blue_dolphin

Lunch was late, due to a failed IP eggs-periment, probably late enough that it's dinner, too. Cuisi steam oven roasted chicken thigh and IP potato salad. Fresh tomato and some corn on the cob are sadly lacking but that will be addressed at tomorrow's local farmers' market. There's more chicken and plenty more potato salad for then!

I cooked some red potatoes for potato salad today - all good. Then had a failed eggs-periment when I tried making some hard-cooked eggs for the first time in the IP. I usually steam hard-cooked eggs but I figured I'd try the IP since it's hot outside and wanted to keep the kitchen cooler. I thought I'd read a recommendation here for 5 min at low pressure with natural release so that's what I did, using 5 eggs (weighing 63-67g), fresh from the fridge and transferring them to ice water as soon as the pressure dropped. They were somewhere along the soft-boiled spectrum, not exactly sure where but they smooshed when I tried to peel them. I set up a steamer and steamed them for another 5 min, based on the one that I'd cracked the most. I could see the yolk and it looked done. This time, I was able to peel them OK but the rest of the yolks were still in a gel-like state so I put the yolks back into the steamer in a little dish. They eventually got cooked and I'll be having some egg salad sandwiches one of these days as they are not in any state to be displayed on top of a salad! I surfed around the internet and saw potato salad recipes that cook the potatoes and eggs together in the IP so I decided to give that a try. There are several that use 4 min at high pressure, followed by quick release. I didn't quite trust that and tried one potato and one egg (I know, I know...n = 1 = bad, bad experiment) following a recommendation for 6 min at high pressure, 6 min natural pressure release. Both eggs and potato were nicely cooked. Obviously n = 1 = inconclusive but I'll give that method one more go before switching back to steaming on the stovetop. Perhaps such a recommendation is actually somewhere in this very topic but my search skills aren't all that good.

I love that method of frying the zucchini and then marinating briefly in red wine vinegar. It really elevates the Pasta and Fried Zucchini Salad from Ottolenghi's Plenty (cooking thread here).

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Nice cast iron finds, @Porthos! Usually in the thrifts I find cast iron that's priced awfully high so you done good!

I bought this little OXO cherry pitter last year and it does the job. I'm not doing bushels at a time so this was fine for me.

Yes, @rotuts, there is indeed peanut butter under the bananas. And I do know a little honey isn't all that bad - just questioning my adding it since plain old PB & B has always been just fine !

How nice to go on another trip with you! Your comments about flights times, sleeping, etc. reminds me of this image from a trip I took to Beijing. I figure it's OK to post it while you are enjoying your airline food! I had to laugh the first time I saw it - I was barely awake, head down, waiting for the elevator, sort of wondering what day it was when the elevator door opened and I saw the answer, right at my feet! Yes indeed, the hotel had carpets in the elevators with the day of the week and changed them at midnight. Not a bad idea for jet lagged guests! To add a food-related note, it's possible that some of my confusion was due to sugar overload since this was the welcome gift the hotel provided in the room: Note: apologies for hijacking your thread. Just say the word and I can delete this.

That's quite a collection of tonic, @Quadriga! Must be the season for G&T!

I looked around at previous eG threads for suggestions on getting a nice sear on the scallops. I followed suggestions to cook them sous vide first, then sear to finish. I thawed and dried them, lined them up in a row on plastic wrap and wrapped them up into a little cylinder shape. I put that into a zip lock and cooked at 50 deg C (122 F) for 30 min. Then I unwrapped them, patted dry on paper towels and seared them in a hot cast iron pan with grapeseed oil. I tried dusting 2 of them lightly with Wondra flour and those 2 did get a darker crust but they also stuck to the pan a little while the ones that went in naked didn't stick.

Toasted multigrain bread, peanut butter, banana and hot honey. Black coffee. Since "Sugar = Satan" these days, I'm not sure I should be adding more to my breakfasts but that hot honey is tasty stuff!

Ever so much more evocative than, "Necessity is the mother of invention." I, on the other hand, was a big spender and treated myself to some scallops. I was curious about the jumbo wild caught North Atlantic IQF scallops I've seen lately at Trader Joe's. The only ingredient on the label is scallops. Seared scallops on lemon pepper pappardelle with artichoke-lemon pesto, sugar snap peas, red bell pepper and grated fresh lemon zest. They are big fellows, 10-20/lb, bigger than I would choose for a pasta dish - I cooked 4 but had to leave one off the plate so you could see the pasta. At $17.99/lb, they're in the "treat" category for me but I thought they were good enough to qualify as such. And I'll get to treat myself to a few more meals from that bag so no complaints.

They're really, really good. Such a wonderful floral fragrance. I bought some at the local farmers' market last week, intending to make a small batch of white peach and lemon verbena preserves to try out the recipe but I kept eating them and the preserves have not been made. I'll have to try again this week!

Today's breakfast was one of the Mango Coconut Chia popsicles I posted over here in the popsicle thread.

I had some coconut milk leftover so I used it to make half a batch of these Mango Coconut Chia Frozen Pops from the TJ's website. I added a couple of tablespoons of coconut rum. Yum.

Thanks, @huiray! I'll try your method next. Indeed this happened when I added the just washed peas to the hot oil following @HungryChris's method. My feline kitchen monitor was well and truly alarmed !

Most excellent for toasties, @sartoric!

I do hope this will not be a long absence from eGullet. Are you heading up north again?

I made more whole milk ricotta in the IP this morning. I've gotten in the habit of keeping milk in the house just for this! Then, I finally got around to trying the coconut brown rice and beans recipe that appeared in a Rancho Gordo newsletter back in March, adapting it for the instant pot. I scaled the coconut milk and water down just a bit, using 5 oz each for one cup of brown rice. I cooked it 22 min on high pressure followed by 10 min natural pressure release before venting the IP. The rice looked a tiny bit wet but after fluffing and standing a bit while I retrieved the beans, it looked perfect. Instead of the the Domingo Rojo beans called for in the recipe, I substituted Rancho Gordo midnight black beans that I'd cooked in the IP last week for a black bean salad and stashed the extras in the freezer. I served this with shrimp for lunch today but I think it would make a great meatless meal along with some grilled or roasted vegetables.

Toasted multi-grain bread, fresh whole milk ricotta, white peach slices drizzled with hot honey. Iced coffee.

Hot honey shrimp from last week's NYT on coconut brown rice & beans (per Rancho Gordo) and sugar snap peas à la @HungryChris (here in the Gardening thread) The squeeze of fresh lime really made the shrimp pop. I usually don't think of cooking sugar snap peas in a way that browns them but these were very nice.

@HungryChris, how did you cook your sugar snaps? On the grill? Or roasted or broiled? They look really good.

Posties! I love the idea and the name!

Those tartlets look wonderful, @shain! I love the idea of using both grilled fruit and fresh slices on top.

@curls, those scones are so good, aren't they? For a while I made one variation after another and brought them into work when I was being a nice boss and treating my peeps to breakfast. So quick and easy to make and bake. I will have to find an excuse to make them again.