BS: Recipes - what are we eating?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 07:17 PM

You've reminded me of a frittata recipe I got from Gino d'Acampo which has courgettes (aka zucchini). I'm thinking I might revive that one next week. We had the spinach soup tonight and it was really good, and so simple. For two of us (I tend to be generous), just before serving it I stirred in about 100 ml of double cream (wot I believe you call "heavy" your end) and sprinkled the soup bowls with a little bit of crispy pancetta. I'll use the rest of the pack of pancetta in my signature risotto tomorrow evening, leftover chicken bits with bacon and creme fraiche. I'm sure I've posted that one before.

I have a massive hunk of shoulder of lamb in the freezer that I bought months ago, intending to produce a feast for about six people (and have leftovers). That can't happen for the foreseeable future, obviously. So I'm going to thaw it tomorrow and cook it on Sunday. Mrs Steve and I will be feasting on cold lamb all next week. We love that, though I know some people don't. If there are scraps I'll make a ragu, the recipe for which I know I have somewhere. I'll put the hunk into a very low oven first thing on Sunday (seasoned simply and topped with a few scattered sprigs of rosemary) then forget it until it's time to do the roasties (about six o'clock). I have a new idea for roasties as it happens, but I need to make sure it works the way I want it before going large with it!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 11:14 AM

Made Hungarian-esque stuffed cabbage last night. One recipe said to make a little ball of the didn't-come-out-even stuffing in a kind of meatball so you can use that to check whether the rice was cooked... Brilliant. Started with raw rice and raw ground pork and only nuked the outer cabbage leaves so they could roll.

Still airing out the microwave, though!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 11:50 AM

Am postponing the lamb until next weekend. I'm doing a beery beef stew tomorrow instead. It's a Jamie Oliver one.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 12:26 PM

I did a delivery order from Aldi - my first ever grocery delivery. I included a case of dark beer, and though I don't feel like drinking beer right now, it's a nice thing to have for when it's a bit warmer out and the meal is right for beer. And it is good for things like making beer bread. If you don't have yeast, it'll work in a pinch, but plan to eat it while it's hot because it doesn't taste as good day-old.

I buy yeast a pound at a time (Sam's Club or Costco) and keep one of the two packages in the freezer till I need it. I'd hazard a guess that I have about 1/3 of a pound in the fridge now in a jar I measure out of when I bake. If you pull up Instagram and search on bread you'll find that the world is baking up a storm these days and there are some beautiful loaves showing up (the kind that bake on a sheet, not in a pan). I delivered my homemade bread shaped into much smaller loaf pans last week and my neighbor across the street called to offer effusive thanks - she has COPD and simply never goes out (hasn't for ages) but now no one can come in to visit her (her daughter, in particular). It seems bread is a great surrogate for having someone actually come in for a visit (I use tongs to drop it into a brown bag that was stored in the pantry long before COVID-19 came along then, wearing gloves, hand it over at the door to her son who lives with her. Now I'll have to set it down and let him step out to pick it up since we're staying 6' apart.)

I'm trying to not have too many things going in the fridge at once, but I have a couple of servings of lentil soup, a couple of servings (at least) of my chicken fajitas, I have some cooked pasta and jar sauce in there to make into something. There is a bit of chicken breast, and I think if I mix the chicken with the pasta sauce over pasta with melted mozzarella, I'll be happy with that dinner. Once I've cleared out a couple of these things I'm going to make my crustless quiche.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 12:50 PM

We also have a hunk of lamb in the freezer for Easter. A boned leg, if I recall correctly, almost the last of the whole lamb we bought from our favourite farmer last fall. We should be eating goose with Himself's brother and wife, but now obviously not. The goose is also sitting in the freezer, larger than life and twice as frosty.

The silver lining in this cloud is that, by the time we can invite someone over to help us eat that damnable goose, summer will have arrived and I will be able to cook it outside, thus not filling the house with the smoke that seems to be the inevitable result of roasting waterfowl in a convection oven. The last time I cooked a duck, I thought we would be feeding the fire brigade, too.

The current soup in the fridge is bean-and-kale minestrone, a recipe that always makes about a gallon. It freezes well, fortunately but, unfortunately, the kale always turns an unattractive olive-drab colour, exactly the same shade as the combat uniforms we wore back in the Cold War. I close my eyes and eat it anyhow; the flavour and nutritional value are not affected.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 05:17 PM

The DH and I still have a temporary kitchen (home renovation.) We've been going along nicely, alternately food from the freezer with restaurant take-out, but now we find fewer locals are selling take-out.

I assume they found that not enough people order food to justify the expense of running the kitchen. That's unfortunate.

So soon the DH and I will have to tackle actual cooking in our makeshift set-up. It won't be too bad. But tonight we will use the last of the cooked chicken to make curry. Here's my recipe:

Thinly slice a ripe pear or apple. Leave the peel on for flavor.

Put a little oil in a big skillet.

Saute minced garlic in it.

Add the sliced fruit and some pieces of chicken - I like thighs, trimmed of fat.

You can go to the trouble of removing the garlic temporarily and browning the chicken first, but I don't bother.

Cover the skillet and cook till the chicken is tender and the fruit has broken down into a smooth sauce.

Just before dining, add curry powder to taste, at least one teaspoon.
As I wrote before, I like the Oriental curry powder with its flowery aromas.

Meanwhile, cook rice with raisins in it and chop up green onion. Serve the chicken over the rice and sprinkle the green onions on top.
========
I have found that all the stress of the renovation and covid, etc makes us so tired that when dinnertime comes around, we don't feel like cooking anything. So I will cheat and make the sauce ahead of time. It won't be as good, but needs must.

Today we getting the dust out of the work area. We are sick of breathing it and tracking it around. The DH goes through with a big broom and sweeping compound, and I follow with a shop vac.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 05:45 PM

Ooh was this good:

Chopped a bunch of parsley, a little less dill, a little less mint, into bowl
Chopped a cucumber, into bowl
Hammered the tail end of my bag of almonds and sprinkled the salt over the cukes
Cut a bunch of grapes in half using the 2-plate trick and put on top of cukes
Added the choppedish almonds
Poured a good amount of lemon juice over the top
Drizzled on a decent amount of olive oil
Tossed with spoons
Ate with spoon oh truly yummy

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 08:28 PM

I have two or three large (6+ pounds) chickens in the freezer; I imagine what I can do is let one thaw then cut it up and offer a portion of it to my ex or the neighbors, talking with them ahead of time so they expect it and with the understanding that it will be cooked right away. I'd have to cut it up and bag it, hand it over with gloves, and they'd have to immediately cook it once it's home (to kill any germs transferred to the bird) and carefully discard the plastic bag for the same reason. Half a bird is plenty for one person for a lot of leftovers. There's a small (~ 12 pounds) turkey in there also, but it's my "spare" bird bought last December because invariably during the year there is an occasion when someone from out of town visits and we have several friends and family over. But this year not any time soon.

I wonder at how nerve-wracking it must be to have the workers in and out of the house right now. The same is happened with a friend here, and they're both higher risk due to age and underlying health issues. For now there has been plastic sealing off the kitchen from the rest of the house, but as soon as it comes down there will be other people germs available to commingle with everyone in the house.

Stay safe!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 08:47 PM

Steve wants us to use extra-virgin olive oil. That reminds me that the International Olive Oil Standards Board has promulgated further grades for olive oil.

Extra Virgin
Virgin
Girl next door
No better than she should be
Been around the block.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Apr 20 - 04:41 AM

I think that those refined olive oils are horrible things. A lot of nonsense has been written about extra virgin olive oil, such as that you shouldn't cook with it. What you shouldn't do is get the oil so hot that it smokes. But I don't have many dishes that require me to heat oil that much before putting something into it, and if I do need really hot oil I'll use groundnut oil instead. A lot of my Italian dishes start with gently sautéeing sliced garlic and chilli flakes, sometimes with an anchovy or two to melt. Gently being the operative word. Extra virgin oil is ideal for that. I have two grades of extra virgin oil in the kitchen, a big bottle of relatively inexpensive stuff for cooking and a much more expensive but superb oil for sprinkling over finished dishes or for salad dressings. Marcella Hazan would tell me off for not using the latter for everything. She has a point, but that would cost me a fortune.

And don't get me started on those horrid bottles of cheap and runny balsamic vinegar...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 05 Apr 20 - 07:14 AM

Wild garlic.

There's miles of it along the streambanks around here. I've been collecting bagfuls of it on walks and stuffing every spare space in the freezers with it. Use like spring onion or leek, for cooking or raw in salads. I've planted some in the garden but for some reason it prefers to grow near running water, which we aren't - who knows, we might get lucky. We already have a fair bit of self-seeded sorrel, so we're doing ok for fresh greens.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Apr 20 - 09:31 AM

Steve have you ever wondered if you had become a world class chef rather than an exhausted teacher, that your life would have benefited?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Apr 20 - 07:01 PM

No it wouldn't. Basically because I can't stand anyone to be in the kitchen with me. And that would apply even if the kitchen was 10000 square metres. No, I don't want any help. No, I'll peel the spuds myself. No, you don't chop veg my way so put that knife down and walk away slowly. Please get away from that sink - NOW. You want to know if there's anything you can do to help? Sure. Just bugger off into the other room and watch telly.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 05 Apr 20 - 11:03 PM

On a more relaxed note, we are getting ready for our isolated and virtual Passover. Tonight I spotted a couple of apples on the back of the counter. Chopped them up, skin on. Added some date syrup, cinnamon and cashew bits. Next time, I may try nuking the apple bits. Taste was good.
Getting more date syrup can be problematic as I don't remember which kosher shelf it was on. Will keep eyes peeled.   
It is really nice having all sorts of stores within a few miles--not so many in walking distance as we had in Brooklyn but a good variety.
Even found a place that sells beef kabonosy. Fresh, not dried.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 11:38 AM

Made a chicken curry last night whose leftovers will be arroz con pollo, if that is allowed. Miscegenation, or something.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 01:43 PM

To me Curry must have been used to diguise the flavor of spoiled meat.
Nope Curry curries no flavor with me.
Other Indian spices however are a spectral experience.

I have had some success with using savory liquors in sauces.
Chocolate liquor and dark chocolate is a good one for some seafood like lobster or scallops.
Drambuie works in some tomato or barbecue sauces. 100 proof PEACH and real cream is great for spongecake and other desserts. Goldbergs 100 proof cinnamon makes great cookies. Schnapes not so much.
I do not use wine because of the sulfites.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 03:54 PM

Donuel, consider that the warmer a region is, in general, the stronger the spicing is, especially of foods that tend to go bad. QED

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 04:25 PM

But if Steve had particularly nice clients perhaps we could form a commune and have him as our exclusive cook…?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 04:55 PM

Jack, no need to freeze the garlic. The best way to store the wild garlic is to pull the whole plant (or dig - my garlic always seems to grow quite deep) and knock off the worst of the dirt and save the corms to use for planting elsewhere later (or knock some back in the same hole so more plants sprout next year.) I let the batch of plants stand in a large bucket in the laundry/mud room and dry over a couple of weeks till the moisture has all moved to the garlic bulbs or simply dried out; cut off the tops, leaving a couple of inches of neck for easier handling. I knock off any remaining dirt then put them into a craft grocery bag and store them on a dark shelf in the pantry. They will last a year or two that way. I dug up some wild garlic in the woods across the road from me years ago and over time have it come in in several areas of the yard. It's actually a wild leek, or is referred to as a hardneck garlic.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 05:09 PM

Mrrzy, no need to worry about miscegenation between the curry chicken and the arroz whatever. The world that can accept curry wurst can accept anything. Or how about Tex-Mex won ton? I vow to you I have seen a recipe for that.
==========
I am trying to combine cooking during a kitchen re-do with life under Covid quarantine. My yeast supply is down to 1.5 teaspoons. I eat cracked-wheat bread, the only bread with good fiber in it for breakfast, almost every day. Here I sit - low on yeast and no oven.

So I have combined a recipe from "Artisan Bread with Steve" (see his YouTube videos) with directions from another YouTube on how to bake bread in a crock pot. The beauty of Steve's recipes is that each one takes only 1/4 tsp of yeast.

If you are looking for something fun to do, check out Steve's artisan, no knead bread.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 05:09 PM

Don't poke the bear or chef. Some maestros can be rather intense.
The older we get, the more spicy and colorful foods become satisfying and stimulating.
Look at the uncensored expressions on the face of little kids eating a more than usual seasoned food. Its agony or ecstasy.

They say its not the steak, its the sizzle. Bull, some dishes are just for show like turkey wings flambe'.

Oh, from memory a quick and easy way to fumigate your entire apartment is to put a can of Boston Brown Bread in the microwave for 20 minutes instead of 20 seconds.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 06:07 PM

Maggie, I think that Jack may have been referring to the leaves of wild garlic, aka ramsons, Allium ursinum. They are sprouting all over the place in partly-shaded woods and hedges right now, and, as far as I know, only the leaves are used, and you have to bag them over about six weeks through mid-spring. They have a lovely, fresh, subtle garlicky aroma, and the leaves are used in a good number of recipes. Naturally, Jack can speak for himself.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 08:46 PM

Are they the same as chives?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 09:26 PM

This is what I'm talking about.

There are lots of wild chives and onions that sound a lot like what you describe. "Society garlic," for one.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 09:28 PM

No, nothing like. Ramsons has broad lanceolate leaves whereas chives has cylindrical leaves, like grass at casual glance. Ramsons, garlicky aroma. Chives, more oniony and not at all garlicky.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 09:36 PM

Just look up Allium ursinum, Maggie.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 Apr 20 - 12:09 AM

Read the Redwall books for ideas.

The curry arroz con pollo was not as good as the original curry...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 07 Apr 20 - 09:49 AM

Himself made naan the other day, in an iron skillet like bannock. It's delicious and rich -- easy to eat too much, but worth the calories. The dough is made with ghee and yoghourt.

We got the recipe from an email sent out by the Stratford Chef School, a local institution doing its bit to make isolation less onerous. The recipe was adapted from a commercial source by one of the instructors, a chef and bread guru named Eli Silverthorne, who if there's any justice should get the keys to the city if not the Order of Canada.

The recipe is a bit long so, if anyone of you lot would like it, drop me a PM.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Apr 20 - 10:37 AM

Well the stuff in the yard (lbs of it) sure smells good when I mow it.
Its a natural yard so it is mostly purple and white violets, garlic stuff, and various grasses. Most people would consider these plants as weeds.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Apr 20 - 01:23 PM

If your garlicky stuff is growing in grass, it could be crow garlic, Allium vineale, which has fairly tall wiry stems, bulbils as well as flowers and a few leaves that look a bit like chives. In the US it's an invader from this side of the pond. You can use it like garlic, but it's a tough old thing and the flavour and smell is very strong and unsubtle. If it gets into pasture and is grazed by animals, the meat and milk takes on a disagreeable garlic whiff. If it grows in grain crops and is harvested with the grain, the same taint happens. It's not my favourite plant.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Apr 20 - 04:48 PM

I'm late in starting raised beds but I've removed the edge fence stuff from my old garden and have a number of bedding plants I'm keeping alive in pots until I get the soil redistributed. We have a long growing season here so a late start isn't a huge problem (though we just had Easter and my neighbor swears by not planting tomatoes until Easter.) Gardening has become all the rage now, clearing out area nurseries, so I'll probably have to start some crops from seed. I have a stash of old seeds and hopefully some of them are viable.

Today for lunch I finished the last of the eggplant Parmesan I made last fall and froze in a single-portion Pyrex covered dish. It actually made two portions because I haven't been eating as much after the surgery. As I get more active I'm sure that will change. The eggplants came from my yard. (I got high points a few years ago when Mudcat's Joe Offer came through town and we walked out to the garden and I picked an eggplant to use for dinner.)

I brewed some green tea with lemon balm the other day; it's my "house tea" this time of year because lemon balm escaped a pot years ago and grows all around the patio. It's only a light hit of caffeine so I can drink it in the afternoon. The ice in the freezer is made by an automatic ice maker, and most of it has sublimated in the freezer without being used. I've tossed the batch and turned on the rapid ice button. I dropped a cube and the puppy picked it up and skittered out of the kitchen with it like I was going to take it away from her. Such a cutie!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 08 Apr 20 - 09:32 PM

You may recall that I said I would cook bread in the slow cooker because we have no oven right now.

It worked, in the sense that it finally produced some edible bread. I had to cook it for far longer than the video said, and I had to take it out and turn it over. The final product is rather rubbery, but since I toast it every morning, that's not so bad.

Fortunately Amazon shipped my new supply of yeast earlier than they said they would, so now I can go back to my reliable bread machine.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Apr 20 - 08:00 AM

I want Joe Offer to stroll through *my* yard!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 09 Apr 20 - 09:12 AM

Getting set up for last night's seder was an adventure. First the good, Using Nyafat and sesame oils, the matzoh balls came out both light an solid. a friend asked where I found Nyafat. It was in a sealed jar in the back of the fridge. Looking it up on line, I later found that the product had been discontinued mere than a dozen years ago,
Now the ugly. After sticking the turkey in the oven, we discovered that the heating elements had failed. We ended up with fillet of flounder. Good, but not what we had planned. As the turkey had become partially cooked, we fiddled with the controls and got some heat from it, to the point that the turkey cooked very slowly and was quite juicy to be eaten tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 09 Apr 20 - 11:07 AM

Currently I'm on an adventure to create the hottest chilly burger I can create,any good recipes out there ?

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Apr 20 - 11:25 AM

Penzey's brand of Berbere spice has made people's eyes bleed. I find it wonderfully hot.

Anybody ever tried one of those steak-of-the-month mailed meats things? Several here: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/02/cnn-underscored/best-meat-delivery-service/index.html

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Apr 20 - 05:48 PM

It's kind of late to plan to order out today, but I'll look into picking up something for dinner tomorrow. I'm tired of my own cooking, though what I've been coming up with is fine. I miss eating out. I get sandwiches sometimes, Chinese fairly often, and there's a Mexican restaurant up the street from me that I always go to for sit down meals, but I'll think about what I want to carry out.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Apr 20 - 07:35 PM

We haven't done any shopping or take out for over a month. We could ration for a couple more months. At the peak of infection my wife wants to get curbside comfort food Friday. Wegmans is better stocked than Giant or Safeway. There are limits on everything but my tastes are either so prosaic or strange they had everything on our list.

While loading I will play 'Don't stand so close to me' followed by 'Come a little bit closer'.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 09 Apr 20 - 11:27 PM

This AM we did a visual on the oven. It turned out that the lower element had fractured. Whatever, the refrigerated turkey was delicious. As it's just the two of us, about 3/4 of the meat has gone into the freezer.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 Apr 20 - 07:09 AM

Made my first roasted crispety shaved Brussels sprouts, crowded the pan so not all were crispety but yum. Will have to try again with larger pan. In same oven also roasted first try at a single cornish hen, trying to cook for one. Bottom skin not crispy so next time will put on rack because also yum.
Brussprouts were flavored by soaking some crushed garlic, cayenne and coarse salt in a little olive oil and tossing them in that. Ground coarse black pepper over.
Hen had some more crushed garlic, cayenne and marjoram in cavity, plus ground coarse salt on outside after rubbing with olive oil.
Tried to time it to come out of oven at same time but veg were done first so 3 courses: veg, then all the salty crispy skin off the bird, then the bird itself.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Apr 20 - 10:57 AM

We're eating our way through the freezer.

Cornish hens are a very fine thing. I like to spatchcock them (split up the back, break wishbone, lay flat) and roast them on a rack, rubbed with olive oil and liberally sprinkled with sea salt and herbs. Many recipes call for a very hot oven, but I have found that 375 degrees Fahrenheit works very well, with convection.

One Cornish hen is a slap-up meal for one person, with leftovers if s/he is neither greedy, nor my husband on any given day. I swear that man has a hollow leg.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Apr 20 - 11:40 AM

I'm making a second batch of rolls this week, and around midday my ex will pick them up when he delivers groceries for me. Since he uses a place called the UPS Store (in the US - they serve as a private post office so his parcels aren't left on his porch where they too often were being stolen) he goes once a week, and then pops across the street to the little but generally well-stocked Aldi. He always used to go to Albertson's or Walmart on adjacent corners at the same major intersection, but I guess people assume because they're large they'll have more stuff, yet they're routinely stripped of many staple items. I told him about shopping at Aldi because I couldn't walk well through those big stores right after the knee surgery, and I was finding they weren't low on most things. They do post limits, which helps. I think he's a convert to the idea that the little stores are simply doing a better job at keeping up their supply.

I couldn't face another homemade dinner last night and then decided what I really needed was breakfast for dinner. I made a Dutch Baby (with an 8" skillet I preheat it in the oven, then drop in 2T of butter to melt before pouring in the batter (1 large egg, 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup milk, whisked until smooth). Bake 20 minutes at 425^o. (I find with this oven that about 18 minutes is enough - you can judge by the amount of brown around the rim of the thing.) Pour over a little maple syrup (I use Mapleine and make a home version) and beside it I had two strips of thick-sliced bacon. And since I have a couple of ripe bananas I made a small banana/strawberry/yogurt smoothie as a chaser.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 10 Apr 20 - 06:32 PM

SRS, we are glad you are improving. Do you use commercial or homemade yoghurt? We use about a tablespoon of Chobani Greek yoghurt as a starter. It comes in tubes and does not seem to go bad. Depending on how long you let it sit in your incubator [oven with the light on] before draining the whey off, you can set it for any firmness you like. 1/2 gallon of milk makes about a pint of really good stuff. We use the A1 or A2 whole milk for the best results.

Spring is upon us and we await a call from our friend who lives on the banks of the Delaware River. He has promised to call when the shad beginning running so we can catch our own. Pickled shad, slow broiled shad roe wrapped in bacon. [If broiling, watch for the bones as shad are a variety of herring] Now that's heavenly!

One thing about fishing is that it's one of the few social sports you can enjoy while maintaining a 2 meter distance between participants. [I prefer 2 meters to six feet because we are Ham radio operators.]

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 10 Apr 20 - 06:45 PM

Your dinner sounds delicous, Mrrzy, though I for one could not handle cayenne pepper. I like to saute brussels sprouts too. I cut them in half, brown on one side, steam for a while, then sprinkle with lime juice and black pepper.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Apr 20 - 09:54 PM

Over the years I've made a lot of yogurt, using the directions in a Middle Eastern cookbook (heat the milk, mix the starter, put it in a large bowl topped with a plate wrapped in several layers of towels and leave it on the counter overnight. It's magic by morning.

However, I have a gourmet discount grocery warehouse where they have the high-end yogurt (often quite thick, with no thickeners, just cultured, several brands) for extremely reasonable prices (an $8 pint for $1.50, for example) and cases of 12 cups for $2 each (the whole case) so I get the Siggi's flavors that way and am very happy with the quality.

I eat a lot of oatmeal and prepare it with brown sugar and a lot of milk over the top; I use My Fitness Tracker to keep track of the amount of calcium (also calories, but the calcium is the thing that is most important right now as someone with osteopena). This gives me almost 50% of the calcium I need in a day. Yogurt is another part of that routine.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 11 Apr 20 - 11:10 AM

Some like it hot, leeneia! Totz optional, the cayenne.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 12 Apr 20 - 12:14 AM

I just noticed. The output should be 2 pints per half gallon of milk. The milk we use is organic as we seem to get the best result and are lactose intolerant. We use the firm stuff in place of sour cream or cream cheese [try it with lox on a really good sour rye.]
Just got word--the shad are running. Off to the Delaware tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 12 Apr 20 - 06:59 AM

Used to make yogurt; best way of getting it to set in a cold climate was putting it in the bed with the hot blanket on and the duvet over it for a few hours.

Everyone in Ireland seems to be frenetically digging lazy beds and putting in potatoes, and reclaiming gardens and starting food seeds. The weather has been glorious for the whole lockdown period so far, but today some much-needed rain has arrived and the gardens and hills and fields are going "Aaaah!"

I'm trying to get scorzonera going. This is a long, sweet root, which is perennial and provides years of good eating; it's sweet-tasting (kind of like salsify) but is supposed to be good for diabetes.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Apr 20 - 07:01 PM

Imma try a chicken salad tonight. I have a thigh I kinda dredged in onion and garlic powders, cumin and cayenne for chicken broccoli from lunch, a few grapes, chopped celery and almonds, maybe some green peppers, sour cream lemon dressing with fresh dill. We shall see.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 12 Apr 20 - 09:01 PM

Well, we're not dining on Shad tonight or making pickled shad or any of the other pleasures, like shad roe, that are associated with catching a fish. We ere at several locations and only saw two fish landed today. We will make another try when they are running stronger--perhaps next week. A lot of broken surface walking, though.