blue_dolphin

I had some cherry tomatoes that were starting to look a bit wizened and milk, cream and buttermilk all running out the clock so I made the creamy ricotta from Bestia and used it to make the Ricotta and Roasted Cherry Tomato Crostini with Too Much Olive Oil from the Rome chapter in Renee Erickson's Getaway. If I'd had some of @Ann_T's bread, this could have been perfection but it was still pretty good!

I've been playing around with black limes for a while and I'm curious if anyone else has used this ingredient in cocktails. I'm talking about this stuff: Available whole in various sizes and colors, ground or powdered, they're all very aromatic, tart, a little bitter and a bit funky. I believe they are most commonly used to flavor Middle Eastern stews and other long cooking dishes although cookbook authors like Ottolenghi and Nik Sharma have been incorporating it in everything from compound butters to focaccia to ice cream. It was Nik Sharma's blueberry and black lime ice cream from his book The Flavor Equation that got me thinking about trying it in cocktails. Below, I'll round up what I found via searching the web and what I've tried. Seems like there was a little flurry of black lime cocktail articles in 2017 but I haven't seen too much recently. There is an older topic here in the Middle East & Africa Cooking forum, that discusses the use of these limes to make a tea, including this recipe from @Hassouni. The first cocktail recipe I tried was from this older NYT article: Two Dried Lime Recipes, One Traditional, One Anything But, which adds rum, mint and bitters to that dried lime tea and serves it over ice. Kind of a black lime mojito. Very refreshing on a hot day. I found a Tales of the Cocktail Foundation article about using grated black lime as a cocktail garnish: Heard of Black Lime? Here’s How To Use It. This brings the aroma right to your nose when you begin to taste the cocktail but I'm not a fan of dark particulate matter in my cocktails. I think I've seen the ground lime mixed with salt or sugar to rim cocktail glasses, another thing I'm not a fan of, though this would at least bring a more interesting flavor than just salt or sweet. This article, The Dark Side of Citrus: Using Black Limes in Cocktails features a cocktail that uses black lime-infused Dolin Blanc vermouth. I've found that infused vermouth to be a delicious aperitif on its own, over ice, in a spritz or as a cocktail ingredient. They put one and a half crushed dried limes in a 750 ml bottle of blanc vermouth, infused 2 days in the fridge, then strained. The tart, bitter and funky flavors go very well with that slightly sweet vermouth. Instead of crushing the limes, I've switched to weighing out the coarsely ground stuff. My dried limes weigh between 3 and 10g and I've been using 15-20g of ground lime per 750 g bottle. 15g is good for drinking as an aperitif, I boosted it up to 20g to get more flavor when using it as a cocktail ingredient. It's just a bit more tart and bitter but I still find it quite pleasant to sip. I've used the black lime-infused blanc vermouth in a white negroni-like cocktail (equal parts infused vermouth, gin and Salers) and also modified the Golden Negroni recipe from Ventura Spirits website to use the infused blanc vermouth with their Amaro Angeleno and sage-y Wilder Gin. It also worked in a black lime Boulevardier (equal parts infused vermouth, Bruto Americano, and rye). I tried infusing regular dry vermouth with black limes and found it a bit harsh without the sweetness in the blanc vermouth. Another cocktail success for me is a black lime gimlet, based on this recipe: Sun-Dried Lime Gimlet that mixes gin with a dried lime cordial. I think they got confused about the weight of dried limes vs fresh limes as they call for 7 oz of dried limes or about 4 dried limes for the cordial. You can see how many limes are in that 8 oz bag in my photo above and I've already used a bunch out of the bag. For the cordial, I generally follow their recipe, using 50 g of the ground dried lime, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1 quart water and up the tartness with 1/2 T citric acid plus 1 t tartaric acid as @KatieLoeb included in the homemade lime cordial recipe she shared here. Heat 10 min, cool overnight and strain. This makes a delicious gimlet and is a great sweetener for hot or iced tea. I especially like it with chamomile tea. In this article, Black Limes are Putting a Twist on (and in) Cocktails, I saw a mention of infusing gin with black limes. I tried that and used it in a martini with the infused blanc vermouth and in a gin & tonic. Both tasted quite good to me but the brownish hue was a bit off-putting in drinks I expect to be sparklingly clear. I'd like to try a black lime margarita. I could just infuse the tequila or I could make a black lime-cello sort of thing that I could sub in for the Cointreau. Or I could do both. Finally, a couple of comments on the dried limes I've been using. Those really black Villa Jerada brand dried limes in the middle of my photo above are my favorite whole dried limes. They are super dry, easy to crush up, have very few seeds (which some people say should be removed to avoid bitterness) and add a good visual impact if you are grating them as a garnish. I get them at a local import shop but they are also available online from multiple sources. The smaller, paler limes on the left in my photo are less expensive and taste pretty much the same but have a lot of seeds and are kind of tough rather than brittle so harder to crush so I tend to use them where they'll be used whole. I've found the coarsely ground or crushed dried lime on the right to work quite well for infusions in things that can be readily filtered. Some types of are ground more finely and might be harder to strain out, particularly in something like the ice cream I mentioned above. Anyone else using black limes in cocktails?

I use a 6 oz Pyrex custard cup. It's flat on the bottom so it doesn't make the perfect dome like you have but it's handy as I can fill it up for a 6 oz serving or fill just to the lines on the side for 4 oz.

You sound like you’re being a very good sport to me!

If you don’t like ham, I can’t see you liking fake ham, no matter how crispy you make it. Best use: ration it out as pup treats if she’s enthusiastic.

Did you really taste it direct from the can? Eeewww! Very thin slices, fried up crispy can make a nice sandwich on toast. Small dice are similarly tasty when added to fried rice. But raw? Eeeewww!

Congrats on the new toy getting one step closer to you! As a former lab rat, there have been any number of cooking and cocktail making moments when I’ve thought, “I wish I could just spin that down!”

Those look really good! Reminds to make asparagus wrapped in phyllo while the local stuff is still available.

Or permeate

Infuse

Lentils from Puglia arrived in the most recent Rancho Bean Club box so I subbed them in for the Castelluccio lentils from Umbria called for in this recipe for lentils on toast with favas, mint and chèvre from Renee Erickson's Getaway, Food and Drink to Transport You. The legumes are mixed with olive oil, lemon zest and olives before being piled on top of grilled bread spread with goat cheese.

Interesting! I knew albedo was the spongy part but had not heard flavedo before, only zest.

Poke? Here's one recipe for skipjack poke. If you make poke for a party and have leftovers, you can make wok-fried poke the next day. Here's Sheldon Simeon's wok-fried poke recipe and here's a Sam Choy video: Seared tuna loin steaks are always good. I've been using the salt/pepper/crushed coriander seed coating that I got from a recipe in Taste & Technique. Once seared, you can serve as a steak with any sort of salsa/relish type thing that appeals to you. Or slice up the seared steaks and use on a salad or stuff into tacos. Smaller pieces are good candidates for making tuna confit. Here's an LA Times recipe Conserved Tuna that's similar to the one that I use from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook and use it to make this Pasta with Preserved Tuna. I like the seasonings in that Zuni tuna recipe but sometimes use the Chef Steps sous vide method instead of the stovetop.

That brought to mind this LA Times article: Nickel Diner, beloved by Jonathan Gold, Guy Fieri and others, to close this weekend which I’m sure is behind a paywall so I will quote a few sentences:

I think this is the article.

I was quite amazed to find this at the farmers market so I’m having fun!

No, I was a little concerned, but it was fine. I rinsed the samphire first and it gets tossed into the water with the pasta for the last 30 sec of cook time so that’s like two baths. Also, I chose my “nice” anchovies that aren’t super salty.

Pasta with anchovy and samphire from Ottolenghi's Simple. Spaghetti would have been better than bucatini, as it almost alway is, but I was out.

Mine, too. I guess pistachio and cherry seemed fancy partners for the chocolate compared to vanilla and strawberry. Haven't had it in years but will keep an eye out. I suspect I might be more satisfied with a commercial product than making the flavors myself.

Toasted chili cashew butter (from Snacks for Dinner) on toast with banana, lime zest and a drizzle of maple syrup

I have to say the bromance between Tyron (Big T) and Logan (the chef-y guy) is pretty sweet. Also sweet that Tyron made a dessert in each challenge.

I tend to say “soss” rhymes with cross I have heard others pronounce it more like “source” rhymes with horse The BBQ showdown contestant from Long Island pronounced it similar to this:

Don't be offended. She's from Lawn-Guyland, not NYC! A quote from Michelle:

I’m glad you like it. I’m quite pleased with the book as well. Lots of the recipes are good ideas for using up leftovers. I went ahead and cooked the chard for today’s breakfast but I can see it working with all sorts of leftover veg, too.

I binge-watched all 8 episodes yesterday and pretty much agree with the review that I linked to above. The "make a cooker from junkyard finds" episode was unfortunate and while I get that mastering fire is key, I suspect we could have seen better cooking without all of that time spent on that and some of the "trench" episodes. I found the contestants to be aninteresting mix in terms of experience and generally quite likable and the judging seemed fair, based on the edited clips we see in the show. Melissa was kinda whiney about getting a hot bite in the chili episode and seemed to think Logan was too chef-y, "Ramen is NOT barbecue!" but also offered positive feedback to contestants who were struggling, which was nice to see. Overall, I found it quite watchable. Even more than most cooking competitions, I really wanted to taste what they made. I may have to re-watch and pull some of my ZEF-tovers out of the freezer to munch on! I'll be curious if anyone else decides to watch and what you think. @Kim Shook, if you and BBQ-judge Mr. Kim have Netflix, I'd especially love to hear your take.