GG Mora

This, and many variations on the theme. Last night was masses of spicy young mesclun with a few toasted pine nuts, a few crumbles of gorgonzola, some not-too-crispy thick-cut Vermont bacon chunky bits, small sections of garlic scape quickly shown the hot bacon fat...all tossed together with a modicum of balsamic vinegar and light olive oil, fleur de sel and very coarsely ground black pepper. Poached egg on top. The best part, IMO, is the runny egg yolk distributed throughout the salad. Fresh greens from the garden demand a philosophy entirely different from that applied to store-bought greens (at least store-bought greens in their Vermont manifestation). Through the winter, I'll mix up a light vinaigrette with garlic and mustard, sometimes a splash of fish sauce. Summer greens are so delicate, anything more than a sprinkling of this and that would opress them. Another favorite salad is mache & roasted beets & avocado with shallot vinaigrette (ala André Soltner). Mache, being a somewhat sturdier green, seems to be the exception to the dress-it-lightly rule. The Salad Patch: Edited to add image.

Last night I cadged together this salad, which highlighted the scapes nicely: Masses of young spicy mesclun from the garden Toasted pine nuts Crumbled gorgonzola Vermont bacon cut into 1/2-inch pieces and slow-fried until lightly brown and tender-crisp, drained on paper toweling 1-inch pieces of garlic scape, tossed quickly in the hot bacon fat & then drained on paper toweling All of the above tossed together with light OO, balsamic vinegar, fleur de sel and very coarsely ground black pepper. Served mounded on a plate with a poached egg on top. The scapes were still crunchy and retained their garlicky bite. Bacon, cheese and pine nuts in small enough quantities to not overwhelm. Runny egg yolk mixed throughout. We could have licked the plates clean, it was so good.

The flower stalk of the garlic plant. Many (most?) garlic growers remove the flower stalk before the bud opens, allowing the plant to concentrate its energy in the bulb. This page has quite a few good photos. Grilling mellowed their mild bite and left them sweet and with a texture akin to young asparagus.

Am I the only one standing around kicking the dirt and scanning the horizon for the next blogger? Hm-de-dmmm-de-deeee. Thanks, MJ, for the most fun I've had around eG in a long time. I'll be returning here repeatedly when I get some time to cook.

Yesterday was lop-off-the-scapes day in the garden. I've got a big bag of them (it would have been bigger, but I gave away a small bagful before I'd eaten any & discovered how GOOD they are). I trimmed off the buds, then coated the scapes with oil, sprinkled with S&P and grilled them about 3 minutes per side (sorry, no pics. Camera battery depleted after graduation exercises...). Holy. Them's good. I still have half a bag. What are some other ways to prepare them? Preferably something that doesn't mask or muddle the flavor. Grazie ahead of time.

:low, admiring whistle: Well, at least mine are starting to flower. Edited to add: :drool:

:full-blown temper tantrum: I WANT one.

Chocolate Chip Cookies 1-1/4 c (150g) all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 c (125g) unsalted butter, softened 6 T (75g) granulated sugar 6 T (75g) light brown sugar 1 vanilla bean 1 large egg 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp hot water 1 c (125g) walnut pieces, lightly toasted 1 c (175g) chocolate chips Preheat oven to 375°. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. Sift together flour and salt. Set aside. Cream butter. Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Using a sharp paring knife, split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape out the vanilla seeds and add them to the butter/sugar mixture. Add egg and beat for 2 minutes. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Stir into butter/sugar/egg mixture. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour in 2 or 3 batches. Blend in nuts and chocolate chips. Drop in small mounds onto baking sheet, spacing 3” apart. Bake until uniformly light brown, 10 - 12 minutes. Actually, I use a small scoop that makes a ball about the size of a jacks ball, then I flatten the ball with the bottom of a glass. Keywords: Cookie ( RG1078 )

Chocolate Chip Cookies 1-1/4 c (150g) all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 c (125g) unsalted butter, softened 6 T (75g) granulated sugar 6 T (75g) light brown sugar 1 vanilla bean 1 large egg 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp hot water 1 c (125g) walnut pieces, lightly toasted 1 c (175g) chocolate chips Preheat oven to 375°. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. Sift together flour and salt. Set aside. Cream butter. Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Using a sharp paring knife, split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape out the vanilla seeds and add them to the butter/sugar mixture. Add egg and beat for 2 minutes. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Stir into butter/sugar/egg mixture. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour in 2 or 3 batches. Blend in nuts and chocolate chips. Drop in small mounds onto baking sheet, spacing 3” apart. Bake until uniformly light brown, 10 - 12 minutes. Actually, I use a small scoop that makes a ball about the size of a jacks ball, then I flatten the ball with the bottom of a glass. Keywords: Cookie ( RG1078 )

I suggest tying a bell around his neck... There's an Aesop's Fable called "Belling the Cat" about, well, putting a bell around the cat's neck so (can't remember what) would hear it coming. As a child, I saw the title and thought it was a story about a cat named Belling. I keep meaning to name a cat "Belling", but they keep naming themselves, dammit. Back OT... I don't mind being talked to while I'm cooking. I encourage guests to crowd around (the other side of) the counter and get lively with the cook. What I can't stand are the children who think my being in the kitchen is an invitation to plop themselves down and play 20 questions with me. "When you cooked at the restaurant, did you make this all the time?" No, it was a French restaurant. We didn't serve chili there. "Why do you run the pepper under the faucet? Is that to make it not be so spicy?" I'm running the pepper under the faucet because I just dropped it on the floor and now I'm rinsing off the dog hair. "How would you describe the color green to a blind person?" What in God's name does this have to do with cooking?" "Nothing, I'm just asking. If the sky was purple one day would they think it was wierd?" Get out. GET OUT. I finally realized that if I let my iPod accompany me into the kitchen (with headphones, not those dainty earbuds that let you still hear what's going on around you) and turn it up really loud, I can just point to the headphones and shrug when I see the kids' mouths start to move.

Thank goodness we have no such aggressive invaders (well, aside from slugs). I don't actually put the holes in the bottom bottom but, rather, cut out triangles using a utility knife, close to the bottom of the sides.

Wanted to share this tomato flower pic: Tomato variety Black from Tula I've never seen anything like it. It's more like a dandelion or some kind of aster. Maybe a portent of things to come? Highly unusual flower = highly unusual tomato? Will report back, of course. Also, "dumpster" potatoes... Not much to look at, I know, just sharing another unorthodox method. Last year, my husband discovered some very healthy potato plants growing out of the compost. I'd heard that you could grow potatoes in a large bucket or pail, just adding dirt as the plant grew. So I cut holes in the bottom of a few trash barrels, transplanted the potato plants, and filled away. By the end of the season, each barrel of dumpster potatoes yielded nearly 10 lbs. This year I bought certified seed potato (Yukon Gold) and am trying it again. An organic farmer pal tells me you can actually use straw for fill as the plants grow; since the nutrients come from the roots at the base of the plant, the fill only serves to support the tubers and protect them from sunlight. I may give that a shot.

The sole Gateau Basque I sampled in France came from a patisserie (perhaps the patisserie?) in St. Etienne de Baigorry (slightly north and inland from St. Jean de Luz). It had no cherries; it was simply a buttery, eggy, vanilla-perfumed, very dense single layer cake, the inside of which was nearly like pudding for being so moist (the creme patissiere melds with the rest of the cake on baking). I was traveling with a friend who'd grown up in Biarritz, Bayonne and St. Etienne, and he wouldn't leave town without a cake from the local patisserie. We tucked the string-sealed pastry box in the trunk of our rental car and travelled north towards the Dordogne Valley; by the time we reached Armagnac and environs, the whole car was scented with Gateau Basque. We snacked on it over the next day or two. It was so rich, the walnuts and foie gras of the Perigord could barely hold a candle to it. Which is to say, it was utterly delicious. Edited to add: Welcome® to eGullet, aj5558.

Yes, I have both pulp and paste. Rasam sounds delicious and looks quite simple to make. But my black mustard seeds turned out to be kolanji, and what are the dals?

nightmare creature shurely--come on, it is important to my self-image. i think all the indian cooks reading this blog (of indian or other origin) should strategize recipes for ggmora based on her list of available spices. i mean, why should i do all the work in my blog? goddamned freeloaders! Yes, please. I wasn't dreaming about the amchoor powder. The black mustard seeds are actually not -- they're kalonji. I also have (commercial) garam masala, whole green cardamom and a bunch of other spices not specific to Indian cooking. Don't ask me to cook liver, though. I'm feeding children and, while they're fairly game, liver would be a distinct no-no.

Not only does he have the fastest growing food blog in history, he's got this auxiliary blog going on over on the Southwest forum. Mongo_Jones is so dreamy . MJ, you've got me inspired to cook up something spicy. I even have some ajwain, some asafoetida and, if I'm not dreaming, some amchoor powder and black mustard seed in the house (in addition to cumin, coriander, fenugreek, and turmeric). Now all I need is a little time.

That's Indian food to me. Or it was until I dined at an Indian restaurant in England and a coworker who lived in India for a few years persuaded me to try a biryani. Mmmmm. This has to be the fastest growing (eGullet) blog in history.

Hmmm...I get over through Shushan every once in a while. I'll have to check into this Flying Pigs Farm. Not too far afield from there is Moses' Farm in Eagle Bridge. They have mighty fine produce at their farm stand. Corn, tomatoes, peaches and melons are standouts. Not organic, however.

Curried Tomato-Buttermilk Soup. Don't really have a recipe, I just grind up some garlic and tomatoes, thin with buttermilk, and season with curry and S&P.

Cheeky.

Mmmmm, yeah. I made it on Wednesday night. Delicious, and ideal for a steamy summer night. I couldn't help diddling the recipe, though, and used some buttermilk I had on hand in the soup. And used diced red pepper instead of tomato in the "tartare". Does it still count?

Okay, I don't have the time to quote all the posts I need to quote, so: Mongo Jones, you do indeed have a long memory. I'm impressed. Andiesenji, cilantro pesto is delicious on grilled tuna, especially when shpritzed with fresh lime juice. Balmagowry, I myself was quite fond of the Choward's gum when I was younger. Really helped mask the smell of gin, pot and cigarettes when I was (hold your breath) about 14. I've found the gum recently, but they've chintzed on the packaging. They no longer spring for the silver foil overprinted with purple; now it's a crappy 2-color job with some dim "metallic" grey standing in for the foil. Jaymes, NulloModo, CompassRose – I love fruitcake and make one that is so good (I even candy my own citrus peel) it converts Previously Avowed Fruitcake Haters. Will you have me in your group? NB: I soak with bourbon.

Tilt. I do. I tuck cilantro seed into any spare inch of dirt in the garden. I can never have too much. ------------------ Peanut butter and tunafish sandwiches.

Stop it. Stop it. Please. You're killing me. I'll have to drive up to Hell's Depot this weekend just so I can pet one and dream. Sit beside it and fantasize. And then come home and kick the Weber.

The same is sometimes true of beautiful boneless rib-eye roasts. Last summer during their truck-load meat sale (yup, they have one every year), I noticed that my IGA had rib-eye roasts for $7.99/lb, while rib-eye steaks were $9.99. I bought two roasts and sliced them each down to 3 gorgeous steaks. As for chicken, I can't imagine why anyone would pay $3.99/lb. for boneless chicken breasts when you can get whole breast as low as $1.29/lb. (and I've even seen them in bulk packs on sale for $0.99/lb.) and bone them yourself in a heartbeat. Though I rarely use chicken breasts, since I prefer the flavor and fat of the thighs – which I buy in bulk for $0.79/lb. and bone myself.