blue_dolphin

Another curiosity from A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches, the Broccoli Classic with mayo, roasted broccoli, lychee muchim, ricotta salata (I used feta) toasted pine nuts and fried shallots. Not sure where lychees show up in any classic sandwich but, honestly, spicy pickled lychee are pretty good and I look forward to using them in other ways.

My go-to sweet vermouths are: Cocchi Vermouth di Torino when I want a light touch, my summer vermouth Carpano Punt e Mes when I want something more forward with a touch of bitterness Carpano Antica for something luxurious, my winter vermouth and a must for holiday cocktails Dolin Dry is my favorite dry vermouth

Both the flavor and, perhaps more importantly, the texture were excellent. No hint at all of the dreaded cottony breast meat, it was moist and flavorful throughout. I followed the Zuni dry brine method with a full 48 hrs in the fridge, loosely tented with foil. I pre-heated the cast iron skillet and used the convection roast setting on my oven that uses both upper and lower heating elements plus the fan which is perfect for a roast chicken. 30 min breast up, flip for 10 min, flip again for 5 more min to re-crisp the breast. I won’t be buying $35 chickens on the regular but if I were entertaining someone I knew loved roast chicken, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

When it comes to eating home-pickled products, caution is wise but these days, it’s not difficult to choose tested recipes that direct one to read the label on the vinegar bottle to ensure the acidity is sufficient to eliminate concerns about botulism. If you’d rather not eat or serve a gift item, that’s understandable but if @Shel_B wants to share a homemade pickle, there are safe, tested recipes available that he can use with confidence.

My perspective is that simple, natural preservatives like salt, vinegar and sugar plus spices and herbs can transform fresh, organic produce into flavorful pickles and preserves extending their useful life for weeks, even months, depending on the particular fruit or vegetable and how they are processed.

They tend to get soft and lose their crispness, colors become muddy, flavors can become harsh or unbalanced. If there’s sufficient acidity, they shouldn’t be unsafe to eat, just unpleasant. Here's an article with several pickled onion recipes that can be made as refrigerator pickles or waterbath processed to make shelf-stable pickles. As they note, brines that include citrus juice don’t keep as long in the fridge and don’t process well either.

Yeah, a $35 chicken isn’t affordable for most. I don’t eat much meat - this was my first chicken purchase of the year- so I can afford to make an occasion of it.

A bit more. $9.50/lb. Not cheap.

Two wings and a drumstick from a chicken I roasted this morning with grilled Jimmy Nardello peppers with melted lemon, anchovy, and caper butter and pangrattato and braised Romano beans (a mix of green & yellow) with anchovy, chile flakes, and fancy olive oil, both from Sunlight and Breadcrumbs by Renee Erickson.

A new meat vendor started coming to our local farmers market with nice 3.5 lb chickens, among other meat. He said this was their target size. I believe they are red rangers, so nothing exotic but not super fast growers either. I gather our market patrons tend to squawk at fair meat prices and I want to support these vendors so I got one and just pulled this Judy bird out of the oven. Not sure what I’ll do with it but it’s going to be hot today so I wanted to get it roasted in the morning.

That sounded like a good idea…

Time for some Red Weapons! I added a few extra jalapeños and a similar number of Fresno chilies and cut the olive oil from 1 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup. I also peeled the tomatoes because I know that’s what @Shelby would do 🙃 Vivian says the recipe is sized for 2 quart jars. I guess my added chilies took up extra space.

No, I don’t think I’ve watched that video. Or maybe I watched it 10 years ago and forgot!

BLT, with a spectacular gold tomato and a schmear of avocado on the bottom Yes, the crispy bacon got smashed when I sliced it but this was all about that tomato!

My go-to flatbread is one that uses yogurt and it’s from Andy Baraghani’s book, The Cook You Want To Be. It’s called Fluffy (and Crispy) Flatbread. It does not meet your need for using a bread machine. The recipe is available online at this link, though they look nothing like the photo shown there. Mine look more like this: 3 things: I almost always need to add an extra tablespoon or two of flour. I give the dough balls a 15-30 min rest before rolling out. And I get the pan ready and slap the breads into the pan as soon as I roll it out instead of rolling them all out and arranging on oiled sheet pans. By the time the first one is ready, I’ve got the next ready to go.

Today’s breakfast was the Taken 2 from A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches which uses 3 sub recipes: broccoli falafel, cucumber muchim and onion purée (onions cooked down slowly and gently, without browning, then blitzed to a silky spread) plus fresh tomato slices. They all get assembled in a hot dog bun. Yes, these ingredients might be more at home in a pita, but the hot dog bun is pretty genius for distributing the ingredients so you get some of everything in each bite.

No, they are dessert offerings. Even this one, from Taiwan, I believe, has bananas as a topping.

Oh, there are tons of them around here!

Thanks! Which method did you choose today and what guides your choice?

What's your method for an extra crispy tot? I know some swear by deep frying them. Maybe an air fryer would do the same? Whenever I heat a frozen item I want to be crisp, I use a temp 25° higher than specified, place the items on a mesh tray and cook for a few minutes longer. Never thought of calling it extra crispy, just the way I like it. Today's breakfast is the Broccoli, Egg & Cheese from A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches by Tyler Kord. The broccoli is deep-fried in a light, tempura-style batter, the egg is scrambled, the cheese is smoked Gouda (which the recipe specifies is melted on to the top while you dance to “Easy Lover” by Phil Collins and Philip Bailey exactly 2 times*) and the book adds ketchup but I used tomato chutney, which I always think of as “adult ketchup.” It should be on an English muffin but I used a small ciabatta roll. * that’s a 5 min song and I’d already pre-toasted the bun so one round of dancing was sufficient and easily accomplished whilst frying the broccoli.

Yes, they offer smaller jars but I’m pretty sure the bigger ones have fatter fish!

Almost ran out of anchovies … Phew - reinforcements have arrived. Crisis averted! I love how nicely packed they are. Edited to add that I just realized there's no tin here so I’m out of compliance with the topic title. Ooops.

Two big king oyster mushrooms, a few asparagus stalks, some Muchim brine and a couple of sauces leftover from my Super Upsetting Cookbook about Sandwiches sandwiches assembled into today’s breakfast buffet: Deep fried king oyster mushrooms, roasted tomato mayo, grilled asparagus, egg poached in muchim brine, tots (which appear nowhere in the book but are good dipped into almost anything) and avocado ricotta spread used as a dip.

It's a hilarious read so you’ll have fun with the book even if you don’t cook from it but more fun if you do!

I’m anxiously awaiting delivery of The Cook's Garden: A Gardener's Guide to Selecting, Growing, and Savoring the Tastiest Vegetables of Each Season (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Kevin West, published today. I love Kevin West's earlier book, Saving the Season: A Cook's Guide to Home Canning, Pickling, and Preserving (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) and always recommend it whenever anyone asks about books on the topic. He's a wonderful writer and the book is as much a pleasure to read as it is to cook from so I’m expecting more of the same. From what I’ve read, it’s half gardening, half cookbook. He describes it being pitched to him as something in the spirit of The Victory Garden Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Marian Morash, another of my favorites. Gardening advice can be very region-specific and it’s not something I’ve ever been into, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy the cooking sections. And who knows? I might be convinced to grow something! I’ve heard about this book for quite some time and was starting to wonder if it was ever coming out. He was doing some travel writing but took his website down and was pretty quiet from what I could tell. I didn’t realize he was also editor at large for Travel & Leisure magazine. This post on his Substack goes into some of the process and is a lovely sample of his writing for those unfamiliar with his work. I’ll post back when I’ve read it but it sounds like a great gift for gardening cooks or cooking gardeners!