blue_dolphin

I used a grill pan on the stovetop so I didn't get that nice smoky flavor you'd get on a grill, but it was OK. Mine were globe eggplants but smallish, ~ 4 oz each.

Grilled Eggplant with Tomatoes, Torn Croutons and Lots of Herbs from Six Seasons p 236 The eggplant was nice but those tomato were the star of the show. I let some chickpeas sit in the vinegar/tomato juices mixture in the mixing bowl and added them to my plate so I could call this dinner. The recipe says to let the dish sit for a few minutes to let those same juices soak into the croutons. I gave half of them the soak time and added a few more crispy ones at the end. I prefer crispy.

Boozy mushrooms on toast from Diana Henry's Simple

Several of Mark Bittman's books are on sale again (or still?) including the newish How To Grill Everything. I'm not a huge fan of the "Everything" concept but I borrowed that one from the library recently and thought it had a good selection of recipes, particularly non-meat recipes. How to Grill Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Flame-Cooked Food Mark Bittman's Kitchen Matrix: More Than 700 Simple Recipes and Techniques to Mix and Match for Endless Possibilities How to Cook Everything (Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition): 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food How to Cook Everything The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food--With 1,000 Photos (also on Amazon.ca) Another repeat listing is Guerrilla Tacos: Recipes from the Streets of L.A. I wavered and missed the sale last time it was shared here. I subsequently borrowed it from the library and decided to snag it if it appeared again. Done! All the above mentioned kindle editions are showing up at $2.99 on Amazon.com for me, a US Prime member.

I guess you could say that about many simple restaurant dishes. Still, I'd love to try the flatbreads at the Green Zone, @Hassouni's new establishment in DC. I've also enjoyed the flatbreads from this local bakery. The first two would certainly work on a pizza. I don't really care for chicken on pizza but even the third one wouldn't be out of place on a SoCal pizza.

These are the Crispy Mushrooms with Green Herb Mayonnaise from Six Seasons p 324. I was going to skip most of the deep-fried recipes but this one took me right back to my college days when deep-fried mushrooms with ranch dressing was a thing. Yes, I am that old! I don't have much experience frying things so I first made the batter too thin and by the time I mixed in additional flour and cornstarch to thicken it, any fizz from the sparkling water was long gone so I didn't get quite the light puffy batter that's pictured in the book but they were still enjoyable to eat. The Green Herb Mayonnaise p42 was a nice accompaniment, especially with extra lemon added to balance the richness. Seems sort of odd to add egg yolk and olive oil to purchased mayo but it certainly takes away any anxiety about having it emulsify properly - it's foolproof this way!

This Ultimate Tomato Sandwich, With Jammy Eggs & Herby Mayo from Food52 passed before my eyeballs recently. Today, it made it on to my plate:

Again, but with a few peaches on top. Going to for a haircut shortly and this will come along.

This is the "Build a Heartier Soup" variation of the Tomato Soup recipe from Six Seasons p 270. I used hot Italian sausage from Trader Joes and Rancho Gordo Alubia Blanca beans. I tasted this with just the beans and basil and it's a great vegetarian option but the sausage takes it over the top. Yum!

Greek yogurt, fresh peach slices and blueberries. One of Trader Joe's proof-and-bake almond croissants.

Wonderful wedding banquet and a beautiful story and location, too. Thank you for sharing all of it with us!

Nigel Slater's Cake for Midsummer with peaches and blueberries Very similar to the Marian Burros Original Plum Torte from the dreaded NYT. Differences are golden caster sugar instead of white and the addition of ground almonds, a bit of orange zest and vanilla extract. Chopped peaches and blueberries are stirred in instead of being placed on top in larger slices. I used white peaches because the ones I had were really ripe. Sadly, they're about the same color as the cake so they don't stand out. Should have sliced them and put them on top. I sliced this up, removed a very small sliver for quality control , smooshed it all back into a circle and packed it up in a pizza box to take down to my peach peeps at the farmers market. Edited to add that the peach peeps liked the cake and gifted me with ~ 6 lbs of very ripe peaches I can play with.

I know the topic here is rice cookers, not other appliances, but I'd like to mention that I have had good success cooking small amounts of rice (white and brown) and other grains in the Instant Pot, using the pot-in-pot method. I've cooked as little as a single serving (40 ml rice + 40 ml water) and it came out fine. With pot-in-pot, you can't use the "rice" setting but have to set a manual time. Depending on the rice and the sort of bowl you choose (a thick glass bowl will require a couple more minutes than a thin metal bowl) you may need to play around a little to find the right setting but once you do, I've found it to be reproducible. I usually cook a full cup, portion and freeze but some days I don't want to add more things to my freezer and I've found this method to be quite handy.

Zucchini Omelet - Sfogato me kolokithia from "Greece: The Cookbook" More of a frittata than an omelet to me. The book says the name refers to its sponge-like appearance and I think I've got that part right!

Polenta topped with chèvre whipped with yogurt, figs poached in honey, sweet red wine and spices and a sprinkle of walnuts.

I was going to use the bäco breads I made yesterday for some sort of fun breakfast sandwich with bacon & eggs but for some reason, I wanted a tuna salad sandwich. Hit the spot!

Israeli-Spiced Tomatoes, Yogurt Sauce and Chickpeas from Six Seasons p 266. Excellent flavor combination. There are 3 components to this dish: Sliced tomatoes, marinated with a mix of ground cumin, coriander, sumac, garlic and salt Yogurt sauce with cucumber, basil, mint, parsley and a few dashes of hot sauce A chickpea, red onion and parsley salad dressed with red wine vinegar and olive oil. The Slightly Tangy Flatbreads from the book are the recommended accompaniment and they would have been fine. They're an un-yeasted flatbread so you can put them together in the time it takes the tomatoes to marinate - but I decided to modify the recipe for the yeasted Bäco flatbreads by making them with half whole wheat flour (Sonora Red Fife) and they were just the ticket.

I was amused by the nuevo items featured in this snip from the current weekly ad from my local Vallarta Supermarket - a chain that caters to the Latino population.

My ovals were a little larger than the specified 8" x 4", but not much. I tried an 8" round and it was too thin to puff up very much so I believe the specified size is good. I started rolling them on a lightly floured surface but found they rolled out just fine without added flour. I used a 10" cast iron skillet with avocado oil and found that the right temp to give a cook time of 1 min/side was just below the smoke point. I started with a little less than 1T of oil but didn't need to add any more. Since it was a well seasoned pan and there's lots of ghee in the dough, I may not have needed any oil at all. I cooked all 10 breads. I put the extra breads in the freezer and am assuming they'll reheat well in the CSO. Since I didn't follow the recipe, @Anna N may have more relevant suggestions.

Bäco breads, modified from Josef Centeno's cookbook, Bäco I used half bread flour and half Sonora Red Fife whole wheat and kneaded the dough in my Kitchen Aid mixer. Not as fluffy as the lovely breads that @Anna N shared in this post last year, but they're still nice.

I bought it to toss into pasta but it's also handy for something like this where you want a couple of kinds of seafood. I also added to the celery soup from this book for the "seafood stew" variation.

This is the Quick Cioppino variation of the Six Seasons Tomato Soup p 270. Made very quickly by simmering some of Trader Joe's seafood blend (shrimp, scallops & squid) in the soup, just until cooked. Best cioppino ever? No, but a rather pleasant way of turning leftover soup into a meal.

Thanks! I've been wanting this one. I noticed the $2.99 price is good at both Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.

Boiled egg, mashed with a knob of butter, on toasted ciabatta Taking advantage of a cool morning, I cooked some bacon for future BLTs and it's possible that a slice or two may have made their way on to my plate

I thought of you when I read this article in the WSJ: Strawberry Jam: Urban-Farming Startups Tackle a Problem Crop Not sure if that article is behind a paywall or not but the gist is a concern over potential costs for pollinating strawberry plants by hand or other systems when grown in urban farms - shipping containers and the like. I would think that sales of perfect, ripe mid-winter berries to restaurants, etc. could command a premium price but I guess it's all about the numbers!