blue_dolphin

Stunning meals, @BonVivant, it all looks amazing. These little breads are adorable! And I'm ever so pleased you clarified that this was a one-item meal so didn't need to imagine an oyster:chocolate combo!

Hoisin-Glazed Cauliflower with Mixed Grains and Cashews from Tenderheart by Hetty Lui McKinnon. Clearly a very unpopular vegetable in these parts! This was a win and something I'll happily repeat. It includes a recipe for homemade hoisin that's very tasty. I cooked the mixed grains in the Instant Pot using the timing I usually do for the Massa Organics brown rice that made up the bulk of the mix. I thought the white rice would surely turn to mush, but it did not and the quinoa was a nice addition. I'm looking forward to mixing up other grains in the future.

Have you ever tried roasted cauliflower? Should one of these dread veg happen into your kitchen, I highly recommend trying it. It's pretty much the opposite of mush and I find it quite tasty. I'm happy to gobble it up right off the sheet pan but I also like use in other ways. We have a Roasted Cauliflower topic with over 400 comments and at least one recipe: Roasted Cauliflower (aka Jim Dixon's Roasted Cauliflower, no wait,

I still miss the chili pepper sauce they used to sell by the jar! Great trip - thanks for sharing!

From the article I linked to above:

Soy sauce isn’t going to grow any pathogens that would cause a safety issue. Quality wise, the shelf life depends on how you store it. Well-sealed in the fridge? Sitting on a restaurant table in a sunny window with the cap ajar? I had a bottle with a flip cap that stopped sealing well so there was more evaporation and oxidation which had a noticeable effect on the flavor. Here's an article from Pearl River Bridge, a company that makes decent quality products: Does Soy Sauce Go Bad? All About Soy Sauce Shelf Life A bottle I purchased ~ 3 months ago has a best by date of July 2025.

The Kindle version of Joe Yonan's Cool Beans: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking with the World's Most Versatile Protein with 125 Recipes (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) is currently $2.99 on Amazon in the US and Canada, £1.49 in the UK. Same prices on Apple Books. I have the hardcover and think it's a good book.

I was going to make pancakes and sausage for Easter breakfast but it's cold and pouring rain so Eric Kim's Buttered Gochujang Noodles with baby bok choy did a good job of warming me up.

My Anova is relatively newer, purchased in early 2015, and the cord is fixed, not detachable.

Stir-Fried Cauliflower with Capers, Chile and Parsley from Tenderheart by Hetty McKinnon topped with a fried egg My first time cooking flowering cauliflower, which sounds like an oxymoron, for sure 🙃. I see it at the farmers market and always thought it would turn limp more quickly compared with regular cauliflower but Hetty said it would stay quite crisp and indeed it did. The recipe is an interesting mash-up of an Asian ingredient and cooking method with a more Mediterranean flavor grouping (capers, parsley, red onion, olive oil, lemon) and works well. She suggests tossing this with pasta, adding chickpeas and feta for a salad, serving over rice or topped with a fried egg, as I did here. Looking forward to playing around with this recipe and flowering cauliflower in general.

I generally buy honey at my local farmers market. Most of the honey vendors at our markets will let you taste and compare their honeys and are usually quite happy to tell you about them. Orange blossom honey is my default for a mildly flavored honey. I buy cherry blossom honey at a cherry orchard and save that for "special" since I can only get it once a year when they are open for cherry picking. Its flavor is mild and quite delicate. I like to keep buckwheat and/or avocado honey around for their stronger flavors. Edited to add that if the market is a certified California farmers market, the rules are pretty strict about about requiring vendors to verify that they grow or make what they sell so you shouldn't have to worry about imported honey. Some markets have space for ancillary vendors but they should be clearly marked. And then there are farmers markets that aren't certified and people can sell or re-sell all sorts of stuff. I don't go to that type of market.

Noted! Not sure a breakfast flambé is going to happen, but you never know!

Somewhere or other, @KennethT mentioned that he liked pear slices browned in butter with lots of black pepper so that's what I made. Maybe a little more caramelized than I intended but still quite excellent. The left half of the toast got gorgonzola and the right was Mt. Tam, both excellent with the pear which I will remember as they would be great in a salad or dessert or alongside a nice piece of pork.

I only have my CSO and Kitchen Aid mixer on the counter so I didn't need the sliders*. All my other "countertop" appliances live in cabinets and I sometimes manage to inadvertently lasso an unsuspecting appliance with the cord of the one I'm pulling out to use so I ordered the little adhesive cord organizers (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) that you mentioned. I put them on my coffee grinder, food processor, immersion blender, Philips indoor grill and Paragon induction burner. The grill has a very wide, flat cord that doesn't quite slip under the loop to fasten it at the end but, other than that, they're all working quite nicely. I use the coffee grinder every day and thought it might be annoying to have to unwind and rewind the cord each time but it's not a problem and worth the effort to avoid having the cord drag the citrus juicer out of the cabinet and on to the floor and they're much easier than zip ties, twisties or Velcro straps. I think I'll put the last one on the Instant Pot. Thanks for the tip! * Edited to add that I am the cleaning woman and I'm not all that thorough 🙃

Spicy Cauliflower Ragu with Lemony Breadcrumbs from The Cook You Want to Be by Andy Baraghani: I thought this was OK, not great. The cauliflower gets blitzed in the food processor and, in the header notes, he describes the smaller pieces as becoming "velvety" like long-cooked meat in a ragu. Perhaps I should have cooked it longer but they were just cauliflower particles, not velvet. Good flavor from onion, garlic tomato paste and lots of anchovies. Using the tangy, crunchy breadcrumbs instead of cheese is a nice touch.

I think frozen cobs would work for this purpose. I usually make my cob broth in the Instant Pot. See Kenji's comparison of a stove top simmer vs pressure cook for corn cob broth here.

A plate like that might make me feel pressed for time, too! Cashew Celery from Tenderheart by Hetty Lui McKinnon Made with teriyaki baked tofu and I added a nice spoonful of chile crisp after I took the photo.

That's true. I usually either microwave or boil a little custard cup of water and let the blob sit in it to dissolve. Usually takes a couple of minutes while I'm doing something else but if you need to add the blob directly to a pan, then it does indeed take more whisking.

It certainly is possible to dilute and freeze in the way you describe. And when you try it with a few cubes, you'll find out if they release easily from the trays. On the other hand, if saving freezer space is the key concern, why not just leave it in the tub?

Not quite the same thing, but a few years back, Kenji wrote a recipe for Sichuan Chile Crisp Sundae With Peanut Streusel in the NYT. I made it and thought it was pretty good.

As @fledflew said, it's pretty thick and sticky. I've never tried to heat it up enough to make it pourable. If it’s important for you to freeze it in cubes, I think I’d take it out of the tub and use a knife to slice it up into the needed size.

It's definitely adding some herbal flavor. The color is pretty subtle.

I was in the mood for something lemony but not too sweet and thought gin and limoncello would hit the spot. A search over on Kindred Cocktails pointed me to the Procrastination cocktail that Paul Clarke @limewine kicked off this topic with. He also shared it on his The Cocktail Chronicles website here. In the comments section of that post, Chuck Taggart @Sazerac chimed in and shared a recipe for the Lemony Snicket cocktail created by Ted Haigh, Dr. Cocktail. I still haven't made the Procrastination but the Lemony Snicket is very nice. Given the volumes, this can easily be 2 smallish cocktails rather than one very large one. The Lemony Snicket Cocktail created by Ted Haigh in 2003 recipe available here on Chuck Taggart's blog 2-1/2 ounces gin. 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice. 1/2 ounce limoncello. 1/2 ounce yellow Chartreuse. Combine all ingredients with cracked ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously, then strain into a frosted cocktail glass. Garnish with one stemless cherry. In his post, Chuck also shares this - Cocktail pairing idea: At the 2007 Spirited Dinner at Arnaud’s at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, Ted and fellow bartender Chris Hannah (of Arnaud’s French 75 Bar) served this alongside an asparagus and brie soup. I had some asparagus on hand but no brie so I made an asparagus and Mt. Tam soup and can confirm that the cocktail is an excellent pairing with the soup.

I'm not @ElsieD, but I've been using those tubs for quite a while and usually keep the "in use" container in the fridge and any spares in the freezer. The stuff is kind of a gel and even from the freezer, it should be possible to use a sharp spoon like a melon baller, grapefruit spoon or the like to scoop out a portion.

Little stash? That looks like a lifetime supply! I just ordered some from Amazon. Should have ordered before the classic chicken stock was gone as it's the one I use most. I got the classic roasted chicken stock instead, though I find it less versatile.