blue_dolphin

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!

“Supreme” seem to be a common pizza descriptor in the US so it's not surprising they co-opted it though they don’t seemed to have borrowed the usually generous list of toppings, unless, as @KennethT said, they’re under the cheese! From a recipe on the Ooni pizza oven website:

Yeah, I’ve had to discard many due to inedible salt levels and hate wasting food so I’m wary.

I’d say a pretty blue & white porcelain bowl with matching soup spoon and artfully arranged chopsticks might enhance the photo but I’d happily enjoy that as is for my first meal of any day. Today's breakfast was The Shadiest One from A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches by Tyler Kord. Sort of a cheese toastie, but extra. Toasted bread with “awesome Cheddar cheese,” a schmear of an avocado ricotta spread, cucumber muchim and fried scallions. Not wild about this on the first pass. I used TJ's English Coastal Cheddar and felt the sharp, tangy cheese and the pickled cucumber completely overwhelmed the avocado ricotta spread. I couldn’t even taste it. I made another with a mix of Cheddar and Gruyère and upped the amount of the avocado ricotta spread well beyond a schmear. The recipe makes a LOT of that avocado ricotta, enough for more than 1/2 cup/sandwich while the book photo shows what looks like a tablespoon. My first pass went with the photo, round two was closer to the recipe. In any case, it was much better with the addition of nutty Gruyère and more of that spread but, unlike the other recipes I’ve made from the book, it’s not a combo I want to play around with further.

I’ll take a look. It’s usually the salt that puts me off. I’m kind of a lightweight in that department!

This made me laugh. All the TJs by me (there are 8 TJ's in a 15 min radius) open at 8 and all have ample parking so I don’t know about 9 o'clock vs 8 o'clock parking behavior but I know the people who line up to be first in the store believe themselves to be on a vital mission and it’s best to leave them to it and arrive around 8:15 when they’ve dispersed. I rarely go for the prepared foods at TJ's but you guys are tempting me with those chile rellenos!

Bacon can certainly take over. I used just 1/2 slice of fairly thin cut US (streaky) bacon, the amount one might sprinkle on a salad or baked potato as a dainty garnish. I toasted the bun in the fat rendered out from that 1/2 slice so the result wasn’t overwhelming. The shrimp were very much the main event. The amount of apple in my photo kind of matches that shown in the book and would indeed have been a bit lost but after I snapped it, I piled on enough to pretty much obscure the shrimp!

Yes, the shrimp are cool, the buns are warm and toasty, creamy mayo, crisp bacon, sweet/tart/crunchy apple. Probably should have used slightly smaller shrimp or cut them up but still very fun to eat together and made me think about other options. Lobster, of course. Maybe a chicken salad with celery muchim, apple & bacon? I always like recipes that give me ideas!

This is the Bacon Von Branhut from A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches by Tyler Kord The main ingredient is shrimp muchim, pickled in the same spicy/vinegar-y brine the book uses for peaches, cucumber, tomatoes, lychees and even poaching eggs. The sides of the split-top bun are toasted in bacon fat before it’s filled with a schmear of mayo, the pickled shrimp, crisp bacon and julienned Granny Smith apple. Tots with roasted tomato mayo (also from the book) for dipping.

Another curiosity from A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches by Tyler Kord. This one is called That time Chris Parnell played Benedict Arnold on Drunk History, the sandwich and features an egg poached in that spicy, tangy muchim brine used to pickle peaches for the Suzanne Sugarbaker that I made the other day. The sandwich also involves a toasted English muffin, avocado and red onion. No English muffins in the house so I toasted a crumpet instead and left it open-faced. Grilled asparagus with roasted tomato mayo (leftover from the ALF, also from the book) lurking in the back.