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forever_young_ca

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Posts posted by forever_young_ca

  1. I have always done it breast side up, but there would be no harm in trying breast side down for the first bit of cooking. The breast would take on the lovely onion, lemon flavours. If you have access to meyer lemons I would highly recommend using them - as they are delicious

  2. I posted this on the "other" roast chicken discussion but apparently it was not in the right format, :wink: so here it is again:

    I have been making Ina Garten's "Jeffery's Roast Chicken" or "Engagement Chicken" for several months now.

    Here is the link to the receipe http://www.foodnetwo...cipe/index.html

    I find it is easy to prepare, and tastes fantastic. No brining, no fuss, no muss. I love lemon in anything, so this is perfect for me. I have done it with meyer lemons with even better results. I do find that it takes a bit longer than the recipe calls for, but maybe that is because the chicken is bigger than called for in the recipe and I like the skin very crispy and the onions very soft.

    I have served it for casual suppers, to rave reviews. During the first 39 years of marriage my husband never liked roast chicken - too tasteless and non descript for his taste. This roast chicken is now one of his favourite dishes. :rolleyes:

    It is always moist and delicious.

  3. I have been making Ina Garten's "Jeffery's Roast Chicken" or "Engagement Chicken" for several months now.

    Here is the link to the receipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/engagement-roast-chicken-recipe/index.html

    I find it is easy to prepare, and tastes fantastic. No brining, no fuss, no muss. I love lemon in anything, so this is perfect for me. I have done it with meyer lemons with even better results. I do find that it takes a bit longer than the recipe calls for, but maybe that is because I have a bigger chicken and I like the skin very crispy and the onions very soft.

    I have served it for casual suppers, to rave reviews. During the first 39 years of marriage my husband never liked roast chicken - too tasteless and non descript for his taste. This roast chicken is now one of his favourite dishes. :rolleyes:

  4. I always have a jar of sun dried tomatoes in my fridge and often buy the Costco brand. I take boneless chicken thighs (or breasts if you prefer), flatten slightly. Spread some goat cheese, chopped sd tomatoes, and basil on top of the chicken. Roll up and secure with a toothpick. Put in a baking pan, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake at 350 until cooked. It is an easy and tasty after work supper.

    I also add them to pasta sauce as well as a flavour booster to tomato sauce. They have a million uses.

    The Costco jar will have a best before date on the label. Just make sure that the tomatoes are covered in the oil and they will keep very well in the fridge after opened.

  5. I have used this for many years as well and never had a "grainy" problem. I don't use any particular brand, whatever I can get easily in the local grocery store. I do follow the recipe closely with little or no variation.

    I love this recipe. It is a very easy way to serve a great polenta without having to babysitting it when guests are coming over.

  6. I just use a king-size heating pad. I've tried all the other methods listed above but I keep going back to the heating pad.

    Mine is like this - I got it at Walgreen's for half price. (17.95) when my old one died after 20 years...

    It turns off automatically.

    What a great idea. Do you simply wrap all the plates in the heating pad and keep them nice and cosy? If you have 12 plates or so do you need to layer the heating pad every few plates to make sure they all get warm?

    How long does it take?

    I just wrap the entire stack - I set the stack half way on the end opposite the cord, bring the pad up over the top and tuck the end with the cord under - everything sets on a sheet of the non-slip shelf lining material but you could use a towel. I turn it on medium till the plates are warm and then turn it to low which keeps them just right. I actually have two pads because if I'm serving soup I also wrap the soup bowls.

    I generally set this up hours ahead of time so all I have to do is flip the switch when the time is right. I do set a timer to remind me to turn it on.

    I can see a second blanket being useful for platters and serving dishes. My good dishes have a gold rim, so can't go in the microwave. I will be trying this for Christmas dinner. I like the idea that you can set it up ahead of time and virtually forget about it. Thanks for the tip.

  7. I just use a king-size heating pad. I've tried all the other methods listed above but I keep going back to the heating pad.

    Mine is like this - I got it at Walgreen's for half price. (17.95) when my old one died after 20 years...

    It turns off automatically.

    What a great idea. Do you simply wrap all the plates in the heating pad and keep them nice and cosy? If you have 12 plates or so do you need to layer the heating pad every few plates to make sure they all get warm?

    How long does it take?

  8. I would start with strawberries and then branch out into what ever fruit takes your fancy.

    Is this recipe appropriate for a variety of fruit purees?

    I think that I would do the strawberry first if I were you and see what the base receipe is "supposed" to taste like, then I would branch out.

    I have succesfully substituted blackberries and raspberries for the strawberries. I see no reason why a peach puree would not work, as it is the custard base that is so fantastic. Peach and strawberries have about the same sweetness level, so I would use the recipe as is as simply use peaches.

    It is peach season here, so I think I will try it out myself! :raz:

  9. This http://www.epicuriou...ce-Cream-105139 is the best homemade ice cream I have every eaten. I made it last weekend to rave reviews and it is guaranteed to make you a culinary hero. It is the perfect balance of cream and not too "eggy".

    I make it exactly as is. I have a chest freezer so I keep my ice cream maker in it constantly so it is ready to go. The custard and strawberry puree I make the day before. While we are eating the main course I churn the ice cream for dessert. It turns out semi hard, just as I like it.

    I would start with strawberries and then branch out into what ever fruit takes your fancy.

  10. My husband and I dined at e two weeks ago. While it was an interesting experience, with all Las Vegas has to offer, I would not rush to go back. The food was beautifully presented and prepared well,but there was too much foam on several of the dishes. Also I felt some of the dishes were a bit disjointed - for instance one of the dessert dishes was a wonderful flan that was totally spoiled by having shaved ice put on top.

    What really put me off was the service. The front of house was very poor in explaining the process. We decided that we did not want to order the drinks that were paired with the meal; but would rather order wines by the glass. We let the front of house staff know this prior to entering the room. The server never did come and take our order and we were seated without any drink order in hand. We were late in getting started due to 2 couples coming 20 minutes after the start time. (Instead of starting on time we were told we had to wait for the other 4 people.) Once we were seated I felt I was on a treadmill to get all the courses finished in time. The food was coming fast and furious and it was not a relaxing dining experience. About the 4 course in we finally cornered a staff member and ordered some wine as we had been completely ignored up to this point in time.

    I have eaten at many Michelan 3 star restarautants as well as Noma and in my opinion e is not up to this standard.

  11. Thanks everyone for their suggestions. You really opened my eyes to possibilities. I did not know that almond milk was so inter changeable with milk.

    I think I have decided on poached pears (I do a great one) with a vegan ice cream instead of whipping cream. I will also make chocolate haystacks and hope they turn out with almond milk and oil instead of milk and butter.

  12. I had acid reflux. Burning of the esophagus constantly which worsened at night when I lay down to sleep. It is a painful thing to have. It was triggered by eating fatty foods, spicy foods, drinking red wine and being overweight.

    I lost 50 lbs of excess weight, the acid reflux is gone, and now I can eat and drink what I want. :biggrin:

  13. I made the Edna Lewis apple cake for Saturday night dessert. Abra is right - it is killer.

    I ended up making it in the late afternoon. I chickened out on the concept of making the batter, putting it in the fridge and baking it while we were eating the other courses. It was served at room temperature, with ice cream. Absolutely delicious.

    The leftovers were great for breakfast the next morning. :laugh:

    I will definately make this again. Next time I will try and serve it warm if time and oven space permits.

  14. Remember that the cake is supposed to cool down a bit before you make and pour the glaze. And this cake has a relatively long baking time, possibly more than an hour. I don't have any experience refrigerating the batter, but if it is cold when you put it in the oven it may take even longer, no?

    Yes, you are quite right. It will take a longer baking time, coming from cold. I have done this with chocolate lava cakes, but not any other type of cake. I was hoping to make it in the early afternoon, and have it ready to bake. I will add on a bit of baking time coming from the fridge. I didn't know how the eggs and flour would react to each other if they had to sit.

  15. I second the Edna Lewis recipe linked to above. It's killer.

    I am making this cake on Saturday night as the end to a casual dinner party. I would like to serve it warm, with ice cream.

    As I would like to do as much as possible before hand, do you think it would be possible to mix up the cake batter, refrigerate, and then bake it while we are eating our other courses, so it comes out warm?

    I am trying to get out of mixing the cake up last minute.

  16. When I had pullout shelves installed into my existing cabinets, I had the installer leave a gap between the bottom of the cupboard and the first slide out shelf. This gap is large enough to slide in large platters. It is a great way to store otherwise bulky items.

  17. Ina Garten in "Barefoot in Paris" has a receipe for Roast Lamb with White Beans. I have never done the lamb portion of the dish, but have made the white beans many, many times. My guests have always asked for the recipe. I can highly recommend it if you want a great bean dish that can be done ahead and reheated.

    PM me if you want the recipe.

  18. I did the lemon bars this weekend.

    I love making pastry and consider myself experienced. However, I found this crust a challenge. I refrigerated the crust overnight and it got too hard to roll easily, and had to be softened up a bit. However, then it got too soft very quickly. I found that I had to put it back into the fridge to harden up a bit a couple of times in the process. Once it was rolled and baked however, it was fabulous. My husband, who usually thinks that pastry is just something to hold the filling loved this. The other thing that I found is, that once the crust is baked it is very fragile.

    The filling is tasty with just the right jiggle consistency and sweetness. I did the meringue piping and the presentation was fabulous. It is a great excuse to get out the torch :laugh:

    Note - the receipe, oddly enough, does not give instructions on how to make the meringue. I simply used my standard recipe with icing sugar and cream of tartar with the left over 6 egg whites. However, I think that it is strange that a meringue receipe was not given in the book, in the interest of completeness. I am assuming this was an oversight or error.

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