ruthcooks

Broccoli or Zucchini with Browned Butter and Toasted Walnuts: Any vegetable with browned butter is special. Green Beans with Celery and Green Onions: You can't imagine what these simple vegetables do to flavor each other. Blanch green beans and refrigerate up to 5 days ahead; just before serving, saute celery in butter, then add onions and toss, add beans and heat. Add a little more butter at end. Artichoke Bottoms filled with a tomato-onion mixture. Another time when you're not concerned with cream, fill them with creamed spinach.

Best one I ever tasted contained: shrimp, fresh corn kernels, tiny cubes of cream cheese, herbs and Parmesan. Even out of season "fresh" corn-on-the-cob would be OK as it's the crunch contribution you want.

Marlene, I've been away from the forum for a week so some comments may be late, but here are some random thoughts: On reductions: measure your juices, sauce, whatever in a measuring cup large enough to hold all of it. Keep cup on stove as you are reducing and occasionally pour sauce into cup until it measures exactly half (or 1/3 or whatever you are going for). Crown roast: my favorite stuffing is mushroom souffle, no good for you. Wouldn't you know practically everything I can think of contains mushrooms? I agree, don't stuff it as the stuffing may not be done when the pork is. You could fill the crown after baking with brussels sprouts, small roasted potatoes, glazed apple rings, etc. Your catered party: if the pasta dish is meant to be an alternate main dish to the beef, OK. But if you think most people will take some of everything, pilaf and pasta are kinda weird together. If you think of them as alternate side dishes to the beef, it makes more sense. Mousses are great do-ahead desserts for entertaining: lemon with raspberry sauce; coconut with caramel or chocolate sauce; chocolate with whipped cream. For a larger group I once did all of these.

My favorite trick is to save the milk solids from butter when making baklava. Usually it takes a pound of melted butter and the butterfat clings to the pastry brush I use so the milk solids are left in the bottom of the measuring cup I melt it in. I freeze the solids (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup) and add them to spaetzle: it's like adding the flavor from a pound of butter but includes very little fat. You could do the same to add flavor to vegetables. I save the liquid from boiling potatoes for making yeast breads, but mainly end up throwing it away because I don't make bread too often.

When I had a vegetarian at my first restaurant, where the menu was set, I would make an individual quiche/souffle/flan sort of thing in a ramekin. Seemed to go well with almost any menu I was serving that night. The "meatiest" offering I can think of would be a stuffed Portobello mushroom.

No, I haven't tried any European butters except Plugra, because there have never been any available in the stores I've shopped in. There was one little fancy gourmet store, but judging from the mushy figs and dried up morels in their produce department I didn't trust anything they kept on hand--not to mention the prices which were sky high.

Mascarpone, Gouda and Monterey Jack, 2 lbs. cheese to 1 lb. macaroni. Very short cook time as so rich it separates easily.

I never have understood chocolate dipped strawberries. That seems one of the least compatible fruits with chocolate to me.

I've never understood the "unsalted tastes fresh than salted" argument. What??? Does old Joe yell at the fork lift guy, "Better put those pallets of salted butter back in the corner, we can't sell it until it's gone off." A better criteria of freshness is what sells better where you shop. The first and only time I tried Plugra it tasted like butter that had been kept at 90 degrees for about two weeks. If you shop somewhere like Wegmans, it might be safe to buy, but I'm stuck with Safeway and Giant so I stick with Land O Lakes for both salted and unsalted. Except for desserts, I use salted on the table and for cooking. What about better controlling the salt? You're going to taste it for seasoning at the end anyway, aren't you? In my first restaurant, I whipped salted and unsalted butter together and added a bit more salt to serve in crocks with the French bread. The less salt I added, the more butter people ate. I suppose you could argue that they liked it better, but I don't agree--I think they ate more because they were trying to get enough of the salty taste they're used to.

For almost 40 years my favorite bread book has been Dolores Casella's "A World of Breads" published in 1966. I'm not into sourdoughs and artisan type breads, preferring to buy them, but love to bake sweet dough breads and novelty loaves. I don't know of any cookbook in my library I've used as much as this one. Amazon has several used copies. Some of my favorite recipes from this book are: Sour Cream Muffins, Jewish Braids (richer than challah, not as rich as brioche, great for sandwiches), Parmesan Bubble Loaf, Potato Bread/Rolls, Swedish Limpe, Whole Wheat Refrigerator Rolls, Sour Cream Waffles, Viennese Christmas Fruit Bread, Stollen, and Orange Bread--which makes the best bread pudding I know, using Vincent Price's double boiler method. "Beard on Bread" may not be a great book but it contains one of my all time favorites, his Oatmeal Bread.

It's funny to me that you've found Midwesterners attribute non-Southern dishes to the South. As a Midwesterner who lived 35 years in the South, I found that Southerners claimed every dish they ever ate--many that I grew up with in Illinois. I'll never forget a member of my bridge club in Nashville sitting down to lunch and saying "meat loaf, macaroni and cheese and green beans, good ole Southern cooking." Good ole country cooking, I say. Or maybe good ole American cooking. P.S. The eggplant-Ritz cracker thing I was first introduced to at the Old Stone Inn near Louisville KY in the late sixties. Still make it, still love it.

Thanks, Seth, for this topic and your illuminating comments on bread books. It was just in time for me to strike RLB's book from my Amazon Christmas gift list before anyone bought it, and substitute "The Bread Baker's Apprentice." I remember when you started your bread baking journey and am impressed and amazed at how far you've come!

Tonight I made roast leg of lamb with garlic cloves thrown in; baked potatoes mashed with the roasted garlic, butter and porchini dust (dried mushrooms in a grinder); and one of my favorite salads: warm Brussels sprouts, Mandarin oranges, toasted walnuts in a sweet-sour-mustard dressing. Good combo. After I freeze a few portions of roast lamb, which I got marked down for about $8, the rest is earmarked for Shepherd's Pie and Lamb and Barley Soup. Tomorrow is cooking day, I'm also making my Asparagus-Mascarpone Soup and a cold Strawberry-Buttermilk soup. Most of the lamb and asparagus soup will be frozen in individual portions. I haven't owned a camera in over 20 years, but am considering one for Christmas so I can take pictures of my food for eGullet. It's really wonderful to see all the posted picture from everyone.

I was thinking he meant kitty litter.

I'm blue in the face from telling people that sugar is not forbidden to diabetics anymore. Each individual has his own body reaction to the glycemic index of foods. The time of day, what you ate for breakfast or lunch, whether you're on insulin and/or drugs, what your morning blood sugar reading was--all of these effect whether it's OK or not OK to have dessert at any particular meal. It takes years of experimentation and journaling and just plain paying attention to learn what works for you. My blood sugar would go sky high if I ate cold cereal for breakfast, but on a "good day" has little or no reaction to a piece of candy or a donut in late afternoon. Potatoes are always, always a trigger. Ice cream is supposed to be a good dessert for diabetics, but not for me. We're looking at carbs, here, so if you're going to outlaw sugar you might as well outlaw flour also. But if it's a celebration you might just want to throw out all the rules and have that rich chocolate torte. Mostly, though, I find that I now prefer desserts which are low in sugar such as custards and puddings. The rich stuff is too sweet and cloying anymore. Here are some of my favorite "lower glycemic" desserts. Pumpkin Custard: make pumpkin pie filling with Whey-Low Gold in place of sugar. Add a little brandy or other liquor, and serve with whipped cream sweetened with a little bit of real sugar and some more of the same liquor. To make this fancier, bake in individual ramekins and garnish with a pastry twist or rosette from a sheet or half sheet of filo. Or a pumpkin shaped pastry dec. Raspberry Tart: uses the dreaded Jell-O, raspberry no sugar type, frozen raspberries and 1/4 cup of real sugar, top with whipped cream. Whip the raspberries into the Jell-O with a fork so they break up. If pie pastry seems like too many carbs, use filo and bake individual tart shells. Do not fill until just before serving or pastry will be soggy. I know, you all hate Jell-O, but people LOVE this. Fresh Fruit with Lemon Sauce and Caramel Crumbs: I usually make this with mostly real sugar, but control by using more fruit and less sauce and crumbs. (Exceptional...will post recipe if someone wants it.) And for the restaurant people...listing the carb count is much more helpful information than saying "sugar free" or "low sugar" or "diabetic", even if you say it's an estimated carb count. Personally, I run like the wind to avoid any dessert labeled "diabetic"--usually a synonym for yucky.

Fresh pineapple and dates...no marshmallows.

Right, it was the quiche that was crustless, although I did pare off the white part of the rind with a potato peeler. That process removes only the white, and you waste nothing of the cheese as opposed to losing quite a bit if you actually "peel" the cheese. Roll recipe...first time I tried this one. I only baked a dozen so still have 2/3 o the dough in refrigerator waiting for tomorrow. Oatmeal Dinner Rolls This one came from the OregonLive.com recipe site. It’s one of my favorites and they keep a 6 month archive of recipes. Here are the substitutions/changes I made to the recipe: powdered milk and water for milk (I was running low on milk, and besides, running hot water from the sink is easier than heating milk!); butter for vegetable shortening; brown sugar for granulated sugar (more flavor); 1 ½ cups King Arthur “white whole wheat” and 2 1/2-3 1/2 cups bread flour to replace an equal amount of AP flour; lowered heat 25 degrees. While I used the muffin pans as directed, I’ll cook the remaining 2 dozen in a large baking pan for softer sides that I prefer. Makes 3 dozen. 1 1/4 cups milk, warmed (or use water and add 1/3 C. dry non-fat milk) 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup warm water 2 envelopes (2 sc. Tablespoons) dry yeast Pinch of granulated sugar 2 teaspoons salt 2 1/2 cups bread flour (plus up to 1 cup more as needed for kneading) 1 egg 1 1/2 cups quick or old-fashioned oatmeal (not cooked) 2 cups whole-wheat flour Melted butter for brushing roll tops In bowl of mixer, pour warmed milk over butter, sugar, and powdered milk, if using. Stir or beat until butter is dissolved. Soften yeast in1/2 cup warm water to which you have added a pinch of sugar. Let stand until lukewarm, if necessary, then stir in the yeast. Add the salt, the 2 1/2 cups of bread flour and the egg. Beat with dough hook for two or three minutes. Add oatmeal and whole-wheat flour and mix until dough forms a ball. Remove to lightly floured board and knead about 10 minutes, adding additional flour as necessary. (Original recipe said “until smooth” but we all know that oatmeal is going to stay bumpy, don’t we?) Form ball, place in buttered or sprayed bowl, butter or spray top and cover well. Refrigerate overnight. Punch down dough. Shape ball into 36 small balls and place in buttered muffin tins. Brush with melted butter and cover with waxed paper. Let rise until double, 1 1/2 to 2 hours in oven with light on for warmth. Remove rolls and heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake about 15 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned. Remove to racks and serve warm.

Yesterday my best friend and her new fiance came to visit me for the first time since she and I both moved from Nashville 3 years ago. Our lunch consisted of: crustless Brie and chive quiche , green beans gremolata, cranberry conserve (with apricots, raisins, brown sugar, orange juice and walnuts), homemade oatmeal/whole wheat rolls and individual chocolate souffles with whipped cream.

Here's a variation: I put items on my list for trying new recipes and by the time I go to the store and get the groceries home I've forgotten what the recipes were or where to find them. Now I've taken to writing "Five spice powder for cranberry ketchup" or "cottage cheese for muffin tin quiches" on the list. I've always used a list, with items listed in the order of my journey around the aisles. Especially valuable when one becomes vulnerable to senior moments.

Hello Anna...I read every food blog "cover to cover" and this one is my kind of food. Do your glazed potatoes have sugar on them? I have a recipe for Danish Glazed Potatoes in which you caramelize sugar in butter, add water to make a thin glaze, pour over boiled potatoes and bake at 400 degrees for about half an hour. Delightful. Also love my frikadeller (soda water added) and all versions of cucumber salad. As for herring in wine, I prefer sour cream but don't like the too-sweet canned version. So what I do is buy herring in wine, drain it and mix in my own sour cream. Over shredded lettuce, a great low carb snack or lunch. Your kitchen looks very workable. A small U-shaped kitchen was the most efficient I've ever cooked in, and the worst was 21 x 24. Don't know about those stairs, though.

Once I had a student whose husband loved banana pudding above all else, so I made him a dessert which I called "Banana Cream Pie, Michael's Fantasy." Eventually it ended up in a rectangular baking dish: a graham cracker crust (I actually think vanilla wafer crumbs would be better)and a sort of banana liqueur flavored bavarian cream topped with sliced bananas and an apricot glaze. Somewhere in these millions of recipes I have is one for banana pudding that really intrigues me--it has a drizzle of caramel running through it. Another idea: how about some broken up pralines? I'm getting carried away. I think I forgot to eat lunch.

I just ordered Suvir's book from The Good Cook Book Club. Finally accumulated enough bonus points and got it for only the cost of shipping. For members it is a great bargain even without points at 67% off, unheard of for a new publication.

Two more: my advance order of Best American Recipes 2004-2005 came today, and I picked up The Martha Stewart Living CB for about 6 bucks.

One big difference between Julia Child's and Sara Moulton's styles is that I never noticed any bias in Julia. She seemed to like all foods equally and her classes and cookbooks played no favorites. Sara, on the other hand, is entirely prejuidiced in favor of salads and vegetarian dishes and takes great delight in throwing hot peppers into everything. Also, Sara has been known to stumble through dishes she's obviously never made before. One time she was preparing an apple dessert which was supposed to be sliced horizontally and then reconstructed. Sara sliced it top to bottom and then tried to put it together. You can bet Julia always did her homework. Sara has/had several concurrent jobs and had to appear daily, but perhaps she took on more than she should. Her call-in show was more enjoyable to me, probably because she doesn't have a personality big enough to fill the entire screen, a la Julia. Nevertheless, I believe Sara is authentic and a pretty good teacher. Also liked her cookbook which I reviewed here.

Each time there are guests invited to my Thanksgiving table, I ask in advance, "Is there some food it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without?" Then I include that dish in my menu. Because I'm a Midwesterner who lived in the South for over 30 years, many of my guests have been Southerners, and I have been a guest at their tables. Their traditional foods have included deviled eggs, creamed onions, macaroni-and-cheese and desserts involving coconut: ambrosia, coconut cake and coconut custard pie. Italian friends have requested a pasta dish like lasagne and a soup, escarole if I remember rightly (and her father requested a steak since he didn't eat poultry). On one side I'm ninth generation American, long enough for any traces of Scotch-Irish and English food to disappear, and my German grandparent's sauerkraut and potato pancakes never made it to the holiday table. There's always, ALWAYS turkey, dressing, scalloped oysters, a sweet potato-praline casserole or carrot pudding, asparagus casserole, my sister-in-law's "find" of a wonderful cranberry salad, soft rolls, black olives, and pumpkin and pecan pies. Sometimes there's mashed potatoes, fresh green beans or green bean casserole. There's apple pie if my son's in attendance, and misc. pies, cheesecakes and other desserts may be added. I've seen the Thanksgiving table change through the generations as old dishes disappear and new ones are introduced. The mince pie of my grandparents is gone, as well as the relish dish and jello "salads"--one year alone there were SEVEN--of my parents. My grown kids don't like scalloped oysters (my "must have" item) and the asparagus will probably disappear when I do. There is one dish that appears on our family table that I've never seen anywhere else except on the table of the lady who gave the "recipe" to my mother. It's really just an idea: put an 8 ounce block of cream cheese through a potato ricer into a pretty glass dish. Top with most of a jar of whole sour cherry preserves. I suppose you could put it on your dinner rolls, but we always eat with a fork from the salad plate along with the cranberries. We call it...ahem...Cream Cheese and Cherries. Oh, yes. The girl who requested deviled eggs? She's now my daughter-in-law, so it looks like we have a new tradition.