Anna N

Good morning. The sun hasn’t shown his face yet and from the puddles I see all around I am guessing it rained overnight. Seems a little cooler today which I am thankful for. I usually shun anything sweet for breakfast but the Sicilian lemon marmalade I found at HomeSense was calling out to me today. It is quite delightful. Makes me wish I could get hold of the lemons themselves. I had a very odd thought as I went to sleep last night. At the bargain place yesterday I bought some espresso-flavoured Kit Kat bars and I wondered if one could melt these over a piece of toast. It was my idea of a riff on the French pain au chocolat. Quite obviously my brain was somewhat disordered since it would be very hard to melt anything but the thin layer of chocolate on the bar. Still think I might be onto something — I’m just not sure what it is.

I have tried making sauerkraut on a number of occasions without a great deal of success. I am also one of those people who is just anal about food safety and never trust my own instincts. Best I should just buy it.

Not that I often trust Cooks Illustrated no matter what they’re testing, but I think sauerkraut is one of those things that very few people would agree on what is “good” sauerkraut. It is an ingredient that whether commercially canned or homemade is all over the place flavour-wise.

Down south for sure. Here? Most unlikely. There are some days you can’t even buy chicken thighs.

This was in a jar. Not that that should be a huge factor. I just think this is crummy sauerkraut.

Definitely the best kind!

Last night I happened to mention to Kerry just in passing that it was the first day since we arrived on the Island that one or both of us hadn’t been inside a grocery store! I knew it couldn’t last. Today when I thought she had already started work in the clinic she texted me from the grocery store to ask me what was on the list. Not that that has any relationship to what will be purchased. I see cookies and pimento cheese in our future! I did ask for the whole grain mustard. And just for the sake of completeness this is the other gift box that Kerry’s student brought up. In his business he partners with other artisans and puts together gift boxes similar to this. The wrap on the chocolate bar is by a local artist in the Georgian Bay area. You might have seen it before on eG when the business belonged to someone else.

To be honest I never looked. Around here the one who cooks is not the one who does the cleanup (usually) so I’ll wait for Kerry to respond. I suspect not because she did ask me if I wanted to save the chicken fat.

What part of, “I need a stiff G&T are you not getting?“😧

That sounds like a great plan. Thank you. The juniper berries might pose a challenge but I suppose we could have a good stiff G&T alongside. 😂

Good morning. Yet another sunny morning on Manitoulin Island although word is that it’s going to become uncomfortably hot and humid later today. I just wanted to comment on yesterday evening’s side dish of corn and bok choy. The protein choice was a no-brainer since I was portioning and repackaging the chicken thighs we bought at Costco when we were in Sudbury. And the cooking method was also a no brainer – – 425°F on steam bake function in the CSO for 30 to 45 minutes. I do try my best not to waste food and so I knew that there were 2 cobs of corn and 4 baby bok choy that were not going to be good for very much longer. I could not recall ever seeing these two vegetables combined so I decided to Google the combination. Sure enough Food & Wine offered a recipe that was fast, easy and did not require any ingredients that were not readily available to meet here in the condo. The corn was caramelized in some garlic infused oil, the bok choy leaves were separated and added and then the whole was seasoned with a tablespoon of fish sauce (fortunately we had a bottle of Red Boat in the house). The dish was finished with a squeeze of lime juice. For such a simple dish I thought it was really tasty and would certainly do it again should I ever find myself with fresh corn and baby bok choy at the same time.😯 To me it was one of those serendipitous discoveries that can help resuscitate a flagging cooking mojo. Breakfast had great potential — Max Burt’s own pastrami, mustard and sauerkraut on toasted rye bread. But the store-bought, no name brand sauerkraut was insipid. I am sure I have had raw cabbage that has more of a bite to it and more flavour than this. But it did bring to mind a dish I had in a Bavarian restaurant many, many years ago which I have never been able to duplicate. It was a meatless casserole of very flavourful sauerkraut. Damned if I can remember much more about it than that but it turned my late husband from a sauerkraut hater to a sauerkraut tolerator. So perhaps I should be trying to decide what I can do to the rest of this jar. Any ideas?

One of two lovely gifts that Kerry’s student brought yesterday.

Not that I’m saying there is anything wrong with your other offerings but I would be wolfing down these.

Leftover salad, leftover steaks and freshly made chunky ginger-miso-carrot dressing.

😂 This is one of the recipes I have marked as a must try in the Tuesday night book. Just the name alone appeals to me.

Trust me it was a compliment. Your food always looks appetizing.

Good morning. Once again a sunny and slightly cool morning here in North Eastern Manitoulin Island. Breakfast was something a little different this morning. Based loosely, very loosely, on the recipe for Pastrami Scrambled Eggs from Shaya. @blue_dolphin must take sole responsibility for the hole in my bank account made by the purchase of this book. I swear she could make shoe leather look inviting.

I seem to recall that Harold McGee tackled this process quite some time back. Would be interested to know if anyone has adopted it and what the results were in terms of shelf life of fruits and vegetables.

I wouldn’t say it has been debunked totally. Samin Nosrat was the first chef I came across who suggested that just spreading out the blanched vegetables on a sheet pan worked equally wellp. Daniel Patterson says, “Except for a few leafy greens in a noted few circumstances, don’t cool anything by plunging it into ice water, cool by spreading out on a plate or a sheet tray. Yes, do this even with asparagus, which will stay vibrant green, contrary to popular belief.“ He then goes on to explain about what happens to cell walls when vegetables are heated and then plunged into ice water. He claims this tends to make them slimy as they absorb the ice water into the cells. He goes on to say, “When allowed to cool at room temperature, the residual heat on the outside of the vegetable evaporates the excess water, and they cool down drier and not slimy.” I started using the sheet tray method after reading Nosrat’s book. As to when to use this method I think depends very much on time available and what you intend to do with the vegetables afterwards. My experience, like yours, extends only to being less of a nuisance than having to set up an ice bath. I shall be more attentive to the end result in the future.

Sooner or later I knew somebody would twig on to this.😂

It is a decidedly “cheffy” book given that some of the ingredients are beyond the reach of many of us either because of cost or availability. And cooking vegetables in actual sea water is a deal breaker unless you live on an ocean coastline. Even then you need a boat to get out far from shore to gather that less polluted sea water. But I knew perfectly well when I bought it that it was not a practical recipe book. He is the second chef I know of (there must be more) who debunks the idea that all blanched vegetables should be shocked in an ice bath. I just find that an interesting take on a “well known fact”. There is more than a little Thomas Keller perfectionism in Daniel Patterson which extends even to the napkins used to clean any spills on plates before service. I like that even though such perfectionism is out of reach of ordinary mortals. No regrets whatever about purchasing the book.

It does indeed make an interesting read and I have no regrets buying it but, as I suspected, I will not be cooking from it.

I was doing just fine without any more food until Kerry insisted on making herself a sandwich and I could smell the bacon. So here is my sandwich: white toast with leftover chuck eye steak, sliced Campari tomatoes and Kewpie mayo.

Breakfast? Sort of. I wanted to taste both the roasted onions and the tomato jam and this seemed like the best way to do it.

Ha ha. I misunderstood you. I thought you were talking about the books I actually did buy. I am so over the Galloping Gourmet.🙁