Sharing a Kitchen in an Ingredient Desert

[Kouign Aman]

Need help with this one - I bought this huge honking bottle at Costco in the summer while I was up here. Decided to open it today and send Beth home with some - but what are we going to do with the rest of these? Of course we are trying to stay relatively low carb so not adding them to pasta.

Artichoke dip? Works well with vegetable dippers. Its a fat & salt bomb, but we like it for dinner sometimes.

1 c chopped artichoke hearts (marinated ones work fine)

1 c grated parmesan cheese

1 c mayonnaise

tabasco to taste

place in baking pan, bake at 350 til bubbly.

Since nothing in it is 'raw', you can underbake with no ill effect,

or overbake, and it can get a bit chewy or separate a bit.

[Kerry Beal]

Need help with this one - I bought this huge honking bottle at Costco in the summer while I was up here. Decided to open it today and send Beth home with some - but what are we going to do with the rest of these? Of course we are trying to stay relatively low carb so not adding them to pasta.

Artichoke dip? Works well with vegetable dippers. Its a fat & salt bomb, but we like it for dinner sometimes.

1 c chopped artichoke hearts (marinated ones work fine)

1 c grated parmesan cheese

1 c mayonnaise

tabasco to taste

place in baking pan, bake at 350 til bubbly.

Since nothing in it is 'raw', you can underbake with no ill effect,

or overbake, and it can get a bit chewy or separate a bit.

Excellent suggestion - thanks!

[Kerry Beal]

Dinner tonight - a decently thick rib steak that they were selling as a roast (certainly not decently thick for a roast). About a kilo or so. Cooked it on the mini Egg. It was really, really good!

We drove into Espanola this afternoon for some retail therapy - stopped and had a little poutine along the way. Not exactly low carb - but really salty! Note the use of shredded cheese rather than the traditional cheese curd.

[Anna N]

The speculoos I made from Dorie's new book almost ended up as a disaster. I used the Thermomix to make the dough and after creaming together the butter and sugars I stared into the bowl and knew instinctively that this was not right! No way would the mixture in the TMX absorb the flour. Then it hit me, this is the one recipe in the book that had an erratum and the note must have fallen out of the book at some point. I looked up the erratum on Dorie's blog and saw the missing egg! All turned out fine in the end. I didn't have a small cookie cutter such as the one Dorie suggests so they are a bit larger but still quite delicious. Here they are ready for the oven:

And here they are baked:

Kerry is working in Wiki again today so they will go with her for the staff.

Bought the ingredients for Dorie's Beef Daube but forgot the wine! Will have to think of something else to amuse me today.

[Kerry Beal]

Can you believe how late Anna is up and posting this am - 4 am is late for her. But today she 'slept in' until almost 6!!!

Had to try again with the impossible pie after my last little fiasco. Remembered all the ingredients this time for the coconut impossible pie - looked like it should coming out of the oven.

The usual collapsed state in the am (actually about 10 minutes after coming out of the oven).

Ground some dried chickpeas in the TMX to make gram flour. Anna wants to make socca using the recipe from Dorie's new book. Gotta say - the sound of those peas grinding in the TMX was worse than any jet engine - my ears are still ringing.

[Anna N]

After the steak was cooked last night, Kerry threw a tiny hunk of pork shoulder on Eggbertina thinking that she would have lots of time to get it cooked before her eyes closed. However, after more than 3 hours it was only about 160F or so and sleep won over pulled pork. She hauled it off the Egg and let it rest overnight and finished it up in the oven this am. It reached 190F just as she was running out the door to drive to Wiki. She rushed back in and grabbed a couple of good forkfuls to sustain her on the journey to work. I pulled the rest of it:

Now I am tasked with making some N. Carolina sauce to go with the pork. I will be attempting it in the TMX.

Kerry and I are on opposite sides of the spectrum in the kitchen. If she decides to cook something then she dives right in and does so. Me, my puritan upbringing leaves me at a loss to start cooking until I have dispensed with all my chores! Trying hard to be more like Kerry so I get more cooking done!

[Kerry Beal]

And I'm trying to be more like Anna so I get my damn chores done! Cooking always wins.

[andiesenji]

Yet again I have drooled all over my keyboard. Thank goodness for the Pure Touch Protector.

I've been following this thread with great envy. I can't cook any of the dishes right now because I have a long list of things I have to prepare for some volunteer events with which I am involved. This time next week I should be finished and able to cook what I wish.

[Toliver]

Artichoke dip? Works well with vegetable dippers. Its a fat & salt bomb, but we like it for dinner sometimes.

1 c chopped artichoke hearts (marinated ones work fine)

1 c grated parmesan cheese

1 c mayonnaise

tabasco to taste

place in baking pan, bake at 350 til bubbly.

Since nothing in it is 'raw', you can underbake with no ill effect,

or overbake, and it can get a bit chewy or separate a bit.

I have a similar recipe that uses sharp cheddar instead of the parm. I also add a small can of diced chiles (or diced jalepños, if you like it spicy).

Anna, what was the flavor of the cookies? They look like a spice cookie.

[Anna N]

....

Anna, what was the flavor of the cookies? They look like a spice cookie.

They are indeed a spice cookie with cinnamon, ginger and cloves. What I like about them is that they are not sickly sweet. I am no baker but these were so easy to pull together.

[Anna N]

Well I managed to make the Carolina BBQ sauce but having no experience at making it or tasting it, I will await Kerry's return to determine if it is as is should be.

Now I have some bread rising in the TMX and with luck we will have buns to put the pulled pork on for dinner tonight.

[Kerry Beal]

Well I managed to make the Carolina BBQ sauce but having no experience at making it or tasting it, I will await Kerry's return to determine if it is as is should be.

Now I have some bread rising in the TMX and with luck we will have buns to put the pulled pork on for dinner tonight.

Looks good from here!

[Anna N]

Enormously happy that Kerry is doing low-carb and probably would not have put her pulled pork onto a bun as mine are pretty hopeless:

Not sure if it was the yeast (I usually use instant but Kerry seems to have a choice of fresh yeast or active dry). I chose active dry and I don't think it dissolved as it should. Anyway the buns will be binned as they are heavy and doughy. Will try again next week as this is a very successful recipe usually.

[janeer]

He dropped by the house with his wife Joyce last week to pick up a 1 kg container of nibs and he gave me one of his last bottles of this vintage of this Northern Whisper vinegar. He makes it from maple syrup that he makes into a wine then ferments to vinegar. It's a thick as syrup and very complex and wonderful. Like the finest aged balsamic!

First of all I have been reading with amazement that you are doing all this cooking while doctoring...and there is nothing better than being with a cooking friend,ALL ALONE.

Before you leave, any chance you can ask the Vinegar Man if he would part with at least the method for making the Northern Whisper. I've got to have some...

It's great fun having Anna here so we can cook together - usually at home we are just e-mailing back and forth talking about what we are making. Anna is an amazing cook - I learn a ton from her all the time.

I don't think Mr Vinegar would tell me the complete details - but what he has mentioned to me is that he dilutes maple syrup to a level that will allow him to make wine with it that gives about 5% alcohol. I suspect he dilutes with apple cider. After he gets the wine he must add the vinegar mother. I don't know how he gets it so thick though.

Anyway he's back at home - so it's unlikely I'll see him again for another few weeks.

Thanks for this. I'm going to think on it, maybe go through some of my really old New England cookbooks and see if I can find something on it. I'm intrigued...

[andiesenji]

There are a couple of people here in California that make vinegar from honey and also from mead and I believe the principle should be almost the same.

I know the guy who is in Tehachapi and he learned how to make it when he was in Jamaica and learned how to make vinegar from cane molasses.

This web site has instructions for making vinegar from Honey.

[Beth Wilson]

If you want, I have a nice tub with about 2 cups of fermenting unpasteurized Manitoulin honey - you could make a vinegar experiment

It is yours if you want to play!!! I can deliver for a small fee of dinner cooked on the EGG

[Anna N]

Last night I noticed that there were a few rashers of bacon in the 'fridge waiting to be used so in an effort to make a dent in the huge jar of marinated artichokes Kerry had bought on impulse, I decided to make these:

I stretched the bacon with the back of a chef's knife, cut the rashers in half, slathered them with mustard and wrapped them around the artichoke pieces. They made an OK bite. No real WOW factor but not bad.

Dinner was, of course, the pulled pork that Kerry cooked. I took mine with the sauce on the side and Kerry re-heated hers in some sauce. Here's my plate:

Today we are off to Sudbury in search of ingredients that are not available on the Island. We will also find some thrift stores, drop in to the restaurant supply store and visit Costco. If I return with some decent Gruyere cheese I will consider the day a huge success.

[Kerry Beal]

If you want, I have a nice tub with about 2 cups of fermenting unpasteurized Manitoulin honey - you could make a vinegar experiment

It is yours if you want to play!!! I can deliver for a small fee of dinner cooked on the EGG

Sounds like a plan - I suspect I have some vinegar mother around somewhere.

[Kerry Beal]

Had a nice trip to Sudbury today. We stopped enroute for breakfast at a greasy spoon along the highway. We decided I'd order the potato pancakes with my eggs and peameal and Anna would order the homefries. Potato pancakes turned out to be little latkes - and they even brought out sour cream to go with them. Of course I'd handed over half to Anna before taking the picture so my plate looks a little empty.

We had a busy day running thither and yon. We hit the grocery store for the international section to get stuff to make musubis, the bulk food store for some flours, spices and fruity bits, the Gourmet World just to look around. Then we hit 'Paris Fine Foods' - kind of an eclectic bulk, odds and ends and health food store. The shelves go up to the ceiling and they have any number of odd things you can't find elsewhere in Sudbury. We picked up the missing sushi rice and mirin as well as some Liberti yogurts for Beth.

We went into Homesense - which carries a whole lot of nice housewares at discount prices and picked up some spatulas, silicone basting brush, a thermometer, Tuscan olive oil, wasabi mustard and a couple of cookbooks. We hit costco for cheese - whole lotta cheese! Appenzeller, cheddar, asiago, gouda and gruyere. I have plans to smoke some cheese tomorrow.

Then we hit the restaurant supply for some toys, Liquidation World and Value Village to check out the housewares, cookbooks and anything else we needed.

By now we were getting peckish and realized that the My Thai Palace restaurant was open (hadn't been the last time we wanted to eat there).

My jasmine tea was brought it this rather unusual (but very lucky) tea pot.

We shared an appetizer plate with calamari, wontons, salad rolls and satay.

Tom yum for me.

Won ton soup for Anna.

[janeer]

Before you leave, any chance you can ask the Vinegar Man if he would part with at least the method for making the Northern Whisper. I've got to have some...

According to the link in the original post, you can buy it (as well as several other interesting sounding vinegars). It's apparently just bottled under a different name now.

Roger's Maple Syrup Vinegar... "Formerly known as Northern Whisper Maple Syrup Vinegar".

Somehow I missed this before--actually, somehow I missed the last two days of cooking and photos, I think I skipped a page. So thanks for this link, and Kerry and Anna for all the nonstop cooking.

[Anna N]

No much cooking happening on the Island today. At 6 am the hydro was shut off to the whole Island as a grid upgrade is in progress. We almost froze this morning and a loud cheer went up when the lights came back on at noon. But Kerry was not easily discouraged by a mere lack of electricity and made this UDDERLY beautiful smoked cheese on Eggbertina this morning:

I have Dorie's Cauliflower-bacon gratin ready to go into the oven at dinner time and I have done a bit of pre-prep work on a couple of other recipes from Around My French Table. No liquor stores open on the Island today so the Beef Daube will have to wait yet another day.

[patris]

Whoa.

If Georgia O'Keeffe and Salvador Dali had a baby who became a cheesemaker, that is exactly what he or she would make. It's... umbilical. And no doubt delicious - what kind of cheese is it?

This reaches back a couple of days, but thank you for reminding me that roasting is a good way to cook shrimp. I always boil it, and it always ends up overcooked no matter how vigilant I am. I roasted some today and it's beyond good.

[Anna N]

Whoa.

If Georgia O'Keeffe and Salvador Dali had a baby who became a cheesemaker, that is exactly what he or she would make. It's... umbilical. And no doubt delicious - what kind of cheese is it?

This reaches back a couple of days, but thank you for reminding me that roasting is a good way to cook shrimp. I always boil it, and it always ends up overcooked no matter how vigilant I am. I roasted some today and it's beyond good.

It is a Gouda cheese and very delicious with the apple smoke.

[andiesenji]

I have a perfectly nice, fairly low calorie and should be satisfying dinner planned.

Now I am craving latkes, cheese, roasted or smoked and every other darn thing you have pictured today and I didn't even go back a page.

Have I mentioned about the drooling? Now I need a bib!

[prasantrin]

Tom yum for me.

Is that tom yum or tom kha gai? It looks like it has coconut milk, and although there is a version of tom yum with coconut milk, it's not very common.