joethefoodie

Found a little dough from my last focaccia effort, hiding itself in the fridge; so whether it's 72-hour or even 96-hour, made a pizza with it. Topped with another fridge stowaway, the tomato sauce, some mozzarella and parm. Was quite tasty.

My deliveries on Wednesday and Thursday loaded me up with lots of product. And with no real room in the freezer, I'm cooking like crazy. I wanted something easy Thursday night for dinner, and had gotten scallops. So I made a ramen-like soup, with lots of vegetables, and poached the scallops in the broth as well. I prefer them pan seared. Last night, I got fancy and made what might even be considered, in other times, two dinners, or at least a primi + a secondo; here, instead, one was served as a side dish... Asparagus and ramp butter risotto, with some nice local asparagus. The highlight though... A heritage chicken from my friends at Ends Meat...their bird may be as good as Joyce Farms', but that's all subjective I guess. Braised in white wine, chicken stock and various aromatics, enriched with crème fraîche, with the fresh morels and porcini added back in at service. I'm worried, cause I'm starting to cook like @Sneakeater with the sauces and morels. In any event, this was really good.

Water?

Sometimes, I'll even use the instant read to make sure it's properly chilled.

Mine too...cracked good ice and proper stirring and a coupe out of the freeze ought to be able to handle the task.

Actually, I almost wish I hadn't even read this.

Sure, sure - but nothing tastes like when something is grilled over wood or coal.

I think our whole family was lucky my grandmother never got her hands on a food processor.

I was rearranging closet space in order to make more room in the apartment for current needs, moving stuff downstairs to my storage cage, when I came across a box I'd put there years ago. In said box, a set of 3 wooden bowls ( yeah, I know this is only two of them), might've been my grandmother's. I oiled them last night...they're gorgeous and have a million chop marks from making, no doubt, chopped liver, egg salad and other weird chopped things. And today for lunch, I made endive alla Romana for the 2 of us. Perfect size, and well - just perfect. Here's a question for @Orik or @bloviatrix or someone who might know. When they made chopped liver or egg salad back in those days, they used something like this... I think my mother might've called it a hoch meister - does that make any sense in Yiddish at all?

Not all cocktails are meant to be shaken.

This is not the fairly famous NYC breakfast called the LEO...lox, eggs and onion. No, I call this the LES, not only because of where we live, but because it's lox, eggs and SPRING ONIONS. With a buttered, toasted bagel. And yes, the eggs are well cooked...it's the way Significant Eater likes her scrambled eggs. I indulge her.

Nice!

That looks fucking great. Nice baking!

Organic flour, preferably rye or whole wheat or even bread, will give the best chance of becoming a real starter.

Ooooh, the Japanese Cocktail is a favorite. Here's another option, from a friend, for making a small batch of orgeat... Ingredients 150 grams blanched almonds [or other nut] 1 blanched apricot kernel (optional) 250 ml water 200 grams table sugar 30 ml brandy 1-5 drops of orange flower water or rose flower water to taste (optional) Process Soak solids in ample water for 30 minutes Discard water and grind nuts in food processor to a medium-fine paste. Add water to processor towards the end Let mixture steep 1-2 hours Place a thin tea towel or several layers of cheese into a strainer and pour mixture through cloth, reserving liquid. Twist and squeeze solids in cloth to extract maximum liquid. (Optional) Return solids to liquids for an additional hour and repeat straining and squeezing. (Optional) Repeat one additional time. Add strained nut milk to saucepan with sugar and heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is disolved. Optionally, dissolve sugar in some percentage of the strained nut milk and then combine after the heated mixture has cooled sufficiently. Once sweetened nut milk has cooled sufficiently, add optional orange flower water, rose flower water or other flavoring; add brandy for stabilization and bottle. Keep under refrigeration