gwendolyn

I definitely have an interest in attending both, depending on price, location, and personal equipment requirements. This will be my first egullet-associated activity beyond lurking the forums for years! Forgive me for how creepy this might sound- it would be a such a pleasure to learn from folks whose work I've watched evolve and refine through the lens of this board, and who I've learned from in secret.

I'll bet you are overcooking your pasta. I've found that sauce thickness and methods of production, while important, matter less than how I treat pasta itself. More like, there is equal responsibility between the two- the pasta water must be well salted and brought to a high boil, the pasta cooked only until al dente, drained very well and not rinsed and not allowed to cool (you can toss the pasta back in the now empty pot they were cooked in and toss them gently until the noodles feel tacky), finished in the sauce with a touch of reserved pasta-water. And sure, the better the pasta, the better results you'll have, but, for those of limited budgets like myself, de cecco and barilla seem to work fine. There's also absorption style to consider, and this: http://fifthflavor.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-cook-pasta-without-boiling.html

Have you considered using those lime leaves? Do you have any lemongrass? I would make more than one version- why not try a tamarind-garlic roasted almonds (in the style of tamari roasted almonds, with fish sauce, tamarind concentrate diluted in water, garlic, shallots, palm sugar, etc.) and green curry coated cashews? An old housemate of mine who was himself Thai used to regularly prepare fried peanuts, sometimes adding dried anchovies and kaffir lime leaves, shrimp paste, plum sauce, or other condiments. The recipe seems similar to this: http://books.google.com/books?id=QoJJPYIxr3AC&lpg=PA69&dq=%22fried%20chili%20peanuts%22&lr=&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&pg=PA19#v=onepage&q=%22fried%20chili%20peanuts%22&f=false

After portioning out the dough, put the whole pan in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. It will make all the difference, truly. Also, make sure the cookies have fully set before transferring them.

Sweet and savory bars/balls are the easiest to play with. Some recent versions I've made: a bar using chocolate peanut butter, leftover mole sauce (from a modification of: http://www.bravotv.com/foodies/recipes/duck-mole-cocoa-nibs-and-apricot), pre-spiced pepitas and almonds, brown rice syrup, brown rice cereal and corn puffs, miso-tahini cereal bars with honey nut cheerios, puffed wheat and brown rice cereal, and graham masala flavored with pistachios and arpicots. The addition of bacon has been popular in the past. I'll use almost any flake or flake blend cereal laying around for smashing and adding to strudel, rugelah, cookies and bars, tea breads, pancakes, muffins, waffles, dutch babies, baked puddings and spoonbreads, pie and cinnamon roll filling. Also for making bases of cheesecakes, and as coating for frying (like, peanut butter capn crunch sweet potato tempura) and topping french toast and casseroles. If the cereal is not too heavily sweetened or flavored, it'll get thrown into faux-meatballs and burgers (I'm vegetarian), or mixed with buttercream or ganache for cake filling.

For a third app, something easy to consume whilst talking (as for sushi, that can be a bit messy when standing up...). The aforementioned gougeres are a fantastic idea, or some kind of savory profiterole, as they are so unbelievably easy to make and play with- imagine of piping in a warm filling, like these but as choux puffs. You could also play with spoons, shots, or skewers. Considering the mole dulce, how about a vegetarian starch dish with some smokey roasted gingered sweet potato, mote (fried/crusty roasted hominy), and plantain, complimented by queso fresco, star anise, oregano and some fruit- apricot maybe? Or here you could incorporate some pomegranate. As for dessert, I'm feeling the words "pine nut praline," coming into play.

Oh my, recently the potluck circuit has been talking of having a popcorn only night- popcorn pie, popcorn pudding, flavored popcorn in bowls and bars and balls, popcorn quiches, popcorn-flour pasta, popcorn chili, popcorn with salsa, popcorn pilaf...the opportunities are endless. My standby method, if there is no paper bag and microwave around, is a layer of olive oil plus two cloves of garlic, heated for a bit, two handfuls (my hands are small) or popcorn, and fairly steady shaking or stirring. Out of the pot, I'll mix a few small batches of flavored kings- one with just good salt, another with nutritional yeast, ground thyme and smoked paprika, another with dill, lime zest, onion powder, nutritional yeast and pepper. Sometimes curry, pizza-flavors, popcorn, mint, fennel, anise, zaatar, furikake, rice crackers, seeds and roasted beans, coconut flakes, freeze dried veggies, and more will find its way into a bowl.

Now that you know the method, are you willing to take up the challenge once again? Here's some research to sort through: http://www.google.com/patents?q=%22malted+...=Search+Patents p.s. on your tortas de aceite- Get rid of those egg whites! The recipe usually is a simple, oily yeast dough.

Due to a lovely milk allergy, malted milk balls have been ruled out for me. I'd love to create an alternative with the same texture and similar flavor using soymilk, but achieving that aeration and dry crunch, that dry foam, seems tricky. Commercially, balls of taffy are formed, cooled, then rapidly heated and cooled again to harden their surface, and aerated under vacuum. Any thoughts on how to mimic it? I'm not looking for perfect spheres, just the texture and flavor. Could this be done using a diy sous-vide set up? Thanks in advance!

For simplicity's sake- a strong, tart apple, a persimmon, and pomegranate seeds with honey-lemon-ginger dressing, fresh mint, and maybe some candied pumpkin seeds. Fall fruit panzanella- fig, persimmon, pear with maple-roasted walnuts and rosemary-asiago croutons. Caramelized butternut squash, pear, fennel, dates, and toasted almonds, on some peppery lettuce.

It can easily be used for savory biscuits and quickbreads, in pancakes or fritters- like zucchini or corncakes, as a coating with ground coriander or paprika or grated cheese and so on, bechamel sauce, in dumpling and pasta dough with the inclusion of extra binders like egg or xantham gum, as a thickener for soups and stews, and in nutloafs/meatloaf/balls. Just be aware- it is highly absorbent, so not the best for deep frying, and hence a need for combining it with other flours.