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JAZ

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Everything posted by JAZ

  1. It seems like this would work with dessert empanadas as well, depending on the filling.
  2. When I ran About.com's Cooking for Two site, I came up with quite a few small batch desserts, but unfortunately, most of them got lost when Dot Dash bought About and changed it to the Spruce Eats. I have a few in my files that I can rewrite for Recipe Gullet (Dot Dash owns everything I posted there), but here are a couple links to what's left: Peach crisp for two (ignore the photo -- they switched mine for a stock photo, which looks nothing like the actual dish) Small batch lemon curd Small batch pie crust (this makes either a single or double crust for a 6-inch pie pan) I had recipes that used the lemon curd and pie crust, but they've been deleted -- oh well! I also had a handful of dessert recipes in my Instant Pot for Two cookbook, a couple of which are posted on the Instant Pot site. Here are links to those: Mini chocolate marble cheesecakes Lemon mousse The lemon mousse uses curd made in the Instant Pot, but if you don't have one, you can follow the directions for the lemon curd above and use it to make the mousse; both recipes make the same volume of curd.
  3. Harold McGee wrote about off flavors and odors in white peppercorns quite a while ago. From the article: "It turns out that the off-flavors develop during the fermentation. Pepper is grown and white pepper produced in the tropics, and thanks to the heat and the stagnant fermentation water, microbes flourish that break down peppercorn flesh to variations on the molecule indole and other compounds that smell rotten, fecal, cheesy, and chemical. The chemists showed that if the peppercorns are kept in constantly flowing water for just a few days, the fleshy layer can be removed with little or no development of off-flavors." Harold McGee: Strange flavors in white pepper
  4. My aunt (from Butte) always made this for family functions, but I thought it was her own invention. I never tried it because back then I didn't like sweet potatoes.
  5. My mother used it all the time (she was also from Montana) -- I remember her using it most often on turkey sandwiches and fish, but I'm sure she used it in other applications as well. I don't use it often, but I do like a bit in chicken salad, along with mayonnaise. I don't have a recipe written down, but I would say I use a couple teaspoons of Durkee to 1/4 cup of mayonnaise.
  6. JAZ

    Sheetpan Meals

    One of the easiest and best dishes in my sheet pan book was Italian sausages with grapes and shallots, similar to your recipe but flavored a bit differently. Sausages are a good choice for sheet pans.
  7. JAZ

    Sheetpan Meals

    Oh yes. Back when Ninja's Digital Air Fry Oven came out, the company asked me to write a cookbook for it. Although it's called an air fry oven, it turned out that Ninja wanted all my recipes to be for the sheet pan that came with the oven, and they were mostly supposed to be one-pan meals (with some appetizer and dessert recipes as well). It was challenging, to say the least. I found that it was not difficult to get two main ingredients that cooked at about the same time -- salmon and asparagus, chicken thighs and potatoes, snow peas and shrimp -- it was much more difficult to get a protein, vegetable and starch that could all cook together. Fortunately for me, my editor considered two out of three to be a "complete meal" and also accepted things like sheet pan pizza and stuffed peppers. And I was allowed to cook meals in stages as well, which helped. I think, considering the constraints, I did pretty well, but I really felt like I was jumping through hoops.
  8. JAZ

    Chili con Carne

    @SLB@blue_dolphin-- and anyone else who's interested -- I've copied my recipe into Recipe Gullet here: Chili Con Carne for Two.
  9. This is from my cookbook All in One Dutch Oven Cookbook for Two, which was published a few years back. Since I wrote the recipe, I've adapted a technique from Serious Eats for searing the beef. Rather than cube it before browning, I cut the beef into slices about 3/4 inch thick and sear the slices, then cube it after browning. It's easier to get a good sear on the two sides, and that provides enough fond and Maillard browning to flavor the chili. You can also do the actual cooking in a pressure cooker or multi-cooker; it takes about 25 minutes or so. Makes 2 generous servings 1 pound beef shoulder (chuck), cut into 3/4-inch cubes and trimmed of as much fat as possible Kosher salt 2 – 3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil 1 medium onion, sliced 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoons ancho chile powder 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper 1/2 cup mild beer 1-1/2 cups low-sodium beef or chicken stock 1/4 cup tomato sauce 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, minced, plus 2 teaspoons adobo sauce Liberally salt the beef cubes. Place the Dutch oven over medium heat. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pot and heat until the oil shimmers and flows like water. Add half the beef cubes in a single layer and cook for 2 to 3 minutes without stirring, until the first side is browned. Turn and brown at least one other side of the cubes. Remove the beef to a plate. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, for 4 to 6 minutes, or until browned slightly. Stir in the ancho chile powder, cumin, oregano and black pepper and cook for a minute or so, until the spices become fragrant. Pour in the beer and bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Reduce by about half, then add the beef stock, tomato sauce, minced chipotle and adobo sauce. Add the seared and raw beef and stir to coat. Bring the liquid to a simmer. Cover the Dutch oven and turn the heat to medium low to maintain a simmer. Cook for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 45 minutes, check a piece of beef. The beef should be tender enough to cut with a fork; if not, continue to cook for another 15 to 20 minutes. When the beef is tender, remove the lid and let cool for 15 minutes or so to let any fat rise to the surface. Spoon or blot it off. Bring the chili back to a simmer to reduce the sauce slightly, until it’s the consistency of gravy. Serve with chopped onions, grated cheese or sour cream, if desired.
  10. JAZ

    Chili con Carne

    I'd be happy to, if anyone is interested.
  11. We used to teach a 3-day "Kitchen Basics" class for beginners in which we always included a lesson on "salting to taste." I'd make a pretty basic asparagus soup, but use water instead of stock and no salt. We'd give each student a bowl of soup, plus a little bowl of salt. We'd have them taste it plain first, and virtually no one liked it. We'd talk about how the asparagus was sort of bitter, and the wine was too assertive, and that the soup just seemed unbalanced. Then they'd add a small pinch of salt and taste again, then keep going until they liked the taste. Over the years we taught the class, it was striking just how similar most students' taste was -- some would add a little more or less salt, but everyone was pretty close. At the end, I'd offer them the option of adding a very small pinch of MSG (Ac'cent) to see what that changed. Almost everyone agreed that it helped -- adding flavor and a richer mouthfeel. It's interesting to me how salt and umami elements seem to enhance each other, which is why I think salty elements that also include some glutamates -- like soy or fish sauce, or aged cheese -- are often more effective seasonings than plain salt.
  12. If they're big enough in diameter, I peel them and slice thin (I use a mandoline). Then I blanch them until barely tender and use them in a gratin with a cream sauce and topped with panko, like I would for a potato gratin.
  13. Yes, substitute the same amount total of paprika and cayenne if using Espelette -- so 1 3/4 teaspoons.
  14. In Wine Enthusiast, there's an article with a few non-alcoholic cocktail recipes gathered from bartenders: 4 Nonalcoholic Cocktails Perfect for Summer. While they all require purchased non-alcoholic beverages and a couple require making additional ingredients, they seem interesting. (Side note: the author is long-time eG member alacarte.)
  15. You can get chicken skin that's kinda crisp if you run it under the broiler after pressure cooking (that is, sear it, then pressure cook, then broil). I've used that technique in past books, and it's not a bad compromise. For this book, the editor didn't want to require any cooking outside the Instant Pot, so I couldn't use it. As Nancy mentioned, I didn't originally call for using bone-in, skin on thighs, but they wanted to use the recipe for the cover photo so asked me to change it. I wish now I'd argued against it, because it really only made the recipe more complicated. My compromise was to add the "even easier" note and hope that people would make that version. It's not "sexy" but is quite good and has an excellent reward to effort ratio. Oh well. (Now you know what authors go through; maybe if I was Ina Garten I'd have more control!)
  16. Yes -- no problem opening the doors. There are a few inches from the wall; we positioned it that way both for the door and also so we can store a broom between the fridge and the wall.
  17. Before we remodeled our kitchen, we spent a few days with Dave's brother and sister-in-law, who had recently remodeled theirs. They had a counter-depth fridge (Sub-Zero) in the kitchen, but a regular depth Frigidaire in the pantry, and much preferred the Frigidaire. We found the same model on sale so we went with that. But the placement of the fridge is such that it doesn't seem too awkward (to me at least) that it sticks out. The "wall" between the counter and fridge is a full sheet of our cabinet material and the shelf above the fridge is the same material (we both hate cabinets above the fridge). Our cabinets along that wall are actually less deep than standard cabinets; our kitchen is on the small side, so we went with cabinets designed for a bathroom. That gave us more space between those cabinets and our peninsula, but meant that the fridge sticks out even more.
  18. Sorry for the failure! I think the half-and-half may have played a role -- as I understand it, the fat in the cream helps to coat the starch molecules so they don't get so gummy. But from the photo, it seems that you smashed the potatoes into smaller pieces than I do, and than I intended in my instructions. I probably should have been more clear, but I what I meant is that they should just be lightly crushed into chunks. Maybe the problem is the recipe title -- "smashed" seems to indicate more, well, smashing, than I do. Other potato types could certainly stand in -- I like using reds because they don't need peeling, but Yukon golds could be worked more without getting the gluey texture.
  19. Right -- just break the dried noodles up and add them so they cook with all the other ingredients.
  20. Sorry that wasn't clear in the lasagna recipe. I used the regular lasagna noodles that you're supposed to boil first -- they stand up to the cooking time. And where we live (not sure of the nomenclature elsewhere), petit tenders or mock tenders are slices one of the muscles that makes up the chuck. They're nice for pressure cooking because like any chuck or shoulder cut, they become more tender upon cooking and don't dry out. Since they're cut from one muscle, you don't end up with a lot of fat and sinew to dispose of after cooking. Here's a little more information: https://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/cuts/cut/2452/chuck-tender-steak. I'm sure Dave will weigh in if I got anything wrong.
  21. Just to be clear, not all the recipes can be done in 30 minutes, and some require more ingredients. The premise of the book was that there are several ways to make it easier and faster to cook in the Instant Pot or other multi-cooker, and we tried to take advantage of all of them. So any given recipe will hit at least one of several categories -- quick prep (5 minutes or less); 5 ingredients or fewer; under 30 minutes; or "one-pot" -- where you get a complete meal using only the Instant Pot. Some hit more than one category, but all are pretty easy, and I don't think any require more than 10 ingredients. But thanks, Nancy, for starting the topic, and if anyone has questions, I'll try to answer them.
  22. I make that recipe often for holiday dinners, and have found that it refrigerates very well. Since the potatoes are simmered in cream, they don't discolor. Just take it out of the fridge ahead of time, or add 10-12 minutes cooking time if it's still cold when it goes in the oven.
  23. We have made a version of pommes Anna using half sweet potatoes (the usual orange ones) and Yukon golds, and have not noticed that the potatoes get mushy, so maybe it is the liquid. I don't know what the answer would be in a gratin, though.
  24. I wonder if a light dredge in a 50/50 combination of AP flour and rice flour might help retain the crispness of the skin. We use that combination with fried chicken (as well as onion rings and artichoke hearts), and while the texture is not that of just-roasted crisp chicken skin, it does stay quite crunchy, even when refrigerated overnight.
  25. Some years back, I needed a few non-alcoholic cocktail recipes for an event, and came up with these: The Faux Margarita 1-1/4 oz chipotle orange syrup (recipe below) 2 oz lime juice 1/4 oz grapefruit juice 1 oz water Shake over ice and strain into chilled, salt-rimmed glass. Or pour over ice if desired. Chipotle orange syrup Bring 2 cups water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add 1 dried chipotle pepper and 2 strips orange peel. Cover and let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes (liquid should be slightly spicy but not overtly hot). Strain out the pepper and orange and add ¾ cup sugar. Bring back to a boil and stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let cool. Twisted Mojito 1-1/2 oz jalapeno mint syrup (recipe below) 2 oz lime juice 3 oz club soda or seltzer Shake the syrup and lime juice over ice. Pour into an ice-filled hurricane or tall glass and top with club soda. Jalapeno Mint Syrup Bring 2 cups water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add 2-3 sliced jalapeno peppers and leaves from one small bunch mint. Cover and let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes (liquid should be slightly spicy but not overtly hot). Strain out the peppers and mint and add 1 cup sugar. Bring back to a boil and stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let cool. These days, when I want something tasty but non-alcoholic, I tend toward fresh citrus juice (orange and grapefruit are my favorites) with tonic water (I use Fever Tree) and a big splash of Angostura bitters. The bitters do contain alcohol, although you add so little, it's not much. If you can't have any alcohol at all, you can use Fee Brothers brand bitters, which as far as I know are non-alcoholic. Their Aromatic Old Fashion bitters is pretty close to Angostura. Also, unlike back then, today there are quite a few non-alcoholic "spirits" such as Seedlip and bottled or canned non-alcoholic cocktails like Curious Elixer and Kin Euphorics. I haven't tried any of these, but they get good reviews.
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