blue_dolphin

@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

I also forgot that step and just left it out! The recipe says they are better the second day although I didn’t notice a big difference. I did like them though.

I believe we all owe @Anna N our thanks for introducing that recipe and for her brilliant suggestion to use an immersion circulator to gently re-heat the leftovers. She shared that over here in the sous vide topic. Almost any other method would likely turn those lovely butter poached shrimp into little erasers but that method worked perfectly.

I tried 2 variations on the Jammy Winter Fruit and Browned Butter Bars from Midwest Made baked up in the same pan 🙃 The version in the book makes an apple and pear jam to sandwich between 2 layers of a browned butter/oatmeal/walnut mixture. I made a pear, persimmon and ginger jam using the recipe as a rough guide and put that on one side of the pan. The other side is a pluot and ginger jam that I'd made a while back. The recipe uses ~ 1.5 cups of jam spread over the 9 x 13" pan. I'd read reviews from others who said they would like more fruit in these so was a good bit more generous in the amounts I used and was pleased with the results. Except that I forgot to add the walnuts. This the second time I've forgotten to add an ingredient when baking from this book. Sheesh. Before adding the topping Pluot & ginger on the left, pear, persimmon & ginger on the right. After baking Ready to go to the library

I'll add a third vote for trying that dish. I just made it this evening and it was delicious. It's nice to have a vegetable in there but it doesn't have to be spinach, lightly steamed broccoli or sugar snap peas would be great alternatives. You could just as easily serve the vegetables on the side. I cut the recipe in half to make 2 servings and ended up dipping into the supposed leftovers. Next time, I'll dial back on the butter a bit, up the orzo & broth and, like I did today, add lots of lemon juice.

Toasted whole grain bread with goat cheese and persimmon, pear and ginger preserves with blood orange wedges and a mug of black coffee

I bought the pasta at Eataly. The brand is Alta Valle Scrivia. It appears to be 25% chestnut flour and the rest semonlina/durum wheat flour. It's relatively subtle but there is a nutty/earthy chestnut flavor that comes through. So far, I've only used it to make a pasta con fungi dish but figured it would work well with the beets so I decided to throw it in here.

Bright Pink Pasta from A Modern Cook's Year The header notes describe the color imparted to this pasta by beetroot as "nature's neon." I don't believe either sensors in my camera nor my monitor can capture and display just how brilliant this color is. This isn't a fresh pasta made with beets in the dough. Beets are shredded and sautéed in olive oil with capers while the pasta (whole wheat is called for, I used a chestnut pasta) is par-cooked separately, then finished in the pan with the beets and some of the pasta cooking water and topped with chopped dill and a squeeze of lemon. Suggested optional additions are goat cheese or feta. I went with goat and also added a sprinkle of crunchy breadcrumbs. Small portions of this would be a very fun starter for a Valentine's dinner.

I don't think the batter itself is sweet so there's no reason why you shouldn't top them with a bit of smoked salmon and dill or sour cream and caviar like little blini. I also saw a recipe for a version with spinach and cheese in the batter. Sounds like something fun to play with.

A variation on the Baked Eggs with Crushed Chickpeas, Chorizo, and Bread Crumbs from Alison Roman's Dining In. Recipe available online here. I used Marcella beans instead of chickpeas and poached the egg instead of baking it.

Watercress Salad with Beets & Walnut Mascarpone Crostini from Zuni Café Cookbook The roasted beets are marinated simply in black current vinegar and olive oil and the marinade becomes the dressing. I think I've got 24 bottles of vinegar but no black current so I subbed in tart cherry zinfandel balsamic. Don't tell.

Soft scrambled eggs with bottarga on toast blood orange wedges on the side

Sounds similar to a beef chuck roast that was a regular when I was growing up. Plopped into a dutch oven with one packet of Lipton's onion soup and one can of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup dumped on top. On occasion, the potato situation that @Smithy described was employed, along with carrots and onions but sometimes it was served with mashed taters instead along with the delicious gravy that resulted. I remember that this stuff smelled absolutely amazing while it was cooking that I always happily ate some which was not the case with many meat items.

Avocado & kimchi toast topped with a poached egg This idea is from Julia Turshen's Small Victories. There's a little drizzle of mayo + kimchi juice. The avocado was a Stewart avocado. I should have taken a photo before I started mangling it. The Stewart has a very thin, smooth skin that's edible. It's black when ripe and has a rich texture and flavor which surprised me. I was afraid it would have that thin, watery texture that some smooth-skin varieties like the Fuerte have so I was pleasantly surprised.

Alon Shaya has a hummus recipe in his cookbook where he lets the crushed garlic marinate in lemon juice for at least 30 minutes, then strains it out. It adds a nice, fresh raw garlic flavor without the harshness that sometimes intensifies over time as hummus sits. I've been using that trick in other recipes.

Two boxes landed on my doorstep together this afternoon: my bean club shipment and a new cookbook, Cool Beans: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking with the World's Most Versatile Plant-Based Protein, with 125 Recipes by Joe Yonan Must be a sign!

@rotuts, you can go to Eataly and pick up some bottarga. Other online options listed in this Serious Eats article. Plain old salmon roe won't be the same thing. Though it might make for a lovely (just different) meal!

If you find yourself with some bottarga, I very much recommend following Marcella with this one. There are a lot of recipes out there. Some, like Anthony Bourdain's, are simpler with just olive oil and garlic. Others, like the Batali recipe in Babbo add additional ingredients like chili peppers, tomatoes, etc. This one allows the bottarga to be the star but adds a bit of savory/sweetness from the onion (Marcella recommends scallions but allows that regular onion is more traditional) and lemon zest for brightness. There's also a little parsley for color and a little bitterness. Pretty much perfect to me! Edited to add that I went out and picked up a bottle of Vermentino from Sardinia to go along with this and it was the perfect accompaniment!

A treat for lunch - Spaghetti with bottarga from Marcella Hazan's Classic Italian Cooking Marcella makes this with butter which makes for a very luxurious dish.

Thanks for the great photos showing off that beautiful view and the stunning skies! Where are we heading once the generator's fixed?

Yesterday's breakfast Scrambled Harissa Tofu with Avocado & Cucumber Salad from Ottolenghi's Simple. The scramble was served, per the recipe, on toasted sourdough Today's breakfast: Black Bean & Tofu Scramble from A Modern Cook's Year, served with a whole grain pita bread from the recipe in Shaya

Interesting - so many cocktail weenies! And what's up with the Irish Stew in Iowa? Buffalo Chicken Dip was the most Googled recipe from California and I had to Google to find out what it was - a dip FOR chicken or a dip made with chicken? It's the latter, in case you were wondering. And while that was the top recipe for the whole state, Tortilla Pinwheels were on top in Los Angeles and 7-Layer Dip in San Francisco. Must be a lot of it going on in San Diego! Edited to add that I made guacamole and margaritas, both from the recipes in Nopalito.

Debating what to have for breakfast while sipping a mug of café de olla I've been testing and tweaking recipes since I went to a restaurant in Burbank called Café de Olla and enjoyed their signature beverage. I think I've nailed the spice mixture and coffee strength. I also like using a separate piloncillo syrup so I can add just a touch of it in a hot mug to complement the spices and a little more in a tall glass of iced café.

I buy eggs at the farmers market from a couple who pasture their hens in an organic orange orchard. They are $7.00/dozen for large eggs and that's rather a splurge for me but I'm lucky that I can afford to make that choice to support a local, small business whose practices I value. Blindfolded, I 'm not certain I could taste a difference, but the beautiful deep orange yolks certainly add visual value to my plate! A couple of stands away at the market, I could buy eggs from Apricot Lane Farms, aka 'The Biggest Little Farm.' They price their chicken eggs at $14/dozen. I have not tried them so my personal "magic number" must lie somewhere between seven and fourteen 🙃

Sounds like what we might call cocktail sausages, which I would never put into a cocktail!