blue_dolphin

Did you read this, from Serious Eats? Edited to add that if you procure crabs from recreational fishermen on the West Coast, make sure they didn't come from a fishery closed due to the biotoxin domoic acid as it tends to be concentrated in the internal organs.

More leftovers here: Grits topped with bacon-roasted rutabaga and a non-leftover poached egg. The bacon cubes that were so deliciously crisp and crunchy the other night sadly lost that quality in the storage/reheating process. Too bad for me. The grits were still delicious.

I'm pretty sure I should not be eating this "artery cement" but some things, ya just gotta try. Like this Baked Pimento Cheese and Sausage. I made about 1/8 the recipe, perfect for one of my littlest cast iron skillets. It's very good but I'm still pretty sure I should not be eating it Edited to add that this is cooked sausage mixed with pimento cheese, pressed into a pan, topped with panko and baked. Vivian says serve with saltines, Ritz or toast. I always like toast

Like @Smithy said, I don't see fresh pomegranates in stores around here, except for the fall/winter season when they are harvested here. But I do see the packaged arils available for a much longer period. Not sure if it's all year but I bought some last week and haven't seen a fresh pomegranate around in months. I guess they all went to @cakewalk's area.

Last week, I tried the Wild-Caught Frozen Crab Meat. It's $7.99 for 8 oz. Ingredients: crab. Nothing else. Inside the box are two 4 oz packets. Instructions say to thaw in the fridge for several hours or quick thaw in cool water. The way they are packaged in little flat packets helps them to thaw quickly. As a mostly single eater, I liked that I could easily use one packet at a time. I found the flavor and texture to be quite good. Much better than any canned crab product I've had and it doesn't have the faintly pickled or preserved taste that I often get with refrigerated crab. The flavor is very mild, not as crabby as fresh picked, just out of the shell meat but I didn't pick up any off- or fishy odors or taste. It tastes like crab, just not quite CRAB! I forgot to take a photo of the thawed packet contents but here is one after I'd mixed it up with the dressing for a recipe I was following. Not all that appetizing looking but it gives you an idea of the size of the pieces. The finished dish looked more appealing

Today, I made the Sage Honey-Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Bacon-Roasted Rutabagas. Served with Foolproof Grits (also from Deep Run Roots) and some charred Brussels Sprouts because I thought something green was in order. I did the pork sous vide with a quick sear as there's nothing special about how it's cooked in the book. The sage honey sauce is just added at serving. It's nice: sage, honey, cider vinegar, smashed garlic cloves, mustard seeds and chili flakes get simmered and reduced into a nice glaze. I inadvertently over-reduced it so I added the bag juices to thin it out and add a little more flavor. The bacon-roasted rutabagas are pretty amazing and perfect with the pork. The recipe calls for slab bacon, which I could not find so I cut some thick sliced bacon into cubes. They fanned out a bit but didn't come apart. If anyone asks, I'm calling them Hasselback bacon croutons .

Welcome to eG, @mikkidonaldson! Can you say a little more about the "simple but elegant" part of your request for breakfast menus? On the simple side, is this something that needs to be prepared and eaten very quickly? You mention that you don't know how to cook well - are you interested in learning new skills or should suggestions stick only to the most basic things? Do you have time for a little prep either in the AM or the night before? By "elegant," I think I can assume that we're not eating this in the car but I'm not sure what else that means.

I used to drive past a big Driscoll's packing and shipping building on my way to work. The big sign outside had their former name, "Driscoll's Strawberry Associates, Inc." For some reason, that name tickled my funny bone and I always imagined a group of big "strawberry associates" sitting around a conference table in the board room, making important business decisions. Alas, they shortened the name to Driscoll's last year and I don't drive that way anymore but this thread reminded me and gave me another laugh!

You can use them any way that you would use spring onions. Grilled or charred as a side dish or in salads. Little ones can sub for shallots in a salad dressing. If you have a lot, make a gratin or roast them with olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar Edited to add that pickling is very popular with little onions like this.

Fresh strawberries with Greek yogurt I splurged on some Harry's Berries strawberries at the local farmers market on Thursday. This variety is "Gaviota" and is considered too delicate to ship commercially so it's usually just available at farmers markets and farm stands. They are grown in Oxnard, near here. Because it was a splurge, I was hoarding them but realized that I should enjoy them at their best. It's foggy outside but they are brightening my morning!

I didn't have basil either so I used a little cilantro. My avocado was ripe and I felt I needed to make a move This next recipe represented a number of firsts for me. It's the Pimento Cheese Grits with Salsa and Chips, one of the dishes from the "Pimp My Grits" menu section at Vivian's restaurant. This is some seriously tasty stuff. It's another 3-part recipe. Part 1 was the Pimento Cheese, something I've never made. The recipe in the book is a little different from many I've read as it uses 2 sharp cheddar cheeses (sharp yellow cheddar and aged white cheddar) and no softer cheeses like Velveeta or cream cheese. I used what I had on hand, an 18-month old sharp NY yellow cheddar and a 2-year old Canadian white cheddar. Not a lot of mayo either, just 1/4 cup for 20 ounces of grated cheddar. It makes a nice sharp spread. I made that yesterday and performed some quality control testing involving Triscuits which cleared the pimento cheese to advance. Today, I moved on to part 2 and made Vivian's Foolproof Grits which she cooks in milk, in a double boiler. I wanted to make them in the Instant Pot but I figured I'd go by the book since this was another first for me - I've never cooked grits before either. They took around 40 minutes to cook but required very little attention, just an occasional stir. My previous grits experience was with something closely resembling paste but I bought some fancy heirloom stone-ground grits and thought they came out really well. They taste rich and have a nice texture. Part 3 was the salsa. I followed Vivian's instructions to cut the onion and jalapeño in paper-thin slices and the tomatoes into fine dice. I veered off by adding some avocado. Entirely unnecessary but I had some leftover from breakfast. To assemble the dish, the cooked grits are placed into a cast iron skillet and topped with a layer of pimento cheese. This is done by pressing the cheese into a disk between 2 sheets of waxed paper. I chose a shorter baking time since I used a small skillet but I should have watched more closely as the top is a little darker than I intended. Those pimento cheese grits are really good. I like the way the top of the grits is infused with the sharp pimento cheese in contrast with the plain, creamy grits on the bottom of the pan. The cool, tart, spicy salsa is a great contrast to the warm, melty grits. I bought unsalted chips by mistake but they were perfect to add some crunch.

Today's breakfast: Avocado and Tomato with Broken-Egg Dressing Not life changing but not bad at all. In fact, for something that comes together in a flash it's quite good. Boiled eggs, cut in a few pieces get mixed with a little lemon juice, olive oil and Dijon mustard to make a dressing that goes over tomato wedges and sliced avocado.

@Smithy, yes, I think the collards could work with other fillings. The combination of that particular sausage with the sweet potato yogurt is really, really good but I think it would be fun to play with other options. Success likely depends on getting the right cooking time and trimming the leaves so you get enough to wrap securely but not rolls and rolls of leaf. It's possible that younger leaves work better but I haven't done any comparisons. In this post, @Wayne used them with a different filling, but found them a bit tough. Mine were fine. I blanched them just a little longer than she said (1 min vs 45 sec) and after chilling and removing the central stem, the leaves were tender enough to chew comfortably. I think one could reasonably taste them at this point to see if they need a longer blanching/pre-cooking time before moving ahead and filling them.

Collard Dolmades with Sweet Potato Yogurt Vivian says, "these dolmades are cute and taste like Thanksgiving wrapped up in a collard leaf." They are stuffed with pork sausage and I've been holding off on making them until I actually made the sausage recipe that's in the book but last weekend, I picked up some breakfast sausage patties at the farmers market and decided to give this a try. In addition to the sausage, the filling contains dried cranberries, plumped in apple cider, fresh ginger, a little brown sugar, black pepper and toasted pecans. The sweet potato yogurt has roasted sweet potato, Greek yogurt, lemon zest and a bit of little honey and cayenne. I had a pretty good idea what they would taste like but I can imagine them taking people by surprise if they were expecting typical dolmades - Thanksgiving indeed! I believe my collards are smaller than the ones Vivian used as it appears she was able to cut 4 x 6 inch rectangles out of one side of a leaf. I had to use most of a leaf for each roll with a little patch work to cover the space where the stem was removed. I will certainly make these again. I'd like to try making them a little smaller (these use 2 T of filling) to make something that could be a one or two bite appetizer.

Nice find on the rice video, @Anna N! That is indeed very, very similar. I understand where you're coming from on the grocery business. I am having a lot of fun trying these dishes but do I feel like I am running to the store a lot and shopping for things I don't usually (like never) buy: rutabagas, smoked pig hocks and finely ground cornmeal all made their way home with me recently, the cornmeal was chosen only after a careful survey of the cornmeal sections of all local stores. On the upside, I've not run into any problems cutting the recipes down so I don't end up with massive amounts of leftovers. It's also been a welcome diversion as I really needed to drag myself away from reading altogether too much political news and commentary . I'm not sure that baked pimento cheese and sausage is good for my arteries but all that news wasn't doing me any good either!

There's an article on the biography of Paula Wolfort that @LindaK mentions above and an interview with author Emily Thelin over on Eat Your Books today. The book should be out next month. The article also includes a link to preorder the book at Unforgettable Paula Edited to add that an article featuring the book project that appeared in Cooking Light last November, "Brain Food: A Food Renegade’s Last Stand" was just announced as a James Beard journalism award nominee.

This is the Crispy Ginger Rice with Leeks, Shiitakes and a Fried Egg. I had it for breakfast but I'd be happy to eat this for any meal. I used brown rice (Massa Organics) and was a little concerned it might turn into tiny pebbles instead of getting crispy but it came out fine. An excellent reason to make extra rice.

Interesting they are offering a non-stick option. I prefer the SS but I know non-stick is popular with many people and I can see it's uses. It's a good bit less expensive than an extra stainless steel pot. Thanks for sharing that.

I think it's this one: Inner Beauty Hot Sauce Knock-off

My oven has a dehydrator function that allows for low temp settings + convection. Downside is that it ties up your oven for long stretches. Check your oven manual to see if yours does it. If not, you may be able to pick up a dehydrator for a reasonable cost. Some folks here have gotten them for a song in the thrift shops.

Leftovers from yesterday's lunch, posted over here. Lemony crab salad in an avocado with blueberry corn salsa and chips

This dog's breakfast-looking dish is the Persian-inspired eggs with dates & chili from Diana Henry's Simple with Greek yogurt, flatbread and tomato In the header notes, she says, "It sounds like a strange combination, I know, but it's addictive." I'm not addicted to dates in my eggs, not yet.

Today I made Crab Hoecakes with Blueberry Corn Salsa. Vivian says this is a take on a fish taco with Southern flavors but points out that it's knife and fork food. This is a 3-part recipe: a blueberry corn salsa, a lemony crab salad and Grandma Hill's Hoecakes - little onion-flavored cornmeal pancakes. The hoecakes can be made ahead and I would recommend that option as the re-heated cakes had a nicer crispness than the fresh off the frying pan one. Without that crispness, it's just like stuff on a pancake. In the salsa, I used Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn as I usually like it in applications like this and well, it's not corn season now, is it? I also added a diced jalapeño because I thought it should be there. I enjoyed the flavors of this dish but I don't think I'll bother with the hoecakes again. I think I'd prefer to pile the lemony crab salad into an avocado half, top with the salsa and serve more of it on the side with some crispy corn tortilla chips.

A repeat of something I made last week from Deep Run Roots. Charred asparagus, scallions and bell pepper (instead of radish) with creamy scallion dressing, topped with a poached egg. Toast today instead of the cute hushpuppy croutons.

A couple of meatball recipes I read specified shaping gently by hand rather than using a mold to avoid overly compressing the meat. I'm unlikely to perform side-by-side tests so I have no evidence to back that up.