blue_dolphin

I think not. At least not on @Anna N's plate 🤣

Very understandable. These especially seem very summery. But I had that bounty of basil from my friend and found cukes at the farmers market so I decided to go for it! Currently 84°F and sunny @ 9:22 AM

Today's breakfast was leftover pepperoni pizza, reheated in the CSO. As posted yesterday over in the bread topic:

Another day with temps in the upper 80's so I made another batch of popsicles. Cucumber, lime and holy basil should be refreshing this afternoon.

I'm on team CSO because I think the steam-bake and steam-broil functions really bring something new to the cooking toolbox. I don't have a BSO so perhaps it's capable of many things my wall ovens (which have a dehydrator function, but not airfryer functions) do not. One thing to consider is that the CSO has a steam vent which should not be situated directly underneath a cabinet when in use so you need to either have some vertical space above the vent or the ability to pull it out while running the steam functions. This only a concern on steam. You can toast, bake, broil or warm plates with no worry.

The Kindle edition of Sister Pie: The Recipes and Stories of a Big-Hearted Bakery in Detroit by Lisa Ludwinski is currently $1.99 on Amazon.com (sadly not on Amazon.ca) I have the hard copy of this book and it's quite good. It's not just pie. There are some interesting shortbread cookies (I've made all 6 of those recipes), a number of savory hand pies and nice salads.

and the polenta...and the scrambled eggs!

How about kefir?

In Six Seasons, there's a recipe for Double-Mushroom Butter that I liked. He first makes a sort of mushroom broth, simmering ~ 2 cups of mushroom trimmings (preferably wild), a clove of garlic and a sprig of thyme in enough water to cover by 1/2 inch for ~ 1 hr. Strain out the solids and reduce the broth to ~ 2T. Roast another 1/2 lb mushroom @400°F for ~ 20 min or until shriveled and concentrated. Cool and finely chop them. Blend together 1/2 lb unsalted butter at RT, the reduced glaze, the chopped mushrooms, 1T finely chopped parsley, 1/2t minced fresh rosemary, 1/2t kosher salt and chill for at least an hour. Edited to add that I rarely have wild mushrooms so I usually add some dried porcini to simmer along when making the broth.

Pepperoni al taglio from Mastering Pizza. I made a half recipe in a quarter sheet pan. Dough was 50% bread flour and 50% whole grain, stone ground Glenn wheat. And a pile-o-pita. The dough was 50% bread flour and 50% a whole grain, stone ground blend of Sonora and Red Fife. Recipe from Shaya. Edited to add that it's now 86°F outside and the oven has been turned OFF!

The Kindle edition of The Modern Cook's Year: More than 250 Vibrant Vegetarian Recipes to See You Through the Seasons by Anna Jones is currently $3.99 on Amazon.com. Sadly, not on Amazon.ca. I have the hard copy version of this book and it's excellent.

If it's plain cheese and looks OK and smells OK, I'd probably give it a taste and see. I'd be more wary of a cheese with inclusions like peppers and stuff. You can also consider whether you want to take advice from someone who cut mold off all sides of a piece of Cabot extra sharp cheddar, grated up the clean remains and put it in my breakfast yesterday 🙃

Brave? They're Canadian!

The same Beemster Royaal Grand Cru 12 month Gouda is back as the Spotlight cheese at my TJs. $10.99/lb, as it was last year. I need to pick up a few chunks as it's good stuff!

I have a Le Creuset that I thought was permanently discolored from cooking black beans. I finally got around to giving it an overnight soak in PBW and it looks amazing!

Scroll back up to this post where I describe making that soup. I think it's what got us on the hock topic. In my hands, one hour was not sufficient. I strained the broth so as not to obliterate the vegetables and put the hock and broth in the Instant Pot for another hour. Next time, I will follow your suggestion of making ham broth (I'll do it in the Instant Pot) that I can de-fat so I can use it and the meat separately or together.

Another copy cat. I followed the recipe in the NYT (here) but reduced the cheese to a little over 1 oz and used a duck egg and toasted bacon bread.

Indeed. Another half-sized version of the Marion Burros Plum Torte, this one with pear & cranberry.

Assuming they are from your area, I'd suspect any servings of escargot would be seasonal 🙃

Oh, no! That's just mine. You'll have to sleuth out the dietary history of your own ducks...or not!

I've never seen smoked shanks in the grocery store. Even smoked hocks aren't all that common and the ones that turn up are bony little things. The hocks I order from Broadbent's are very meaty, like baby hams.

A bowl of the heirloom bean and escarole soup from Ad Hoc at Home topped with a fried duck egg. @Anna N's recent duck egg adventures encouraged me to pick some up at the local farmers market yesterday. They came with a description of their jobs on the farm: For what they cost, I should have gotten a photo of the duck who laid each egg. Oh wait, maybe that's what this is on the other side 🙃

I think Fuyus are the best choice here as I agree with @heidih that dead ripe Hachiyas would turn into mush and even though the article says that either are OK, it also says the fruit should still be somewhat firm and that would surely be unpleasantly astringent if they were Hachiyas. As is often the case with this cake, the flavors improved or melded on sitting and I liked it a lot more than when I tasted it still warm. Ripe Hachiyas might work if paired with another, firmer fruit but I don't think I'd like them on their own. If I'd remembered to buy some at the farmers market, I could try a Hachiya persimmon & cranberry torte but I didn't so pear & cranberry may be up next!

No, I won't be making it again for a while - once I add more escarole & beans, this batch will take me through the next few years! But for that distant future time, how long to soak? What volume and temp of water? How many changes? Assume a 1-1.5 lb hock. Do you use chicken stock when you make it?

Good idea. I've also got some smaller hunks of "seasoning meat" that I could have used instead. I was thinking that I wouldn't mind if this soup was fairly meaty and thought I might be OK since my stock was unsalted and I didn't add any other salt. I was wrong 🙃