Annie_H

Lamb❤️. Initially our Thanksgiving back-up but now have a turkey Red Beans and Dirty Rice Has never been much of a looker. RG pinto beans (I think). Rice and caviar lentils with a small chunk of duck paté for the 'dirty'. I thought the beans were a bit soupy but they usually are. Added the last chunk of barked pork to the beans. ---Extra dirty rice for breakfast.

We seem to be all set. I made my stocks last month. Do not need a veg stock this year. For years I made a wild mushroom and mixed grain/cornbread stuffing/dressing for the vegetarians/gluten-freebies. Though easy enough to make if need be. We needed no stress this year in case we take a road trip to visit my parents. We have been visiting in rotation. My sister from Miami and her husband are visiting now. My brother and family from Idaho were there last month. We were there a few months ago. Mother needs a turkey. I really do not care but the few years we went 'off script', even among friends, I always missed the turkey in retrospect. Mom and pop turn 93 and 92 this week. She has always had turkey and nothing will change that. ---my parents can no longer handle a houseful family reunion type gathering. Turkey in the freezer from ButcherBox. Lots of winter squash, root veggies, pomegranates and cranberries from Misfits. Garden herbs still fresh without a frost. If need be I will harvest and make the stuffing/dressing herb mirepoix early and freeze as a do-ahead. I saved a few Food and Wine Thanksgiving holiday magazines from the early 90's when I took over the menu. Family tradition now. And one or two new side dishes every year for yuck-yucks. Those few mags are filthy with post-its and even a grocery list tucked in. I'm obsessed with the NPR recipe going on for years that most find gross. Sour cream, horseradish, cranberry. Niana Totenbergs MIL's recipe I think. Mama Stanberg's cranberry relish. I make a triple batch and use it for months on sandwiches from the freezer in half pints. I buy sour cream once a year just for that. Misfits has cheese and butter now, VermontCreamery---and sour cream!, cottage cheese, etc. Stupid planting of horseradish in my garden among my blueberry plants as horseradish tends to take over. It seems fine as they may like each other so far after ten years. Next day Thanksgiving egg/potato stuffing/dressing hash for breakfast. Sliders for brunch on biscuits. Turkey/bean/greens soup for a crowd. Once a year is like no other. I like the classics. (not the 50's-60's introduction of marshmallow/jello crap that was introduced by advertising via magazines).

I do have avocado in the freezer, and eggs, but in this instance just the dumplings are frozen. We get a fresh veg box every other week. Always add a couple avocados. Prefer fresh. But when we needed an annual Costco run for tp etc, I ordered a bag of avocados that always ripen around the same time. I mash with lots of lime, then into 1/2 pint deli containers pressing a piece of saran on top before the lid. Learned much about the freezer last year when I finally could get a delivery date. From a restaurant supply. I even froze mirepoix. Taco bar. BoSaam pork from the freezer. Boston bib. No corn tortillas. Should have made fresh but ran out of time.

A quick go-to in the rotation. Always have miso, ginger, scallions, eggs, avocado, dumplings in the freezer---crisper drawer veg varies.

Editing as the first post lost a paragraph and photo did not fit the copy. Dyslexic brain function. A mini road trip to the Catskills we listened to the entire pod cast series. Really enjoyed the process. Good for him. I thought it was well produced with all the cast of characters. Patent pending and the insistence of licensing that bronze dyes be used instead of teflon. TJ's will give it a lower price point and has the experience and funding to go full throttle into production. Your dish above using Cascatelli looks amazing. Nice hold on the pesto in the folds. I've been a bronze dye convert for years. Microscopic sandpaper surface. Misfits has had a bronze dye brand for a few months now I've stocked up on. I will admit that the first 'cascatelli' release---I could not get basic good bronze dye spaghetti on the stove fast enough. His shape gave me shivers at first look. Visually not what I look for usually. The last memorable moment jumping on a food item---the NewYorker article about RanchoGordo. I've never been a 'club' food person. I was a bean club member within a hour. 11,000 members. 35,000 now on the wait list that he just cannot accommodate. A few dozen, maybe more, co-workers and friends, jumped as well. I do get pantry over-stock but such a great gift. ---most of my post deleted above. Apologies it makes no sense a bit. Re-posting is a time suck.

Up at 2 am, again, to check the freezer. Ever since the ButcherBox order came with the free turkey, I keep dreaming that it broke the shelf, rolled, and forced the freezer door open. As dreams go of course everything was completely thawed by weeks. I kicked farfalle out of the house years ago. Any shape with a pinch point needs babysitting. The trumpet shape I picked up from WholeFoods I just had for the second time in a soup. Cooking time says 7-8 minutes. Set timer for 5 and it was done. Cussed a little bit. 4min would have been better. Greens and pasta added to bowls just before serving. They did not really hold the trumpet shape. Next go I'll set the pasta bowl in another bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. I do like some of their shapes. And getting media attention via the new shape. Still out of the spaghetti and bucatini so must be busy. Good quality and NY HudsonValley made. Just not as sturdy as some other brands for soup.

I've never cared much for mile high toppings. Often wet and under cooked. When DH would teach my nieces and nephews pizza dough forming with Forkish or what ever recipe---always fun but they loaded up toppings. Fun teachings that often involved valuable knife skills---(not many in our families can cook at all). He would struggle with three four. pies. I had a half dozen out of the oven in a half hour. Too many topping choices are wet and under-cooked from a fresh dough start. Add 4-5 eggs for a super frittata. Potato crust. I lived on this shi+ts for two years in Rome. Thin and cheap on a student diet. Link similar ---https://www.romewise.com/pizza-in-rome.html

Endlessly surprised what a few slivered garlic cloves with sage leaves in a low and slow shallow olive oil bath makes a gem of a fried golden pair with ravioli. Lightly fried sage is heavenly.

Mixed household here of pizza preference. I'll go anywhere usually, even Neapolitan puffy crust. As long as they have decent salads and sides. Good quality ingredients. Not commercial cheap LMM motz. Too much dough and carbs. Pizza in Naples was not a favorite. DH is the bread baker. I handle 80% of day-to-day. He makes Forkish pizza dough but very rare due to time involved. (and he makes a mess). We have a favorite once a year. It has been a few years since I need to 'see' my purchased clams in person. Internet shipping no way. FairwayMarket would give a heads up via e-mail when a big fresh batch came in. (Fairway gone and bankrupt---bummer)

These are recent good ones. I recently, the past year, have been breaking off chunks of pecorino and zipping through my Blendtec twister jar. 3-4 seconds I get sandy pebbles. A few more seconds I get snow. (grating by hand is a drag). I zip a weeks worth. Mostly for popcorn. Fresh summer tomato slices with garlic heads roasted to concentrate and remove moisture. Caramelized garlic is so sweet.

I would not call it common but certainly not unusual. Motorino in Willamsburg had it on their menu early on. It is posted in one of the SeriousEats reviews. And why I initially went there. Napoli/neapolitan style pizza is not a favorite of mine. Off the regular menu now but might be in the 'daily pie' special. Very common in Rome. I lived in Rome 1984-85. On a student budget I lived on street pies, al taglio. Cut by the kilo. Fridays night a walk to Trestevere for wood fired knife and fork pies before the discoteca. We tried a few places but agreed on one we all liked because of customizing. Artichoke, olive, porcini, gorgonzola. Might have been Da Poeta but looks different and high end now inside. Same outside. Maybe new owner. A few more from my kitchen... Similar but never exactly the same. Bigger pic is brunch pizza with cracked eggs.

Thank you for making that a tiny pic. (Shudder) disgusting indeed That said, pizza preference is all over the place. Hence the enormity of ModernistPizza. We have given pizza parties for years and many years of family reunions. Both families drive/fly in from all over arriving at different times. It is a tradition that I make that first meal a pizza party. Both are all over the place in keto, celiac, vegan---etc. One sister is 'no night shade'. The 'blood type' diet. I always start with a few pies of our favorite, then take special requests. Artichoke, olive, cherry toms, prosciutto, 3 cheese, fresh basil at the service. Mandoline cardstock thin just around the edges over a very thin spread of pesto---just the edge. Small amount of sauce. Small amount of toppings. Sometimes a bit of reconstituted porcini drained. I stock everything above 24/7. Pizza night at home is about every other month. I'll make 5 or six while I'm at it. Have one or two and freeze the rest cut in half for lunches or a light quick dinner snack. Can't think of a vegetable or green leaf we don't like. (except green bell pepper---I use poblano). Non of it on our home pizza. Arugula is ok. Pizza parties I usually have a load of choices. All the peppers hot and sweet, fennel, red onion, yada yada. I draw the line at oddities like cream cheese, lox, capers, everything bagel seasoning. 2020 I ordered two big 5 pound cans from a restaurant supply. A good rinse in vinegar water and into the freezer---5-6 to a bag. Even better are similar sized frozen baby artichokes from our Italian market. TJ's has them but I'm not a TJ's shopper. Not convenient. They are so much better than the little tasteless jars in oil that are often chewy hard like bay leaves. The frozen go straight from freezer into the oven to thaw/roast or skillet to char/steam. Low and slow like dumplings.

I had to look that up. First link came up Ribollita "Da Delfina". Fried soup. A restaurant just outside of Florence. HERE Tuesday night braised boneless skinless chicken thighs with lots of veg became a planned chicken and Marcella bean chili last night. Quick pickled fennel and red onion. Gorgonzola.

That's nuts. I remember 12$ in Williamsburg. Maybe 2015-16?. Could have been earlier. I lived with-in walking distance. Quality became all over the place but still pretty great. The salads went downhill. I've never said "I just had the best salad ever"---now it is just a really good salad. Service got a bit lazy or not trained properly. Great simple lemony dressing but if a server is filling the side container they should shake the mother load first and not rest it on top of the salad greens taking it to the table. The dressing containers are filled ahead of time on a countertop where they are leaning on and chatting and not thinking at all. The crust is still good but I liked it better when it was a bit thinner---not the occasional NY bagel sized small pie. 8 inch puffers to 11 inch perfection...then the occasional blond soup in the middle undercooked. I've worked in so many restaurants from 15yrs old through university I am mostly kind. The salads back in the day at Motorino were legendary. Sounds silly about a salad. Big glass martini-ish flared straight sided bowls. A bit tame now and smaller. All the changes have put me on the 'meh' list, but for a lunch with house guests out of town it still is a good destination. We just prefer a low carb thin crust with quality ingredients. Roman style.

I should add that Palouse has a few times a year---buy two get one free. And free shipping. They always seem to have one deal around the BlackFriday scenario. I like RanchoGordo. I like Palouse for bulk beans and grain. And MountainRoseHerb for my spices.

I realize that. It is like orzo. A type of pasta. I should have 'pre-viewed' before 'reply' but got busy in the kitchen with alarms going off....why two pics of the same grain is posted by mistake. I was meaning to post the link to the wheat supplier I use where the pic came from to give proper credit. The wheat grains are like farro. Chewy. Link to Palouse, HERE Nice company. I've been getting my grains, lentils, and garbanzos from them for 6+ years. Early 2020 a box of five 5pound bags went missing. They sent a new box asap even with all the horrid delivery and employee mess. I promised to take the first purchase to the firehouse if it ever showed up. Never did. I did mention I pick from a pantry of varieties. Quinoa I don't care for on its own. But use it often in a mixed grain bowl. (a seed but often used as a grain)

I have most posted above and then some. I pick up a new one as i see it to go into the pantry mix/choices. Quart ball jars on a pantry shelf and bags in a sealed roll out crate. White, basmati, brown rice has its place on its own but I make a mixed grain every 7-10 days. Pick a few---3-5 choices. I like the nuttiness of a mixed grain. The whole wheats used for flours are very different than rice 'as we know it'. Nice chewy texture. Beyond the varieties of all the whites and browns, so good as is, ---a mixed grain has a variety of textures we really like. Quinoa I agree is odd on its own. Split peas have never been on my table as soup. 🤢. A mixed grain, I pick 4-6 varieties and make a small batch in my grain pot----makes about 5 cups. Never the same in rotation. I like a bit for breakfast. (no slimy breakfast 'choak-down' oats in my diet. Wheat berries and wild rice gets a 20 minute head start....then add as the grain time is needed. Lentils, split peas, Israeli couscous at the end of cooking.

I always soak my beans overnight. Garbanzos will take in 1.5-2 times their size in water. Sometimes a bit more. I think beans cook more evenly when soaked. Most important is not to rely on a package cooking time. I cooked a pot of garbanzos last night after an overnight soaking the night before. I expected them done at one point but they were grainy. 15 more minutes they were creamy but still a firm shell. I turned off the heat but put the lid on for another 20 min. Perfect. I'll spice and roast a third, a quarter I'll add to salads---the rest will be humus.

Arugula and pea shoot salad... with shrimp and hot smoked salmon...spaghetti vodka sauce