blue_dolphin

Inspired by @Ann_T's recent post, but sadly lacking her amazing bread, I made do with my egg salad on a brioche bun:

I would imagine there are.

The other lemon confit recipe that I like uses whole slices of lemon instead of just the zest so it has a much more complex and tangy flavor with some bitterness from the pith. I think it's a much more interesting condiment than the one above. The recipe can be found online here: Master Class Lemon Confit Recipe. This one gets cooked in a low oven for 2 hrs and is great on pasta, fish, tossed with white beans, on toasted crostini. As with the recipe above, you can give this one a rough chop, add capers and parsley for a nice lemon confit relish. The recipe gives the option of using rosemary or thyme. I've always used rosemary and used more than they say but I think I'll try a batch with thyme. Might also try this with a mix of citrus, including some of the "quats" like kumquat, limequat, mandarinquat, etc. The recipe says you can use either regular lemons or Meyer lemons. I've used and liked both but will caution that with Meyer lemons, it's best not to slice them super thin as the slices tend to disintegrate. I also like the tartness of the regular lemons a bit better. Here's what this one looks like before going into the oven: And after 2 hrs:

A while back, in another topic, I suggested lemon confit as an option for using up extra lemons. What I had in mind was not the salt-preserved lemons that have been mentioned by some in this topic (which I love and always have on hand) but the sort put up in oil. I've made 2 versions and like both of them, for different purposes so I figured I'd share in case anyone else wants to try them. The first one is from Naomi Pomeroy's Taste and Technique cookbook and basically yields oil-poached slivers of lemon zest floating in a lemony olive oil. The slivers have just enough pith left on to hold them together and you can use either the zest, the oil or both. Lemon Confit from Taste and Technique Combine the following in a small saucepan: Rind of 3 lemons, removed with 1/16" of pith remaining and trimmed into strips 1/8" wide by 1" long 1/4 t fennel pollen (I have never used this) 2 t sugar 1.5 t salt 2 cups extra virgin olive oil 2-3 cloves garlic Simmer over very low heat for ~ 20 min, until the rinds become soft. She recommends using a diffuser and specifies the bubbles be no bigger than those in Champagne. Ever detailed, that Naomi is, but it is important to not to get the oil too hot as the zest will fry and get tough. Rest overnight at room temp for the flavors to meld, then store in the fridge for up to 3 months. That yields a LOT of oil. It's very nice in a vinaigrette but I don't usually need that much so I usually make this with just one cup of oil. The lemon strips and a drizzle of the oil are great on fish, chicken or vegetables. For fish, I like to add some capers and freshly chopped parsley to make a little relish. Naomi makes this in the book with fried capers and a bunch of other stuff and it's delicious but my quick version is pretty good, too. I find it easiest to remove the strips of zest with the appropriate amount of pith with this Boska cheese slicer. Here's the finished stuff, made with 3 lemons and one cup olive oil:

French toast with maple syrup and breakfast links The bread is a fruit-nut loaf that contains dried apricots, figs, cranberries, pecans, hazelnuts and walnuts

Another new-to-me TJ's item I picked up the other day is this lemon pasta. I believe it was around last year but I must have missed it. The color is quite a sunny yellow (there's turmeric added for color) and the lemon flavor is noticeable and pleasant. Cooking time is listed as a quick 6-7 minutes but if you are going to finish it in a pan, then I wouldn't go beyond 5 min. The bite is rather delicate, similar to a fresh pasta. I cooked some up for today's lunch with asparagus and red bell peppers and added lemon confit and some lemony breadcrumbs. Would be quite nice with shrimp or other seafood, I think.

I tried a new-to-me cheese, this Ivy's Reserve Somerset Red Vintage Cheddar. It's from the UK, aged 12 months and has a nice tang. It reminds me of a Red Leicester. It's TJ's April "spotlight cheese" so it probably won't be around for long. It was $5.49 for a 7 oz package. The best by date was Dec 2024 so I might pick up a few next time I'm there. They also had Dorothy's Garden Secrets the soft ripened cheese with herbs that comes in a little flower shape. They've carried this before as well as other Dorothy's varieties and they have all been very good but it doesn't usually hang around for very long. It's $7.99 for a 7 oz package.

There's a little cap that flips up on the top of the oven, right above the button panel, in the front, right corner. The manual says to pour 1 cup of water into the reservoir. Better be careful to avoid pouring it down the front of those buttons!

It looks like a nice little oven. They currently list 2 models. The “Pro” version ($50 more) has a steam setting but the base model apparently does not. I can’t tell whether it can do steam+bake or steam+broil like the CSO or if it’s just a straight steam setting. The ovens alone are $249 or $299 (for the Pro) with a $50 meal credit and no meal purchase requirement. Or, you can pay $69 or $119 (for the Pro) and agree to order meals 6 times within 6 months. It looks like each meal order has to be a minimum of 4 meals, or up to 12 meals. Shipping is a flat $10.99/order. Nutrition info is available on the website. They offer gluten-free, low carb, vegetarian and “calorie conscious” options. No low sodium options listed. Looks like enough options that you wouldn’t get bored. Most meals are single servings for $12.99. If you ordered the minimum 4 meals x 6 orders, you'd be paying $15.74/meal for a total of 24 meals at $378. Pricier than efficient home cooking but much less than takeout. Tovala has lists of the items that work with their bar code scan feature on their website here here. I searched for the TJ's items and there are 180 listed.

Must be a different model. On mine, it's rather hidden. For dehydrate, I press the "Options" button next to 0 on the numeric keypad, then press 5, choose the upper or lower oven and enter a temp between 100 and 200°F. Oh, and I especially like the three racks. I can fit a LOT of cast iron pans in the lower oven that I never use!

There is another spike in bird flu but not sure it’s to the point of affecting egg supplies already, let alone chicken. A bird flu outbreak at the largest U.S. chicken egg producer could affect egg prices

No shallots in the Crunchy Chili Onion. Per the TJ's website, ingredient are: OLIVE OIL, DRIED ONIONS, DRIED GARLIC, DRIED RED BELL PEPPERS, CRUSHED CHILI PEPPERS, TOASTED DRIED ONIONS, SEA SALT, NATURAL FLAVORS, PAPRIKA OLEORESIN (COLOR). The cranberry one has: OLIVE OIL, ANCHO CHILI PEPPER FLAKES, SWEETENED DRIED CRANBERRIES (CRANBERRIES, CANE SUGAR, SUNFLOWER OIL), DEHYDRATED ONIONS, DEHYDRATED RED BELL PEPPERS, CRUSHED CHILI PEPPERS, BROWN SUGAR (CANE SUGAR, MOLASSES), NATURAL FLAVOR (ORANGE OIL), SEA SALT, PAPRIKA OLEORESIN (COLOR). The jalapeño lime has: OLIVE OIL, DRIED ONIONS, DRIED GARLIC, DRIED JALAPEÑO, DRIED GREEN BELL PEPPER, SEA SALT, CILANTRO FLAKES, CITRIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVOR, LIME OIL.

I have tried the original TJ's Crunchy Chili Onion, the Crunchy Jalapeño Lime and the Crunchy Chili Cranberry Orange Onion. The last 2 were limited and haven’t been around for a while. I haven’t seen a corn version yet but will look.

Overreach. Let the best of these small businesses succeed or not on their own merits rather than going after them for the use of a descriptive term. Trader Joe's might be fair game but they use CRUNCHY on their similar products, not crunch.

Yes, there is usually a staff member loitering in the vicinity of the self-checkouts at the grocery stores in my area. There might even be 2, gossiping and ignoring the persistent beeping from a machine needing their attention. I can't blame them for being bored, if I were in their shoes, I'd much rather be manning a register than monitoring the likes of us, trying to do their job in the most bumbling way.

I cook quinoa in my Instant Pot using the same time/pressure setting that I use for white rice. I rinse the quinoa as usual and use 1.5 cups water to 1 cup quinoa. That’s a little less than the 1.75 cups I’d use on the stovetop since the Instant Pot is closed so there’s less evaporation. I use the same ratio and time for any color quinoa. Not the same thing as you asked but might get you started if no one else chimes in.

@Wampa, if your oven is like mine, there are some nice features, too. The bread-proof setting can be handy, though in mine, which has halogen lights, it can get a bit too hot if the light is left on. The light alone warms it up pretty nicely. The other handy feature I've used is the dehydrator function. The temp can be set between 100°F and 200°F (38°C and 93°C). I won't be setting up a beef jerky factory any time soon but I've used it to make excellent onion powder and a few other things. You can fit quite a lot of stuff on 3 full oven racks. The downside is that you can only set it to run for 12 hrs so for stuff that needs more time, you need to choose a wise start time. Anywhere between 6 and 11 is my preferred window but YMMV.

There’s a topic about it here: Cuisinart Recall

Petrale sole from my fish share with Meyer lemon confit relish and a lemony orzo cooked with kale

@Wampa, I have a KitchenAid electric double wall oven with similar features. Mine have convection and traditional Bake and Broil and convection Roast (no traditional Roast as you have). Per my manual and my particular ovens, the difference between Convection Bake and Convection Roast is the use of the upper heating element during cook time with the Roast setting but NOT with the Bake setting so you should choose based on whether you want heat from that upper element or not. In general, you can use Bake with trays of cookies or cakes on multiple racks in the oven but when you're using Roast, you want to stick with one rack, usually in the middle of the oven. If you use Roast with multiple racks, the stuff closer to the broil element is going to get a lot more heat and even rotating them isn't going to give you the most even bake. On convection bake, during preheat, the lower heating element (under the oven floor), the broil element and the rear element (behind the back wall of the oven, near the fan) all operate but once it's heated up, only the lower element and the rear fan element cycle to maintain temp during cook time. No broiler element during convection baking. On convection roast, all three elements (lower, broil and rear fan elements) operate during preheat and all three cycle to maintain temp during the cooking time. So there will be heat from the broiler element during convection roasting. I always use a convection setting during preheat as it will get to temp a lot faster and I use convection for most things. If I'm worried about a baked item drying out due to the fan, I switch to traditional bake after it's up to temp. My ovens do not automatically reduce the temperatures when choosing Convection as @TdeV's does, though there is a "convection conversion" feature called "Easy Convect" on my ovens that's available to do that. I have never used it. I do always monitor the temp inside the oven with a digital thermometer probe (Thermoworks Dot or Square Dot). Oddly, when using convection, the temp probe in the oven always reads about 25 °F HIGHER than the temp set and displayed on the oven panel so I do usually set the temp 25°F lower when using convection and check for doneness earlier. I don't see that increased oven probe temp on traditional bake. In my oven, on traditional Bake, it will be hottest at the rear, opposite the door. On convection Bake, it will be hottest near the door, opposite the fan. Either way, I rotate pans of cookies, etc. for even baking whether I'm using convection or not. Check your manual to see if this matches and monitor the temps in the oven with a good thermometer.

Big potato pancake with quick-pickled apple salad from Hetty McKinnon's Tenderheart. Hetty's pancake is a lot bigger than mine. The recipe calls for a full kilo of potatoes (2.25 lbs) cooked in an 8.5" skillet. Nice twist on the usual potato pancakes and applesauce. She recommends adding an optional dollop of sour cream to the pickled apple salad. I was afraid it would look curdled so I put it on the side. Indeed it does look that way, but it tastes quite delicious so I'd probably go with it in the future.

I think your substitution of a longer time at lower temp is a good one. You could even do overnight in the fridge. B if you want to try the heat, go ahead. I'd keep it below 190°F. If it curdles, it's easy enough to see and you're just out a bit of buttermilk and cornmeal.

Stunning meals, @BonVivant, it all looks amazing. These little breads are adorable! And I'm ever so pleased you clarified that this was a one-item meal so didn't need to imagine an oyster:chocolate combo!

Hoisin-Glazed Cauliflower with Mixed Grains and Cashews from Tenderheart by Hetty Lui McKinnon. Clearly a very unpopular vegetable in these parts! This was a win and something I'll happily repeat. It includes a recipe for homemade hoisin that's very tasty. I cooked the mixed grains in the Instant Pot using the timing I usually do for the Massa Organics brown rice that made up the bulk of the mix. I thought the white rice would surely turn to mush, but it did not and the quinoa was a nice addition. I'm looking forward to mixing up other grains in the future.

Have you ever tried roasted cauliflower? Should one of these dread veg happen into your kitchen, I highly recommend trying it. It's pretty much the opposite of mush and I find it quite tasty. I'm happy to gobble it up right off the sheet pan but I also like use in other ways. We have a Roasted Cauliflower topic with over 400 comments and at least one recipe: Roasted Cauliflower (aka Jim Dixon's Roasted Cauliflower, no wait,