Okanagancook

That is seriously beautiful. Speaking of Hasselback potatoes, there is a recipe for a variation on them(Cheesy Hasselback Potatoes) on the NYTimes best recipes for 2015, here under 20 best new recipes http://cooking.nytimes.com/topics/our-most-popular-recipes-of-2015

You can import files from some other recipe collection programs such as Cookware Deluxe, Mastercook and Meal Master but when I tried to import a pages file (the Mac equivalent to word files) it does not work.

I am not sure where I got this but it is in my "kitchen notes" section MacGourmet. I've not tried it either. For what it's worth, maybe someone else has experience with this: How to prevent yogurt from curdling when making curries? Yogurt is a major ingredient in making Indian Curries. The cow-milk yogurt will separate when heated beyond a given point, unless it is stabilized. In the olden days, yogurt for cooking was made from freshly drawn buffalo whole-milk. It did not curdle with heat. Technically, foods high in proteins and acids (yogurt has lactic acid), become unstable with high heat. Higher the butter fat, proportionately lower is the amount of protein, that is the case with buffalo-milk yogurt. You may choose to add Cow-milk yogurt at the end of cooking to minimize effects of high heat. The only problem is that spice flavors will not fully permeate the yogurt. You can stabilize cow-milk yogurt by stirring-in a starch to the yogurt before cooking. For starch, you can use any flour: Besan (Chickpea flour), Atta (whole-grain wheat flour), Maida (All-purpose flour) or Cornstarch. Cornstarch is flavor neutral. Steps to prevent yogurt from curdling during cooking Following steps will prevent yogurt from curdling 1. Use whole-milk (high fat) yogurt. 2. Stabilize yogurt by whisking-in starch before cooking. Add one teaspoon of cornstarch, or 1½ teaspoon of other flours (Atta, Maida, or Besan) to one cup of yogurt. 3. Minimize thermal shock to yogurt when adding to curry being cooked. First shut off the heat. Start with yogurt at room temperature and not directly from the refrigerator. At this point, you may add starch to stabilize yogurt. Temper yogurt just like eggs are tempered in making custard. Raise yogurt temperature gradually by mixing hot curry sauce little bit at a time to the yogurt. After the yogurt temperature has risen sufficiently, add it to the curry. Turn on heat to finish making curry. 4. When the yogurt is made, it is not stirred during incubation, so the structure of yogurt is set in a matrix. After adding yogurt for cooking, stirring vigorously will break down the matrix and cause separation. Gently fold-in yogurt by stirring in one direction (either clockwise or anticlockwise), till the yogurt is well blended. 5. Sometimes, it is possible to fix the yogurt after it has separated. Shut-off heat. Make a paste by mixing one teaspoon of cornstarch (or two teaspoons of all-purpose flour) with ½ Tablespoon of cold water. Stir paste into the separated mixture. Gently heat curry to let it thicken and recombine the yogurt. Repeat if necessary. Recipe for Stabilized Yogurt Cow’s milk yogurt will separate when heated beyond a certain point. Use of stabilized yogurt will minimize separation. 1. Whole-milk plain yogurt: 1 Quart 2. Large egg white, lightly beaten: 1 3. Cornstarch: 1 Tablespoon 4. Salt: 1 teaspoon Mix all ingredients together in a heavy saucepan. Whisk. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, in one direction until mixture starts to bubble and comes to a boil (approximately 8 minutes). Reduce heat to moderately low, and simmer until thickened, it will take approximately additional 4 minutes. Stabilized yogurt can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 weeks

I bought a really thin-bladed Japanese knife. Lord knows, I have plenty of good knives but this one is fantastic for slicing and dicing soft vegetables.

AlaMoi, click on the video on the right hand side. That showed me the whole recipe.

Nice steel-Sabatier knife! Just the thing for that stalk. Could you use it for soup?

I purchased two, one for me and one for my brother. I really like the sturdiness of the probe, the case and the price is very reasonable. Sheesh. Another Instant-Pot purchase! I succumbed to the Cuisi oven after many weeks of looking at the comments on that thread......BUT I AM NOT EVEN LOOKING AT THE INSTANT-POT THREAD

Ha, ha, just remembered this blog about cooking through the French Laundry Cookbook: http://carolcookskeller.blogspot.ca/2007/01/parmagiano-reggiano-crisps-with-goat.html She had the exact same problems we had with making the crisps and the runny filling. Lesson learned: consult this blog before attempting recipes from the French Laundry. I sent this link to my friend who was so relieved...feeling that it 'wasn't me who couldn't make it'. Comeon man, two hours to make 18 crisps. Still, the flavours are so wonderful. Ha, ha, also found a Utube of TK making the potato pave with Martha S. Good to watch also. Although their finished product was grey/black indicating someone had F'dUp. Ha, makes me feel sooo much better.

Should you prefer a little more complicated recipe for a weekend meal I can't recommend this one enough having just made it with a friend and served to three 'foodies' who swooned over it: https://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/8562-better-chicken-marsala The Porchini mushrooms really add a depth of earthiness but you still have the creminis for texture. It's not really that labour intensive....one could always make the reduction ahead of time. cheers

Plating was difficult. We thought if we put the horseradish cream on the base of the hot plate it would 'melt' and run all over the plate. So it was served as a condiment on the table. Not sure we could make these ingredient look pretty. But, the flavours were 'Kellerish'! The onions I have done many times. His 15 minute cook time in a 400 degree oven isn't enough. I actually used that little steam-convection oven to 'cook' them...I forget how long but around 15 to 20 min on steam bake at 350. They turned out soft and moist done this way. They were put back in the oven on steam-bake 225 to reheat but I had to reduce the sauce in a sauce pan...maybe the steam function added more moisture to the cooking vessel.

Lovely meals from everyone over the past week. Interesting to see how the meal components are changing with the season, especially for us northern folk.

We made a Thomas Keller themed birthday meal. Unfortunately I missed taking pictures of a couple of courses, duh. The menu was paired with wines and this is the first time we have done a multi course meal and researched the wines in our cellar to pair with the courses. This worked out super well and we all commented on how well they went together. I have pictures of the scallops, the potato pave in the pan, the version before frying and the plated main. The pave took two of us 1 1/2 hours to assemble! The Crisps took my friend 2 hours to make and the filling turned out too runny so not sure what happened there. I went to 9 stores in Penticton looking for Brioche to make the croutons then forgot to put them on the salad, duh again. That Blue Cheese Dressing is to die for. If you like that kind of dressing it's a must make. And that Horseradish Cream! Oh, if you like horseradish it's amazingly good. The venison tenderloins were a gift from a hunter friend. There were two of them, not the same size. So I meat glued them together to get six nice thick steaks. He has you marinate the peppercorns in oil that has been brought to a boil. It made them easier to crush. So many components to the meal, for example, the pork belly had been sous vide and frozen so I just had to brown them as well as the flat breads and cornets which were made the week before and put in the freezer. I don't think I could have made everything on the same day. All in all, it was an interesting exercise and I learned a lot about being organized and patient, very patient. I just wish I had taken pictures of everything. Just not in practice. Next time. MENU French Laundry Cornets Parmigiano-Reggiano Crisps with Goat Cheese Mousse Flatbreads with Tapenade Reserve Brut 2005 Blue Mountain Caramelized Sea Scallops with Braised Pork Belly Culmina SAIGNÉE VINTAGE 2014 Peppercorn Crusted Venison Tenderloin Horseradish Cream Potato Pave Honey-Glazed Cipollini Onions Grilled Endive 20 Mille Bordeaux Superieur 2007 The Dead Arm, 2006 d’Arenberg Iceberg Lettuce Slices Oven Roasted Tomatoes, Brioche Croutons, Lardons Blue Cheese Buttermilk Dressing Roquefortissime, 2014 Linzer Cookies Vanilla Ice Cream El Noble Villard Botrytised Sauvignon Blanc 2006 Stoneboat Verglas 2008

stckciv, I can't seem to get the spreadsheet to attach so if you would like to email me at phschnurr@shaw.ca with your personal email I will send it to you. Are you Mac or Microsoft? cheers

Beautiful looking kitchen Unpopular Poet. Well done.

Baron, to add my two cents worth: stunning and thoughtful food! Thanks for sharing.

Up here in the far north our new friends who moved here from Winnipeg always celebrate American Thanksgiving so theyt had us over for a delicious southwest flavoured turkey; cornbread/Andouille sausage stuffing; green beans in butter; mashed potatoes with bacon and grated cheese on top with some herbs mixed in; a delicious slaw which had vanilla and honey in the dressing along with red cabbage, apple, celery and raisins; and gravy with chipotle and cream in it. Everything went together so well. I think she got the recipes from the Food Network magazine and the salad was from Michael Smith. I brought the turkey stock which they swooned over. It was very concentrated and was made from roasted turkey necks, herbs, carrot, onion, celery all cooked on the stove for two days then reduced to 6 cups. We drank numerous bottles of local red wines and finished off with "chocolate bourbon balls" watching the last football game of the day. This is going to be a tradition now. So, we get two big meals, one in October and one in November, brilliant. On the subject of turkeys I think if you buy a fresh turkey the likelihood of success is much greater.. They just seem juicier and definitely brining it is the way to go also.

With temperatures promised to drop to -10C this week, DH has moved the wine outside to cold stabilize it. Basically it is a method of clarifying the wine. Tartaric acid is the target for cold stabilization and will precipitate out at this low temperature. You might have experienced tartaric acid crystals at the bottom of your glass of wine. Not attractive. For more information on cold stabilization, Wikipedia has some nice information. Just having a glass of last year's pinot gris. Quite nice now. Good acidity and crystal clear without, well, crystals at the bottom. cheers

Here is a link to the top places in Vancouver, Canada. That's all I know. You could contact them and see if they are in need. Vancouver is a very expensive place to live by the way. Good luck. http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2011/02/12/top-5-vancouver-chocolatiers-boutique-chocolate-shops/

Scuba......love those nice thick potato slices. Probably kinda like a baked potato in the middle being so thick but with the nice crust, on two sides no less! And the tomato jam was a wonderful addition.

Ann_T. your crust is truly swoon-worthy! The best part of the pizza IMO.

Are those shrimp chips on the front left? Love shrimp chips when done right.

I think constant stirring also helps to get the polenta creamy.

I cooked a brined spatchcocked turkey for our Canadian Thanksgiving. It was around 16 pounds, a fresh turkey. I did an equilibrium brine using a 2% solution: Weigh the bird and the water to cover said bird. Take 2% of that weight and that is the amount of salt to use. Brine for 24 hours. That's my go to method for all poultry and pork. It doesn't get overly salt using this method. Drawback: fridge space.

Thanks for the great description. Sadly I only have access to frozen rabbits, well, unless we start a farm....humm may not be such a bad idea once our dog has gone to doggie heaven. I am going to give it a try when the weather isn't so unseasonable and I can baby sit the rabbit. I think it was on Mind of a Chef a couple of weeks ago they did a whole rabbit on a spit. Tied on like a chicken and not spatchcocked like the one you did.

Just curious as to how long it took the rabbit to cook on the grill. I was thinking of preparing one then up came your photo. What temperature does one cook a rabbit to? All you meals look amazing. Cheers and thank you so much for sharing them with us!