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

[Maison Rustique]

13 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Continuing my exploration of This Will Make It Taste Good, I made the Do Try This at Home Tartare p 117 which features Red Weapons p 104

I used black cod (sablefish) and it was excellent.

I bought a piece of fresh, local black cod at the farmers market and trimmed it into 2 slabs to be cooked later and the thinner tail portion that I used here.  I followed the recipe, except for using cilantro instead of mint.  

Served with homemade whole grain crackers.

I had a little more cod than the 2 oz/single serving I planned for this recipe so I tossed the rest with some Little Green Dress.  That was good, but the Red Weapons version, per the book, was great! 

Those crackers look so good. I'm a sucker for carbs.

[blue_dolphin]

10 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Tonight I put LGD on pasta.  I thought the flavor was too sharp, that is, too acidic to work as a pesto.  But then I mixed it with some leftover tomato based meat sauce and I thought the result was pretty good.

 

I liked LGD on pasta but, as I mentioned earlier, it turns into something more like a pasta salad than a conventional pesto.  

 

I was in the mood for grits this morning so I made the the Tomato Gravy to Me p 215 that features Herbdacious.  

All those herbs add a lot of flavor to something that's otherwise pretty quick and simple.   Cook a sliced onion 'til slightly caramelized then move them to the side, throw in a bunch of cherry tomatoes and let them blister and start to burst.  Then add some water or broth, cook until it starts to thicken, then stir in the Herbdacious, a pat of butter and a squeeze of lemon juice. 

Between the brown of the caramelized onions and the bright green Herbdacious, the gravy is rather the color of baby poop but it tastes good.

I put it over white grits cooked per Vivian's Foolproof Grits recipe in DRR. 

 

[blue_dolphin]

This isn't exactly a recipe from the book but I treated myself to a brunch of shrimp & grits, Little Green Dress-style

Cooked the shrimp in a bit of bacon fat, added a splash of chicken broth to make a little "gravy" and stirred in some LGD.  Excellent!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I am not as enamored with my little green dress as I had hoped.  I thought it was wonderful as a base for ranch dressing as a change from Momofuku, but not so great for coleslaw.  Nor did it work for me as pesto.  Don't worry, I will almost certainly use it up.

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

4 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I am not as enamored with my little green dress as I had hoped.  I thought it was wonderful as a base for ranch dressing as a change from Momofuku, but not so great for coleslaw.  Nor did it work for me as pesto.  Don't worry, I will almost certainly use it up.

 

Consider it a splat of green paint on your palate to be dabbed, spread out, thinned as well as celebrated as a dominant color or pigment. 

[Bernie]

3 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Consider it a splat of green paint on your palate to be dabbed, spread out, thinned as well as celebrated as a dominant color or pigment. 

Or just paint over it....😀

[Maison Rustique]

It was been a different sort of week for eating since I was cooking for Thanksgiving, so I haven't used LGD as I might have under normal circumstances. For lunch the other day, I pulled out a Goat Cheddar (Aldi) and the LGD and crackers and dove in. It was delicious!

 

We did not have a family dinner yesterday but I cooked some things and so did one of my sisters. We both portioned everything out. She brought all her stuff and I had mine. We exchanged foods and took dinner to our other sister and nephews. While she was here, I had her taste the LGD and showed her the book. She loved the LGD, as I knew she would. I told her she could borrow the book at some point, after I've made a few more things. She looked at me and said, "Well, I think that book would be a great Christmas gift!" So, I will order and can knock off part of my Christmas shopping. 

Edited November 27, 2020 by Maison Rustique
fix typo (log)

[Shelby]

During the marathon of Thanksgiving cooking I noticed that my head of cabbage and my cucumber weren't going to make it much longer, so I got the kraut done.  I think my food processor shredded it smaller that I've seen in others pictures...  I just checked it and I don't see any bubbles yet.....

Edited November 27, 2020 by Shelby (log)

[BeeZee]

Used some LGD mixed with additional vinegar as a simple salad dressing (romaine, cherry tomatoes, avocado cubes), it was a nice counterpoint to the creamy avocado. The mint flavor seems more noticeable cold vs when I used it to dress warm vegetables.

[Maison Rustique]

I had some Fromage Pave from Trader Joe's with LGD for lunch today. Great combination! 

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

The Gas Station Biscuits p 14 keep catching my eye. Basically, squares of a thinner than usual biscuit dough get sandwiched with a mixture of Parmesan & Fontina held together with a bit of mayo.  A tablespoon of Little Green Dress is added and the sandwiches are then baked in little foil "boats" to contain the melty cheese.  If I had @Ann_T-caliber biscuit skills, I'd have made them already!  Sadly, I've never made nor been served a biscuit that I wouldn't happily trade for a nice slice of toast.  

While I'd love to try the real biscuit version, I know my limits, so I translated this into a grilled cheese.

No complaints 🙃

[Shelby]

I had two big bunches of parsley that needed to be used.  I thought I had a bit of mint, but I didn't.  I had a tiny amount of cilantro, though.  So, I made another batch of LGD.  Still delicious without the mint.  This tastes a bit more olive-y/lemony to me.

[Shelby]

I've been adding Herbdacious to all kinds of cooked veggies.  Last night it was green beans.  Really good.  Also really good on Brussels sprouts.  Surprisingly I found some nice fresh mint at the small grocery store the other day so I'm excited to make another batch because I'm out.

 

Also, just checked my sauerkraut.  I've decided my house is too cold and that it's going to take a lot longer than it says.  I keep it at an average of 60F.....I've tried to think of a warmer spot.  I ended up putting it next to my Keurig because that puts out a bit of warmth.  It smells wonderful and tastes good but it needs a tad bit longer.

[blue_dolphin]

Thanks for the tip on Herbdacious + Brussels sprouts, @Shelby.  I'll give it a try.  I was debating between LGD and Herbdacious for the potatoes below.  Went with LGD but will try Herbdacious next time!

 

Small potatoes and sugar snap peas tossed with LGD to make kind of a warm potato salad, topped with a soft boiled egg.  

[Shelby]

Just another quick note for ways to use Herbdacious....I made homemade gyro meat and didn't have the traditional tzatziki sauce ingredients...I made my own version which included a spoon or two of Herbdacious.  Perfect.  Also excellent when added to hummus!

[Anna N]

 

 

I know it’s not the greatest photograph and I debated whether to even post it. But, given @Duvel‘s mantra that if there is no photograph then it didn’t happen, I relented.

 

Citrus Shrine, goat cheese and excellent balsamic vinegar on Wasa crispbread.

 

It has been more than a month but the citrus still needs longer to soften up properly. But this was a great combination of tastes and textures. 

[curls]

I’m planning to make collards break character and but-a-nut soup (courtesy of my Misfits Market box). Has anyone made these recipes? If so, do you have any advice to offer?

[blue_dolphin]

4 hours ago, curls said:

I’m planning to make collards break character and but-a-nut soup (courtesy of my Misfits Market box). Has anyone made these recipes? If so, do you have any advice to offer?

 

I haven't made either one of them but I learned yesterday that next week is Collard Week so they are on my list for sure.  See my post here if you want more info on Collard Week 🙃

[Shelby]

Yesterday I made a double batch of the Chef Mix from pg. 221.

 

REALLY good and easy too.  I didn't have exactly the ingredients that she used, but it still worked.  I did a cup of Chex, a cup of Cheeze It's, a cup of Cheerio's, a cup of mixed nuts, a cup of saltines and a cup of Gardetto's Garlic Rye Chips (highly recommend adding these).

 

I'll give a batch of this plus some of the Christmas cookies I'm going to bake in a bit to our wonderful UPS man.

 

[kayb]

Nice. I'm limited in Chex mix, since it has to be gluten free. Rice chex, corn chex, cheerios, pecans, peanuts, cashews.

 

[curls]

The butternut squash from my Misfits Market box became but-a-nut soup. Great recipe, I'll definitely make this one again. My husband preferred the soup without Vivian Howard's suggested garnish (which included spiced pecans, leeks, and apples). I loved the soup and loved it even more with the suggested garnish. The soup reheats well and we were able to make a few meals from it.

 

 

[Smithy]

I wish I'd taken a better picture of this last night, before the beans cooled off and got piled into a storage container. Green beans, boiled just enough to cook through but not enough to lose their crunch. Drained, tossed with butter, olive oil and LGD.

 

 

Delicious! Even my husband liked it. I say "even he" because, although he'll eat almost anything, he looks askance at olives. I don't think he's too fond of capers, either. But he liked this.

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, Smithy said:

I wish I'd taken a better picture of this last night, before the beans cooled off and got piled into a storage container. Green beans, boiled just enough to cook through but not enough to lose their crunch. Drained, tossed with butter, olive oil and LGD.

 

 

Delicious! Even my husband liked it. I say "even he" because, although he'll eat almost anything, he looks askance at olives. I don't think he's too fond of capers, either. But he liked this.

LGD and Herbdacious have become condiments like ketchup and mustard for us.  I put herbdacious on parsnips and carrots last night.  Really good.

[blue_dolphin]

On 1/11/2021 at 10:01 AM, Shelby said:

LGD and Herbdacious have become condiments like ketchup and mustard for us.

 

Ditto that!  I recently used Herbdacious to make a batch of the Chef Mix.  Then used what was left to make some garlic bread and a small batch of croutons.  I've still got a little log of Herbdacious butter in the freezer that's handy to slice off to put on vegetables. 

 

For the mix, I used Wheat Chex, Cheese-Its, pecans, small pretzel twists, pita chips and a few different kinds of crackers.  Couldn't find bagel chips or the Gardettos rye things that @Shelby recommended and didn't feel like buying saltines for just a few crackers.  All good except the pita chips kind of shattered into tiny bits when I tried to break them up. The pretzels and several of the crackers were gluten-free so I'm sure an all gluten-free version could be done.  

That's the Chef Mix on the left and V's Nuts on the right.  I used pecans from Trader Joe's in the Chef Mix and the big plump Georgia pecans I received as a gift in V's Nuts.  Note the difference in size!

V's Nuts are similar to the spiced pecans called Viv's Addiction in Deep Run Roots but they use a different mixture of spices.  Both are very good.  I really like the method in @JAZ's Sweet & Spicy Walnuts which doesn't use an egg white coating so I may try subbing Vivian's seasoning mixture into that recipe to compare.  

With V's Nuts made, I'm ready to try the butternut squash that @curls posted about above.  It sounds really good and it will probably taste really good once our temperatures fall back down.  

 

Yesterday, I made a batch of Community Organizer.   I water bath-processed 3 pints and put the rest into the fridge.  I was going to wait on this until summer but Aldi had a special on bell peppers and they looked pretty nice so I decided to give it a go. 

Peeling 20 tomatoes then dicing them, along with 8 bell peppers, 3 onions and slicing 10 cloves of garlic felt like a lot of chopping!

At first taste, it seems a little on the sweet side but I'll reserve judgement until I use it in more things.  I used Roma tomatoes from Aldi, not the most flavorful things, so I went with called for amount of brown sugar.  Vivian says to remember that this is used as a condiment so you're not using a ton of it so we'll see.  

 

For breakfast, I used the Community Organizer in the Egg in a Cup in a Microwave which tasted very good but looked kinda like a mug of barf.  I will spare you the photo.  Since I do not eat in my car (unwise with a manual transmission and unnecessary since I have no where to go these days), I do not need my eggs in a cup and with my feeble microwave, it would be quicker to just scramble everything together in a pan.  Or scramble the eggs & cheese and put this stuff on the side.  Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.  It is good with eggs.  Edited to add that this would be a great addition if you are making those sous vide Starbucks knock-off egg cups or anything similar. 

 

I also used it in a pot of the Organized Peas (or Beans) using Rancho Gordo's black eyed peas and I must say that stuff adds a ton of flavor to them.  

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by blue_dolphin (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Two more uses of Community Organizer.  This morning, I made the Barbecue Potatoes from the book (p 196) and put an egg on top:

The potatoes get par-boiled, smashed, roasted then tossed with puréed Community Organizer and back into the oven.  I suspect my potatoes were bigger than Vivian's and I smashed them enough that they fell apart when I tossed them with the CO but they tasted good.  The salty feta is a nice contrast to the sweetness of CO. 

 

The puréed CO kinda tastes like ketchup but a lot better so I tried it as a dipping sauce for tots.  What's not to like?