blue_dolphin

Seared scallops with curried onions and lime from Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage served on polenta with a slaw dressed with lime vinaigrette. I made the curried onions, basically finely chopped, slow caramelized onions with the addition of curry powder for another dish so this was quick and easy.

I checked my books and don’t find any straight up root beer pops. I've got a few recipes for root beer float pops that loosely fill the molds with little bits of vanilla ice cream and then pour in flat, cold root beer. Eat Your Books tells me there's a root beer sorbet in The Modern Café by Francisco Migoya and the CIA that uses both root beer and root beer extract, sugar, sorbet stabilizer and glucose powder. I don’t have the book, but an approach like this (root beer + extract) sounds like the best route 🤣 for a good root beer flavor in a frozen treat.

Prima Taste Singapore Curry Lamian Noodles (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) with various additions. A guilty pleasure.

Kimchi dog: Aldi brat on a scallion pancake with sriracha mayo, kimchi and arugula I was planning to make the egg sandwich on a scallion pancake aka the Double Awesome from Double Awesome Chinese Food. While listening to the local news, I heard that today is National Hot Dog Day, then I turned the page in the cookbook to find this kimchi dog. The rest was breakfast!

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Great article! Don’t forget to review the slightly newer Salt Cod Diary topic for more ideas!

If you search eG for “garlic scapes” you’ll find some good ideas, including pickling them, if you have an abundance. Like @Ddanno, they’re not all that easy for me to come by so when called for in a recipe, I often have to use garlic chives instead.

This is kind of TJ's adjacent. I was quite enamored with the TJ's Yuzu hot sauce. It was citrusy, vinegary and a bit spicy. Perfect to mix with a little mayo to make a quick dressing for a slaw, a dipping sauce for calamari or a sandwich spread. Alas, as is the case with many TJ's products, it vanished 😢 and I’m told is no longer available. I’ve been hoarding my last bottle for tasting purposes in an attempt to engineer a DIY dupe when, lo and behold, I found something very close (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) on Amazon. It’s a little more than twice the price of the TJ's stuff but looks, smells and tastes the same so I’m pretty happy and figured I’d share in case anyone else misses the stuff.

I think they’re common on TikTok, Instagram, etc

Cheesy polenta with curried onions from Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage with grilled asparagus. Per the recipe, the habanero went into the pan along with the onions as they caramelized and was to be discarded. I didn’t eat it. Yet.

I picked up my weekly fish share around lunchtime and was in the mood for a fish sandwich so this is what happened. Blackened white seabass sando with yuzu kosho slaw. From my weekly email, I learned the name of the fisher who caught my lunch and the name of their boat and that White Seabass is not a true bass but a member of the Croaker family. The largest on record was 78 pounds. Most years they reach their northern limit in Santa Barbara, but some years they venture as far as Monterey or farther north. They are highly mobile and swim hundreds of miles throughout the year, only passing through our waters for a few weeks or months in the summer. Monterey Bay Seafood Watch recommends California White Seabass as a best choice. And I say they taste good!

Breakfast sando: Avocado, kimchi, fried egg and a drizzle of kimchi mayo on toasted focaccia aka leftover pan pizza dough.

Two other “pizzas” from the book that I have posted in other topics are basically stuff piled on a pre-baked pan pizza dough. They’re both good, but I wouldn’t call them pizza. @weinoo should avert his side eyes 👀 from these for sure! Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Pizza for a Crowd p 199. This is a pan pizza crust, topped with Everything But The Bagel seasoning and baked, with the toppings (chive cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers, red onion and dill) added post-bake. Since it’s written for a half sheet pan, it really would make enough for a crowd. I only made one piece and saved the rest for sandwiches. The Asparagus and Prosciutto Slab Pizza is also baked nekkid and topped afterwards. It’s topped with Camembert, shaved asparagus dressed with olive oil and salt and prosciutto.

Here’s the Raw corn salad with cherry tomatoes and edamame from Pizza Night p 98. I used fava beans instead of edamame. Nice, fresh summer salad with avocado and feta adding some richness. No need to make a dressing, just toss with a squeeze of lime juice and drizzle of olive oil. Nice, fresh summer salad. I had it with a slice of the baby kale and sizzling scallion pizza I posted yesterday. The book pairs this salad with the Puttanesca pan pizza with tomatoes, onions, anchovies, and olives that I posted over in the Dinner topic before I started this one. I’ll add it again here for completeness. As usual, I made a half recipe in a quarter sheet pan. This pizza starts with mozzarella, topped with a layer of caramelized onions, then an anchovy and garlic paste, capers, olives and cherry tomatoes. I like that the anchovy paste distributes that flavor across the pizza vs whole anchovies. I’d pair that pizza with a green salad rather than the corn.

I suppose farms that sell at farmers markets or their own small shops don’t count as “commercially” but here’s a link to a 2014 LATimes article by David Karp that mentions several sources in SoCal: Local Espelette powder comes to L.A. farmers markets. I believe most of them (Kenter Canyon Farms, Weiser Family Farms and Windrose Farm at the SM farmers market and Farmer & the Cook Market in Ojai) are still selling the products. Not sure about Little Fresh Farm.

A slice of yesterday’s baby kale and sizzling scallion pizza topped with a poached egg.

I’ve had these lemon stuffed green olives kicking around for a while so I’m not sure if they’re still in stock or not. They’re big and each one is stuffed with a piece of lemon peel so they have a salt-preserved lemon vibe. I suspect they’d be nice in a martini if you like such things. Or on a charcuterie platter.

Pizza Night by Alexandra Stafford: Roasted artichoke pizza with Castelvetrano olives, lemon, and ricotta p 201 on the Neopolitanish dough p 22 served with the Swiss chard salad with hazelnuts and cherries p 88, dressed with Lemon vinaigrette p 37. This pizza is the one that's supposed to go with the arugula, prosciutto & Parm salad I posted just above and they would combine for a nice antipasto platter vibe. The artichokes get drizzled with olive oil and roasted before tossing with olives (I used the lemon stuffed Chalkidiki) olives from TJ's instead of Castelvetranos) garlic, lemon zest, pepper flakes and a little more olive oil. They’d be a nice addition to an antipasto spread on their own. The dough gets a few oz of mozzarella pieces, then the artichokes, before baking, whipped ricotta is dolloped on after that. The artichokes may have gotten a bit dark but didn’t taste burnt. I may have been a bit over generous with the ricotta but I wanted a little in every bite! The farmers market cherries I got were really spectacular so I wanted to use them in another salad. I used baby kale instead of Swiss chard as it what I had on hand and I thought it worked fine.

Pizza Night by Alexandra Stafford: Kale pizza with sizzling scallions and crème fraîche p 211 on the Neapolitanish dough p 22 served with the Arugula salad with prosciutto and Parmesan p 202 dressed with Lemon vinaigrette p 37. This is supposed to go on the thin crust but I had a ball of Neopolitanish dough handy so I used that. The pizza dough gets a thin schmear of crème fraîche (I used homemade ricotta thinned with a bit of buttermilk) a sprinkle of Parm and a pile of kale (lacinato was specified, I used baby kale) before going into the oven, after baking, a sizzling scallion oil is spooned over the top. I had red scallions which I figured would look pretty. Since the pizza has minimal cheese and no meat, I figured this salad would be a good fit though it’s not the official partner. The book says to layer the prosciutto on the plate and pile the dressed greens in top but I’d rather not need a knife to eat it so I cut up the prosciutto and tossed it in.

Nice to see you here, @teonzo!

Could it be Mastering Spice: Recipes and Techniques to Transform Your Everyday Cooking: A Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Lior Lev Sercarz? Or maybe his earlier book, The Spice Companion: A Guide to the World of Spices (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

Yes, very good!

It sounds pretty amazing. I might have to try it, too!

Pizza Night by Alexandra Stafford: White Pizza with Arugula, Pistachios, and Honey p 204 made with the Neopolitanish dough p 22 served with Cherry Tomato and Cherry Salad with Feta and Jalapeños p 81 I liked this pizza a lot. It’s got a very thin layer (2T) of whipped heavy cream, grated Parm and Camembert. After it comes out of the oven, it gets drizzled with honey (I used Mike's Hot Honey), sprinkled with chopped pistachios and a pile of arugula dressed with olive oil and salt. The salad was interesting. I really liked the cherry, jalapeño and lime juice combo. The feta was fine but the cherry tomatoes, which are nice on their own, are overpowered by the other ingredients and taste bland in comparison. The cilantro was OK but I’d prefer mint here.

Chef (2014) is pretty funny. You can even make that great cubano sandwich if you’re up to it. Recipe here.