North Again – the Tradition Continues

[Anna N]

........

The area where I pick wild blueberries also has huge growths of wild roses that become huge amounts of rose hips in the fall. I go out and look at them every year hoping something I could do with them will come to me... so far that's failed to happen.

.......

Did you google rose hip syrup? I grew up on it and I see it is now being used as a cocktail ingredient.

[Tri2Cook]

The green beans were tossed in olive oil and salt and roasted. I think they are as much a snack as a meal accompaniment so I ate them with my fingers.

Olive oil and salt roasted green beans sounds like some tv-time snacking I could get into. I wonder which beer goes best with olive oil and salt roasted green beans?

[Tri2Cook]

Did you google rose hip syrup? I grew up on it and I see it is now being used as a cocktail ingredient.

Haven't googled them at all. I guess I thought if I stared at them long enough, they'd become embarrassed and tell me what to do so I'd go away. I did discover the hard way that popping them in your mouth and chewing is only nice for a few seconds. Those hairy seeds are not pleasant. I'll do some searching and see what turns up.

[Kerry Beal]

An urge to bake bread today caused me to put together a couple of loaves of cheddar cheese bread. Also put together the poolish for some semolina bread that I'll work on tomorrow.

I'm getting closer to getting the rotovap up and running - got one of the nurses to bring me in her fountain pump - I'll see if I can figure out how to hook it up to circulate chilled water for the condenser. One step at a time!

[SaltySnack]

Please explain more about steaming the bok choy in the microwave? Very curious as I love bok choy but rarely cook it.

[Anna N]

Please explain more about steaming the bok choy in the microwave? Very curious as I love bok choy but rarely cook it.

This is a recipe from Modernist Cuisine at Home. Basically you clean it, halve a few plants legthwise and then either microwave in a ziplock bag with a little water or on a plate covered with microwave safe plastic wrap. In an 1100 watt oven the recommendation is 2 mins followed by a 2 minute rest before serving.

[haresfur]

I like to half baby bok choy, put a little hoisin sauce on the halves and then steam. A guilty pleasure, I guess. Got to try it in the microwave.

[rotuts]

Ive been doing microwave green leafy veg for a long time, spinach, swiss chard, Bok. and as long as you guess the time correctly it works fine. never thought of the plastic wrap on top of it though. will give it a try. I use a glass bowl with a glass lid.

[Kerry Beal]

I kinda like the glass bowl with glass lid idea - hate to be throwing away the plastic. Same sort of thing as wishing the silicone bags would have worked sous vide.

[rotuts]

this is an older pyrex bowl 'Clear Advantage' Ive had it a while and Im guessing its and old school Pyrex. the Clear advantage is not so important as this is just for veg. it doesnt really say its size but there is a 024 then 2 L (maybe an L) on the bottom.

it fits very snugly one bag of commercial spinach. its main use. you can see how the spinach is doing and one full bag need one mix during its radiation to get the center stuff done the same.

it will be a great loss when I drop it!

very good item to eye-ball on your thrifty visits.

it might be this:

http://www.amazon.com/Pyrex-Bakeware-2-Quart-Casserole-Dish/dp/B0000CF3UW/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1350823837&sr=8-27&keywords=pyrex+clear+bowl

Edited October 21, 2012 by rotuts (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I've got a couple of those at home in my collection in two sizes. Both have lids.

[rotuts]

the 'full bag of spinach' is the two qt. I dont have the 1 1/2 qt.

the glass lid fits perfectly on some of my mega heavy copper pots from FR

http://www.e-dehille...-extra-fort.php

extra fort. in FR for my northern neighbors!

extra work-out while using as a bonus. not so energy efficient though

Edited October 21, 2012 by rotuts (log)

[Kerry Beal]

It has not been a day for things to turn out as expected. My Semolina Filone - appears to be more of a semolina flatbread (or slightly rounded bread). It poured out of the thermomix more like a batter than a dough - it's been a while since I made it and I know it seemed overly hydrated in the past but seemed to firm up when you applied the turns to it in the first hour of rising. I suspect when I've made it at home I've used atta flour instead of supermarket semolina that I've ground finer in the thermomix so I suspect it just didn't absorb as much water. A little extra flour would have likely gone a long way!

Instructions say to form into a boule, let sit for 30 minutes on the counter, then shape into a filone - not going to be happening with this loaf - it required restraints.

And there was no way of getting it off of the parchment until after it was done.

[Anna N]

Wow! You know how they say TV adds 10 lbs to your figure? Well the camera appears to have added some weighty rotundity to Kerry's bread! Trust me it looks less like a skinny batard and more like a slightly obese flatbread! She will have a chance to make fun of my epic failure when I post about my yakitori chicken wings.

[Kerry Beal]

The crumb on my slightly obese flat bread.

The kitchen after my friend Barbara left from her chocolate lesson.

The libation for today - Tailspin - we nearly went in to same when we discovered we had no cherries in the fridge.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Kerry Beal (log)

[rotuts]

well. that bread might not have been what you expected, but Im guessing that the crumb was might good!

[Kerry Beal]

It was indeed tasty bread in spite of it's appearance.

Opted for a second drink tonight -

The Maximilian Affair.

Sure hope they don't decide they need a second doc in this town tonight - I'm a tad pissed and have a killer case of the hiccoughs.

In spite of that managed to mix up a batch of MCAH egg noodles to go with chicken broth that Anna made.

[janeer]

between the cocktails, the semolina bread, and the duck for breakfast--wish I were there. all calling out to me.

[Anna N]

I was a bit less ambitious yesterday as I knew Kerry and a friend were going to play with chocolate and would need the kitchen. I did however make the MCAH sous-vide vegetable stock. Here's the mise:

And the finished product, strained, after a nice rest in the fridge overnight:

Not quite sure what it is destined for yet.

My boneless yakitori wings were a flop. Not the fault of MCAH but of my failure to RTFM!

Somehow I managed to miss or avoid some crucial instructions in the recipe like loosen the bones BEFORE cooking them. As a result there was simply no way to remove the bones once they were cooked without the wings falling apart. Rather than totally wasting all that time and those wings I tossed them, post sous vide, into potato starch and shallow-fried them. They were crispy though they looked somewhat leprous from uneven coating with potato starch:

Kerry and I devoured them any way. Must try them again when all my neurons are firing.

Today I am not quite sure what I will get up to. Like Kerry I am anxious to do something yeasty so I might attempt some pizza dough.

Here are the spice cookies Kerry made and took to the clinic this morning:

She had to rush off so asked me to post about them. The cheese muffins which she took to rounds didn't get a chance to be photographed. The staff scarfed them as though the only time anyone eats is when Kerry comes north.

[Anna N]

So I managed to make the Neapolitan pizza dough from MCAH. Kerry even had the correct brand of 00 flour and some vital gluten in the pantry! The dough is resting now but it may have to wait to be turned into pizza until we have some mozzarella.

This afternoon I thought I would tackle the microwave "fried" herbs. How difficult could it be? Well I would have to say that it is one of those modernist techniques that causes me to give my head a shake or two. Just because you CAN do it doesn't mean you SHOULD.

The recipe asks you to cover a m/w safe plate with m/w safe plastic wrap, pull it taut, oil it and place some herbs on top to "fry".

My first attempt led to a rapid break down of the plastic wrap.

I theorized I had been too heavy-handed with the oil.

My second attempt being much less generous with the oil seemed to work until I lifted the leaves off the plastic:

Like I said ...... Just because you can....

[Kerry Beal]

If you look in the fridge you'll find some mozzarella - the kind they use to make the fungi pizza you like so much from Pane Fresco. I'll pick up some mushrooms on the way home.

[rotuts]

I wonder why the above has to be an plastic wrap? why not try on a dry plate? what does the PW add?

[FrogPrincesse]

I was a bit less ambitious yesterday as I knew Kerry and a friend were going to play with chocolate and would need the kitchen. I did however make the MCAH sous-vide vegetable stock. Here's the mise:

And the finished product, strained, after a nice rest in the fridge overnight:

Anna - what are the ingredients in the vegetable stock (I see carrots in your photo, maybe some onions) and what makes it "modernist" compared to conventional vegetable stocks?

Edited October 22, 2012 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[Kerry Beal]

The cocktail du jour was an Improved Gin Cocktail.

DInner - MC@H Neopolitan pizza dough with funghi topping.

Dough was wonderfully easy to work with - but other than that a little disappointing. I think I should have gone much thinner with it.

[Anna N]

.............

Anna - what are the ingredients in the vegetable stock (I see carrots in your photo, maybe some onions) and what makes it "modernist" compared to conventional vegetable stocks?

The ingredients are pretty conventional except perhaps for a tiny bit of star anise. What makes it modernist is the cooking technique -- sous-vide. They also offer an alternative of pressure cooking the stock.