blue_dolphin

If it's flavorful, I think you could grind it and mix it with some mayo, a flavorful mustard, maybe some caramelized onions or other seasonings to make a spread for toast or crackers. If you grind it and it's more like cotton, I'd bin it, too!

I agree, @Shelby, I thought big loaves would have been the ticket. I gave Marjorie a pass as I realize big crusty loaves could have been hard to pull off in the given time frame and with unfamiliar ovens but she could have done some big loaves of focaccia or something like that. Those rolls are another example of the catering kitchen mindset. Nicely done, but nothing out of the box. Also surprised by the lack of ribs. I think the chefs were told that the meal was to be "decadent" and maybe they didn't think ribs fit that definition but I disagree! Edited to add that I'm curious to see restaurant wars and whether we'll get to see any imagination there.

Looks like a spleen to me. I know nothing of large animals so it's just a guess but it makes some sense given the anatomy.

I just caught up on the last episode and the last 2 LCKs last night and agree with all your comments, @huiray, particularly the last one about the irony of that gluttony-centered event featuring rude behavior as a fund raiser for a food bank. The QF was so random, they might as well have picked a name out of a hat to award immunity. And what a contrast to move from a QF where appearance was everything to the Beefsteak EC where appearance and plating mattered not at all, except as a negative! I was also mystified by their choices and lack of imagination. A bunch of catering kitchen box-thinkers! I thought Kwame made a good choice with peel & eat shrimp but it didn't go over well. I'm really not sure what sort of fish preparation would have suited this dinner. Particularly since they were sourcing food for 100 servings from the Whole Foods retail counters. The so-called "stuffed" crab claws served at dim sum might be viewed as too dainty, even though they offer a bone-like handle and the eater gets to pull the crab meat out of the shell after eating the fried shrimp paste "filling." There's a Chinese restaurant I go to that features lobster (huge ones) steamed with black bean sauce. They're hacked up and heaped into a big bowl and we always end up using our hands to eat them. Something like that would be my choice for a fish dish. Aside from Marjorie's suggestion of bread, I was disappointed that no one took the opportunity to craft sides that could be used to hold or dip into a sauce or scoop up the proteins. Someone could have had fun with that.

Thanks, @ananth, for sharing that. I find rums to be particularly confusing with respect to substitutions. This is very helpful.

I can't remember if I posted this one or not but much like @kayb, I opened the freezer, grabbed 3 cubes of what I thought was sun dried tomato purée and plopped them into my sauce. Oops. Chipotle chile purée. Both handy to keep on hand but not interchangeable. That was one spicy pasta dish!

Red cabbage with apples, onion and caraway seeds and spicy chicken sausage: This was inspired by the recent thread about red cabbage with apples and caraway seeds and a previous discussion on the Instant-Pot thread.

Thanks for mentioning this. Last year, there was some discussion of cabbage-apple dishes in the Instant-Pot thread by @andiesenji in this post and @Anna N in this post that piqued my interest but the warm September So Cal weather made me defer trying it. It's supposed to rain here tomorrow and I have a red cabbage rolling around in the bottom of the veg drawer so I should give this a try, too.

I should have just put this nice poached egg on toast or an English muffin as @Anna N did but I wanted to try one of the rosemary rolls I bought at TJ's yesterday. Bacon, egg and Swiss on a rosemary parmesan roll. I'm not sure how I thought I was going to eat this soft, runny egg on a very crusty roll as a sandwich, but be assured that it was all consumed and delicious.

@Anna N, your poached eggs look beautiful, especially on that pretty red plate! Also motivated by fresh eggs I picked up at the farmer's market yesterday, I made myself a repeat of a breakfast from earlier in the week. Half a leftover chicken tamale and herby green chile rice and beans topped with a poached egg: The last egg that I poached was so old that the white almost completely separated from the yolk in the water but this one was perfect.

liamsaunt, I've been admiring that colorful, jewel-like wheatberry salad and delicious looking vegetable soup AND those beautiful bowls all week. I hope they tasted as good as they look in your photos!

Beans on toast again: RG alubia beans mixed with some of that lovely green chile adobo from More Mexican Everyday on toasted ciabatta, topped with cheese. Apple slices alongside. I am loving that green chile adobo and want to put it on everything. I included the jar in the photo so you can see the lovely green color.

That Hungarian Grüner Veltliner is one I like, too. I just picked up a few bottles and it is $4.99 at TJ's here in So Cal. It's dry with a nice crisp acidity and I think it tastes a bit more interesting than some of the inexpensive sauv blancs that seem mostly like lemon-water. TJ's is carrying some boxed Australian wines at $11.99/3 liters. I've only tried the Shiraz and it was drinkable although not terribly interesting. I've recently been drinking some older bottles that I purchased at various winery visits over the years and was "saving for special." I decided I was special enough to drink them but it does make younger, inexpensive wines seem lacking in contrast to the older bottles. Scanning the bottom shelves, I picked up two $3.99 reds at TJ's that I've had in years past to see how they are. I'll report back on them.

Egg salad on toasted whole wheat bread and some purple carrots:

on the rolling abilities! You will notice that there are only 3 slices of each in my pictures ! For the ham and cheese version, I spread the pounded chicken with a bit of dijon mustard and used swiss cheese. It was quite tasty. I bet the Boursin that @rotuts mentioned in the other thread would be excellent here, too.

Those look really good, Shelby. I also tried making stuffed chicken breasts, because even though everyone said SV was great for them, the idea of plain, boneless, skinless chicken breasts made me think of cottony buffet food! I didn't tie mine, just wrapped in Saran wrap before bagging. I also think I could have gone with a shorter time but I thought they were tasty and looked sorta fancy! I tried ham & cheese: And pesto: I noticed that boneless, skinless thighs are $1.69/lb at Sprouts this week. I prefer chicken thighs with the bone and skin for roasting in the oven but at that price, I wondering if I could do the same stuffing business with them. I may give it a try.

@Kim Shook, those are some wonderful looking breakfasts! @HungryChris, those home fries look wonderful. I'd like to have some of them in my leftover collection! And I love the poached eggs on toast that @kayb and @Anna N have posted recently. Another leftover tamale egg-stravaganza: Half a chicken tamale dotted with a bit of green chile adobo, herby green chile rice (from last night's dinner) and spinach, topped with a slightly overcooked poached egg. Very satisfying! Yesterday, I got back from a little over a week in Houston. I had the same hotel kitchenette breakfast almost every day - toasted raisin bread with peanut butter and banana and a couple of prunes or apple slices and a large Starbucks coffee. So nice to cook something up today.

I used the Instant Pot to make the risotto-like Herby Green Chile version of the Creamy Rice and Beans in Three Classic Flavors from More Mexican Everyday and was once again impressed with how quickly and easily this sort of rice dish comes together in the IP. The recipe includes directions for using a rice cooker or a pressure cooker and it can be found online here. I followed the PC directions and thought the arborio rice was perfectly cooked. I used the Green Chile Adobo sauce and it added just a pleasant bit of tongue tingling heat. I will certainly make this again and look forward to trying the other variations as well. Photo over on the Dinner thread.

I made the herby green chile version of the Creamy Rice and Beans in Three Classic Flavors from More Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless. Recipe also available online here. Chris Hennes had good things to say about this over here and I agree it's a very tasty dish. The recipe called for canned white beans and I put a pot of RG alubia beans on to cook but they were taking a bit longer to cook and I was hungry so I used some Good Mother Stallard's that I had on hand and added a few shrimp. I think the called-for white beans would be a better fit but this was very nice all the same.

I thought the same at first glance, although if beverages, in their various sizes, are considered menu items (and they certainly do appear on the menu board AND account for some regional variations), I can see how they could get to that total with at least 3 sizes of each fountain drink, coffee (+decaf), tea, iced tea (sweet and not), milk, OJ and other juices, milkshakes, bottled water. Then throw in the dessert-type items like the pies, cookies, sundaes, danish or other breakfast pastries that come in various flavors and that ups the count, too.

I have Kitchen Aid electric double wall ovens. The first time I used them, I was shocked at how long it took to come to temp without convection. With convection, it's about 10-12 min so I always use convection for the warm-up and switch over if I don't want the fans for cooking.

@ LAX No more McD's at LAX so no egg McMuffin for me

Today's first meal, in alignment with Anna N's theme of leftovers topped with a poached egg - a chicken tamale that had been stashed in the freezer since the holidays with some smashed beans, guacamole, salsa and the requisite poached egg:

See? I knew cassoulet was missing something - I just didn't realize it's kimchi! What a perfect contrast to that richness. I love it!

Yes, I was out for several hours and coming back in, the atmosphere in here is very onion-y!