mgaretz

The red color was probably a combination of the crystal malt and the amber extract. What color crystal did you use?

Tonight was homemade egg pasta with crushed dill seed (in the pasta) tossed with some olive oil and left-over London Broil.

I use this recipe for a marinade for searing ahi: 4 tbs Ponzu Sauce 1 tsp Wasabi paste 1 inch fresh grated ginger 1 tbs Mirin (sweet cooking sake) or Cream Sherry ¼ tsp sesame oil Just make up the wasabi powder into a paste - directions should be on the package.

Last night we had pork roast with roast veggies again, but this time I seasoned with caraway and dill seeds, lightly ground in a mortar (and sea salt and pepper). Yummy! It's been pretty cold here and storms are coming in, so tonight it seemed like a hearty soup was the ticket. I threw together a slow cooker beef, barley and mushroom soup. It was a hit and will become a regular! It came out rich, thick and creamy, yet uses no butter or cream and had just the tinniest bit of fat from the beef. Normally I'd use top round for this, but the local market had sirloin steaks on sale for about 1/2 of the top round price, so I used sirloin! Beef, Barley and Mushroom Soup Ingredients (makes about 8 large servings) 1.5 lbs lean beef – sirloin or top round – but just about any cut will do – cut into 1″ cubes 2 cups beef broth (see note) 2 cups chicken broth (see note) 1 oz dried porcini mushrooms 6 ozs fresh crimini or brown mushrooms, sliced 1 medium onion, thinly sliced 1 carrot, diced 1/2 cup pearl barley 1 medium garlic clove, minced 1/2 tsp pepper 2 tbs reduced-sodium soy sauce 1/2 cup cream sherry 1/2 cup red wine (optional) Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker (except the red wine) and stir well to combine. There’s no need to pre-brown the meat, but you can if you like. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 7-8 hours. You can serve it immediately or it’s even better the next night. If you use the full 1/2 cup of barley, the soup may be too thick for your liking. If so, cut the amount of barley in half or add 1/2 cup of good red wine at the end to thin the soup. Notes: I use Better Than Bullion to make the stock, but you can also use canned or home-made stock. If using 14 oz cans, add 1/2 cup of water or red wine to bring the volume up. You can put everything in the slow cooker pot the night before and put it into the refrigerator – then put in on in the morning. If you’re doing this, make sure the stock is cool.

I really like my All-clad non-stick pans - Williams-Sonoma has some great deals on the stainless non-stick sauté pans.

I just posted this recipe on my blog and I thought I would share it here too: Make-ahead Latkes Nothing beats home-made latkes (potato pancakes). They are primarily potato and onion, but some people make them “mushy” with the potatoes and onion ground to a pulp. Others make them with the potatoes shredded like hash browns. Either way there’s a lot of prep on the day you make them. This recipe was designed to accomplish two goals: Have the latkes pre-made so they could just be fried on the day you want to eat them, and to be able to make them in a deep fryer. Both goals are accomplished by freezing the latkes and frying them direct from the freezer. This recipe uses the shredded potato approach and simplifies that by using frozen hash browns. You can, of course, shred your own potatoes. Ingredients (makes about 16 good sized latkes) 1 30 oz package of frozen hash browns 1 medium to large onion 2 extra-large eggs 2 tsp sea salt 1/2 tsp pepper 3 tbs potato starch In a small bowl beat the eggs, salt and pepper until well mixed. Peel and grate the onion, either with a box grater or use the chopping blade on a food processor. Put the grated onion and it’s juice in a large mixing bowl. Pour in the bag of frozen hash browns (yes, still frozen). If they are frozen in a clump, beat the bag before opening to break them apart. Pour the egg mixture over the top and stir a few times. Sprinkle the potato starch over the top and stir thoroughly until everything is well combined and the potatoes are coated thoroughly. Measure out about 1/2 cup of the mixture onto a non-stick cookie sheet or sheet pan. Form this into a rough patty about 1/2 inch thick. The potatoes will be loose and really not stick together like dough. Repeat with the rest of the mixture. (This will take several cookie sheets.) Put the cookie sheets in the freezer and freeze until they are frozen hard (several hours at least). Once the latkes are frozen, they will stay together. Lift them from the cookie sheets (by hand or with a spatula) and put them into a freezer bag and keep frozen until ready to use. To use, remove from the freezer and fry while still frozen. You can either deep fry them or shallow fry them in a frying pan until golden on both sides.

My sweetie can't eat popcorn so we don't make it any more, but a long time ago I experimented with ways to salt air-popped popcorn without adding oil or butter. What ended up working pretty well was a solution of water and salt, sprayed on the hot popcorn with a VERY fine mist sprayer and a VERY light touch.

This is the same pot as at Sam's Club - the Sam's Club version is marketed as their "Member's Mark" house brand. I have one and it works well.

If I really need chicken stock, I use the Better Than Bullion Organic Reduced Sodium product, but I usually use water instead of stock these days.

I had the same problem (noodles breaking) - less soaking time did the trick too. For the wide noodles (about 1/2 inch) I pour boiling water on them and soak 15 minutes, with an initial stir and then every 5 minutes. Drain but don't rinse. I put them back in the bowl and toss with some peanut oil to get them coated before stir-frying. Makes them less likely to stick together and requires less tossing while cooking. I use a 10 minute soak for the thinner noodles (about 1/4 inch).

Hard for me to remember to take a picture before the food's gone! Tonight I played with the Sur La Table roasting pan and rack again, this time making a small boneless pork loin roast (about 2 lbs pre-cooked weight) with pan roasted carrots, celery and onion. I used the cooking method from New Best Recipes (CI) - roast at 300F until the inner temp reads 135F followed by a tented 10 minute rest. I tied the roast and browned it in the roasting pan, then sprinkled with salt, pepper and a seasoning blend that I like from Trader Joe's called 21 Seasonings Salute. The veggies were tossed in some olive oil with salt and pepper. The roast went on the rack with the veggies spread around and into the oven. Took about 50 minutes to reach 135F - pulled and tented the roast and boosted the oven to 425F for the ten minutes while the roast rested. The roast was great - juicy and tender - best I have ever done with pork loin. But the veggies were under done. 3 minutes in the microwave made them perfect. So next time I will pre-cook the veggies in the microwave for about 5 minutes and then into the roasting pan and I'll leave them at 300F while the roast rests.

I'm not sure I could really narrow it down to one, but I can tell you the three I reach for when researching most recipes: How To Cook Everything, Mark Bittman The New Best Recipes from Cook's Illustrated and believe it or not Martha Stewart's Cooking School

Further updates to the Chicken Roasting Saga: I found a small roasting pan in Tri-Ply from Sur La Table - their own brand. It's very nice and on sale for only $79.95 (larger one on sale for $99.95). Link to Sur La Table My only minor quible is that the bottom isn't flat - it has a raised indentation. I also picked up an adjustable V rack that fits the pan perfectly for $9.95. Last night I made roasted chicken and veggies again, but decided to try out the V rack. While it worked fine as a rack, the chicken is better on the Verictal Roaster. I varied the veggies a bit using celery root and parsnips in addition to the ususal carrot, celery, potato and onion.

Irish Moss could be used I guess, but as Richard has pointed out, it takes a lot of processing to get it to the point where it would be useful in a smoothie. It takes an extended boiling time to separate out the active ingredient (carrageenan) from the flakes and also to boil off the smell. Irish moss is usually pretty stinky as it is dried seaweed and usually smells exactly like what it is: dried seaweed. (I used to own a brewery and homebrew supply store so I am intimately familiar with Irish Moss - we used and sold a lot of it.) Rather than go through all the trouble, I'll just spoon in some xanthan gum!

The main flavor that comes from the stout will be roasted barley. If you have a homebrew supply store near you, go pick up 1/4 lb and have them grind it for you. Then steep it in hot water (like you're making tea) for 10 minutes or so. Filter through a coffee filter and use the liquid as you would stout in the recipe. (You could also use your coffee maker using the barley instead of coffee.) No homebrew store? Try a health food store or "natural foods market" and look for a "coffee alternative" made with roasted grains. Last resort: Espresso powder - a double dose. (Edited to add: While I think malted milk or malt products might taste good, stout doesn't taste like malt sugar, which is where the taste of malta, malted milk etc. comes from. So if you want the flavor of stout, malt is the wrong direction.)

To be fair to other readers, The E400 group is "natural gums" (Xanthan is E415, not E145). You could substitute other natural gums (Locust Bean Gum for example) but they are much harder to find locally. But they are all in the E400 list.

For me, the main reason is a low carb alternative to the ingredients "normally" used to hold a smoothie together and to give it "body" for lack of better description. Usually this is done with bananas. I love bananas but they are very high in carbs. In frozen desserts, it has the same function, but is more necessary than with a smoothie. And, as slkinsey correctly states, xanthan gum is a natural product, usually made from fermented corn.

Looks like the ratio worked for you (and the VitaMix) too!

Further update on the All-Clad Ultimate Chicken Roaster: Last night we tried the new pan and arm and while it worked much better than the first (defective) one we got, we decided the vertical roaster's chicken was slightly better and much easier to clean up. I do really like the roasting pan, and I really tried to love the whole setup, but it's going back. I'll look for a small roasting pan alternative in tri-ply. Meanwhile here's the rub I have settled on: 2 parts sea salt 1/2 part pepper 1 part onion powder 1 part garlic powder 1 part paprika

You calibrated your oven, but how about his? Maybe his is running way hotter than yours and he doesn't know it.

I'm sure you could. Most paella recipes have you cook the rice in the making of the paella itself. I use cooked rice (cold) like you'd do for fried rice. I mix about 3/4 cup of chicken broth with a pinch of saffron and about 1/8 tsp tumeric and set aside. Saute the sausages (oil or not depending how fatty they are) until they are well browned. Then I add in the onion, celery, , and red bell pepper and continue to saute until the onions are translucent - another 8 minutes or so. Next I stir in the rice, thawed peas and carrots and toss, then add the broth mixture. Continue to cook until the liquid is mostly absorbed then add the shrimp and chicken (chicken is pre-cooked). Stir for a few seconds and let the shrimp cook from the heat of the mixture until just pink/white - about 2 minutes.

I have bult up my Wusthof collection over the last few years and I finally needed all the large slots on my knife block. I discovered there was a small piece of wood inside one of the slots obstructing the slot. I called Wusthof last Friday and they sent a replacement which arrived this Friday. No hassles, no proof of purchase required, simply excellent customer service.

I had some great cookies the other day that I was sure had small bits of crunchy toffee (like a Heath bar) in them. Turns out it was rice krispies. I am going to have to experiment!

Well BBQ sauce is really obvious (I used to make my own but Bullseye is so close to what I used to make that I just use that). I also like fruit sauces with pork - apricot especially.

Paella with shrimp, spicy sausage, rice, red pepper, celery, carrots, peas, onion and sun-dried tomatoes.