blue_dolphin

I did it again This time I stuck closer to the recipe and smashed the sweet potatoes as the recipe directs. Though mine look more smashed than the ones in the recipe photo. Speaking of stuck, I also avoided carbonizing the maple syrup but I did make it into sort of a sticky caramel. I only used a little of it and luckily, I had a big mug of black coffee handy to dissolve it off my teeth.

I've been reading interestedly as I'm getting ready to make a batch of cashew brittle and haven't done it in a while. I tend to agree that the temp is likely to be the issue as the color and appearance of the brittle is similar to what I get with a Peanut Brittle recipe from James Beard's American cookery. It is similar to your recipe from Craig's Aunt in the composition of ingredients and the fact that it uses raw nuts that get toasted in the syrup. What's different is that the Beard recipe adds the baking soda @ 315°F vs the 290 in your recipe. He also adds salt and vanilla at 315°F but I don't see that making a difference. After pouring, Beard recipe brittle-to-be gets spread out quickly, then pulled and turned (wearing greased garden gloves) so it's wafer thin between the peanuts or cashews. The result is about the color of your brittle from this year, although, of course, it's much thinner because of being stretched and pulled. It certainly foams up dramatically but after spreading and pulling, I see little tiny bubbles throughout, but it's not a foamy looking candy. I don't know either but my first guess was that at lower temps, the sugar mixture is thick enough to trap more bubbles but when heated to a higher temp, it's become thin enough that the gas escapes more easily. But, considering PV=nRT (Ideal Gas Law) you can also imagine that when the temp goes up, the volume of the trapped gas bubbles will also increase so they are likely pushing themselves right out of the candy at some point, whether it's thinner or not.

French toast here, too! I used some of the Sweet Potato Onion Bread from Deep Run Roots that I made the other day in that Food52 recipe for Crispy Salt and Pepper French Toast that we've all made before. Served with @Suvir Saran's tomato chutney

I've only purchased duck eggs once, at the local farmers market. They were reportedly from Khaki Campbell ducks. They averaged around 73 grams each. I felt rather cheated, compared with the monsters @Anna N is getting. Though, I will say that the ratio of yolk to white was much higher in the duck eggs than in the chicken eggs I buy.

Maybe the bowl-lift people are more serious cooks but us tilt-head folks are in it for the looks 😉

I love caramelized onions but they are also quite sweet so I'd say it almost reminds me of a raisin bread but with savory overtones. It doesn't scream," Sweet Potato!" but the bread is flavorful. Texture-wise, it's nicely chewy and browns up nicely when toasted. The crust could be a bit more crunchy but when toasted, it becomes quite nice. So far, I've enjoyed it toasted with butter, as a cheese toasty with grated Pecorino Romano and black pepper: and also as an open-faced chicken sandwich - lightly toasted bread, mayo and meat from a CSO-roasted chicken thigh. I've enjoyed them all so far.

A bit of a stretch for this topic, but my mixer has been working hard lately so I bought it a new ceramic bowl as a gift. I got this one from Crate & Barrel. I didn't realize that they had so many different versions. Here's a pretty blue and white watercolor one, a tropical floral, a winterberry leaf design, and more. Kind of a racket at these prices but if you keep your mixer out on the counter, it's fun to look at.

I made a half-batch of the Sweet Potato Onion Bread from Deep Run Roots. This was not without its challenges as I described over here in the Deep Run Roots thread.

I finally got around to trying the Sweet Potato Onion Bread from Deep Run Roots p 321. The wet, sticky dough was a bit of a challenge but I got an edible loaf at the end so no harm done. Vivian says to resist the urge to add more flour and just give it more mixing time. My decision to make a half recipe could have contributed to the problem. My dough finally began wrapping around the dough hook ~ 30 minutes into mixing and only after I raised the speed to 8 on the Kitchen Aid, something I've never done with the dough hook. It still looked more like a batter so I added 2 T more flour and gave it 10 additional min at that speed. As you can see, it's still pretty liquid at this point: but I figured that rather than adding more flour, I'd give it a longer first rest and a round of turns and folds to see if that helped it come together. Not so much. Here it is in an oil-sprayed bowl after an hour rest. Still pretty stir-able. I added 3 T more flour and gave it another rest and turns until it was something I could imagine incorporating the caramelized onions into without having them sink directly to the bottom. The onions are incorporated over 4 additions, folding the dough over the top and giving the dough a rest each time. That part went OK, though the dough wasn't something you could grab on to - I needed to use a silicone bowl scraper to scoop it up and over the top. And as for flipping it seam-side down - liquids don't really form seams 🙃 so that didn't exactly happen. There's a 2 hr 40 min rest after the onions are incorporated then the dough is shaped. I was was rather surprised that I was able to make it into a round and eventually make a hole in the center. Here it is ready for the oven: I dropped the oven temp from 450°F down to 425 at the half way point because the crust was already very dark. Probably should have put foil on the top. Here it is out of the oven last night: It baked up into a round about 9.5 inches in diameter and a little over 3 inches tall. And sliced this AM: Just out of stubbornness, I may give it another try with a full batch to see if that was the problem. If I make it again, I'll make rolls and/or a ciabatta shape as I don't find this shape all that handy to use.

I have a floor to ceiling louvered glass window near the stove so I opened that, then opened the slider in family room that's only a few feet away, then headed out to the garage for the ladder. By the time I picked up the ladder, the alarm shut off! My neighbors know I live alone. I'm very wary of drawing a crowd over here while I'm still padding around in my PJs 🙃

I will never again ignore this equation: Sugary brown liquid (such as maple syrup) + hot black Darto pan with oil & browned bits + a moment of inattention = smoke alarm and perhaps more important, its corollary: The speed of converting sugary mixtures to charcoal is inversely related to the scaling of the recipe. This means that a recipe that has been scaled down from 4 servings to 1 will burn 4X faster than the original Edited to add that my error did not ruin my breakfast and I enjoyed a mug of coffee along with it but I was already quite alert by that time!

I know hunters get a bad reputation in some circles and it can be for good reason - like the ones more into going off for the weekend and doing more drinking than hunting. My friend's dad was more of a full-time hunter like your husband. He was out in the woods, watching the deer and other wildlife in every season. He knew the paths the bucks followed, which does had fawns each year and would hike or snowshoe deep into the woods to leave feed for them after big blizzards or ice storms. He hunted bow season, musket season and regular every year and provided pretty much all the meat for his family of 5 kids. I have great respect for hunters like that!

I think it's well worth trying. I followed her direction to make sure the sour cream tasted tart and salty (and peppery) and it was a good contrast to the potato. Next time, I'll roast up some sweet potatoes whole so I can get the smashed effect. And I will keep a closer eye on the pan after adding the maple syrup to avoid setting off the smoke detector again 🙃

Oh my, that middle egg with the runny yolk is suitable for framing! Smashed sweet potatoes with maple and sour cream from Alison Roman's Nothing Fancy. Recipe available online here. I had some leftover, already roasted sweet potatoes that made it easy to cut this recipe down to a single serving so I could test it out for breakfast. It's a winner and I'll certainly make it again. I love how crispy the sweet potato skins got. My changes: I'd already sliced my sweet potatoes in half for roasting so I didn't get the "smashed" effect. I didn't have toasted buckwheat groats but the recipe only calls for a small amount so I broke up some seedy gluten-free jalapeño crackers I found in the back of the cupboard and I think they provided the requisite crunch. Otherwise, I followed the recipe.

That looks great, @Raamo and thanks for the link. I'll have to remember to try that Urfa Biber Harissa next time I make a batch and will try this version of shakshuka when I do. I'm still working my way through a big batch of harissa from the recipe in Shaya.

Cacio e pepe al taglio from Mastering Pizza The dough was the al taglio dough at 80% hydration made with 50% bread flour and 50% stone ground, whole grain Glenn wheat flour. Basically, cheesy bread with pepper!

As I mentioned above, I tried a sweet potato version of the mashed rutabaga with watercress and watercress butter from Six Seasons p 366 I like the texture that the watercress stems added to the mash and the contrast between the sweet mash and sharply flavored greens. I'll keep my eye out for an actual rutabaga but this is certainly a recipe that can adapt to most any root vegetable - plain Jane potatoes included. Add that to McFadden's suggestion that the butter can be made with other herbs or tender greens and the variations are endless.

Kind of an @Ann_T breakfast here. No. Sadly, it's not her gorgeous bread 😢 but something I'd intended for the previous night's dinner. I got hungry and decided to go with a quick 10 min pasta dish instead of waiting for the potatoes to roast but I had more patience this morning. Mashed sweet potato with watercress and watercress butter, adapted from the Six Seasons recipe that uses rutabaga and a CSO chicken thigh

My herb guy at the farmers market has been bringing in some nice watercress - very flavorful compared with the stuff at the grocery store. Given @Chris Hennes's positive comments in this post just upthread, I went ahead and made the Watercress Butter from Six Seasons p 36. No rutabagas in sight so I wasn't able to try the recipe that Chris made. I think I'll try to sub sweet potatoes for the rutabagas but in the meantime, I decided to follow this suggestion from @David Ross I tossed linguine with some of the watercress butter, a little pasta water and a squeeze of lemon juice. I seared a few scallops, topped them with melted watercress butter and grated some lemon zest over everything and boom - it's dinner! There are a few cloves of garlic in the watercress butter so it has plenty of flavor to season the pasta.

Pickled Gouda? Can you say more? Thanks for the Christmas market photos! When I purchased my car, I went to Munich to pick it up at the factory, took myself on a little driving tour of Christmas markets and brought home a suitcase full of Glühwein mugs. I gave most of them away for Christmas gifts that year but I appreciate this reminder to pull out the ones that I kept. Oh, and that year, my own Christmas present to me arrived by boat a few weeks later 🙃

I will look for these. I don't have a big sweet tooth but they might be a nice little treat. As for eating them on the way home, I am safe from that danger. First, it's not that far. Additionally, I've always had a manual transmission which requires the frequent use of both hands. Except for long trips, I've never done much eating while driving. Of course, those little cakes could be equally dangerous once they're in my house!

Pepperoni al taglio from Mastering Pizza Dough was the remainder of a batch of the book's al taglio dough @ 80% hydration made with 50% bread flour and 50% of a whole grain, stone ground Sonora/Red Fife blend

I stopped by Total Wine and stocked up for Réveillon season: They were out of the Clear Creek Pear Brandy I usually get but I have enough left that I can compare it with this German bottle. Tasting them neat, the Clear Creek tastes more of ripe pear and the German brandy has more of a green pear flavor. I suspect it will be fine in the cocktail though. I like the Réveillon with Carpano Antica, the Punt e Mes is more of a general restock.

Steven Colbert hosted José Andrés recently on The Late Show and their cooking segment featured a couple of dishes using Thanksgiving leftovers - a cranberry cocktail and turkey croquetas. Here's a link in case anyone wants to try them - have your liquid nitrogen handy! I usually find Colbert annoyingly silly in these segments but Andrés was in fine form and matched him at each step. It's pretty funny. Edited to add: Here's the first part of the interview where he talks a bit more about World Central Kitchen and Thanksgiving, too.

Leftover pasta with slivered sugar snap peas and pancetta from Six Seasons with a poached egg on top