blue_dolphin

I love plain whipped cream with gingery baked stuff, maybe garnished with a few wisps of candied lemon rind or a grating of fresh lemon zest.

Pizza Beans

Either a stovetop, ridged grill pan or broiler would work but I used my handy dandy countertop Philips Avance Grill, which has its own topic here.

Charred radicchio with farro and burrata alongside orange and mustard marinated asparagus, both from Snacks for Dinner. I thought bitter radicchio + rich, creamy burrata was a curious combo but it works well with the farro and vinaigrette. Speaking of which, I was a little wary of putting two vinaigrettes on a plate together but clearly, some color was needed on the plate and it turns out they complement each other nicely. The orange, mustard and thyme marinade for the asparagus is delicious and the asparagus reportedly keeps in the fridge for 4 days, though I may eat it all today. Great do-ahead side if you've got nice, tender spring asparagus.

It works really well. You can either bake them right away or freeze some on a tray, bag them up and bake directly from frozen at a later time.

I can confirm @KennethT's Wild Fork grouper recommendation. I like that the portions are individually vacuum packed so if I want to take out just one piece for a grilled grouper sandwich, I don’t have to repackage everything else. I agree on the so-so salmon. I go to a physical Wild Fork location so I can fish 😉 through the packages but the salmon filets still tend towards tail end cuts

I just re-read it also and would really like some waffles now!

One of the items in the Sweets/Desserts section of Lukas Volger's Snacks for Dinner is titled "Dates Four Ways." I decided to test them out to find my favorite before committing a bunch of dates to the effort. At the top, we have a broiled date with olive oil drizzle, lime zest and Aleppo pepper flakes. In the second row, from left to right, we have a date stuffed with maple goat cheese (Silver Goat chèvre mixed with a little maple syrup) and topped with cacao nibs, a date stuffed with sharp Cheddar and drizzled with honey and a date stuffed with almond butter and topped with Fly By Jing chili crisp. These dates are pretty small so this looks rather silly but they're the last of the ones I bought at the farmers market. All are good enough for further exploration. The broiled one was supposed to be broiled until the skin blistered, turned and done on the other side. I wasn't seeing any obvious blistering so it got left in too long. Still, the inside was nicely chewy and the lime and pepper were a nice contrast. The maple goat cheese tasted delicious on its own. I'd happily smear it on a waffle or bagel or muffin. The tang of the goat cheese contrasts with the sweet date and the cacao nibs add a nice crunch. This wins the dessert category. If you made these with larger dates, cut in half and piped the goat cheese on with a pretty tip, these could look quite fancy. The sharp Cheddar was good with the date but the honey just blended in. I'd be tempted to skip the honey and use a few drops of aged sherry vinegar or balsamic. The nut butter and chili crisp wins the savory category. Very more-ish. Edited to add these were accompanied by a small glass of Pineau des Charentes....a small glass that I refilled once...or twice 🙃

My recommendation is to let your pantry grow according to what you want to cook rather than just trying to build a collection. What are you missing in the recipes and cookbooks you are working from? If you have a friend who cooks one of the cuisines you are interested in, ask them if you can tag along on a shopping trip. The 99 Ranch in Monterey Park is indeed overwhelming but even there, if you are looking for a specific Chinese ingredient, you should be able to get some help from either the staff or fellow shoppers, particular on a non-weekend day. And while 99 Ranch has a variety of Asian ingredients, it's probably not the best place to ask for advice on Japanese, Vietnamese, Cambodian or Thai recipes. Mitsuwa Marketplace will be great for Japanese, LAX-C in Thai Town is the place for that cuisine. This is not to say the ingredients are not available but your chances of good advice rise when you're at the mother ship. I agree with @BeeZee on Andrea Nguyen for Vietnamese food and would add Leela Punyaratabandhu's blog for Thai ingredients. She's the author of Simple Thai Food and Bangkok and while the blog is no longer active it can still be searched. Older, but still reliable brand recommendations can be found in Bruce Cost's Asian Ingredients and Lucky Peach 101 Easy Asian Recipes. Finally, most grocery stores in So Cal can sell alcohol so you should able to find Shaoxing wine that's not salted. It's usually shelved with the alcoholic beverages rather than with cooking ingredients.

One way to ease the prep part is to make an Instant Pot risotto. I've made this asparagus risotto and the mushroom variation of this basic risotto, both from @pazzaglia on hippressurecooking.com. They're really pretty good.

375°F convection bake in the CSO. Time is 15 - 25 min, depending on size and whether being cooked fresh or from frozen. For the most even browning, I recommend pre-toasting the panko. I give them a light spritz of olive oil before going in the oven, mostly for flavor.

I love them, too. They’re one of the best reasons to make risotto! I prefer to bake them rather than fry, but either works.

Yes, I liked that. Reminded me of my dad, sitting at the table as my mom cleared and put things away. He would often comment something like, "Good bye, little pork chop but only for now, as I know I'll be seeing you again soon!"

A local bakery offers a special pastry each weekend and announces the flavor in an Instagram post on Saturday AM. Here's today's:

Buckwheat with poached egg, baby kale and lemon tahini dressing from Grist. Given the amount of baby kale I threw in there, maybe it should take first billing away from the buckwheat 🙃

I did wonder about that. Based on a taste-test, I just left the oil out entirely. I will hunt down the pistachio oil and give it a try sometime. And yes, those baby gems are lovely. For the longest time, no one at our farmers market was growing them but one of the vendors has started bringing them. They're a treat!

I found the recipe online at this link, in case you're interested.

Barley soup with parsnips, chard and lemon-parsley mojo from Grist. Thin ribbons of fresh chard are piled in the bowl and the soup is ladled in, cooking the greens. The soup itself lacks acid so the lemon-parsley mojo is absolutely necessary. I added diced, salt-preserved lemon to the mojo for a little extra oomph.

I received my copy of the book but haven't delved into it yet. I did listen to this Book Larder author interview with Tamar Adler and Sara Dickerman (author of Secrets of Great Second Meals) and made me even more enthusiastic:

They are kumquats that I got at the farmers market! I had a kumquat tree planted when I did some landscaping a few years ago but it has not fared well with the drought and I think all the growth now is coming from the root stock, below the graft. With all the rain we've had, I should have pulled out and planted a new one in Dec. I'm sure it would be happy by now! I have a little mandarin that's still growing but struggled badly when we had to cut back on watering. Hopefully it will stage a come back. My lime and orange trees are absolutely loaded with blossoms!

Barley breakfast porridge with spiced milk, dried cherries & pecans from Grist. The spiced milk is made with cinnamon, ground and fresh ginger, turmeric, black peppercorns, cardamom, vanilla and a little brown sugar - like a chai spice mix with out the tea - and is delicious. For me, the proportions of barley:milk:fruit:nuts are off but that's easy enough to adjust to taste.

I find them handy to add oils slowly while whisking to form an emulsion. I can’t manage quite the same steady stream when pouring.

We never had limas. Perhaps someone in my family was a lima-phobe (I know my dad was) but liked the rest of it.

In my friend’s defense, she has joint pain that bothers her a lot when gripping a knife but not so much with scissors so she is quite delighted with hers and just wanted to share. I think a lot of the items mentioned here are likely quite useful to certain people in certain situations.

Funny this topic should pop up today as I just pulled out these 5-bladed scissors for herbs (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) that I received as a gift. I used them for the first time in all the years I've had them. Having done so, I can now donate them with a clear conscience. I can do a better job with a knife and the knife takes a fraction of the time to clean.