blue_dolphin

Salad of Chorizo, Avocado & Bell Peppers with Sherry Dressing from Diana Henry's Simple. Apparently the result of a merger between a Spanish tapas bar and a California salad joint! Delicious salad and lots of fun to eat - you can make each bite a different combination of ingredients. I crisped the chickpeas in the oil left from the chorizo. The rich ingredients (chorizo, avocado, roasted pepper, etc.) need a nice bite from the sherry vinegar. I only tasted the dressing by dipping leaves of greens and ended up drizzling a bit more vinegar on afterwards.

I made another half batch of the Jammy Winter Fruit and Browned Butter Bars from Midwest Made. This time, I used a jar of the Whole Fruit Fig and Lemon Preserves from Deep Run Roots plus a few spoons of homemade lemon marmalade, all blitzed to a spreadable consistency. Kind of a cross between a Fig Newton and a nutty oatmeal cookie with a touch of lemon-y bitterness from the marmalade. I like them but I'm not sure they are universally appealing so I'm glad I just went with a half batch.

Now that's a bacon sandwich!

Leftover lamb arayes (from Ottolenghi's Simple) nicely reheated in the CSO I also had some of the yogurt & sumac sauce plus the pictured feta, tomato and oil-cured olives.

Nibbles for dinner At the left is a plate of fresh veggies to accompany the Salmon Roe Ikra from Shaya. At the top is a basket of Pita and at the bottom is a bowl of Hummus, both also from Shaya. In the middle, from Ottolenghi's Simple is a plate of the Lamb Arayes with Tahini and Sumac served with Sumac Yogurt Sauce. He says these are most often made with pita but uses tortillas in this recipe.

Given the confectionary bent of this trip, my first thought was a very fancy peep store 🤣

Another bean-y breakfast Marcella beans sautéd with onion and diced chorizo, topped with a poached egg. Steamed broccoli, fresh tomato and pita on the side.

Nopalito has a recipe for yogurt-based crema that's become my go-to since I usually have yogurt on hand. Start with: 1 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt 3 teaspoons lime juice 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt adjust lime and salt to taste

Frizzled Chickpeas and Onions with Feta and Oregano from Alison Roman's Nothing Fancy. Recipe available online here. Sautéed baby kale, tomatoes, yogurt and pita on the side.

Brussels Sprouts Salad With Mustard and Toasted Almonds from Shaya. Recipe available online here. At first bite, I thought this was too mustard-y but the combination of textures and flavors kind of grew on me.

Where I grew up, in the north east corner of NY state, such a dog is called a michigan. Ideally, the dogs should be the red Glazier frankfurters made with pork and beef and a snappy natural casing. You order your michigan "with," "without," or "with buried," all referring to the fresh chopped onion. In the last option, the onions are buried under dog and sauce. Mustard is applied in a single line. I've never heard of any other condiments being used. I don't know what would happen if you asked for ketchup or relish. It certainly doesn't seem right.

Eggs with Bell Peppers & 'Nduja from Diana Henry's Simple I deviated slightly from the recipe where Diana calls for pre-cooked potatoes to be crisped in olive oil and I made the Schmaltzy Potatoes from Shaya instead. Since the potatoes are seasoned with the Herb Salt from that book, I used it to season the peppers and the egg. In honor of the potatoes, I fried the egg in schmaltz, too. Dang, those potatoes are so good, I would have been happy with just a plate of them.

I don't believe he had dimples.

I took a ciabatta class last week at a local bakery and baked my first attempt today. I made one loaf and half a dozen small rolls. It clearly needs work but at least it's a start. The class was not hands-on but we were offered wine and snacks and sent away with a recipe, a loaf of ciabatta from the bakery and 2 bags of pre-weighed ingredients: a small one for the poolish and a larger one for the dough. I thought that was a good way to nudge everyone into actually baking. The class: Snacks: That's me in the blue shirt, apparently giving our instructor one of my classic blue_dolphin side-eye looks 🤣

Honestly, of the citrus I bought at the this week's farmers market, the blood oranges are the least flavorful but they are so dramatic that I couldn't resist getting a few. In general, I find them a bit less sweet than navels with more of a floral/berry fragrance and a tiny bit more bitterness but it does depend on the variety. The blood oranges I was getting for the last few weeks were smaller and sweeter. The grower has moved on to harvesting a different variety that seem bigger and blander but also deeper in color. I also got some amazing tangerines and some cara cara or red navel oranges and both of them are great!

My Total Wine has been out of the Clear Creek pear for quite a while. Also the Grappa. They still have Clear Creek cherry brandy and raspberry liqueur in stock. The German pear brandy I got worked just fine in the Réveillon. I batched the recipe for a party over the holidays and it was a big hit.

Menemen from Diana Henry's Simple and pita from Shaya

Yes, I do need to keep an eye on them and I was challenged yesterday because the light bulb inside the oven burnt out so I was peering into the window and really couldn't see the char until it was too late, like that one in the front. New bulbs should be arriving tomorrow. I'd bet that a quick pass in the flame would be nice.

I put the baking steel on a shelf that's a bit above mid-way in the oven, pre-heat to 500°F, then switch to broil when I start to bake them. I quickly pull out the shelf, slap the dough on the steel and shut the door. As they poof up, they get close enough to the broiler that they start to char. Edited to add that the Shaya cookbook says to put the steel (baking stone, cast-iron skillet) mid-way in the oven. I get better results with it a little higher. Probably depends on the oven.

I was going to make this yesterday for lunch/dinner but got lazy Crispy Chickpeas and Lamb with Greens and Garlicky Yogurt from Alison Roman's Dining In. Pita from Shaya.

A small pile o'pita Recipe from Shaya with the addition of 50% stone ground, whole grain Sonora/Red Fife. I make them smaller (~75g dough/pita) than the recipe specifies so I get a dozen from one recipe.

Phew! I'm so glad that recipe did not tarnish your stellar treat-provider reputation!

Two focaccia...focacce? Started out with the foacccia recipe in Ottolenghi, subbed in 50% stone ground whole wheat flour (Sonora/Red Fife blend) and divided it into two 1/4 sheet pans instead of one 1/2 sheet. Topped one pan with red onion and goat cheese, one of the 3 topping choices in the Ottolenghi recipe. Used the other one to make the Fried Kimchi Focaccia from Everyday Korean available online here) in which a heaping cup of chopped kimchi is fried in butter until the edges start to brown, then used to top the focaccia. I added a sprinkle of mozzarella to that one. Messy crumb photo The kimchi focaccia is surprisingly good. After being fried in butter than baked, the flavor is still tangy and funky but not harsh at all. Next time, I'll drop the temp or turn off the convection so it doesn't brown so quickly.

Like @BeeZee, I had planned-over roasted sweet potato for breakfast, based on a recipe in Diana Henry's Simple for baked sweet potato, chorizo, mushrooms and egg. I cut the potato in half and re-heated it on the Phillips grill. I like the bit of caramelization here. Mushrooms get cooked first, then the sliced chorizo and finally the egg, all in the same pan. Smoked paprika sprinkle. My egg stuck to the pan a little, right in the middle so my nice runny yolk leaked out on to the plate but not to worry - I got it all!

@Craig E, your cocktail sounds excellent. Should you find yourself with more leftover curry leaves for cocktail purposes, you might try infusing some bourbon with them. The Mowgli Street Food restaurants use it in a Smoked Cardamom Old-Fashioned cocktail that also appears in their cookbook. I quite liked it. Smoked Cardamom Old Fashioned 40 ml curry leaf bourbon (infuse 1 oz fresh curry leaves into 700 ml bourbon for 48 hours before straining) 2 tsp apricot liqueur 2 tsp black cardamom syrup (infuse 5 oz black cardamom pods into 500 ml of 2X simple syrup for at least a week, the longer the better) 2 dashes Angostura bitters Garnish: 2 curry leaves, 1 black cardamom pod