I just made it too, and leaned heavily on your post. I fried my own shallots (got some in my CSA last week) and used the black cherry tomatoes I grow. Pretty sure I had the same potstickers you did - just randomly found them at Giant. They are Korean, I think, and def better than previous brands I’ve bought. I also added the chopped peanuts.
I didn’t have a single fresh herb in the house, so I skipped that, and I also skipped the raw garlic.
Because I fried the shallots (and hard, as the photo shows), this wasn’t exactly the super quick meal it would’ve been otherwise, but I really liked it.
Might it be because you added the olive oil separately and not while blending? I’m no food scientist but I’ve been led to believe that slowly adding the olive oil to the blender makes a difference in emulsifying/keeping it smooth and creamy rather than separating.
Could be. Our food processor is possibly older than I am (late 1800s, perhaps?), and it is also not very large. So, I had to blend the veg in 2-3 increments, which means the oil would’ve only blended with part of the ingredients anyway. I’d hoped that, by using a stick blender in the bowl that combined all of the blended produce, I would achieve the emulsification required. I did not.
If we ever have spare money to blow on a big fancy Kitchenaid with all the attachments, we’ll def be in the market for one.
It was tasty, but absolutely not mind-blowing in a way that I’m inclined to make this again. But gazpacho really isn’t a very interesting dish to me in the first place, so — aside from a few hours of my lifetime — nothing gained, nothing lost
I much prefer the bread & almond version of this dish.
SPAGHETTI SAUCE
My daughter wants to experiment in the kitchen (sounds like your son @digga ) so while she’s still off from school I wanted to attempt a project with her. She requested spaghetti and meatballs but our family meatball recipe is an all day affair, so I convinced her to go with a meat sauce instead. She was able to help with most of this recipe, except the beginning when the oil was popping a bit too much. I was not super impressed with the final result (I found the beef was a little tough and the flavor just wasn’t super nuanced, but it only simmers 20 min so that makes sense), but she was, so I’ll call it a win. I think I’d either use a meatloaf mix next time instead of all beef, although the beef itself may just not have been fatty enough. It was some grass fed new brand from Costco and seemed pretty lean. I also think I just prefer bolognese to a basic meat sauce. There was plenty leftover, which I froze for a desperate weeknight once the school year begins. Future me is thankful for that.
Looks good, sorry taste didn’t deliver. I think ground beef should be 80/20 and I always buy freshly ground from a quality butcher. I also think cooking the sauce a long time on low is best.
I love Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese; I add minced garlic, dried oregano, dried basil, fresh basil. I make a triple recipe and can freeze any leftovers if necessary.
Out of optimism, I used a very nice center-cut piece of BC king salmon. We both thought this was quite tasty, and while I’d make it again, I wouldn’t recommend using one’s best piece of salmon to make it. The fish pretty much gets drowned out by the glaze. Tail pieces, or silvers, or pinks, however, would probably all benefit from the prep.
I’m also wondering about the mayo. I understand it helps keep the fish moist, but if the fish is properly cooked, it shouldn’t need it. I’m tempted to give this one a go with the chile crisp and honey only.
These are made using reverse creaming, which I’ve never tried before. I don’t think it’s my imagination–the texture does seem better than my usual. I’d like to make some of each to test, but that’s not gonna happen, these are fine. I know they’d look better with a lot more frosting but I have to draw the line somewhere sometimes. Froze six for next time. Very tasty simple treat.
Yes, I’ve always done that, but I suppose if I had the right size / shape container it would be okay to frost them first. I just don’t want the frosting to stick to the wrapping.
I have frozen them unwrapped until the frosting hardens, then wrapped for freezer storage. Unwrap when you take it out of the freezer, before thawing, and the icing doesn’t stick.
Rose Levy Beranbaum uses reverse creaming in her cake recipes, and it makes for a fine, light crumb.
Yes, like Caitlin showed, --this is from the recipe I used in the NYT.
“They use the reverse creaming method made popular by author Rose Levy Beranbaum in which the dry ingredients are mixed with a solid fat (butter, in this case), before the liquid ingredients are mixed in, which helps ensure that you don’t overmix your batter. This mixing method, along with the buttermilk and a combination of butter and oil, creates the soft, tender crumb of these cupcakes.”
This Ali Slagle recipe is genius and every time I make it I wonder why I don’t make it once a month.
I make three tweaks: Ahead of time, I mix panko, olive oil and a pinch of salt and bake on a sheet pan at 350 for 15 minutes until dark golden brown because it does not brown up while on the fish. I use my own tartar sauce recipe of Duke’s mayo, both seeded and Dijon mustards, and lots of chopped cornichons and capers. My version is much more pungent than hers. Lastly, I bake at 350, not 400, which I think is a much more forgiving temperature for fish. Fifteen minutes, turning front to back once, usually does it. Definitely serve with lemon wedges! (I usually do this with haddock, as tonight, but have also used steelhead trout and salmon with good results.)
I’m undecided about this one. It def didn’t blow my mind. My PIC liked it a lot more than I did. I guess it’s easy enough, and it certainly shines with the heirloom tomatoes and garden basil I used, but I don’t care much for the flour dredge for meats in general — it adds an unpleasant goopiness to the meat itself. If I were to make this again I would likely use cornstarch instead for a much lighter coating, which would still help bind the sauce (if the butter at the end isn’t enough to mount it).
I used BLSL thighs instead of breasts, and I doubt using breasts would make this any more interesting. I wonder if this wouldn’t be nicer with halibut, or cod, or some other white fish.
My version of this involves a chuck roast heavily seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, pepper. seared nicely in a bit of olive oil. then sprinkled with a packed of onion soup mix and topped with a jar of pepperoncini with juice. I never do the butter and don’t think the ranch dressing mix is super necessary given the upped quanitity of puckery vinegary juice from the pepperoncini. I’ve occasionally added some au jus/ powdered beef gravy mix on top, but don’t find it a net positive or to add much in the way of flavor. you lose some thickness in the sacue with that omission, but i’m fine with that tradeoff from the sodium savings.
