blue_dolphin

I've mentioned this before. I keep a sewing gauge in my knife drawer. Handy to measure thickness of fish, rolled doughs or slices of anything.

I don't think you can do much better than the info on these eG threads but Instant Pot® Obsession: The Ultimate Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook for Cooking Everything Fast by @JAZ is an excellent Instant Pot primer. It's basic and simple - not a lot of glam photos - but chock full of useful information. At the moment, the Kindle version is $1.67 on Amazon.com.

Thank you for leading me to another eG rabbit hole with that Carnitas topic! I usually make Establos carnitas. They are made by going down the street to Establos Carniceria and ordering take-out !

Cinco de Mayo cocktail hour. As mentioned above, Queso Flameado con Chorizo y Nopales, Guacamole and an El Diablo, all from Nopalito, accompanied by sorry, salty, store-bought chips. Multiply the El Diablo a few times and the concerns about the chips just disappear !

I started off with Nopales con Huevo from Diana Kennedy's Essential Cuisines of Mexico, Frijoles Negros de la Olla and Vegetales con Aceite de Chile Cascabel from Nopalito for my breakfast. For later, I'm thinking Queso Flameado con Chorizo y Nopales, Guacamole, Salsa Cilantro and an El Diablo cocktail, all also from Nopalito, accompanied by sorry, store-bought chips.

I'd love to try that ramp butter. Of course, I'd love to try ramps, too A rather unsightly start to my Cinco do Mayo. Vegetales con Aceite de Chile Cascabel from Nopalito made with potatoes, onion, carrots, Brussels sprouts and asparagus. Frijoles Negros de la Olla and Nopales con Huevo from Diana Kennedy's Essential Cuisines of Mexico.

In 2017, they did a 50% off special in the summer and a free-shipping special (no discount) in December. I have the 20 and 25 paella pans in my cart and am dithering on adding a 25 sauté pan. I already have old style 20 and 23 pans and a 10.5 inch cast iron pan so I'm not sure.... Edited to add that I stopped dithering and added the 25 pan to my order. Done.

Before I realized that this was a fresh harvest photo,, I thought you had devoted your fanciful plating skills to making a carrot dish that looked like dirty, freshly harvested carrots. They do look nicer cleaned up and on the plate!

I'm not sure about the handles. I was hoping they wouldn't be too tall.

I was thinking the #20 or maybe even the #25 paella pan would be handy to use with the CSO.

Fava Beans, Cilantro, New Potatoes and Baked Eggs p 96 served with the Slightly Tangy Flatbreads p 48, both from Six Seasons. I think this is as close to shakshuka as Six Seasons gets . I can't say this dish does the most to show off the charm of fresh fava beans. They're nice and all and it's fun to see them used in a different way from the other recipes in the book but I think this could be made with most any bean. The flatbreads are made with half whole wheat and half all purpose flour and the "slightly tangy" part comes from the yogurt used to make the dough.

Lamb Ragu with Carrots & Green Garlic p 143 and Celery Puntarelle-Style p 146, both from Six Seasons. Even though I love a good Ragu Bolognese, the photo of the lamb ragu in the book reminded me of Hamburger Helper and didn't really appeal to me but I had some lamb leftover from the meatballs so I figured I'd give it a try before we get into the summer. I used half the amount of lamb - going with 1 lb instead of 2 lbs for 4 servings - but kept the same amounts of everything else. I added a tablespoon or two of sun-dried tomato purée before adding the liquid and starting the simmer. Honestly, this is about as easy as Hamburger Helper but is much more flavorful! I don't usually serve pasta on a plate with the salad but this was crying out for something fresh and green so I tossed the celery salad together. It's certainly related to a Caesar salad with the anchovy, olive oil, Parmesan, lemon and croutons. No egg, though. This was another winner for me. Quick and easy with lots of flavor and texture from the crisp celery and crunchy torn croutons.

Welcome home, @Smithy and thank you for taking us along once again. I do enjoy "our" adventures in the Princessmobile!

The rhubarb drink recipe can be found in the link that I posted above!

Today's breakfast was beans on toast. Specifically the Smashed Fava Beans, Pecorino and Mint on Toast from Six Seasons p 91. These are very nice. I used a mortar & pestle instead of food processor since I only made small amount though I had to resort to a fork to smash some of the slippery little beans. I would usually make a fava bean crostini by tossing the same ingredients used in this recipe (except for the green garlic), and piling them on garlic-rubbed toasts. The smashed beans make for a more tidy eating experience. Delicious either way.

No worry. When you turn the lights down to tapa bar levels, everything looks orange

Not exactly "cooking with.." but I think I'll put this here anyway. Last night, Six Seasons won the James Beard Foundation award in the Vegetable-Focused book category and today Joshua McFadden brought his medal along to a segment of CBS This Morning. The segment is available online at this link along with several recipes from the book.

Gotta love that you noticed that wayward celery stalk! The CSA boxes that I got from these folks were always packed like beautiful gift boxes. I think the staff know how much work goes into growing this stuff and enjoy making the produce look its best!

This is more of a farm stand than a market but I'll put it here anyway. I forgot to buy green onions at the farmers market yesterday and my parsley got frozen in the fridge so I decided to visit Underwood Family Farms to pick up those items, some more fava beans and a few more photos to annoy those of you presently lacking in fresh produce . This stand is ~ 7 miles from my house. Underwood is a good sized operation. They sell at a number of farmers markets, have farm tours for kids, a u-pick business and the farm stand. I used to get a CSA box from them but they discontinued that. Fun fact: Underwood grows all the red jalapeños for Huy Fong Sriracha. I used to get a bottle of it in my CSA box every now and again. It's still early in the season but the vegetables were looking particularly lovely this morning. Carrots of various shapes and colors: Beets and turnips: Lettuces, greens, radishes, cilantro, cauliflower of various sorts: More greens, fennel, parsley, green onion, broccoli, leeks, several kinds of kale, celery, collards and cabbages They also had English peas, sugar snaps and fava beans, Brussels sprouts, broccolini, avocados, citrus and strawberries. On the not-so-good side, I should have taken a picture of the very sorry looking, locally grown rhubarb they were selling for $3.99/lb. That would have made those of you still enduring the cold weather feel better

Booze and Vinyl by André Darlington and Tenaya Darlington is not strictly a cocktail book but a fun guide to pairing music and cocktails or as the book says, "how to host a boozy listening party." There are 70 albums, divided by mood with an A-side and B-side cocktail for each album, along with "liner notes" about the artist and album and party ideas. There are classic cocktails like the Manhattan and Tuxedo that are paired with Frank Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours while others are a bit different like the ouzo/Campari/grapefruit Santorini Sunset paired Blue by Joni Mitchell. The index is good - you can look up an artist, album title, cocktail name or individual cocktail ingredient and the photographs are very well done - lots of turntables and retro record players! I like music and cocktails so expect I'll enjoy playing around with it and I think it would make a fun gift. The back of the book has some brief sections on cocktail basics that provide should provide enough guidance that a cocktail novice could enjoy the book.

Santorini Sunrise from Booze and Vinyl by André Darlington and Tenaya Darlington. After listening to an interview with the authors on the Good Food podcast, I bought a copy of the book. It's a fun guide to pairing music and cocktails or as the book says, "how to host a boozy listening party." There are 70 albums, divided by mood with an A-side and B-side cocktail for each album, along with "liner notes" about the artist and album and party ideas. There are classic cocktails like the Manhattan and Tuxedo that are paired with Frank Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours while others are a bit different, like this one. Tonight, I flipped the book open to Blue by Joni Mitchell and this was the A-side cocktail. I brought some ouzo back from Greece but rarely use it and I had everything else handy so I queued up the music and stirred one up. Santorini Sunrise 2 oz ouzo 1 oz Campari 3 oz fresh pink grapefruit juice 2 t honey 2 wheels pink grapefruit slices 4 mint leaves Muddle the fruit, mint & honey, add ice and the rest of the ingredients and stir. The ouzo is there but it doesn't hit you over the head. Very refreshing. I'll make it again

Fava & Pistachio Pesto on Pasta from Six Seasons p 95. The recipe has you blanch the basil and half the garlic. The other 2 cloves of garlic are gently cooked in olive oil with red chile flakes and are never called for again in the recipe. No worries, I just threw it in at the end. Half of the favas go into the pesto and the rest get tossed with the pasta. The combination of blanched and cooked garlic plus the sweet, nutty favas and pistachios give this pesto a rich, mellow flavor that's quite different from the bracing sharpness I expect from traditional basil pesto. This is excellent as is and would be delicious with some shrimp or seared scallops on top. Two thumbs up. While I was prepping the fava beans, I noted the book has 6 fava bean recipes which call for a total of 16 pounds of fava beans (in their pods). Delicious as they may be, I can say for sure that I won't be shelling, blanching and peeling 16 lbs worth anytime soon. I needed a cocktail just to get through the ones for this recipe!

The basil and tomatoes are from a local hydroponic grower who uses hoop-houses in the cooler weather. They're not as flavorful as summertime produce but since they're picked ripe just before the market, it's still better than supermarket stuff. Amen.

There's a little more info up on their website. Pre-sale discount of 30% from May 1 - 15 or when they reach 15,000 units. Delivery not until Oct -Dec. There is a photo of the new pans but no individual specs or prices posted, at least that I could find.

Today's market purchases: Clockwise from the eggs, we have avocados, cilantro, basil, carrots, radicchio, lemons and tomatoes. I didn't buy any but zucchinis have arrived so summer is certainly on the way.