blue_dolphin

I used some of the chicken I roasted on Monday to make the Chicken Salad Worth Discussion p 216 from the Herbdacious chapter of This Will Make It Taste Good. It has cucumber and red onion that are quick-pickled and added separately. I had pickled shallots that I'd already made from another book so I used them and added some pickled Fresno chilies for color, though the heat was a good addition. Vivian tosses cooked chicken breast chunks with lemon juice and black pepper, a nice trick for adding flavor. The mellow Herbdacious makes friends with the pickled vegetables in a way that pesto wouldn't do as nicely. If you've got a bunch of pickled stuff on hand, this recipe could certainly accommodate to use what's available.

Yes, I have an Oxo V-slicer which is quite mandoline-like. A vegetable peeler would work fine, too. The olives weren't bad at all but the flavor and texture were too similar to the rest of the salad to add much contrast.

Per Whole Foods website, Mary's Organic Chicken is $3.99/lb this week, at my local store.

Yes, that brand of chicken is sold at my Whole Foods. They have the turkeys at Thanksgiving, maybe other times, too. I have had the turkey. It was fine. I don't remember it being anything remarkable but I'm usually more interested in the side dishes at that meal!

Do not judge the world of figs by the Newton. Perfectly ripe, fresh figs are worlds away from commercial cookies made from dried fruit.

I have no expectations based on the "Heirloom" label but I've also had positive experience with these birds. I don't have access to the fancy breeds mentioned above but always look for air-cooled birds over the water-cooled supermarket standard stuff that's often waterlogged and tasteless. I also have better luck finding these birds in the 2.5 - 3.5 range rather than pushing 5 lbs like most of Mary's birds at Whole Foods.

Squash in Its Raw Wonder p 162 from the Citrus Shrine chapter in This Will Make It Taste Good This is a raw summer squash salad in which thin slices of summer squash are first marinated with scallions, lemon juice, salt, red pepper flakes and strips of salt-preserved citrus rind. The recipe calls for lemon, I used orange. After a 15 min maceration to soften the squash strips, olive oil, fresh oregano, Niçoise olives (I subbed kalamatas) and shavings of Parmigiano are added to finish. Maybe because I used the wrong olive variety, I didn't find they added anything to the salad and would have gone with toasted salted almonds or another nut. Very nice light side dish to serve with something rich. I had it for lunch with the most basic of chicken sandwiches. If I was better at channeling Max Halley, I could have put it IN my sandwich! Two from the V's Nuts chapter that I rolled my eyes at - who goes through the trouble of making crispy, crunchy spiced nuts and then puts them into a sauce or soaks them in milk to make ice cream? But with a bag of walnut V's Nuts that wasn't as fresh as it used to be, I went ahead and made this Very Versatile Smear of Stuff p 279. The recipe is subtitled, "Spiced Pecan, Sun-Dried Romesco," and in addition to the nuts, it includes sun-dried tomatoes and their oil, fresh herbs (I used basil & parsley), olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and Parmigiano Reggiano. My only adjustment was to add more garlic and to stir in a bit more lemon juice after I tasted it. So far, the only thing I've smeared this on has been some crusty bread. It's very good. Trader Joe's used to sell a sun-dried tomato pesto in their refrigerator case. I really liked that stuff and miss it. This is a perfect sub and I look forward to using it in lots of ways. I used to freeze that TJ's stuff and am sure this will freeze nicely, too. I don't have an ice cream machine so I adapted Kim's Invention Ice Cream p 275 to make these spiced walnut popsicles Steeping toasted nuts in cream or milk is a pretty common in paleta recipes. They usually soak for a short time and then purée some or all of the nuts into the dairy before freezing. For her ice cream, Vivian steeps the spiced nuts overnight and then discards them. I did the overnight steep, puréed in some fresh spiced nuts, added a little maple syrup instead of sugar as the sweetener and then stuck some more on the outside for decoration. I have to say the flavor of the spiced nuts comes through very nicely and the contrast between the spicy/salty nut topping with the creamy pop is appealing.

From the R-Rated Onions chapter in This Will Make It Taste Good, I made the Once-a-Week Roasted Chicken with Sweet Onion Cauliflower Purée p 60 Vivian has a number recipes in the book where the chicken is roasted on top of something else like rice, grits, bread, etc. where the chicken drippings make those things quite delicious. In this case, the lucky victim is cauliflower cut into 2"-thick steaks. Once the chicken is done, the roasted cauliflower is puréed with milk before being returned to the roasting pan which has been de-glazed with R-rated onions. My gracious that cauliflower purée is amazing. It's like the the lightest, most luxurious mousse that just happens to be a big umami bomb, too! Kinda like a rich brown gravy mousse. Not sure I should be eating chicken-fat saturated cauliflower on the regular but it's very good. The chicken itself won't replace my fave Zuni Café roast chicken but I didn't have to work around a loosely wrapped raw chicken in my fridge for days either so I give this a win.

I agree. Here's a recipe that uses a bit less, but it's in the same range.

@rotuts, I mentioned that Kōloa Kauaʻi Coffee Rum was one I wanted to try and since my bottle of Leopold Bros Coffee Liqueur was just about empty, I decided to pick up at bottle when I was over at Total Wine today. I had a taste and would certainly recommend it for sipping. The color is lighter - I'd say little or none of the caramel color that Kahlua uses - and there are a few large particulates that may be coffee bean fragments in the bottle. It is 68 proof, vs 40 proof for Kahlua and most of the others. It smells delightful, nothing chemical, artificial or off there. It is quite sweet, but not at all as as much as Kahlua. The coffee and rum flavors blend nicely. The Leopold Bros has a stronger coffee flavor but is also very sweet and the same lower proof as Kahlua. Good for cocktails but not as nice to sip. It was $32.99. I see it listed at Hi-Time Wine for $29.99 and you may find better prices. They had it stocked with the rum rather than with the other coffee liqueurs.

I have no plans but now I want a hot dog. It's been a couple years at least.

Another cherry/dairy combo: Burrata with Pickled Cherries, Sumac & Basil from Susan Spungen's book, Open Kitchen Had to try this to compare with the Dinner in French version I shared above. No opal basil so I used mint. These cherries get quite thoroughly pickled (up to a week ahead) with red wine vinegar, black peppercorns and thyme and then there's an additional hit of tartness from the sumac compared with the more gentle balsamic bath in the DiF version. There's a drizzle of olive oil here, much less rich than the browned butter in DiF. They're both delicious but this one is clearly a starter while the DiF version would also be perfect for an after dinner cheese course with port or dessert wine. Two winners and happily, I don't need to choose!

I can find no evidence that Cointreau is currently made in the US. It appears that it was for a time. This article says: Before my time 🙃

I'm cheering for Shota as well. The judges have really seemed blown away by his food quite a few times and he seems so thoughtful about what he's putting on the plate. I like Gabe, too, but he seems to over complicate things sometimes. Dawn really hobbled her team in restaurant wars by not letting her team know what she was making, then got a pass because her stuff was actually good. Not saying she should have had to go home because those other dishes were bad, but it knocked her out of my favorites.

I've just been streaming and didn't really know what time it was on here. Since tonight is the finale, I thought I'd check so I can watch live. Turns out, it's exactly the same time as you and 8 PM EDT means 5 PM PDT, which is more than a bit early for me. For some reason, Sling seems to use just a single feed instead of having a multiple feeds for the different time zones that most cable providers use. Maybe I watch with a cocktail and have Top Chef happy hour 🙃 @lindag, I agree with you on how pleasant it is to see the chefs getting along so well. By and large, they all seem to like each other and they've showed way more instances of them helping each other out, sharing ingredients, etc.

I find Kahlua on its own to be syrupy sweet so, of those two, I’d give the nod to Tia Maria. I use coffee liqueurs to sweeten my iced coffee and in cocktails rather than sipping straight so my comments may not be relevant. That said, you might check to see what other coffee liqueurs they have and consider trying something different. Currently, I’ve got a bottle of Leopold Bros Frenchpress-Style Coffee Liqueur and I like it. I have also tried Galliano Ristretto, which, like Galliano, comes in an annoyingly tall bottle. I found it to have an odd smell but quite liked the espresso flavor. St. George NOLA Coffee Liqueur has a hint of chicory flavor that I liked. Patrón XO Cafe, is detectably tequila-based. It’s been a while since I had this but I don’t recall any strong negatives. On my list to try are Mr. Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur and Koloa Kaua'i Coffee Rum.

A few Kindle bargains listed over on EYB: Fruit Cake: Recipes for the Curious Baker (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)by Jason Schreiber is $1.99. All kinds of cakes incorporating all kinds of fruit. Some interesting flavor combinations in this one. Recipes appear to be presented in a clear grid format with both cups/spoons and metric measures listed for each ingredient. Also on Amazon.ca. Vegetables Unleashed: A Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)by Jose Andres is $2.99. His most recent book. Also on Amazon.ca. An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)by Tamar Adler is $1.99. Not too many recipes in this one but it's a lovely read. Also on Amazon.ca. Seductions of Rice: A Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid is $2.99. This is an older title, originally published in 1998. No Kindle version of this one listed on Amazon.ca. A Girl and Her Pig: Recipes and Stories (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)by April Bloomfield is $1.99. Also on Amazon.ca.

Breakfast the other day was a frittata with red onion, baby kale, salami, goat cheese, red bell peppers and cherry tomatoes. This morning, the last of the leftovers became a breakfast sandwich on homemade focaccia: I puréed up some Community Organizer from This Will Make It Taste Good to slather on.

Those supposedly smart coffee scales you mention are rather expensive. Are the coffee apps and phone connections a priority for you? This one seems to meet the functional criteria, though perhaps not your aesthetic. If you're open to having more than one scale, you'll have a better selection of kitchen scales to choose from and can add a little pocket sized one to use for a few grams or less, as @weinoo mentions. I do the same. Is it really worth the significant premium to have just one scale? My concern with using one of those coffee scales as an all-purpose scale is that they're relatively small so larger bowls may interfere with reading the display. I like to weigh ingredients into my mixing bowls so it would be a problem for me, perhaps not for you. Also I want something that can go up to 5 kg, but you know what you need.

I don't want this to end so please take your time!

Fried Chicken & Caviar from Vespertine https://www.instagram.com/p/CQudgT6JA9b/

In lieu of cold running water (my tap water isn't particularly cold and here in drought-land, shouldn't be left running), I often put a bag-o-fish in an immersion circulator bath for a quick thaw. I set the Anova @ 40°F and throw in enough ice cubes to get the water temp down into that range. Sometimes I take the fish out of its packaging and put it in a new bag. Sometimes I just leave it in the original packaging. I understand the anaerobic bacteria toxin risk but it's only going to be an hour max and usually much less. I only do this if I'm going to cook the fish right away and would never recommend that anyone else ever do it.

They are my regular wine glasses, too. I purchased them in 2010, which I think is around the time they were introduced. Nice thin rim, graceful stem, good balance. Reasonable price so it's not a tragedy if someone breaks one.

Maybe you saw it in this post, which calls for a pre-baked shell?

Exactly! This recipe for leek top cacio e pepe from Lindsay-Jean Hard's book Cooking With Scraps is a favorite of mine. Photo here: I am absolutely NOT a professional either.