BS: The other recipe thread is too long

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Sep 23 - 05:12 AM

Grr. I didn't forget after all! Although "stuck if" should have been "stick of." U, I and O are far too close together on the keyboard for the fat-fingered. :-(

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Sep 23 - 03:39 AM

I forgot to say to put a small sprig of rosemary in with the wine.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Sep 23 - 09:56 PM

I found myself wishing I'd assembled tonight's dinner in a Pyrex container because it would have been perfect baked in the toaster oven. I had ~5 ounces of thick slices of baked chicken breast topped with homemade Italian tomato sauce, and that was topped with provolone. A poor man's quick chicken Parm. The microwave was ok, but it didn't come out the way I was imagining when I assembled it.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Sep 23 - 08:29 PM

This for two people. I happened to have a scant pound of braising steak so I decided to loosely follow an online recipe for Italian beef stew (cheers, Vincenzo!).

Make a soffritto with carrots, onions and celery (as ever) with extra virgin olive oil. Don't cut the veg up too small. You want texture in the stew. Ten minutes' cooking.

Cut your beef (about 400g) into bite size pieces. Stir-fry it with the soffritto for a few minutes, to brown all round.

Add a tablespoon of plain flour and stir for a couple of minutes.

Whack up the heat and add a glass of red wine - keep stirring.

Add about 350 ml of passata or your own tomato sauce. Keep stirring.

Season, then add about 350ml veg stock. I always make my own with onions, celery, carrots, peppercorns, thyme and bay. Simmer for at least two and a half hours. Add a small stuck if fresh rosemary.

After one hour, peel a pound or more of spuds, cut into quite big chunks and add to the broth. Discard the rosemary.

Apart from checking the seasoning, you're done. I made this the day before and it was delicious. I did think it wasn't going to work out as a stew because it seemed to be too tomatoey and full of rosemary needles. Ut, begod, it was a triumph, and what a winter dish!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 24 Sep 23 - 02:14 PM

Made brussels sprouts chips again. Great application for mania.

For each sprout, cut the tough bottom, discard. Remove loose leaves, to a bowl. If sprout is still dark green, or much bigger than the others, slice another bit off the bottom, remove newly-loosened outer leaves. Put tip and leaves in bowl. When you have a small pale-green sprout, stop, go onto the next sprout.

This takes hours but is oddly satisfying.

You end up, from the bigger bag of sprouts, with a huge bowl of leaves and a small pile of similarly-sized, pale green, sprouts. Or, just keep going. You end up with an immense bowl of leaves. Takes forever. So satisfying.

For the leaves, in the bowl I sprinkled garlic powder, lots of fresh-ground green and white pepper, and a lot of salt. Added some avocado oil, and with gloves, spent a long time massaging oil and all into individual leaves. (I told you it took mania.) Heat broiler and sheet pan, broil 1-2 mn at a time. Eat the crunchy ones, stir the rest around, repeat. By the time the last ones are dark and crunchy you will have eaten the while bag of sprouts.

It has to be garlic powder. Garlic is too wet.

Or, put the dark ones in the serving bowl, and share.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Thompson
Date: 23 Sep 23 - 03:52 AM

It would be old-fashioned, Mrr, it's a recipe from the 1940s! Verray good.
Has anyone tried bean pie? Sounds like such a bizarre idea, but I'm thinking of trying it; I suppose cannelini would be the nearest beans I could get here to navy beans?

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Sep 23 - 10:50 AM

Thompson that's an old fashioned, I might say obsolete, way of proofing yeast. The quick fast-acting yeasts have been around for many years. Many are called Instant, and are simply mixed into the flour. No proofing necessary.

The garden is kind of empty after the heat, but the eggplant plants have a couple of small orbs and I'm getting a few okra. Tomatoes later. So nothing homegrown and homemade for right now. I'm starting zucchini and cucumber to hopefully get a small crop next month. I do have a lot of herbs in the yard that survived; I wonder how one would make their own Zatar mix. Maybe some homemade pita bread with Zatar spices on top would be nice.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 22 Sep 23 - 09:39 AM

I get a spoon, or just drnk the un-soppable-with-bread delicious ain't-gonna-miss-these juices and sauces like soup. Because so right about needing to consume the liquid. But nah, bread is not the only vehicle. It is the best. I miss it. But not necessary.

En parlant de bread, I'm not finding cooking time this morning for my masseur, so am providing sandwich bar: French ham, Hungarian salami; kaiser and Vienna roll (not for me); lettuce tomato cuke; mayo mustard horseradish hot sauces; Swiss and Havarti [Oxford semicolon?], and will quick-fry green beans and broccolini with garlic, cumin and hot paprika in olive oil for my main. I'll have sandwich fixings for my salad (my dressing, not condiments).

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Thompson
Date: 22 Sep 23 - 02:40 AM

Been thinking about trying Grant Loaf again after gobbling up many slices of what tasted very like what I used to make in Connemara a couple of weeks ago.

Here's one of the many versions online (I've tightened it up a bit:

Add 1 ½ level tablespoons of dried yeast to 1 ½ rounded teaspoons of dark Barbados sugar (you can use honey, but I like burnt liquorice taste you get off molasses)
whisk in 1 ½ tablespoons of blood-heat water in a small bowl.
Leave yeast to activatee and foam, which takes 20-30 minutes. I found that placing the bowl in a larger one filled with warm water sped the whole process up.
Weigh out 1 ½ pounds of stone-ground wholemeal flour into a large bowl and mix in a teaspoon of salt. If you don’t have somewhere warm like an airing-cupboard, put the flour in an oven at the lowest temperature possible and let it warm through.
When the yeast is ready, make a well in the flour, pour in the frothy mixture and slowly pour in one pint of blood-heat water, mixing thoroughly with your hands. The dough should be quite sticky, though you may find you don’t need all the water.
Split the mixture between a large and a small greased loaf tin and allow the dough to rise for about 45 minutes (I put it back in the still-warm oven).
Bake for 40 minutes at 200°C.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Sep 23 - 12:32 AM

That Aldi/Buffalo cheese video ad sounds like it's narrated by Ardal O'Hanlon. Anything he does brings a smile!

Shifting from topics pescatorial and camarónes, it's time to think about baking something to celebrate the autumnal equinox. Anyone have any suggestions? Do you have a celebratory meal or particular dish?

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Sep 23 - 06:24 AM

I looked up some recipes for your Catalan prawns and I found one similar to the pil pil recipe on the website food.com (GAMBAS AL AJILLO (SHRIMP W/ GARLIC) CATALONIA). Some other recipes over-egged things a bit too much but that one looks good. Not sure that you need butter, but hey, when is butter ever bad?   One difference is that, in the three places in Andalucía I had the dish, the garlic was not minced but was cut into quite large pieces, maybe each clove cut into about four or five, and plenty of it. We almost wrestled each other to get at those lovely, sweet chunks of garlic. I've said it before and I'll say it again: throw your garlic crusher in the bin! All you need is a sharp little knife. I have one of those cheapie silicone tubes which you put a clove into and roll on the worktop - and out comes a perfectly peeled clove!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Sep 23 - 06:09 AM

Nah, the prawns are cooked in the recipe and the dish is traditionally brought to the table still sizzling in one of those little brown tapas bowls. Just a thought, though: half the joy of the dish is mopping up the juices as well as eating the prawns. That really needs bread, which is carbs. You'd have to do a deal with your friend: you get the prawns, they get the juices. In fact, in Spain that did kind of happen, as my sis can't stand prawns in her mouth but was more than happy to snaffle up the juices! The downside is that she got more than her share of the juices....

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Sep 23 - 10:24 PM

I am interested in those prawns. My tapas place does something they call Catalan that sounds like that, but the prawns do not stay raw.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Sep 23 - 09:36 AM

We got back from a week in Andalucía last weekend. We had my sister with us, who loves all things Spanish. We went to the same bar for breakfast and evening grub almost every day, it was that good (and 100 yards from our house!). They had tostada with tomatoes for breakfast but I went for stuff that was more eggy and bacony. In the evening we always ordered about four or five tapas to share. Whilst we varied what we ordered, most times we had garlic mushrooms, Padrón peppers (sine qua non in m'humble), cod croquetas, among others, and, star of the show, pil pil prawns, which I'd never heard of but which is going to become a fixture in my house from on. All you need is some peeled, raw king prawns, garlic, chilli flakes, extra virgin olive oil and sweet paprika. There are loads of recipes online and I haven't made it yet, so watch this space!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Sep 23 - 07:05 PM

So true.

But if you read the books... ah, Adelina's mullets sound marvy!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Thompson
Date: 13 Sep 23 - 05:45 AM

Ah, but Montalbano never gets to actually eat any of the delicious food put in front of him. He lifts the fork, opens his mouth, his telefonino chirps and he puts it to his ear, says "Pronto" and a moment later, sighing sadly, is on the road chasing another demonic criminal.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Sep 23 - 06:42 PM

TV food: Montalbano.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Thompson
Date: 12 Sep 23 - 07:10 AM

Reading a thriller set in Venice recently I came across lascivious descriptions of a small, spiny fish called goby, which is apparently used to make a stock for a particularly delicious risotto…

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Thompson
Date: 11 Sep 23 - 02:08 PM

Thank you, Ed!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Ed.
Date: 11 Sep 23 - 06:12 AM

Thompson,

You can find the Aldi ad that you refer to here

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Thompson
Date: 11 Sep 23 - 05:46 AM

Having read a scary article about the Mafia control of mozzarella and its links with their control of garbage disposal a few years back, I use Aldi's very good Irish-made buffalo mozarella. They had a great ad for it, with a farmer riding a buffalo and saying "Ciao, sorello" (I think it was) to some passing nuns, but I can't find it online, alas.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Sep 23 - 08:26 PM

Sorry, Thomson. Of course I agree that dressings are a matter of taste. Mrs Steve likes bought dressings, and I came across a really nice mustardy dressing in a bar in Andalucía this week. But, for me, I want to taste the separate ingredients of the salad and I try to buy the best quality I can find. Avocados in shops often have black bits in them, corresponding to the clumsy thumbprints of customers "checking for ripeness." I use the Galbani mozzarella, very reliable, and cherry tomatoes produced by Wim Peters in the Netherlands.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Sep 23 - 12:18 PM

This summer I have assembled small pizzas on flatbread and they bake a few minutes in the toaster oven. As hot as it has been anything else heats the house too much. The type I've loved for this is Iraqi samoon bread, easy to remember in that they're kind of salmon shaped. ;) I use homemade sauce (tomato & Italian seasonings, thinly sliced bell peppers and onions, and some kind of sausage cooked ahead. Lately I have some Slovacek sausage, but I use mild Italian also. Top the veg with slices of provolone and top the cheese with the meat and heat. I buy the bread fresh at a local Halal market and it goes directly into the freezer for this kind of meal. I had been using a tandoori bread but it is thinner and more likely to spring a leak where sauce runs through.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 Sep 23 - 09:55 AM

My salad dressings are 3:

Salt red wine vinegar olive oil Dijon mustard (about 1/3 oil 1/3 vinegar 1/3 mustard)

Salt herbs garlic olive oil apple cider vinegar (more vinegar than oil. Crush the garlic, leave in big chunk. Leave chunk behind when serving so it keeps on flavorin')

Salt lemon juice cumin olive oil (even amounts liquids, more cumin than you'd think))

There are not in order of amount. Always put everything in the acid first, except the oil and mustard. Do not add those till salt, at least, is dissolved. Add oil in fine stream while whisking madly at end. Store in lidded jars not in fridge. The herb one turns green.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Thompson
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 04:42 PM

Matter of taste, though; I like various different forms - a classic French vinaigrette, a vinaigrette with crushed garlic, a vinaigrette with a spoon of moutarde à l'ancienne…

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 04:26 PM

I don't want to know about any "salad dressing" that consists of anything other than extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice. If you demur, I suggest that you're buying inferior salad ingredients!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Thompson
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 03:39 PM

Sounds good. Though I enjoy the sensation of peeling the skin away from the avocado too.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 01:02 PM

Halve avocado, remove pit, fill holes with salad sressing. Eat with a spoon.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Thompson
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 11:49 AM

Mmm, sounds good.
This One-pot fish stew by Mark Moriarty is extremely good, though fiddly to make. It's my wow 'em dish for guests in winter, and usually results in a complete cessation of conversation as everyone gobbles with head down.
Mark Moriarty is a young chef who has or had a programme on RTÉ in Ireland.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 10:45 AM

I got the recipe for a tricolore salad from a pack of Sainsbury's cherry tomatoes. "Tricolore" being the three colours of the Italian flag. It can be a complete meal for two if you make enough of it. It's two mozzarella balls cut into bite-size pieces, two avocados sliced into crescents (or chunks!) and a big handful of the best cherry toms you can get your hands on, each one halved. You can get all artistic with the arrangement or you can just more or less bung everything into a big salad bowl. Sprinkle the whole lot generously (don't you just hate "drizzle?") with your finest extra virgin olive oil, grind some pepper over it all and scatter some torn basil leaves over. Not dried basil! You can add salt but I don't think it needs any.

Oddly, they're not big on avocados in Italy though they're gaining ground. Avos are getting a bit political these days as they're regarded as an extremely environmentally-unfriendly crop as well as one which can be rather exploitative of the people who grow them. Dunno...

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Thompson
Date: 08 Sep 23 - 03:27 PM

What about salads? I like a simple avocado salad made with cubed avocado, capers, finely sliced shallot, chopped cherry tomatoes, and either a nice arquebina olive oil and lemon juice drizzled over or a simple vinaigrette, then a good handful of chopped parsley over the top. The local eastern European shops have huge bunches of flat-leaf parsley and dill for around €1.75 each, fresh every Friday.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Aug 23 - 09:44 AM

I cannot Alfredo. It makes glue, every time.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Aug 23 - 12:09 PM

I've tried Marcella's mushroom, ham and cream pasta sauce twice now and I can't make it good. It's very stodgy even with a lot of pasta water (which she fails to mention is needed - naughty!). It's way too creamy and buttery for our taste. I have a feeling that I don't want cream in any pasta sauce, and I think I'll stick to olive oil-based ones in future (except for carbonara!)

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Aug 23 - 10:25 AM

A friend mentioned mango bread (a quick bread) in an Instagram post this week and I asked for her recipe. I'd never heard of it but it is easy to imagine it being a wonderful bread, and I have several ripe mangos. She said she adds ginger to the recipe (she mailed a photo of the clipping). Like using cinnamon on peaches or nectarines. Hmmm. I have dried ginger in the spice cupboard but I also have several hands of it in the freezer. I might grate some of that.

Will post later if it is good.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 23 Aug 23 - 03:44 PM

Came back. Had to go get more crab.

Then I made pork chops (dry rub berber spice, preheat oven to 325°F, brown one side in very hot cast iron with avocado oil, flip, add cherry tomatoes, cover, into oven) with mushrooms (lots of garlic/parsley butter, thyme, in covered pan), all in oven for 1 hour.

The idea is, when my massage therapist arrives, slide everything into oven. After 1-hour massage, flow off table and into kitchen to eat.

So all such recipes require an hour of cooking time. Ideas welcome.

We devoured the pork chops and most of the mushrooms and tomato glop. Next day, leftover mushrooms and their sauce plus the tomato glop all pork-flavored made a kickass soup.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Aug 23 - 08:24 PM

Oooo! Fish for dinner! Sounds good.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Helen
Date: 18 Aug 23 - 06:04 PM

Not being a big seafood eater, Mrrzy, my only response to that is Yuck! LOL

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Aug 23 - 05:55 PM

Beach beach beach
Fish crab legs crab legs crab legs fish

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Helen
Date: 18 Aug 23 - 03:04 AM

Hubby has just made a batch of grapefruit and orange marmalade using grapefruits from the tree in our yard. Looks yummy and I'm hoping we'll have crumpets with marmalade tomorrow morning for breakfast to try it out.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jul 23 - 11:16 PM

Tonight I concocted a one-skillet dish with fresh stuff from the garden - calabash or gray squash, pepper, onion, garlic, tomato, basil - and stuff from the freezer - lean pork sirloin, sauteed mushrooms, more peppers, plus some fridge dairy drawer provolone that needed using. I did it in stages, olive oil for the slices of pork, then after setting it aside, the onion and peppers cooked in the pork oil. Once they were tender, I mixed in the sauteed mushrooms, then spooned it into a bowl and put the cut up squash in the skillet and let it saute/steam for a few minutes. I added some quartered small tomatoes, then as they softened, I added the cut up provolone and julienned basil. Put back the other vege and pork mix and let it cook together for a few minutes. I used Nu Salt (potassium salt) and Mrs. Dash for seasoning, in addition to the freshly ground pepper. The only salt came from the provolone.

It. Was. Amazing.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Jun 23 - 11:30 AM

This is never a time of year to travel for me, with the garden just entering high-production mode. As it is I'm cat sitting for a friend who has a modest collection of pots with tomatoes and peppers and one okra plant she has managed to keep alive for three years. I water every day during this trip. Her potted okra is a tiny thing compared to the monster Clemson spineless I grow every year.

I'm doing more cooking because of the whole sodium management thing, and though my fridge is more full than usual, it is working. The times I eat foods that have higher sodium they're in small amounts and are a treat. An example would be a snack of few whole wheat crackers with a dry salami slice and a slice of cheese on each. Or a small amount of smoked salmon. I'm not buying so much cheese as I used to and I need to figure out if I can get my favorite sharp cheddar in smaller containers; the ones that Costco sells will go completely mouldy before I finish them. You can freeze cheese, but it degrades the consistency to do it.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 26 Jun 23 - 11:03 AM

I forgot abut Italy's egg drop soup, straccatelli! Rediscovered in the North End in May, but today I made something like it:

Melted some butter, bloomed some hot pepper in it, cooked down a chopped tomato, added some cauli rice, then some hot chicken broth. Carefully added a lot of grated parm to the top, carefully put a duck egg onto the parm, turned it off, lid went on, waited till it stopped bibbling, carefully into bowl. Got most of the runny yolk in one big bite, yum.

My larder is empty as I am about to travel. I have no onions or spinach or garlic in the house, but there was that one tomato and some cauli rice...

And a deglaze with white wine step before the broth, maybe, next time. It is yummy.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Jun 23 - 05:52 AM

Arrgh! I know it sounds a bit like a recipe, but that should have gone in the joke thread!

---

Moved to the joke thread - where I see you pasted it also. So now to go remove the dup post. :) ---mudelf

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Jun 23 - 05:02 AM

Butternut squash cut into little cubes and roasted in the oven with the spuds is very nice with, say, roast chicken. I do the safety flat bottom thing too, then use one of those Y-shaped veg peelers with the swivelling blade. Butternut squash makes very nice soup too. Ad if you buy one it keeps for ages in the veg rack.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jun 23 - 11:39 PM

I would use a coping saw - the battery-operated reciprocating saw would go through it too fast. [gales of laughter!]

I'm growing a new squash this year, one of the "gray" squash (also called Calabash) and have noticed something important - the stems are really hardened, and even if they split they become woody. The squash vine borers can't get them. I've bought these squash frequently (whatever is on sale) but now I think they will be the main one I grow. Zucchini and yellow squash are so vulnerable to the beetles and the borers.

Squash cut into chunks (not slices that are harder to turn in the skillet) and cooked in olive oil with some onion, bell pepper, and marinara sauce is a summer staple here. I sometimes melt in mozzarella cheese or top it with a lot of Parmesan.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: leeneia
Date: 21 Jun 23 - 09:06 PM

A few weeks ago, on a gray, drizzly day, the DH brought home a butternut squash, the big kind with a hard skin and seeds in the big round end. But soon the temperatures shot into the 90's, and I didn't feel like using the oven for a long time to bake it.

So I invented Italian winter squash, and tonight we had it with pizza. It was good.

First phase.

Cut a small slice off the bottom of the squash to keep it from rolling around. (safety). On the top surface, drill a hole into the seed cavity to let steam escape. I use a corkscrew.

Put the squash in a large slow cooker, getting as much of the squash in contact with the ceramic as you can. Add 1/4 cup water. Cook on high for 3-4 hours, till tender when a sharp knife is thrust into it.

Remove from cooker, let cool some, then refrigerate. If you want to serve it the day you cook it, cool until safe enough to handle.

Second phase.

Cut the squash in half longways, scrape out and discard the seeds and fibers, and remove the flesh from the skin.

Put a goodly splash of olive oil in a big sauce pan and add 1 tsp Italian seasoning and grinds of black pepper to taste. (I did 12 grinds.) Stir.

Add the flesh of the squash and moosh till smooth with a big spoon or strong spatula. Stir to distribute oil and spices. Heat through over medium-low heat and serve, salting at the dining table as desired.

Notes: my sister says that a drywall saw from a DIY store will cut hard winter squash when raw. I haven't tried it myself.

Tomorrow we will have this dish as an accompaniment to Train Smash.

One squash will probably serve two people for three dinners. I'm sure it will freeze well.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Jun 23 - 05:36 PM

Indeed!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jun 23 - 11:25 AM

That sounds interesting. I am avoiding sodium, but potassium salt should work the same way to pull liquid from the vege.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Jun 23 - 11:20 AM

Ooh, Steve! Not a chance!

Ok, I got one to work. Took 3 days.

1. Cover bottom of nonreactive bowl wih hot pepper, cover that with cumin, cover that with salt. Cover with red wine vinegar, let sit while chopping.
2. Crush then mince one large clove garlic, into the bowl. Mince one small onion, into the bowl. Stir.
3. Mandoline 1 large seedless cuke into tiniest pieces, in my case thin slices sliced into very thin strips. Into bowl. Stir. (Next time I'll salt these separately. Might get more juice.)
4. Dice tomatoes, about twice the amount of cuke. Mostly small, some medium. Into bowl. Stir, adjust seasonings (needed a little more salt). Into fridge, covered.
5. Go away. Cook other things, leave the house, resist all temptation to eat your not-yet-gazpacho. I gave it a day and a half-made in am then waited for next day's dinner.
6. The next day, it was delicious and tasted right, but hadn't turned into *soup* yet. Added small can of tomato juice.
7. The *next* day, I had marvelous gazpacho.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Jun 23 - 06:27 PM

Don't bother with gazpacho. Make salmorejo instead. It's a sort of thicker version that you eat from a smallish glass with a teaspoon, sprinkled on top with slivers of jamon (I prefer crispy bacon meself!) and chopped hard-boiled egg. The Andalucians eat it with some little breadsticks. I've just remembered that you avoid carbs, so this is not for you, as it relies for its texture on bread. Sorry about that. I think I've posted my salmorejo recipe before. It's a real treat as a starter or a tapa. I remember eating it in a little bar in Granada, with a view of the Alhambra on the hillside above. Beat that!