Food in the time of a pandemic

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

Just received a Ralphs (Kroger) Instacart delivery.  No white whole wheat which I like for bread - tried to sub regular whole wheat but that did not "take" on the app. I ended up with a half gallon of organic whole milk which nobody here will use. No charge. I'd try yogurt but no yogurt to use for starter here. Any thoughts before I pour it down the drain? Oh and then the shopper tried to sell me masks out of her trunk. People are very very stressed generally and esp financially.

 

 

Whole milk ricotta?  Or it's tangier cousin, queso fresco?  Let me know if you want the latter recipe and I can paraphrase the recipe from Gonzalo Guzman's book Nopalito.  It works well. 

Or maybe paneer?

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by blue_dolphin (log)

[weinoo]

\

 

The ramps came within a delivery of a week's worth of produce. The local stuff includes them, 3 kinds of mushrooms, spring onions, green garlic, leeks, asparagus, butter, lettuces, Tokyo turnips, rainbow carrots, herbs, and more.  The more distant stuff includes 2 artichokes, endive, avocados, celery, Spanish and red onions, potatoes and more.  I spend some time trimming things down, in order to fit them neatly in the fridge. And then all those trimmings get used.

 

 

The veg stock comes in handy for, say, mushroom risotto or something along those lines.

[heidih]

2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

Whole milk ricotta?  Or it's tangier cousin, queso fresco?  Let me know if you want the latter recipe and I can paraphrase the recipe from Gonzalo Guzman's book Nopalito.  It works well. 

Or maybe paneer?

 

 

 

Well after some research turns out I am screwed on curds as it is UHT processed milk = so back to yogurt. Elders shopping  tomorrow so I will ask for a small container of plan.

[TicTac]

@weinoo - Must be veg stock day, just tossed my ziplock freezer bag of trimmings into a pot.  Few pieces of red cabbage in there turned the whole thing purple.  Bet I could make a funky risotto and freak some people out!

 

What type of pot is that?  Love the thick walls...

 

 

[liamsaunt]

3 hours ago, heidih said:

Just received a Ralphs (Kroger) Instacart delivery.  No white whole wheat which I like for bread - tried to sub regular whole wheat but that did not "take" on the app. I ended up with a half gallon of organic whole milk which nobody here will use. No charge. I'd try yogurt but no yogurt to use for starter here. Any thoughts before I pour it down the drain? Oh and then the shopper tried to sell me masks out of her trunk. People are very very stressed generally and esp financially.

 

 

I second the suggestion for ricotta or paneer.  I like Ina Garten's ricotta recipe.  You do need some cream.  A creamy soup is another idea.  I use milk rather than cream when I make chowder.

 

King Arthur has flour back in stock.  Also, Baker's Authority has white whole wheat.  I just got a huge sack of that and also of bread flour delivered from them.  I am planning on dividing it up into 5 lb quantities and sealing in vacuum bags, then freezing it.

 

Here is this week's CSA box

 

 

Rhubarb, shiitake mushrooms, micro choi sum, green garlic, green daikon, sorrel, onions, potatoes, a huge sweet potato, bread, blueberry jam, and Lowe's red beans.  I made some ramp kimchi a couple of weeks ago that is ready to eat, so am thinking the daikon and that will go into vegetable pajeon as part of dinner tomorrow.  I think I am going to make muffins with the  rhubarb.  The green garlic will definitely be made into another batch of vampire repellant butter 🙂

[JeanneCake]

5 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

 think I am going to make muffins with the  rhubarb.   🙂

 

I have been thinking of a rhubarb streusel coffee cake to make for weekend snacking .......  if you are into pies or tarts, the rhubarb filling from The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum is the absolute best I've ever had.  I make extra so I can eat it right out of the bowl, it is that good.

[kayb]

23 hours ago, heidih said:

Just received a Ralphs (Kroger) Instacart delivery.  No white whole wheat which I like for bread - tried to sub regular whole wheat but that did not "take" on the app. I ended up with a half gallon of organic whole milk which nobody here will use. No charge. I'd try yogurt but no yogurt to use for starter here. Any thoughts before I pour it down the drain? Oh and then the shopper tried to sell me masks out of her trunk. People are very very stressed generally and esp financially.

 

 

Ricotta.

[heidih]

3 minutes ago, kayb said:

 

Ricotta.

 

No  - ultra pasteurized, Everyone said pitch it which I did. No smell, no taste. I will hold out for buttermilk or goat to play.   No curds with that biologically bankrupt crud. I did spill it on a calcium loving planting. 

[chromedome]

https://slate.com/business/2020/05/pasta-shortage-coronavirus-why.html

[Margaret Pilgrim]

5 hours ago, heidih said:

 

No  - ultra pasteurized, Everyone said pitch it which I did. No smell, no taste. I will hold out for buttermilk or goat to play.   No curds with that biologically bankrupt crud. I did spill it on a calcium loving planting. 

 I've made ricotta with ultra pasteurized milk.    Give it a try, or is it already history?     If not, there is no investment.   Just heat the milk to warmer than skin temp, add a tablespoon of vinegar, continue to heat it for a couple of minutes, then strain through cheesecloth or a tea towel.    A couple of minutes for soft; the longer you let it sit, the firmer the ricotta will be.    Worth a shot...

[heidih]

Called a friend to wish her happy birthday yesterday and she suggested we attempt farmers market this Sunday. I am giddy with anticipatory excitement.

[kayb]

Our farmers market reopens tomorrow. Giddy with excitement is a pretty good description.

[blue_dolphin]

15 hours ago, heidih said:

Called a friend to wish her happy birthday yesterday and she suggested we attempt farmers market this Sunday. I am giddy with anticipatory excitement.

 

I hope you have an enjoyable market experience! I've been going every week for my major shopping. It's not as much fun as it used to be but I want to continue to support the local farmers. 

At my market, there's a limit to how many people can be within the perimeter of each stall so you need to queue up at the more popular ones.  My market has marked the position of the queues for each stall on the pavement with chalk X-marks 6 feet apart.  To avoid having the queues block the main walkway, they are sometimes in directions that are less than intuitive but they've increased the # of market staff to herd us shoppers in the right direction.   I always like to chat with the vendors and you really have to limit that.  It's awkward with the masks, especially when there are language differences to begin with and and I feel uncomfortable holding up the queue.  But being out in the fresh air and seeing all the beautiful produce coming in certainly beats any other shopping experience these days!

[BeeZee]

I was so happy to have some different fruit at the supermarket, on sale, even better...bought a pint of blueberries (not from the bogs of NJ, but pretty good) and some cherries, which I knew would be mediocre this soon in the season, but I needed some variety from all of the pineapple and apples we have been eating. I am not sure if our small local farmers market will start up again in June, haven’t seen any notices yet.

[andiesenji]

On 5/20/2020 at 1:04 PM, heidih said:

Just received a Ralphs (Kroger) Instacart delivery.  No white whole wheat which I like for bread - tried to sub regular whole wheat but that did not "take" on the app. I ended up with a half gallon of organic whole milk which nobody here will use. No charge. I'd try yogurt but no yogurt to use for starter here. Any thoughts before I pour it down the drain? Oh and then the shopper tried to sell me masks out of her trunk. People are very very stressed generally and esp financially.

 

I order yogurt starter from Amazon or buy it at a local health food store.  I keep it in the freezer and it still works after 4 years in there.

 

[rotuts]

found this in the Basement  Wine Cellar  

 

cave à vin

 

 

I know I had three cans down there , as I was going to do an experiment :

 

Back When :    SPAM  ( the real deal )   SPAM low salt  ( Still real )   Walmart Brand ( above , still probably made by SPAM )

 

couldn't find two of them.   Didn't know mice could open cans .......

 

but then N.B.: 

 

 

 

its well known that Real Deal SPAM lasts forever .

 

but Walmarts take on it ?

 

 

Edited May 23, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[heidih]

19 minutes ago, rotuts said:

its well known that Real Deal SPAM lasts forever .

 

but Walmarts take on it ?

 

 

I thin that is just "self protection"  by Walmart

[rotuts]

@heidih 

 

 

its possible.   the real SPAM  had a similar date

 

I never started thus never completed my studies.   the mice ate it

 

or its SomeWhere Unknown

 

I store a lot of stuff there.

Edited May 23, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[suzilightning]

Getting warm around here so .....

made 4 bean salad salad that is marinating at room temp for another hour or so

a small Greek salad

 

I use these salads as well as coleslaw and macaroni salad, peppadews and pickled jalapenos on my lunch salads. Top with some green goddess dressing or catalina and croutons and it isjust right for me.

[kayb]

Headed out to the farmers' market this morning. It's operating on abbreviated hours (9-noon) and with fairly stringent, for our part of the world, guidelines. Masks mandatory.

 

I got there about five til nine. This was the line:

 

They let in 50 people at the first shot, in stages. You can see orange tape in the background of the photo below; that divided the center aisle into two directional aisles, so you went down one and back up the other. Many signs. Shoppers more or less self-regulated by pausing before walking up to a table until the previous shopper had left.

 

 

Neither of the regular strawberry vendors were there, and I was jonesing for some good, fresh strawberries. So I betook myself to one of the farms, about 30 miles away. It was a pretty day for a drive. Plenty of berries, and more on the way, from this field right behind the farm stand.

 

 

The haul:

 

That's a fried peach pie, which sadly wasn't very good, atop the eggs. Two thyme plants, as my herb garden got accidentally doused with whatever they sprayed on the lawn, so I'm having to replant it, and had not been able to find thyme. 

 

I was surprised not to see any squash, either yellow or zucchini; we generally have them by this time. Perhaps the rain put everyone late in planting. I think dinner tomorrow is going to be fried rice with snow peas and sugar snaps and fresh broccoli, along with a couple of left-over pork chops I'll dice up. Dinner tonight will be strawberry shortcake. Two quarts of those are quartered and in the fridge, reposing in some sugar and white balsamic vinegar, right now. The other one is in the fridge plain, the berries to be dredged in sour cream and dipped in brown sugar, Child A's favorite strawberry treatment.

 

[Tri2Cook]

Had to wait in line to get in the grocery store yesterday, the first time that's happened in a few weeks. I must have had to stand there a full 8 - 10 minutes, not sure how I mustered the patience.  I'm assuming a sudden resuming of standards that had been slipping more and more recently was brought on by the official announcement of our second local confirmed case earlier this week (second overall, since all of this began... yes, we have been very fortunate). No real shortages of anything in the store at this point so not much to tell on that front. Grabbed onions, garlic, cilantro and limes from the produce area. There was no shortage of fresh peppers in general but they were out of the serranos I wanted. The jalapenos were in good shape so they'll work. Almost 3 weeks later than I was hoping for, my masa harina arrived in the mail yesterday so tacos are on the menu for tomorrow. I have steak and chicken marinating to go on the grill and I'm going to make up a batch of salsa roja and a batch of guacamole taquero. I almost feel guilty posting this here because honestly, other than that short wait to get in the store yesterday, it's pretty similar to food in the time of normalcy here.

[liamsaunt]

My local paper had a story about the CSA I have been posting pictures of: Boston Globe: I just want something local

[Shelby]

1 hour ago, Tri2Cook said:

I almost feel guilty posting

Don't feel guilty!  I'm glad things are pretty normal for you and it makes me feel better to know that some people and places are doing great  

[chromedome]

https://marker.medium.com/inside-the-flour-company-supplying-americas-sudden-baking-obsession-623034583579

[kayb]

That was worth it just for "Carbohydrate Camelot." Thanks.