shain

Never heard of Orange Julius before, seems mostly similar.

I love fruit milks, I had thin milk based shakes many times but only really "discovered" their potential in Taiwan. Amazing papaya milk, melon milk, weird but memorable orange milk, and also strawberry milk. And for some reason asparagus juice...

LOL. I do hope I'm familiar with all my cousins.

I promise you that it's not a saucy dish. There's a lot of tomatoes, but most are not made into a sauce, they remain intact. If you make it and think that you have too much, you can use the extra to top poached eggs (I'll do that tomorrow, made a batch of sauce but only served two dishes).

I often make this dish for supper, where 100g per person is too much for us, as we also have a salad and often some fruit for dessert. If we have it for dinner, which during weekends we prefer to have at lunch time, I'll go with 100 per serving. Note that the picture is half a serving, we always have seconds.

One of my favorite pasta dishes, and a really simple one to make. ~5 serving (you know how much pasta you can eat ). 400g rigatoni, or penne (or whatever pasta you want) 1 tbsp butter or olive oil 1 medium onion, diced (~1cm) or thinly sliced ~ 300g ripe saucing tomatoes (2 large) ~ 450g cherry tomatoes, halved ~ 80ml cream (or twice that amount of half-fat cream) dried chili to taste salt to taste black pepper 1/5 cup vodka (optional) To serve: Plenty of chopped chives Grated Parmesan cheese, around 30g A good wine for drinking Arrange the cherry tomatoes in a wide shallow pot or a wide pan, cut side up. Place over high heat and cook until blistered, but not charred. Set aside. Heat butter/oil and saute the onion until lightly golden (I do so in the same pot). Blend together the cooking tomatoes (not the blistered ones!) and the garlic. Add to the onion. Cook over low heat, uncovered for apx 15 minutes until thickened. Add the blistered tomatoes, the cream, vodka (if using) and chili flakes. Cook the pasta shy of al dente, drain but keep some of the water. Add to the sauce and cook, adding cooking water as needed, until al dente. This takes a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. For serving, add plenty of chives and Parmesan . Also great with soft boiled eggs and a crisp warm bread.

Rigatoni in rose sauce with blistered tomatoes, onion, lots of chives, Parmesan, a little vodka and garlic. This is one of my favorite pasta recpies, I've been making it for years. Not heavy on the cream, the onion and chives complement the taste, and the cherry tomatoes add texture and freshness. Served with semi-dry rose wine (pairs well, as the names suggests) and a simple vegetable salad. Edited to add recipe:

Had some mediocre corn, so I made it into patties with cheese and spring onions. Served with sour cream and veggies.

That's why I like writing down recipes after initaly trying them. The first time I make something it will always require adjustments and thought, adapting to my tools, ingredients, taste and techniques. Iike you, I'd also rarely stick to a recipe (only for dishes and cuisines I'm not familiar with). In my own notes, I know exactly what is medium onion, how heaped is a teaspoon, what's low heat, and what's a pinch. This makes cooking the recipe the second time much less intensive.

They are awesome in cabbage based salads. I also used the wasabi ones along with pickled ginger in a slaw of kohlrabi and raddish.

Still catching up with posting. More of the noodle salad that I made the evening before, this time I changed up the vegetables a bit - charring the peppers and chilies (like when making a salsa), adding tomatoes, more mint and crisp fried peas (bought). Cold rice noodles with peanut sauce (includes soy sauce, garlic, lime zest and juice, fish sauce, dark sugar), sweet peppers, chilies, cucumbers, tomatoes, spring onions, basil, mint, peanuts, soft boiled eggs.

Georgian goodies. An Adjaruli khachapuri and bread of the same dough, which I froze a couple of weeks ago. The khachapuri was buttered and baked until well browned and crisp, then topped with an egg yolk, to be mixed into the cheese before eating. Pkhali (vegetable and walnuts spread with spices such as garlic coriander, cumin, fenugreek and vinegar) - spinach & beetroot. Roasted portobello filled with ricotta and walnuts, some herbs.

I cook them and wash well (best in a bowl, rather than under a stream). If they are not over cooked they won't stick much. I have the sauce ready ahead, and mix it soon after draining. Same method for wheat pasta/noodles. I only ever add oil to pasta intended for soup, where it is likely to be sitting for a while on its own.

Cold rice noodles with peanut sauce (includes soy sauce, garlic, lime zest and juice, fish sauce, dark sugar), sweet peppers, chilies, cucumbers, spring onions, basil, mint, peanuts, soft boiled eggs.

I have little experience with ice cream making, but I tend to agree alcohol is not the ideal way to soften it. I do however like making and eating granita, and there I do like a small amount of alcohol, precisely because I want it to melt in the mouth faster (which is not what I want from ice cream). Also, I'm not usually a fan of the flavor of alcohol in dairy ice cream.

I'm behind on posting Had family for dinner. Grilled meats cooked by my brother (Romanian style kebabs and chicken breast). Lentil salad with Tunisian flavors - pickled lemon, olives, chili, garlic, paprika, cumin, parsley, lemon, olive oil. Fire roasted eggplants with tahini, tomatoes, chilies, silan, mint. Crispy potatoes, spice mix includes paprika, cumin, turmeric, garlic, nutritional yest, chili. Some breadcrumbs added for extra crispness Vegetable salad, flatbreads, tahini sauce, beer, pickles and hot sauces. Dessert was chocolate sponge cake with mashed banana & chocolate chip whipped cream (whipped cream mixed with bananas and banana extract). Banana slices.

Covering them might help, but the cooking time might end up short enough for this to have little effect. 2 tsp or so, it shouldn't be too thin.

Pasta al forno with tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, lots of garlic. Baked until crisp. Salad of lima beans, green beans, arugula, roasted peppers, vinaigrette, grated eggs. Recipe for baked pasta:

This is a recipe Iv'e been making for years, at least once per summer. It's quick to make, and I often divide into two pans, and refrigerate them, to be baked as a quick weekday dinner. 500g fusilli pasta 250g dry mozzarella cheese - diced (apx 1cm sized cubes) 40-100g cream (full fat, or a larger amount of half and half) - I usually go with 40g, but we tend to prefer things not overly rich 4 large tomatoes (or 6 medium ones), preferably drier varieties, such as Roma tomatoes - cut into stripes 8-9 minced garlic cloves - minced apx 35g basil - chopped + more for serving optional: 1-2 tsp nutritional yeast plenty of pepper salt to taste, 1-2 tsp (I'm a salt lover and often use 2, but it also depends on the saltiness of the cooking water) Cook the pasta a little shy of al dente. Drain well, let cool a bit. Place in a large bowl, mix in remaining ingredients. Can be refrigerated at this point. Place the entire amount or half of it in a shallow casserole dish that will contain the pasta so that it is not too tall - you want plenty of surface area. Bake under a low broiler (~220-230 deg C) for apx. 40-50 minutes until the top browns very deeply and the pasta is very crisp. Scatter some more basil. Serve immediately.

Lemon-coconut-mint granita with a touch of rum.

Toasted sandwich with scallion omelette, cheddar cheese, chili, sesame oil, five spice, hoisin.

While I haven't tried making scallion pancakes yet, I did make laminated parathas and fatayer, which are similar. My tips: Add some water to the roux, it will steam and help the layers separate as well as adding moisture which will improve the dough itself. Same idea as applies to the use of butter in laminated pastries. Griddle twice, first time on a lightly oiled surface, over high heat, this will help layer separation and dough texture. Don't try to color or crisp the dough, just make sure it's baked through. Then let the breads rest until ready to serve, at which time griddle them again over medium heat with some oil, until crisp. Similar concept as applies to french fries, and one I use for almost all breads I bake, as well as to pastries I want to be crisp, such as puff pastry and even muffins.

Take away lunch from a restaurant that specializes in making their own tofu and soy products. Karaage. A sort of mala / mapo dofu, where they used soft tofu cubes along with scrambled pan fried firm tofu and tiny zucchini cubes. With Japanese style rice. Not ma nor la (luckily, we ere eating at home, where chili oil is available). It was quite tasty, with decent use of bean paste and armoatics. Both types of tofu where really nice. Ramen with vegetables tofu, and abura-age. Broth made of miso, fresh soy milk and sesame oil. Interesting, as I never had soy milk used as a soup/sauce base. The food was quite nice, if a bit light on the seasoning. Nothing that couldn't be fixed with some chili oil, salt and MSG. The tofu very good, which is sadly rare in Israeli restaurants. Enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Cold noodles (actually pasta cooked in alkaline water), fire roasted eggplants with chili oil. Fish fragrant sauce with ginger, garlic, fermented bean paste, sesame oil, black vinegar, some soy sauce and hoisin for sweetness, msg, chili, sesame oil (the sauce is the bottom of the bowl, to be mixed). Cucumbers and scallions. And an egg.

Shakshuka from previously frozen sauce. Half a store bought simit.