Okanagancook

A number of Grace Young's recipes call for flank steak. I had a small piece of fillet in the freezer so I used it for my stir fry tonight.

I hauled out Grace Young's Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge to see what she has to say about this subject. "Marinades typically are made with cornstarch, rice wine, soy sauce, and sometimes oil, in addition to other seasonings such as salt, pepper, sugar, ginger, or garlic. Marinades enhance flavour and tenderize meat and poultry (the moderate acidity of rice wine or dry sherry breaks down muscle fiber), and they promote the browning, even caramelizing of ingredients. Regardless of the ability of marinades to tenderize, great care must always be taken to cut beef or chicken correctly across the grain, it will be tough, dry or chewy even after marinating. Marinating beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and duck for stir fries can require as little as a few minutes, but in general 5 minutes should be allowed. Marinades infuse bite-sized morsels quickly, whether cut as thing as a 1/4 inch thick slice or as thick as a 3/4 inch cube. In fact, when a marinade made with soy sauce marinates for more than 45 minutes, the flavour of soy sauce can become overpowering, and the dish may become too salty." I use sirloin, flank or tenderloin and am sure to cut across the grain. Hope that helps.

@robirdstx OMG, fantastic looking steak. Well done. You, not the meat! A nice thick steak makes all the difference. Nice sear on it.

I didn't think humanly possible To perk up a few slices of chicken breast BUT you have managed to achieve it. Well done. signed 'chicken breast hater'

That's a coincidence, I just made P. wolfret's mushrooms and garlic in a clay pot braised for 45 min. I taste MUSHROOMS

Excellent and interesting looking meals everyone. I made a meal with a Middle Eastern bent: Cauliflower with tahini/lemon sauce which was deliciously easy to make. Yogurt, raisins, mint & cucumber garnished with mint, rose petals, olive oil and walnuts which was a real hit and looked very pretty. Spiced lamb leg. Rice with nuts & fried onions. Carrots glazed with honey & lemon and garnished with goat cheese which was totally demolished.

I used the zucchini filling from the pistachio squash crumble to make some 'hand pies'. I added a cup of apple sauce I had in the freezer along with a good dose of cinnamon. Delicious....tastes like apple alright: faux apple hand pies!

I have Gjelina, Travis Lett. I haven't made much in it mainly because one is obliged to make ingredients in the first chapter for use in subsequent recipes. So unless you want to binge cook from the book there could be a lot of waste...time and ingredients. May be this winter I'll take a week and just cook from it. For @2.50 it may be worth it.

I have an entry in my "Instapot" notebook: "Blue-Dolphin's grits: pot in pot method using 1/2 c grits, 2 cups water and butter. Manual HP x 15 minutes, slow release" I did try this and my notes says a little under, try 20 minutes next time. I also have a note about 'chemed's' version: 1:4 ratio with chicken stock. Manual HP x 15 min, presumably SR. Give it a go but the time may depend on the "coarseness" of one's grits.

I've got a Rock Hen on it's perch so will try 500F also. I think I'll use some of our 'estate pino gris in the bird holder'.

I'm not fond of the dark balsamic vinegar on leafy greens but I do like it on tomatoes and cucumber. The white balsamic I have is very nice with walnut oil or the pumpkin seed oil my brother brought me back from Austria, I think it was. Very dark green. I like a little lemon oil, olive oil with white wine vinegar. The classic red wine vinegar with shallots and olive oil along with a pinch of onion powder. Spanish sherry vinegar is nice and sharp and I stumbled upon some of it in a reduced version which is lovely just drizzled over the top of the salad greens dressed in a little oil. For cucumbers I like sesame oil with soy sauce and some chili oil and I think the smoked oil would go well with that. The smoked oil would be good with lemon juice over tomatoes or grilled romaine. Just a few combos I have been using.

I'd like to add my word of thanks also. Very entertaining and enlightening at the same time.

Here's a picture of my chicken in the jalapeño peach sauce along with some scallop pots and green beans. Done in the little CSO. Could have been a little browner. Tasted really good.

Not meaning to hijack what's going on here but I was interested in the curry that Kerry had at work. I have been cooking curries for many years and always make my own spice blend...as per the recipe. I have never purchased one of those ready made spice packages such as the one used in that curry. So I thought I would try it. Here is my account of the process: I used four large boned chicken thighs, 1 tsp of cumin seeds; 1 tablespoon Dijon; 2 tablespoons of vinegar and just had to add some onions which were fried in oil before adding the paste. I had a large package of powdered coconut and reconstituted 2 cups using the package directions. I took the chicken out of the sauce when it was done and reduced the sauce a bit. We had it with rice, baked okra & onions, cucumber raita, onion & tomato salad and flat breads in the foil. It was very good. I can't say it was better than the flavours I usually get but it certainly was easy to make. $2.50 for the package of spices.

We were turned on to La Chouffe beer by a friend who did the Western Front Walk. We ordered a case and split it with a friend. It is 8% alcohol

WOW everyone. What fantastic meals. All so different. All sparking ideas in my head. Again I am 'immobilized' by choice. My biggest angst. I made some curry the other day and this is the only component I got a picture of: 'spicy cauliflower' from Vij's....a Vancouver East Indian Chef. He and his wife have three cookbooks out. All the recipes I have made were great. This one so simple to make but I think the use of fresh garden tomatoes really made it special. It is SO ALL ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS.

Potatoes from the garden; tomatoes from the garden; IP'd eggs a la Shelby from 'Lucy', my local egg gal; sprinkled with some garlic scape salt.

@blue_dolphin You are amazing. The dishes you put up every single day are phenomenal! Keep going....a true inspiration. Just had to say.

I can never remember to take a picture. I need one of those cameras that uploads the photos to the computer over wifi rather than having to plug in the chip card. Anyway, salad fix'ins from the garden and some sauteed pork that was left over from trimming up some chops for the freezer. Nice and pink :-)) I have been making my own salad dressings ahead of time and using them up over the week. But I found they got a little 'stale' so now I have taken to selecting one of many different oils we have from the fridge and one of the many different vinegars from the cupboard to make a fresh 'eye-balled' dressing. Add some salt and whatever else tickles my fancy: like some homemade onion powder; dried commercial pepper mixture; garlic scape salt, etc, etc, Makes the salad fun. Today we had a big protein rich breakfast at a friends so we had a light lunch of borscht and cucumber with some Japanese salt that the breakfast friend brought back from her recent trip to Japan.....'traditional Japanese herb'. Interesting.

All this talk has got my book out and today I made the Jalapeño-Peach sauce on page 452. I have some out to go on our chicken tonight and the rest is canned and on the shelf for later use. Pretty easy to make and skimming the junk off the top as it boils is key to getting a nice bright and clear product. See picture I have the peaches combined with the sugar, vanilla and nutmeg for it's overnight marinate for the Soft Poppy & Peach Granola Cake on page 451. My DH made 9 jars of the canned peaches on page 446 and because we now have canned peach juice we are eyeing the Bourbon drink "Ain't that a peach" on page 447...tomorrow 'cause the syrup is still hot and we have wine already. I am looking at the Fried Green Tomatoes with Curried Peach Preserves and Whipped Feta on page 458....but I need a rest until tomorrow. It was a busy afternoon.

I tasted my commercial onion powder after reading about using it more often to enhance flavours. It tasted vaguely of onion. So I decided to dry some onions sliced to 1/4 inch for about 4 to 5 hours at 155F. They were then processed to a powder in my spice grinder. Unbelievable taste. The jar is right next to my salt.

Looks like a 'one slicer'. The intentions were good. Nowhere but up today then!

Thought it might be that one. Thanks. I will have a look at it next time I am in the store.

Sorry, didn't see that. Maybe this one, it looks kind of generic for chicken: https://well.ca/products/kitchens-of-india-chicken-curry_60164.html Superstore here carries this line of spices: https://www.realcanadiansuperstore.ca/search/1501186280725/page/~item/Kitchens+of+India/~sort/recommended/~selected/true

With regard to the curry recipe. I wonder which Taste of India curry paste/powder is being referred to because there are a number of them, here: http://www.tasteofindiafoods.com One cumin would have to be one black cumin. They are large and have a completely different flavour from the regular little cumin seeds.