blue_dolphin

Another thumbs up for the Raw Asparagus Salad with Breadcrumbs, Walnuts & Mint from Six Seasons p 73 that @rancho_gordo posted about recently here. When I looked at my bowl, I agreed with the header notes and thought it looked kind of "meh," and that I'd never be able to eat my way through a big bowl of raw asparagus. I was wrong, very wrong. Everything works together really well here, even the mint, which is not one of my favorites. For round 2, I followed @rancho_gordo's lead and added some beans - Christmas Limas. Also excellent.

Spaghetti pangrattato with a crispy olive oil-fried egg Not that anyone needs a recipe for this, but I followed the one in Smitten Kitchen Every Day.

Speaking of olives, for Friday happy hour, I mixed up the Crushed Olives with Almonds, Celery & Parmesan from Smitten Kitchen Every Day and served it with some crusty bread. And I made a Garden Gin & Tonic with Cucumber, Lime & Mint from the same book. I used a local gin that I enjoy in other cocktails but I prefer something very juniper-forward in a G&T. I recommend the gin, but just not in a G&T. Still, I managed to choke it down

Andrea Nguyen has this info on her page: VIETNAMESE YOUNG GREEN RICE (COM) Does that seem like what you have? That page also has a link to a recipe.

It's not revelatory, by any means, but the recipes seem solid. I haven't had any failures yet and have picked up some good ideas to play around with further. I very much appreciate that it includes measurements in grams/mls in addition to cups/spoons in a clear and simple layout, something that so many authors/publishers seem to find it impossible, so kudos for that.

If I may ask, @HungryChris, what do the cruise staff offer when you ask for hot sauce? They are usually so anxious to please but there will certainly be limits, depending on what they have available. The other potential downside, in my experience, is that once you ask for any special something, you will be presented with it every day, often with a grand flourish, for the rest of the cruise so having to generate daily enthusiasm for an unpleasant hot sauce could certainly deter one from asking in the first place !

A version of the Artichoke & Parmesan Galette from Smitten Kitchen Every Day, subbing in a polenta crust for the one in the book.

I saw those yesterday and was tempted but I resisted. I will give a thumbs up for the Vault No5 Cave Aged Cheese from Jasper Hill that's the current "spotlight" cheese at my local stores. Jasper Hill ages cheeses for a number of local Vermont partner cheesemakers and from what I can glean from the Jasper Hill site, this seems to be a Cabot product. It's remarkably flavorful for a smooth, creamy textured cheese. As the label suggests, it melts beautifully. It's $10.99/lb but I think it's worth the money. The only other place I found it offered was selling it for about twice that price. They described it as, "a sweet and nutty cheddar aged 10-12 months. It's our new "got it all" cheese--creamy, sharp, earthy, with a salted caramel finish." It's hard to compare with other cheeses. It's firmer than Taleggio but certainly gives that cheese a run for the money in the flavorful/melty category. I can also confirm the label suggestion of serving with an oaked red. Very nice.

Had some skinny asparagus to use up so I made an asparagus version of the Broccoli Melts from Smitten Kitchen Every Day. I used the Vault No. 5 Cave Aged cheese from Jasper Hill that's the current "spotlight" cheese at Trader Joe's and it's a great melter!

I did consider your delicate sensibilities and avoided posting a photo that included a recognizable bean

Tomato & Gigante Bean Bake from Smitten Kitchen Every Day on toasted rosemary baguette. I used Rancho Gordo Christmas Limas and subbed in some of Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce from the freezer instead of the canned, crushed tomatoes.

Ahhhhh! I'm feeling very relaxed already! I made a version of the Baked Oatmeal with Caramelized Pears and Vanilla Cream from Smitten Kitchen Every Day using peaches instead of pears. Maybe it was the fault of the peaches but even though I cut the sugar down, it seemed very sweet to me. Too sweet for breakfast so I made it even sweeter by serving it over a scoop of vanilla ice cream and had dessert for breakfast!

I tend to use my cast iron and Darto pans more often but I agree that a non-stick can be good to have. A couple of weeks ago, I read some reviews (incl the one that @lindag mentioned above) and replaced my 20+ year old pan with this 12-inch Tramontina non-stick fry pan. So far, so good. I don't have any illusions that it will last any longer than the 3-6 yrs that review estimates and for ~ 30 bucks, I thought it was reasonable.

Since I've got a big old horseradish root in the fridge and beets, too, I figured I should try the Roasted Beet, Citrus and Olive Salad with Horseradish from Six Seasons p 280. Reading over the recipe, I thought it might benefit from a nut or seed, a crispy breadcrumb or a bit of cheese, all very common ingredients in this book. Turns out, it's quite good as is. Before I finished eating, I tried some crumbled goat cheese and I liked that addition. Beet salad with goat cheese is such a cliché but I like it and it's a nice contrast to the bite of the horseradish. One very small nit to pick - the recipe recommends using different color beets and then proceeds to marinate them all together where everything will surely turn bright pink. There is no mention of separating them to maintain some color contrast. Of course, it's not necessary unless you happen to want a salad that looks like the photo in the book, in which case, do this: then assemble everything on the plate.

Thanks for reporting on that test. I was wondering how the IP might work....or not....for this.

Another great combination of textures and flavors from Six Seasons with the Fried Celery Root Steaks with Citrus and Horseradish p 344. @koen posted about this recipe upthread here. The celery root gets peeled and sliced into 3/4" thick disks. I'd go with 1/2" next time but these were fine. The "steaks" get roasted first, then breaded and fried and finally, topped with a citrus-peperoncini-parsley "salad" and freshly grated horseradish - I added more after I took the photo. I served this as a vegetarian main dish and would recommend making extra of the "salad" topping as those flavors, along with the horseradish really make the dish special. I had Cara Cara oranges from the local farmers market on hand so I went with that but I'm looking forward to trying this with a mix of other citrus like the blood oranges, tangerines or Meyer lemon that he suggests or even grapefruit or a few lime segments.

@chefmd, for some reason, the packaging of that mustard looks like some sort of medicinal ointment to me After concluding in another thread that I don't repeat things very often, I proved myself wrong with the same breakfast as yesterday.....

I agree. Almost everything I make leaves me with tons of ideas. Agreed again. Shame on IACP for not standing behind their decisions. When Six Seasons was advanced as a finalist, the board voted to allow it to continue and then caved and failed to stand behind their decision AFTER it won the top prize. I have no issue with a professional organization giving an award to a member. Go ahead and pat yourselves on the back when it's deserving. It happens all the time. I'd prefer a transparent process over the direction they seem to be going in proposing to ban the board/officers from winning awards. Edited to add: Thanks for the recommendation on asparagus mint salad. It's on my list to try soon!

Leftovers on toast. Clearly, I started snarfing before I took the photo Toasted ciabatta, rubbed with garlic, topped with horseradish cream and leftover caramelized onions and sliced chuck roast from the Braised Beef with Lots and Lots of Onions from Six Seasons. Bread toasted, meat & onions warmed in the CSO.

I listen regularly. Usually when I'm cooking, doing housecleaning, etc. There is a lot of fluff but I enjoy Dave's sense of humor and his general interest and curiosity in many things.

Beautiful stove! I love visiting this local shop, Antique and Vintage Stove Shop to admire their selection. I've always hoped to get a vintage stove someday, preferably a red one but I'm not sure it will happen. Maybe someday! Here's a couple similar to @TechieTechie's but with solid doors: link and link

When I was putting this in the oven, I was looking at these big hunks o'meat and thinking, "What am I ever going to do with all this meat??" But after tasting it, I was packing up the leftovers and thinking, "How am I going to ration this and make it last???"

Following in @Anna N's footsteps again. Braised Beef with Lots and Lots of Onions from Six Seasons p 356. Not sure what got into me here. I rarely cook beef but I spied some chuck roast on sale at Sprouts and we have rainy weather predicted for a few days so I decided to try it. Here we are, ready to go into the oven. Beef has been browned; onions, garlic & thyme cooked down with a little added butter and a cup of wine added. Had to switch to a bigger pan mid-stream so it took me a little longer than I expected to brown the meat and get the onions cooked down and ready for the oven. This is after ~ 2 hrs in the oven. Flavor is good but the meat needs a bit more time so I gave it a turn and put it back in for another hour And we're done: My those onions cooked down! I used a mandoline to cut them at 1.5mm (recipe says, "as thin as possible") but I would go with 3mm next time so they don't completely dissolve into a paste. Served on polenta - comfort food. Looking forward to leftovers.

If they were motivated to learn and willing to do a little reading, I'd absolutely go with Samin Nosrat's Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. She shares her knowledge and experience generously.

You have 2 focal points here, the slice of cake on the plate and the cut cake on the stand. Decide which one you want to be the star. Right now, they're sort of equal in the photos Looks like you have some nice natural light coming in from the left side of the photo. I would rearrange things so the cut surfaces of the cake are facing the window, or at least better illuminated so you can see the nice layers of cake and frosting. You can put the plate with the slice of cake in front of your cake stand and focus on that, with the cake in the background or focus on the cake itself with the plate, slice and fork a little to the side. 2 cents from a non-pro