bernalgirl's Profile
Cooking from SLOW COOKER Cookbooks
It's very saucy! I followed her instructions and mashed a cup or so of beans and returned them to the pot to give the dish a thicker consistency, and finished it with about 1/2 cup of yogurt, just enough to give it some depth but not enought to make the dish noticeably creamy.
Cooking from SLOW COOKER Cookbooks
I've never been able to make a chicken SC dish work for a work day. But do try bean-based dishes, those work a charm. We've loved every slow cooker bean soup on the Cook's Illustrated site and they are so nice to come home to! I've made their SC variations on Vegetarian Black Bean Soup, Tuscan White Bean Soup, and the Country-Style Pork and Beans with Sausage and all three have been big hits with my family.
Cooking from SLOW COOKER Cookbooks
The "Punjabi curried kidney beans (Rajmah)" is a really outstanding legume recipe in the "Indian Slow Cooker" book that starts with dried beans. I've made it once with good Rancho Gordo beans (the Sangre de Toro or "Bull's Blood") and once with basic kidney beans and we definitely preferrred the former.
But either way the dish is utterly delicious, plain dry beans cooked with ginger, chiles, cloves, a cinnamon stick, cumin, chile powder, turmeric and garam masala, and finished with yogurt and chopped cilantro . We eat this on basmati rice. I tone down the chiles to suit my 7 yr old (who comes back for seconds of this dish and asks for it in her lunch), and we add minced chiles at the table. Highly recommended, and given that it cooks for 10 hours, a great weekday slow cooker meal that is ready to go when we get home.
Cooking from SLOW COOKER Cookbooks
Yes, I've used it and it does come in a fine powder. As smtucker said, easy to find in an Indian market.
It has a slightly sulfurous aroma, you'll recognize it immediately if you've enjoyed chaat masala. I don't have a lot of other applications, using it mainly when a recipe specifically calls for it, but I've been able to purchase it in small packets, and it doesn't seem to go stale as with dried herbs and other spices.
February COTM is Japanese Month
Yes, Simple Art is indexed on EYB. So excited to get back into this cookbook, I haven't used it nearly enough.
February 2012 Cookbook of the Month Voting
Happy to vote for JAPANESE MONTH although they all look good.
February 2012 Cookbook of the Month Nominations
I also like the idea of an Asian cookbook. I've been eager to participate in COTM more, so I'll cast my vote:
EVERYDAY HARUMI: Simple Japanese Food for Family and Friends by Harumi Kurihara
JAPANESE COOKING: A SIMPLE ART
GROWING UP IN A KOREAN KITCHEN by Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall
MY BOMBAY KITCHEN by Niloufer Ichaporia King
Looking forward to joining you next month!
I want to love my slow cooker, can you help?
Now if I had read the whole thread before posting, I wouldn't have needed to. Well said, I agree with your points and look forward to trying corn pudding and strata!
I want to love my slow cooker, can you help?
These are exactly the recipes that give slow cookers their bad reputation. First rule of slow cookers: don't do a recipe if you wouldn't use those ingredients on the stovetop. I'll use a recipe that calls for prepared salsa, using a salsa I typically buy that I know won't skew the salt content of the meal. But I learned through experience that slow cooking of prepared foods like jarred salsa can heighten their "fake" taste.
I want to love my slow cooker, can you help?
It's also great for keeping polenta warm, the polenta stays soft rather than setting up as it does when left in teh pan.
I want to love my slow cooker, can you help?
As a working mom with a relatively long commute, I find my slow cooker invaluable. Right now I have a brisket simmering away at home, I did all the prep last night (seasoning the meat, sauteing the onions) and put it on this morning. Looking forward to an easy dinner tonight.
That said, I only use it for long-simmered items when I have time to do the requisite prep the night before. Sometimes that's browning the meat, almost always it means chopping and sauteing vegetables.
I can't do chicken because my work day is too long, but it does a great job on brisket, short ribs, pork shoulder and the like, turkey thighs (posole after work? priceless!) and any kind of beans. I also now routinely have homemade chicken stock to work with, and applesauce, chutneys and carmelized onions are a breeze. So I use it to create the stepping stones of more time-consuming meals.
I don't use it on weekends, when I have the luxury of a lazy day to monitor a low simmer on the stove or in the oven, but it's lovely to be able to mix up the typical quick meals of grilled meat/pasta/salad with a long-cooked dish now and again.
My two favorite slow-cooker cookbooks are Slow Cooker Revolution, by America's Test Kitchen, and Art of the Slow Cooker by Andrew Schloss, and the Indian Slow Cooker Cookbook by Anupy Singla is a slim volume I'm just beginning to enjoy. The punjabi kidney beans are outstanding, my 7 yr old daughter went back for seconds and asked for it in her lunch the following day. I'm probably going to sell my copy of Not Your Mothers... I just haven't been that excited by the recipes.
Best Clam Chowder Recipe?
I have half and half and fish stock to use, thinking of making a big pot of clam chowder this weekend. I have several recipes, do people have favorites among those in Cook's Illustrated's New Best Recipe, The Gourmet Cookbook and Mark Bittman's Minimalist Cooks at Home?
Eat Your Books tells me I also have clam chowder recipes in The New Basics, Eating Well's Comfort Foods and The Secrets of Success, Michael Bauer's compilation of recipes from San Francisco restaurants.
Would love your input on your favorite recipe, or pointers on heavy cream versus half and half, etc.
Thanks and happy Thanksgiving!
November 2011 COTM: Gourmet II: Salads; Vegetables
I really don't like caraway in my cabbage, but cumin seed works beautifully as a substitute and opens up a whole range of matchign options. I add it with a little garlic and ginger and give it a minute to saute before adding the cabbage and remaining ingredients. Finely chopped rosemary is another nice addition.
November 2011 COTM: Gourmet II: Fish and Shellfish; Poultry
I like the ease factor on this one. I wonder if the addition of minced ginger and some chopped preserved black beans would liven it up?
Cabbage: favorite ways to cook?
I think I've finally perfected this, at least to my family's taste. It's a mish mash of recipes from The Mensch Chef, Loaves & Knishes and Jewish Cooking in America (1st ed.)
3 lbs. flanken shortribs
2 yellow onions, large dice
2 28-oz cans diced tomatoes
1.5 T tomato paste
2 qts. water
1 t salt
1 small cabbage, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 t sour salt
Salt and Pepper to taste
Bring the first 6 ingredients to a boil, simmer together for 1 hour. Meanwhile place cabbage in a colander, sprinkle liberally with salt and allow to drain 1 hour. Rinse with hot water, add to pot with remaining ingredients. Simmer 1 hour, adjust seasonings (especially the sugar and sour salt) as desired.
Serve with sour cream and diced dill pickles. So good on a winter's night!
What to do with feta cheese? Help, please
This super simple but it's my favorite lunch, hot or cold: steam broccoli to your preferred doneness, top liberally with crumbled feta and fresh ground black pepper, more conservatively with a flavorful extra virgin olive oil, a somewhat coarse salt and a bit of balsamic vinegar. It is heavenly and if you serve it for dinner, it holds up well for lunch the next day.
I've also been holding on to this recipe for Alevropita -- they call it a tart but it looks more like a flatbread, and seems perfect for leftover feta: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Feta-Tart-Alevropita
What to do with feta cheese? Help, please
If it doesn't come in brine, you can brine it yourself, and it will maintain freshness and texture for quite a while. I can't recall the proper brine proportions, but I have done this before based on a google search with good results. You want a brine rather than water because water will leach the requisite salt from the cheese.
What to do with feta cheese? Help, please
This sounds good. Do you bake it? Or do you cook the polenta till done in the saucepan? Thanks!
Savory bake sale items?
These Cottage Cheese Muffins are excellent, they're high protein, are good warm or room temp, and are fairly easy to throw together. I've subbed olives for sundried tomatoes, and she's listed several other options in the headnotes to the recipe.
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/cottage-cheese-muffins-recipe.html
In fact, this thread reminded me to make them for my daughter's bakesale tomorrow!
Ideas for Home Made Holiday Presents in a Bottle
I don't know. It reduces quite a bit and I use raw sugar, so it could be any of those. But when it was "ready" it was darker than when it started.
Ideas for Home Made Holiday Presents in a Bottle
I made a ginger simple syrup that was hugely popular as an addition to cocktails, tea, and as a way to dress fruit for dessert. I'm sure there are many more uses. I used the last of it in a melon liqueur that is currently not yet ready but smells like it could be pretty good. It's easy to make, just brew a large quantity of ginger in your basic simple syrup, allowing it to simmer till it takes on a caramel color.
I thought I got the recipe from Punk Domestics, but I can't seem to find it now. Here's a recipe from Chow:
http://www.chow.com/recipes/10458-ginger-syrup
Recipes from Smitten Kitchen blog.....what are your favorites??
I appreciate the same things about her blog. A lot of the success of recipes is in finding someone whose taste preferences you agree with. I've had cookbooks where the recipes were never pleasing because I found the finished food kind of boring or always slightly off what I would have wanted.
For savory recipes with European or Americana roots, what she considers an improvement works for me. I also appreciate that she talks about how long a recipe takes in a real home kitchen. She devises shortcuts where she can, and tells her reader about them -- unlike Chow newsletter recipes for instance, where the estimates always assume you've already done all the prep -- hey, I don't have a prep cook! This isn't always the case, but she's also explicit when she takes on a crazy all-day project.
I don't like her recipes as much when she delves into food with Asian roots, I get the impression she's not as experienced with the range and nuance of flavors here and I find her recipes (Thai chicken legs, mango slaw) lack nuance and depth.
But once you guage your tastes against hers, you can do quite well.
Recipes from Smitten Kitchen blog.....what are your favorites??
Another vote for the cabbage and lime salad with roasted peanuts. I like the concept of her mango slaw as well although I fiddled with her seasonings a bit.
Other favorites:
- Braised romano beans
- Napa cabbage salad in buttermilk dressing -- easy winner
- Moroccan spaghetti squash
- Escarole Orzo and Meatball soup
- Crisp rosemary flatbread
She's a big baker and I have a ton of her baked goods recipes in my To Try file, but I am not a big baker and so they wait...
What homemade edible thing do you most commonly gift?
I'm late to this thread, but if you see this, would you mind posting your brittle recipe? Thank you!
Help. I'm desperate to find this recipe from Cook's Slow Cooker Revoultion.
I have the book but it's at home and I'm at work. The book is actually *America's Test Kitchen* Slow Cooker Revolution so you may be looking on the wrong site -- try the American's Test Kitchen recipe site. Unfortunately they are not merged and you have to pay to join each.
I hate this about Taunton, also that the mobile app for the CI site is totally buggy. Yet I love the recipes. I only belong to the CI site I'd send you the recipe...
What to do with boiled chicken?
I remove the meat from the bones, roast the carcass until it's nicely browned, then simmer the stock for another 45 min- 1 hr.
As for uses for leftover meat, my running list of what to do with cooked chicken includes:
1) Saute onion, carrots, celery and any other veggies you have on hand, adding chopped garlic, herbs and spices as preferred. Remove mixture from pan. In the same pan, make a light roux, add milk or chicken broth and when thickened, add veggies and chicken and bring to a simmer. This makes a great filling for chicken pot pie, with pie crust or drop biscuits on top. I also do cornmeal biscuits and put a lid on to steam them into dumplings. And it is to die for with Jerusalem artichokes.
2) The blog the kitchn has a great recipe for kale and chicken stew, I use leftover chicken and sub the potatoes out for cooked quinoa. http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/healthy/recipe-chicken-soup-with-kale-and-cannellini-beans-131067
3) Quesadillas. Cheese and salsa are the perfect antidote to bland chicken. Enchiladas, too, for that matter.
4) Goi Ga or Vietnamese chicken salad with shredded cabbage and herbs. Again, washes away the blandness of boiled chicken.
November 2011 COTM: Gourmet II: Salads; Vegetables
Thank you! Not sure I would have looked to this cookbook for this particular recipe, and I am so glad to know it's here.
November 2011 COTM: Gourmet II: Fish and Shellfish; Poultry
Oh that's too bad. I feel compelled to jump in to say I'm on Year 10 with my Viking range and the only problem was at installation, and it was quickly resolved. I use it a lot and I would absolutely buy one again.
But I had a lemon Subaru (a car that people LOVE), so I understand how a bad experience can leave a bad taste in your mouth.
Leftover Buttermilk
I generally make salad dressings with my leftover buttermilk, especially blue cheese and this chipotle ranch dressing:
http://pinchmysalt.com/2011/05/17/chipotle-ranch-dressing-recipe/
I've als been meaning to make this maple buttermilk pudding cake:
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/maple-buttermilk-pudding-cake
What homemade edible thing do you most commonly gift?
I've been making the pickled grapes regularly as we seem to go through half of what we buy to eat out of hand. People have a very strong reaction to them, they either love them or truly hate them ("I never want to eat those again" is a memorable and at-the-time funny quote from a good friend). Of the pickles I make regularly, this is not my top choice as a gift.
However, the pickled zucchini in the Zuni cookbook and this Parsi Tomato chutney are both winners. We're seeing the last of both crops here in the Bay Area and I'm making each of these as holiday gifts.
http://www.travelerslunchbox.com/journal/2010/10/26/a-chutney-for-all-seasons.html
