Cooking with "This Will Make It Taste Good", by Vivian Howard

[Alex]

20 hours ago, kayb said:

Miso soup.

 

And its base, dashi (kombu + bonito flakes/katsuobushi). 

[kayb]

Grocery order I'm picking up today has the makings for LGD. I also have the stuff to make Herbdacious here. Citrus Shrine is on the horizon, and I was tickled to see that her Community Organizer is very similar to my own ripe tomato pickle, with the difference that where she uses cumin, I use pickling spice. I never cooked with it, though; just used as a relish on top of, mostly, peas. Will be trying some of these others.

 

[Shelby]

Not a very exciting picture, but I took Vivian's advice and tossed lettuce with some furki, sesame oil and rice vinegar.  I am very sensitive to sesame oil (or the brand I'm using might be really strong).  I like it, but next time I will use just a regular olive oil.  The furki adds a nice little crunch and great flavor.  Made a nice light lunch  

 

[rotuts]

@Shelby 

 

sesame seed oil can be very powerful , esp roasted 

 

its flavor is unique

 

""  next time I will use just a regular olive oil ""

 

add just a few drops of SSO to the decant3ed amount of olive oil

 

you plan to use.   just a few drops .  2 drops , and taste

 

you won't regret it.

[heidih]

7 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Not a very exciting picture, but I took Vivian's advice and tossed lettuce with some furki, sesame oil and rice vinegar.  I am very sensitive to sesame oil (or the brand I'm using might be really strong).  I like it, but next time I will use just a regular olive oil.  The furki adds a nice little crunch and great flavor.  Made a nice light lunch  

 

I lived in Koreatown and ate lots of sesame oil laden dishes but it can be a bit overwhelming especilly in a simple salad like that. I would try a few drops mixed with another more neutral oil. You want a hint not a hit ;. 

Edited as @rotuts just said same thing ;

Edited November 4, 2020 by heidih (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Yesterday I used the LGD in the Cherry Tomato Baked Feta...Surprise! on p 25 in This Will Make It Taste Good. In the recipe, Vivian serves this over swordfish but the header notes suggest toast, grits, puréed cauliflower, couscous, fish or chicken as good partners.  It's kind of like @ElainaA's slow roasted cherry tomatoes dressed up with that Little Green Dress and crumbled feta.  No slow-roasting though, this just gets heated up in the oven for 20 min.  Here's what it looks like at that point:

This smelled amazing and it was all I could do to avoid eating it all with just some crusty bread. Another case where that scoop of LGD adds a ton of flavor without having to assemble a dozen separate ingredients. 

 

I combined a couple of Vivian's suggestions: cooked some polenta in the Instant Pot, roasted cauliflower in the oven next to that pan of tomatoes, spooned it over the top and called it dinner. Easy peasy. 

 

 

 

[Shelby]

I went to the store again today.  I'll post more about that in the food in the time of a pandemic thread.  But anyway, I couldn't resist getting more mint and parsley to make more little green dress   I figured why not?  It lasts for a month (probably longer I'd say) and I'm over half way through the amount I made last time.  I also picked up extra lemons and limes and 5 oranges to make Citrus Shrine.  OH and I broke down and stopped at the seafood counter and bought 2 lbs of shrimp.  $6.99 a pound..around here that's not tooooo bad of a price.  So, I'm definitely making the pickled shrimp.  Might all happen today, unless a nap over takes me lol.

[blue_dolphin]

Today's breakfast was the Asparagus Bathed in Green Butter from This Will Make It Taste Good p 22.  The "green butter" is another Little Green Dress trick - LGD gets puréed, then mixed into a compound butter that gets tossed with lightly cooked asparagus.  Vivian calls for a bunch of big, thick asparagus and says to blanch them in boiling water for "one minute only."  My asparagus weren't particularly big or thick but I still thought they needed at least 2 minutes, maybe 3.  They were still nicely al dente.  Next time I get big thick asparagus, I'll try eating one after a minute.  I added the uncalled for jammy egg.  

Love the green butter. It's delicious on the asparagus and I'm sure it would also be good on other vegetables, too.  I also also slathered some on my toast. 

I'm going to make up some more of that compound butter to keep in my freezer stash of compound butters.  

 

Along that line, I picked up supplies at yesterday's farmers market to make another batch of LGD.  Like @Shelby, I've used up more than half of my first batch and don't want to run out.  

This collection also puts me in good shape to make a batch of Herb-dacious p 206.

 

I was going to buy fruit to get a batch of the Citrus Shine going but it's still kind of early in the season for the best citrus and I've got jars of preserved lemons, Meyer lemons and kumquats in the fridge already.  Hopefully I can sub them into some of the recipes  from the book.

[Maison Rustique]

Well, I hope you're all happy. My order of both "Cooking with This..." and "Deep Run Roots" has arrived. Now I have to figure out where I can find room for them. Deep Run Roots is big!

[blue_dolphin]

40 minutes ago, Maison Rustique said:

Well, I hope you're all happy. My order of both "Cooking with This..." and "Deep Run Roots" has arrived. Now I have to figure out where I can find room for them. Deep Run Roots is big!

 

DRR is a tome, isn't it!  Lots of good stuff and good reading inside.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

[Shelby]

1 hour ago, Maison Rustique said:

Well, I hope you're all happy. My order of both "Cooking with This..." and "Deep Run Roots" has arrived. Now I have to figure out where I can find room for them. Deep Run Roots is big!

You won't be able to put DRR down.  It's SO good.  So is the other one, but I'll always love DRR best  

[rotuts]

@Maison Rustique 

 

very wise .

 

these books are different from other cookbooks

 

very different.    and so much more interesting and insightful.

 

you won't regret your purchase.

[Shelby]

Got the pickled shrimp made yesterday and the citrus shrine as well.

 

 

We will sample the shrimp tonight...they smell delicious.

 

Here is the citrus shrine.  I think there is a reason why it wasn't pictured in the book---not very photogenic lol.  I know the lime aren't fully covered here.  I poked them back down after the picture.  She says they can sit on the counter, but I chose to put them in the fridge.  Now we wait for 4 weeks.   Oh, and it took way more than 2 lemons to get enough juice...I think my lemons were smaller and less juicy.

 

[heidih]

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

 

Here the citrus shrine.  I think there is a reason why it wasn't pictured in the book---not very photogenic lol.  I know the lime aren't fully covered here.  I poked them back down after the picture.  She says they can sit on the counter, but I chose to put them in the fridge.  Now we wait for 4 weeks.   Oh, and it took way more than 2 lemons to get enough juice...I think my lemons were smaller and less juicy.

 

Can you briefly describe the Citrus Shrine? On fence about book.

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, heidih said:

Can you briefly describe the Citrus Shrine? On fence about book.

You put about 1/4 cup of salt in the bottom of the jar, then starting with the limes, you cut them in an X almost all the way down to the stem, so you can pull the sections apart to get the salt rubbed on them, but they are still attached at the bottom.  Rub with salt, put limes in the jar put a couple more TB of salt and then smoosh them with the back of a wooden spoon.  Repeat with oranges and then lemons.  Top with a bit more salt and then squeeze lemon juice to cover all of the fruit.  

[blue_dolphin]

34 minutes ago, heidih said:

Can you briefly describe the Citrus Shrine? On fence about book.

 

Have you read through everything that's available on the Amazon "Look Inside" feature?  It's quite a generous sample and should give you a good idea of that the book is like.

 

As @Shelby described, Citrus Shine is a fairly standard salt-preserved lemon recipe but she makes it into a mixed batch by adding limes, orange, grapefruit, etc. Sounds like a fun variation to me.  We get all sorts of interesting citrus in the winter months so I'm going to wait until then. 

 

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

She says they can sit on the counter, but I chose to put them in the fridge.  Now we wait for 4 weeks.   Oh, and it took way more than 2 lemons to get enough juice...I think my lemons were smaller and less juicy.

 

When I make preserved citrus, I always need quite a bit of juice to cover everything.  On the second day, when the fruits are starting to soften, I push everything down and add more citrus and salt (and juice, if necessary) to fill up the jar and make sure everything stays submerged.

I keep mine out at room temp for the first month. Not sure about the fridge, but at room temp, you'll get a little fermentation going on so I loosen the lid to vent then retighten and flip the jar over every day or so to mix the brine and ensure that all the fruit is exposed to the same amount of salt and juice.  

Edited November 7, 2020 by blue_dolphin
to add citrus link (log)

[Anna N]

43 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Citrus Shine is a fairly standard salt-preserved lemon recipe but she makes it into a mixed batch by adding limes, orange, grapefruit, etc. Sounds like a fun variation to me.  We get all sorts of interesting citrus in the winter months so I'm going to wait until then. 

I know I am repeating myself but I wanted to quote Vivian directly and I hope to initiate some feedback as to whether anybody has tried this in the past. 

 

Apart from the addition of other citrus beside the lemon this strikes me as a pretty standard preserved lemon recipe as noted. The most eye-opening thing she says, for me, is this:

“As you take citrus out and make room inside the jar, you can add leftover lemon, lime, or orange slices to the brine to marinate. Or, once the preserved citrus is ready, you can take it out of its brine and transfer to another container. Store that container in the fridge and use the leftover brine to start a new batch of citrus in a freshly sterilized jar.”

 

The idea that one can add leftover lemon slices leads me to believe that once I have juiced a lemon, as long as the peel is intact, i.e., I have not zested the fruit, I can just add the emptied citrus rind to the jar. Further, her suggestion to move the fully pickled fruit to an empty jar so as to reuse the brine, sounds brilliant—but will the fruit dry out? 

 

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

The idea that one can add leftover lemon slices leads me to believe that once I have juiced a lemon, as long as the peel is intact, i.e., I have not zested the fruit, I can just add the emptied citrus rind to the jar.

 

I've never done that, mostly because I thought it would be a nuisance to be sorting through the jar, looking for a new vs old one to take out for use, but I don't see any problems with it.  Over in the Preserved Lemons topic, @andiesenji described a great crock set-up  and again here, that allowed one to add new fruit and remove the older ones. The second one says they dump the brine and replenish with fresh every 6 months.   At least one person in that older topic said they routinely added more fruit, salt and juice to keep a batch going.  

I'll probably end up adding fruit over time if I go for a truly mixed batch of Citrus Shine as all the varieties don't appear in the market at once. 

 

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

Further, her suggestion to move the fully pickled fruit to an empty jar so as to reuse the brine, sounds brilliant—but will the fruit dry out? 

I haven't done that either.  I feel better when the fruit stays submerged rather than exposed to air.  But I have no evidence of harm if that happens.  

I haven't re-used the brine either.  I figured salt was cheap and felt better starting a fresh batch with fresh salt but my last jar of lemons is getting low so I will try that. It usually gets super thick by the time the jar is empty.  And I'll definitely save the brine from the preserved kumquats as they really had a different flavor. 

 

Edited to add that I routinely fully quarter my citrus instead of trying to hold them together. It's easier to pack the jars full and when they're done, I tend to use a quarter in a recipe so I don't need to remove and replace a partial fruit, just easily remove a quarter. 

Edited November 7, 2020 by blue_dolphin
to add note about quartered fruit (log)

[Shelby]

22 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I routinely fully quarter my citrus

I had to do that with my oranges.  They wouldn't have fit otherwise.  I wondered why she made such a point to cut them that specific way?

[Katie Meadow]

@Shelbyplease let me know how you like the pickled shrimp. I've made pickled shrimp and eaten it a few times elsewhere but the real challenge seems to be how to make it NOT rubbery. If Vivian can manage that I'm all in.

[blue_dolphin]

7 minutes ago, Shelby said:

I had to do that with my oranges.  They wouldn't have fit otherwise.  I wondered why she made such a point to cut them that specific way?

 

It is very much the traditional way and they do look pretty that way.  It also makes sense if you're making big crocks full and cooking large batches that use a full lemon but for smaller jars, cutting them through is much easier so I was surprised that Vivian stuck with tradition!

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

I've never done that, mostly because I thought it would be a nuisance to be sorting through the jar, looking for a new vs old one to take out for use, but I don't see any problems with it.

Thanks so very much. I will have some fun this afternoon reading those old threads. I can imagine that kumquats would be a very interesting agddition to many dishes. 

[curls]

Still haven't made it to the grocery store to get the olives that Vivian recommends but I so wanted to start playing along that I made a jar of Little Green Dress today with the olives that I have on hand. My this stuff is tasty! I added some to my dinner salad and to the chicken that I grilled on the Kamado Joe for tonight's dinner. Please say hello to my jar of Little Green Dress. I'll definitely make this again and buy a jar of the castelvetrano olives so I can compare flavors in the two batches.

[Shelby]

10 hours ago, curls said:

Still haven't made it to the grocery store to get the olives that Vivian recommends but I so wanted to start playing along that I made a jar of Little Green Dress today with the olives that I have on hand. My this stuff is tasty! I added some to my dinner salad and to the chicken that I grilled on the Kamado Joe for tonight's dinner. Please say hello to my jar of Little Green Dress. I'll definitely make this again and buy a jar of the castelvetrano olives so I can compare flavors in the two batches.

Yeah, it's addictive!  What kind of olives did you use?

[Shelby]

We tried the pickled shrimp last night.  Really liked them.  I didn't find them rubbery at all.  Maybe the trick is to not over cook them?  I did them for exactly 2 mins on each side (and waited to put them in until the skillet was really hot).

 

 

Added red weapons to some Brussels sprouts.  This wasn't a suggestion in the cookbook, but I highly recommend it.