blue_dolphin

Ottolenghi mish mash II Clockwise from top right: Focaccia with olive and parsley topping from Ottolenghi, Watermelon feta & basil salad from Plenty, Roasted butternut squash & red onion with tahini & za'atar from Jerusalem and Farro & roasted pepper salad from Plenty.

No wonder he needed that power nap in the car!

That looks really good, @Anna N - I have that recipe on the docket for today or tomorrow. I was thinking of putting it on top of a pile of arugula. I certainly have a pile of it! In my impatience at the farmers market, I reached across another shopper to grab a big bunch of spinach. Turns out it was arugula. I already had arugula at home. In an effort to lighten the arugula load in my fridge, I made a variation of the Baked Eggs with Yogurt and Chile from Ottolenghi's Plenty, which calls for 300g ( ~ 3/4 lb) of arugula for 2 servings. My salad spinner with 150 g of arugula for my single serving: As you can see, some of the leaves are pretty big and it's very peppery! And the finished dish: I substituted a mixture of Aleppo pepper, sweet paprika and red chile flakes for the kırmızı biber in the recipe, which calls for heating the pepper in butter and pouring it over the dish for serving. I fried my eggs in the butter-pepper mixture instead of baking them in the greens and then poured on the rest of the butter. I really enjoyed this and will certainly make it again.

@Alleguedee, please continue to post about this trip and anything else that comes to mind! I am very much enjoying your witty observations!

Ottolenghi mish mash. Clockwise from upper right: Yogurt flatbread from Plenty, Membrillo & Stilton quiche from Plenty More, Cucumber & poppyseed salad from Ottolenghi and Marinated peppers (with feta instead of mozzarella) from Ottolenghi. Oil-cured olives in the middle. All new to me except the flatbread that I made for the first last week. All good, all easy.

Sheesh! No cubes! I forgot that I'd given my army of sous chefs the morning off !

Broiled Grapefruit with Star Anise Sugar and Elderflower Yogurt from Ottolenghi's cookbook, NOPI. I made this because I really couldn't imagine how grapefruit and yogurt were going to taste good together and I had the star anise-sugar leftover from another recipe. I'm glad I tried it. It's actually rather good but way more fiddly than I care to bother with ever again. The fruit is removed from halved grapefruits, seeds and pith removed and (supposedly) cut into 2 cm cubes before being piled back into the empty shells, sprinkled with the star anise-sugar and broiled. A torch would have been helpful for caramelizing the sugar as it was taking a long time under the broiler. The yogurt is flavored with grapefruit zest and a reduction of grapefruit juice, Grand Marnier and elderflower cordial and ends up working very well with grapefruit and caramelized star anise-sugar.

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Hazelnut & Spinach Pesto from Ottolenghi's NOPI. Nothing difficult here although peeling those knobby sunchokes is rather tedious. The header notes mention an alternate garnish of pickled mushrooms. I'd like to try that sometime but the bright green pesto is better for spring and we are having June gloom weather here so a warm soup was very appropriate.

They are pretty good, aren't they? I'm afraid they could become a dangerous habit!

I'm so glad to learn we have a reporter on the scene and am looking forward to updates!

The one closest to me was in Santa Monica and they've closed it so I'm more or less safe. I'm sure it was an expensive location and I rarely saw more than one or two people in there. Too bad.

Decision Related articles: WSJ, NYT and Guardian

Almost every time I go on their website to take advantage of a $20 minimum, I end up spending at least $30 anyway !

@Anna N, I think I might have called that an ome-tata, but either way, it looks delicious! Now that @HungryChris has established the evils of French toast, I might as well pile on with a variation of the French Toast with Orange Yogurt from Ottolenghi's NOPI. The recipe has the French toast slices fried briefly in an abundant amount of butter, then baked in the oven for a few minutes and finally dipped into a star anise-sugar mixture before serving. The two-step cooking method is a very good idea if you're serving a group as the slices can be fried in batches but finished all together and come out of the oven all puffy and warm. The star anise sugar is delightful (leftovers will be incorporated into my next batch of toast dope) but rather than a dip at the end, I prefer to sprinkle a little of the star anise-sugar on the toast while it's in the pan so it gets caramelized and crispy. No oranges around so I subbed tangerine zest and juice when mixing up the orange yogurt. The recipe specifies a mixed berry compote made by cooking frozen berries with sugar and lemon juice. I subbed a few spoonfuls of the Cherries in Red Wine Syrup that I made recently from a recipe from David Leibovitz. The recipe says to serve, "with the berry compote alongside and the orange yogurt spooned on top." I'm not sure if I was supposed to spoon the yogurt on top of the compote or the French toast so I put them both on the side. I most assuredly didn't want cold yogurt on my hot toast The Trader Joe's sliced French brioche worked well and I liked the star anise flavor but I'd be just as happy to skip the compote and yogurt, let the French toast shine on its own and just have some fresh fruit on the side. I might try mixing orange zest and juice into some ricotta to put on regular toast.

I can do a hot meatloaf sandwich with spicy tomato sauce and a sprinkle of cheese - kinda like a hot meatball sandwich but a bit tidier

I cook brown rice on manual, high pressure for 23-25 min (23 is directly in the pot, 25 is if I'm using pot-in-pot, which is most common for me). I let the pressure release naturally for 10 min and then release the valve. I generally wash my rice first, so it's a bit wet when I add it to the pot and I use 1:1 ratio of rice to water. I've also used 1:1.25 with brown rice and that worked, too.

Eggplant with Buttermilk Sauce from Ottolenghi's Plenty with leftover Rice Salad with Nuts & Sour Cherries from Plenty More. If you've seen the US edition of Plenty, which features this dish on the cover, you know the eggplant is garnished with pomegranate arils. The other day someone asked for a good substitute due to allergies and, for this time of year, I suggested chopped, fresh cherries for a similar sweet/tart/juicy punch. I happened to have half an eggplant on hand, loads of cherries and the oven on for something else so I decided to take my own advice and try it. I really enjoyed this eggplant dish. It may not be the best thing I ever ate but the effort required is almost nil so the payback is all profit! And the rice salad held up very well for leftovers. The fresh cherries aren't part of that dish either but I like them.

Hey - two Jerusalem recipes in a row! Shakshuka happened here. I used a mix of fresh and canned cherry tomatoes and added a bit of feta that wasn't part of the recipe.

I'm not a big meatloaf lover but my neighborhood BBQ place does a smoked meatloaf that makes an excellent sandwich. The slices have a nice crust around the edges but moist in the middle. I usually get 3 sliders: tri-tip, pulled pork and smoked meatloaf and the meatloaf is always the one I wish there was more of!

Yep. A thrift store find. Great for a single serving. I use it a ton!

An adaptation of the Corn Polenta with Eggplant Sauce from Ottolenghi's Plenty. I'm sure the polenta in the recipe made from fresh sweet corn would have been lovely but I was wanting something a little more sturdy and channeling fond memories of the grits from Deep Run Roots so I cooked up a batch of the Foolproof Grits from that cookbook and put them into the oven for a bit as in the "pimped grits" recipes, then topped them with the eggplant sauce. I thought it needed a little acid, so I added a few drops of sherry vinegar. When we get more local corn, I may try the book version. For today's June Gloom weather, this hit the spot!

This brings to mind Farley Mowat and his book, Never Cry Wolf. I seem to recall a lot of mice and berries were in the wolf diet so I'd also be interested in your interpretation!

Those beet and beet greens look beautiful, @Shelby! My very favorite thing is the little beet plants that get pulled up to thin the rows with little grape-sized (or smaller) beets. You can sauté the greens in butter with the little beets attached and they are so good!

I'd say it's like halfway decent day-old brioche that got put into a plastic bag. It's something I'd use for toast or French toast but I wouldn't serve it on its own as I would do with a perfect fresh-baked version. To me, the charm of a fresh brioche is the textural contrast between the delicate, but still slightly crispy/chewy crust and the buttery, soft interior. Once you put it in a plastic bag, the crust gets soft so that's lost. The crumb is finer and more even than my dream brioche. It's rich and buttery but not quite as buttery as an all-butter version. Overall, more manufactured than hand-crafted.

Thank you for taking the time to share this, @paulraphael - I gotta try that PX vinegar! That Columela is the sherry vinegar I usually use. For a while, my local Total Wine was selling the L'Estornell grenache vinegar at a good price (6-7 bucks, I think) but sadly, they don't carry it anymore so I will have to turn to Amazon to get my fix. It's really a lovely red wine vinegar.