blue_dolphin

When you’re already feeling miserable, the pain of every inconvenience is amplified many fold! I’m so sorry you’re under the weather and hope this will pass quickly!

Purolater finally delivered my order back to Goûter yesterday and they very quickly re-shipped by FedEx and it’s already made it to Memphis! In the meantime, I enjoyed a slice of the $6.49 Aldi panettone this morning. This is the one The Wirecutter named as one of their top 10, specifically, best under $10. I think there was only one other under $10, the Trader Joe’s panettone 🙃 which I have tried in previous years and found dry and relatively tasteless. In comparison to TJ's, this one is quite good. I’m sure it doesn’t hold a candle to premium offerings but it was pleasantly moist with a floral vanilla aroma and flavor. The inclusions are golden raisins and candied orange peel, both with good texture, neither dry nor mushy. The crumb obviously isn’t as airy as the Goûter photos show but it’s quite light, not stodgy, dense or gummy. I’ll probably cut this up and freeze in portions to be used in French toast or maybe a breakfast casserole but it’s honestly quite pleasant to eat on its own, with or without a smear of butter. I’d say it was $6.49 well spent!

It was statements like this that convinced me that a low oven was probably OK. I do avoid as much thermal shock as possible, usually putting the dishes in a cold oven (my CSO doesn’t have a preheat function on Steam Bake anyway) and placing hot dishes on a rack or insulated pad rather than directly on a cold countertop. I think a lot of people assume that “oven-safe” means anything up to baking and broiling at 500°F so manufacturers may want to avoid the term. They really are a high quality product and I hope you’ll get as much use out of them as I have!

You really can’t beat an immersion circulator for that cold water bath. I routinely use my Anova to thaw all sorts of stuff. I set it to 40 - 45°F and add ice to the bath if the water is warm. You can choose a warmer temp to move things along more quickly if you’re planning to cook right away but I like to keep things cool until I’m ready to start cooking.

Correct. They are freezer and microwave safe. I use them routinely to reheat leftovers in the CSO at 275°F but they are absolutely NOT baking dishes.

This is the surprisingly good pasta with beets, brown butter and poppy seeds from Six Seasons of Pasta: Previous beet pastas I’ve tried have been notable primarily for their shocking pink color but this one brings a lot of flavor to the party, too. As the recipe suggests, browning the butter without burning is key and tricky to monitor with the beets and poppy seeds in the pan. I kept the heat low and did other things in the kitchen, waiting for that nutty, toasty aroma. It took a while but I didn’t have to hover. I picked out this bunch of beets at the farmers market because of the beautiful greens and chose this recipe to include them. I thought the greens added a lot and would add another green if I didn’t have them. I used goat cheese for the garnish because I love its tangy flavor with beets and didn’t have the specified whipped ricotta on hand. It was an excellent choice.

Duralex USA is having a 50% off sale on their glass storage containers until Jan 1. Some items are out of stock and shipping is on the high side unless you hit the free shipping target of $120 but I thought I’d mention it here in case anyone is interested. I’m a big fan of the little 4 3/8”, 10 oz square glass bowls. I use them for everything from mis en place to bringing dips to parties. The lids snap on very securely and they’re attractive enough to put on the table. One of the items in that Duralex sale is a “Baby” set with 4 of my 10 oz square bowls, 4 smaller 5 oz square bowls and 2 larger 13 oz rectangular containers for $25. For comparison, Amazon has a set of 6 of the 10 oz size for $73 They also have some larger 2 qt square bowls @ $40 for a set of 4 but unfortunately nothing in the 2 cup - 1 qt range. Here’s the $25 “Baby” set:

They also have all sorts of shapes and sizes. I like a deep dish pizza but don’t necessarily want it for days so I freeze smaller dough balls and bought a little 4” x 12” pan I can use for a couple of servings. Like these.

Thank you! It sounds like we both enjoy salads as the centerpiece of the meal. I grew up with a salad served separately, before the main dish but these days, I’m much more inclined to make the salad the main and add something like a flatbread or cheese toastie to round it out.

I’m so sorry Goûter is having to deal with this issue! i understand Purolator not wanting to deal with the shipments but they shouldn’t have accepted the packages if that was the case. Ah well, I guess this landscape changes by the minute!

Here’s the pasta (I used creste de gallo) with green beans, tuna and mushrooms from Six Seasons of Pasta by Joshua McFadden: I thought this was a skillet version of tuna noodle casserole, especially with the breadcrumb topping but the header notes say it’s inspired by the traditional green bean casserole. If so, why not use those French fried onion rings instead of breadcrumbs? No matter, this is a delicious bowl of comfort food. And he does have a tuna noodle casserole with asparagus, so there’s more of this Midwest vibe to come.

Another salad from Good Things. This is a shaved fennel, apple and celery salad with aged Gouda and toasted pecans, dressed with a creamy lemon-miso dressing. The “creamy” element in the dressing isn’t mayo or dairy, it comes from aquafaba. Recipe available online here.

No tariff info yet here. My order was picked up by Purolator on Wed and has been at their export facility in Etobicoke ON since then.

It’s fine if you’d like to make something different with the ham but I don’t think offering something that’s only barely similar (but quite different to me) almost a month later is repetitive. PB&J day after day would get old but I don’t see that risk here. Looking forward to seeing whatever you decide to make!

My inspection of the top of the loaf, the image on the package and the listed ingredients indicates raisins and candied orange peel as the only inclusions. The price of the Goûter panettone (should I receive them) kind of makes me feel like I need to genuflect before taking a bite but I feel quite comfortable making French toast or a breakfast casserole from the Aldi loaf. I’ll let you know how it goes.

At the other end of the spectrum, I picked this one up for $6.49 at Aldi 🙃

I’ve only mixed tortilla dough by hand so I can’t speak to the Cuisinart but I was wondering if a tortilla press could get thin enough for lefse…or if the rolling process was key.

I agree! It looks deeply browned, not charred, to me (who also likes her toast well browned 🙃)

I’ve made the Autumn Chicory Salad from Samin Nosrat’s Good Things a couple of times lately. It’s very easy and perfectly suited to this time of year. The dressing is Samin’s take on the Via Carota vinaigrette and the recipe is available online here The first time, I used persimmons, pecans and Gorgonzola: The second time, I used pears, walnuts and aged Gouda:

This is me checking Whole Foods for their annual 12 Days of Cheese specials:

Stewy harissa chickpeas with winter squash from Good Things by Samin Nosrat. The recipe is also available online here. The sweetness of the squash, warm harissa and spices, earthy beans and bright sherry vinegar and lemon come together perfectly in this recipe and with very little effort. I used honeynut squash cut in wedges since they were so small and used Rancho Gordo Royal Coronas instead of chickpeas as I had some ready to go. I unintentionally omitted the olive oil added with the stock and didn’t miss it. Per the serving suggestions, I added a few cubes of the marinated feta, also from the book but it wasn’t really necessary and with all the flavors in the stew, I didn’t really taste the marinade.

Yeah, they tried 33 total and it seems like the under $65 group were less represented in the top tier! I might give the $7 Aldi version a try. Should be fine for French toast!

The NYT Wirecutter listed their favorite panettone here: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-panettone/ Not sure if there’s a paywall or not.

Mussels and orzo in a coconut and saffron stew from Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage. I loved this and will absolutely make it again. I used Thai bird chiles instead of Scotch bonnet and red bell pepper instead of yellow. The Calabrian chile paste was a great addition.

More mussels. This is the bucatini with fennel, salami, tomato, and mussels from Six Seasons of Pasta and I thought it was quite good. I thought the mussels might be overwhelmed by the other flavors but that wasn’t the case. They weren’t exactly the star of the show but it was an excellent ensemble performance!