliflower are favorites. My teen daughter's friends (most of them anyway)actually come over and check out the fridge to see what new vebetable dish there is to try.
Sorry for the long post. Just trying to say that once you get the hang of it, it doesn't have to take a lot of time. For short lived vegetables, most can be combined via stir fry, roasting, etc. to use a lot at once before they reach their shelf life. If you prep a lot of vegetables at one time, it is easy to incorporate them into a lot of dishes without having to spend much time or get pans/chopping boards dirty multiple times.
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Ok -
Love this thread but guilty of not contributing. Just made this again recently due to massive quantities of zucchini and love it as much every time: zucchini cheesecake.
I had some boursin I had to use up so replaced some of the other cheese. The fresh dill makes it! Served with a tomato and slivered fennel salad.
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Ha - Saturday Night Live couldn't have done it better!
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Agree with others about roasting or sauteeing in olive oil with garlic and chili flakes. Also, love it stir fried. Another way I cook it (think I got it from a Marcella Hazan cookbook) is to poach it by barely covering it with equal parts olive oil and water (think Marcella uses mostly olive oil) and a few garlic cloves. The broccoli gets cooked over low heat until it gets really soft and the water is all gone. It is really delishous.
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How funny - the episode was on sometime this week, I think yesterday, as a repeat. We are having some rooms of our house painted so I have been working out of the house this week and sometimes put on the tv in the office as background. I couldn't believe what I was watching - have to go read AB's blog to see what he has to say. She didn't even know that he used to be a chef in a restaurant! I was amazed at how incredibly gracious he was under the circumstances. So glad I unmuted to listen - wish I had taped it.
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We love these marshmallows. They have become a hit with my daughter and her teenage crowd.
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I LOVE the piquillo peppers. I stuff them with homemade cream cheese
Thanks for mentioning this. My local grocery store doesn't carry so I stopped by a TJ on my way home from vacation and stocked up. Like to stuff them with goat cheese, warm them up, and just serve with sherry vinegar, oil , and parsley. Yum.
Try stuffing with goat cheese, some ground cumin and orange zest. I saw that idea somewhere, tried it, and liked it quite a bit.
Thanks for the suggestion. Will definitely try it - I sure have enough peppers at this point!
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I LOVE the piquillo peppers. I stuff them with homemade cream cheese into which I have mashed some onion confit, then roll them up in a section of flour tortilla and top with a dollop of guacamole or sometimes just a piece of avocado. Wonderful combination of flavors and textures.
Thanks for mentioning this. My local grocery store doesn't carry so I stopped by a TJ on my way home from vacation and stocked up. Like to stuff them with goat cheese, warm them up, and just serve with sherry vinegar, oil , and parsley. Yum.
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As a flexitarian of sorts, I am always looking for new ideas and I love Mexican food. Really looking forward to hearing more.
Quinoa
in Cooking
Posted
Can I get away with not rinsing the red? Maybe I sound like a slacker but one of the reasons I don't make quinoa more often is I hate rinsing it. Maybe someone could suggest a better technique but I put it in a fine mesh sieve to rinse and then it takes forever to get the little pieces of quinoa out of the sieve. I have also just tried soaking it but inevitably end up pouring too much quinoa down the drain when I try to pour the water off. Might use it much more often if I didn't have to rinse the red/black...