Okanagancook

I made the vegetable soup. Meh. Pretty ordinary. Also made the coleslaw and we did not like the lack of crunch that results from pre-salting the cabbage so the salad is not watery.

For those who have The Food Lab, there is a nice section on making vegetable soups. It just covers the best techniques for getting a nice 'bright' vegetable soup. What I learned from it was that I was overcooking my vegetables for pureed soups.

Got my book yesterday. Some interesting reading coming up. The potato salad description adding the vinegar, salt and sugar in the water is something I would like to try. I visited his website and there is an Erata section which I looked at and compared my book. I must have a second printing because all the errors were fixed EXCEPT for the quick waffles on page 157. According to the Erata page, it should be 1/2 cup buttermilk and not 1 1/2 cups.

Nice. They are so easy to make without much in the way of clean up. Glad you liked them. Try different spices on them too.

First attempt at Bebek Betutu, a recipe from The Food of Bali and is a common dish. Don't know much about this regional cookery. A paste is made with shallots, garlic, lemongrass, lime leaves, candlenuts, ginger root, galangal, black pepper, chile, coriander trasi, salt and oil. Rub the paste inside and out of the duck. Wrap in leaves, I had banana, and foil then roast, low and slow. I used my Big Green Egg but had trouble getting the temperature to where I wanted it. Anyways, 4.5 hours at 250F. It was very, very nice. Mild in flavours but a good complexity.

Forgot where I got this recipe but the key is to soak the cut fries for at least 30 minutes before drying and baking at 450 convection for around 35 minutes flipping them over half way through. Could take a little longer and do not crowd them on the sheet pan. I also cut them quite skinny, like MacDonalds fries size. I try to use minimal fat, just to coat. Also, wash the starch off the cut fries then refill the container with fresh water for soaking. Mine were soaked over night because dinner plans changed and they were fine. I used russets. cheers

Oven baked fries, sautéed mushers, sous vide tri tip steak with Les Halles herb butter and a salad made with garden asparagus/lettuce topped with pistachios. The steak was a quite chewy....should have cooked it longer than 3 hours....more like 12 hours, it was work for the old jaw bone. The fries turned out great. Use the cut and soak for at least 4 hours method then tossed in a little duck fat and some of Ted Readers Bone Dust seasoning then into a 475F convection oven until crispy. Notice that we have half a plate full of those beauties....one russet, all be it a very large one.

Favourite bagel is cheddar cheese/jalapeño with lots of crusty cheese bits and preferably warm.

That is in the serious eats article.

This might be helpful http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/08/how-to-make-perfect-homemade-pita-bread.html i read somewhere about the resting for a good puff so have always done it. Humph, guess I do not need to. Will try the serious eats procedure next time. thanks

After rolling out the dough you must cover with a cloth and rest 15 to 20 minutes otherwise the puffing in the oven is not optimal.

Such a collection of different foods for breakfast. Mine are sadly boring so no posts from me. I live in envy.....DH is a cereal eater.

My wild asparagus plants are doing well, another week or so before I get my measly few stalks. The Armstrong asparagus will be in the stores later this week! Yippee. Armstrong is about 65 km's to the north here and the flow of asparagus usually lasts three weeks. I'm starting to look for ways to have them everyday. It has been a little cool here. We had a big rain yesterday, which we need. Mountain runoff hasn't started yet and the snow is still visible on the surrounding mountains which is why it is so cool. But, good for my lettuce plants and the arugula should be ready to eat in a week.

Fantastic looking meals everyone! Here are my lamb chops from the other night with Israeli couscous and roasted okra. I have never cooked this large style of couscous before and of course I over did them. DH said "life's too short to eat mushy Israeli couscous" so it went in the bind. Next time I watched it like a hawk and caught it just before it went over.....I immediately spread it out on a sheet pan and set it outside to cool quickly. Last night we had the crab and ricotta filled cannelloni. Some pictures of assembly but of course I forgot to take a picture of it plated with the dreamy tomato-butter sauce. I need a new camera.....the kind that will download pictures without having to take the memory card out each time. As appetizers we had some 'dahl patties'. Never made these before either: soak moong, chana and urad dahl overnight. Blend with water, coconut, spices and a little baking powder. Then deep fry. Weren't greasy at all and what a healthy appetizer. Served with Egullet tomato chutney and some coriander chutney.

Today was fresh spinach from the market made with a Cook's Illustrated recipe for wilted spinach salad with bacon dressing! I made a small crab/shrimp cake with the leftover crab we bought today. I spent most of the day making crab and ricotta cheese cannelloni with a tomato-butter sauce...hope to post that in the dinner thread. The wilted spinach salad is really easy to make and it would make a great salad for company because you can make almost the whole thing ahead and then just heat up the bacon dressing when ready to serve. Sorry no picture.

Those look very interesting. Better picture than on the dinner thread....a close up. I think I would like the textures and on English muffins for some crunch. Thanks.

Gravy and fries! OMG. r

I must be clairvoyant because I heard today that two fathers visited to see Naramata to decide if they want their families to come. Should hear in a few days. I think they are afraid. Planning back on for the 'tea'.

I hear you about taking those skins off. Time consuming, open a beer. I've tried various methods but really, one at a time. But the result is so superior.

With no time left on the 30 minute program timer, the temperature was 329F. With 1 minute to go on the timer it was 10 degrees hotter. Thanks. Had to crack open a beer while waiting :-)) Temperature checking seems to be the way to go. The door was very slightly ajar with the probe in the oven...a little steam was escaping but pretty minimal. You're welcome.

Very Interesting Results. Tracked the temp for 30 minutes, steam bake set at 300F Program Timer (set for 30 minutes)/Internal Temperature as read by my DigiQDx2 BBQ Guru recorded at the beginning of the program minute. 25 312F 24 295 23 341 20 293 18 342 17 330 16 317 15 295 14 284 13 330 12 340 11 320 10 300 9 281 8 322 7 339 6 325 5 312 4 293 3 288 2 335 1 339 0 329 As one would expect on such a small machine, there are temp swings. The temperature probe was clipped on the rack in the toasting position. I guess one would need to check the temperature or what you are cooking more frequently.

I'm on it. Will report back in a few minutes, using the BBQ guru.

Update: Sadly they still have not arrived. No one is sure what the hold up is. Government bureaucracy at work, likely.

Lovely looking platter. Did you take the skins off the chick peas for the hummus?

Elaina, that risotto looks fantastic especially with the browned pieces of lamb scattered throughout! BonVivan, were those bread dumplings? They look so creamy and soft.