helenas

My Weber is out of reach in the snow. Seems like oven roasting/baking as a good idea, but how? I never tried to prepare the whole fish of this size. Temperature? Time? Stuffing? Advice, please.

I usually shop at "Asian Food Center" in Middletown, route 35. But today i discovered "Hong Kong Supermarket" on Route 18 in East(?) Brunswick. Kind of mall, which hosts sushi place, asian bookstore, pharmacy and a big supermarket. Very clean, great fish and meat selection. I bought grouper steaks, some funny mushrooms, and several bags of our favorite dry fish.

My recent favorite mussels dish is tiella. This is a recipe from Jenkins, although there is also a rice/potato/mussel version in Goldstein's Enoteca book.

after i had prepared the wonderful mushrooms long braised with cream and piece of cinnamon in it, i'm almost ready to agree (and i hate cinnamon ) Now gotta have those meatballs! Anybody planning to be in China46 this weekend?

around 250

"Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home With a Four-Star Chef" by Vongerichten and Bittman. The cover alone seduced me into cooking.

Roasted asparagus and scallions with mushroom (shiitake and oyster)-cream sauce (sage and apple brandy). Roasted shad roe

Has anybody tried this Wine Lover's Chocolate Collection?

Shad roe, available on Fridays and Saturdays

it's truly remarkable how they keep adding new and interesting products all the time. Among the recent favorites, that can be found in the Manalapan store: Greek Total Yogurt (check the organic section); Cypress Grove Chevres; Spanish Fig Cake; Mortadella by Principe di San Daniele; Several types of Columbus salami, praised by "Rosengarten Report"; Please, add to the list.

German study says French wine beats German wine for reducing risk of heart disease (more details here)

Quick report from yesterday's dinner at Vong. We had some sort of "business/meet old friend" kind of gathering there, so i couldn't concentrate on the food that much. But overall we really enjoyed our meal. Thanks to tommy's recommendation, we ordered a black plate for three - we got five defferent kinds of rolls, four matchinig dippings and salad. As a main course i had thai lobster - smart choice as it seems (here is the recipe, btw). My companions had a rabbit curry (he was happy about it) and grilled beef (he was not). All the portions were very generous, including the appetizers. Desserts were not that interesting and it probably was our mistake not to order a white plate. As for decor, once again, what tommy said.

The recipe from "One Potato, Two Potato" book worked pretty well. After searing, the milk-braising took 50 minutes in 325F oven.

Tried some Lavender honey from restaurant Lulu gourmet line: what a disappointment. Very simple and tastes like corn syrup flavored with lavender essense. I better stick with Hugel lavender honey (avaulable from chefshop.com)

Actually, i just found milk-braised chops with fingerlings in "One potato, two potato" book. I can throw some mushrooms in. What was your braising liquid? No milk in the house, can i dilute cream with chicken broth?

Dave, how long is long? I really like to make it as one-pot dish, so the idea is to do the baling part on top of potatoes, in which case long is probably preferable.

Here in NJ we have all the snow necessary to justify a hearty meal. After a visit to Wegmans i ended up with gorgeous bone-in 1 inch thick pork chops. I'd like to marinade them (garlic, thyme, lemon?), brown on the stove, finish in the oven on top of potato boulangere and or some roasted mushrooms. As i must admit i haven't tried to prepare pork chops before, i need your advice: should i brown them over high or medium heat? is dusting with flour needed? How long in the oven? Thank you.

Now that's the real teaser!

I mentioned this site previously on several occasions, but for the benefit of our new members and just because i like browsing there, here is Gourmand International, where one can see the nominations and winners in Design Category/2002 among the other things.

Thanks Cathy: i have the book and will definitely check it.

At least stefanyb is following (The Julie/Julia Project, website worth the read )

Recently i bought my first fresh coconut to use it freshly grated in an african sauce for chicken. I won't embarass myself in front of egullet describing the process of opening this thing to get to the flesh (but if you remember the scene of a can opening from "Three Men in a Boat (to Say Nothing of the Dog) book, you got the idea). But the taste of the fresh coconut was oh so worth the pain. But we (my dog was part of the tasting) still have a question: what is the best way to remove the inner skin? And in general, do you have any tricks to deal with fresh coconuts: selecting, cracking, peeling, grating, storing, eating...

You're so right about this vinegar thing; i had the gut feeling i need some splash of vinegar, but was unwilling to change much in the recipe (already substituting black mushrooms for oysters). On the positive side all this sweetness helped to keep a chicken skin from becoming mushy during the covered braising, and i got a nice crispy skin by putting a pan for two minutes under the broiler (neat trick i learnt on egullet!)

We had a chicken with chinese sausages and black mushrooms from "Staffmeals from Chanterelle" yesterday for dinner. As recommended by the book i bought sausages containing some duck liver. As i sliced them to put into a pan for cooking i tried one piece, and it really tasted funny, almost coconut-sweety, but i decided to proceed. The dish came out pretty well; chicken, mushrooms (i used fresh oysters) and braising liquid (contained oyster sauce, chicken stock, soy sauce, ginger and scallions) were very tasty, but i still was not thrilled by those sausages. The dish is really worth trying again, but what's with sausages? Should i try some other brand? My store carries about ten of different kinds.

Thanks, Adam. Now i remember reading his piece on Douro Valley wines in the recent Waitrose. And i just ordered some other of his books - "Wine Tastes Wine Styles".