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THewat(Tracy)

  • NW CT
  • Member since The Beginning
  • Total posts 72
  • Total comments 983
THewat
THewat commented 2 years ago

I've been making my tahini & have found it a revelation. 2 cups hulled sesame seeds (9 oz), 1 tsp kosher salt, about 1/2 cup olive oil. Toast seeds in dry skillet until golden & let them cool a few minutes. Put the seeds & salt into a food processor or high-speed blender with half the oil & process. Add the rest of the oil gradually, to taste. Store in the refrigerator for up to a month. It's actually even good with pre-roasted seeds. Un-hulled seeds make a more bitter tahini.

THewat
THewat commented 2 years ago

Thank you AmyH and Westminstress. I've steamed a single egg and cooked a sweet potato so far. Off to the races. :)

 

In the 70's, my mother used to make a citrus dessert - probably rounds of oranges and grapefruit plus perhaps bing cherries? I suspect it had a healthy dose of alcohol in it, and it was served hot / warm as a complete dessert (ie, not on top of ice-cream or cake). I remember it being good, and nice after a heavier winter meal. I suspect there was a simple recipe, but I can't locate it. Before I start experimenting, does anyone make anything similar? Thanks in advance.

 
THewat
THewat commented 2 years ago

SeaEagle: 2 lbs idaho, 2 lbs yukon, 5 eggs, 1C flour, salt

Grate the potatoes coarsely. Add the beaten eggs. Mix in up to 1 C flour & some salt. Batter should be fairly liquid.

Fry small amounts in 1/2 inch oil until brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Serve with sour cream / apple sauce.

THewat
THewat commented 2 years ago

I just bought large and small stovetop pressure cookers - 8 and 4.5. I see that these electric pressure cooker threads are filled with a wealth of information - thank you - I'll pour over them. Are there cookbooks or blogs that are standouts in the area of pressure cooking in general that I should investigate as well?

 
THewat
THewat commented 2 years ago

I snuck into Thanksgiving with just enough time to make Brazilian cheese bread as a gluten-free hors d'oeuvre. It took about half an hour from the time I walked in the door to the time I was offering them to people out of the hot muffin tin. Cheers! https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes...

Hi smart people. I just made David Lebovitz's apple jelly for the third or fourth time. It's a winner of a jelly - I highly recommend it. In this case, I used a mix of local apples, all really fresh, some probably a little under- ripe, and the jelly reached temperature & passed the freezer test in record time. (High pectin, I guess.)

I used the method of sterilization detailed in Blue Chair Jam, which is to bake the jars before & after filling; this is my usual method. When the filled jars came out of the oven, I was fascinated to see that several had what looked like champaign bubbles rising in them, and that the bubbles kept rising for well over ten minutes. Those that had bubbles rising are now the most clear. All the jars sealed.

So who can tell me about those bubbles? Where do they come from? What do they indicate about the final jelly? Thanks!

Hi smart people. I just made David Lebovitz's apple jelly for the third or fourth time. It's a winner of a jelly - I highly recommend it. In this case, I used a mix of local apples, all really fresh, some probably a little under- ripe, and the jelly reached temperature & passed the freezer test i...

THewat
THewat commented 5 years ago

Thanks, Midwesterner, for both the congratulations and the links. I would like to go back at the coconut cake at some point, but I think it's going to be a month or two...

 
THewat
THewat commented 5 years ago

Oy. My father turned 92 and wanted a coconut cake. I made a tester sized version of Miss Essie Brazil's Three-Layer Coconut cake with seven-minute frosting, and thought it was vile. Thinking I might have better luck with a coconut cream pie, I tried the custard for the Old Fashioned Coconut Cream Pie from Allrecipes.com, which I also disliked. For the big dinner I made a coconut cream pie of Maida Heatter's. It went over well with everyone BUT my father, who was unimpressed. (sigh.) And then on a whim, and since my whole kitchen was filled with coconut products, I made the coconut cream pie from cooks illustrated (August 2008.) I upped the coconut flavor by soaking some coconut in the milk for 24 hours before I used it. Otherwise, I made it exactly as written. Let it be known: my father had seconds.

Oy. My father turned 92 and wanted a coconut cake. I made a tester sized version of Miss Essie Brazil's Three-Layer Coconut cake with seven-minute frosting, and thought it was vile. Thinking I might have better luck with a coconut cream pie, I tried the custard for the Old Fashioned Coconut Cream...

THewat
THewat commented 5 years ago

I have made three or four versions of coconut cream pie recently; one custard was grainy and I thought of this post. I have been most successful using the instructions for the Cooks Illustrated Coconut Cream Pie (August 2008): bring the coconut milk, whole milk, shredded coconut (if you're using it) sugar & salt to simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. In separate bowl, whisk yolks, cornstarch and a little sugar until combined. Temper egg mixture with milk mixture. Return all to saucepan and cook until thickened and mixture reaches a boil, whisking constantly, about one minute. Because of the cornstarch in this version, filling must boil in order to thicken. Off heat whisk in butter / vanilla.

I have made three or four versions of coconut cream pie recently; one custard was grainy and I thought of this post. I have been most successful using the instructions for the Cooks Illustrated Coconut Cream Pie (August 2008): bring the coconut milk, whole milk, shredded coconut (if you're using...

 
THewat
THewat commented 5 years ago

Yes, that's still the deal. In the end we went with The Poynt: beet salad / spicy roll with pineapple / steak / arctic char / berry pie. The parts of the meal that were meant to be cold were good; the hotter parts were a little the worse for wear having been held warm & moved around. Not the Poynt's fault, and the overall experience was sweet. The lighthouse venue is, indeed, lovely.

I am having dinner in the Newburyport lighthouse. Crazy. Anyway, I have to choose from the following six restaurants: Mission Oak Grill, Glenn's, Loretta, Brown Sugar by the Sea, Starboard Galley, and The Poynt. If anyone with experience dining at any of the above has an opinion they would be willing to share, I'd appreciate it.

 
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THewat
THewat commented 6 years ago

The orangette creamy beans saved me tonight (Goya, black, with garlic poached in oil). Thanks for the links!

 
THewat
THewat commented 6 years ago

Yesterday I made a (gluten-free) Chocolate-almond Torte from Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert - a cake I haven't made in a long time. https://themoveablefeasts.wordpress.c... It rose unevenly, and it slumped when I took it out of the pan. I'm sure it will taste good, and it could be prettied up at plating, but all alone it's kind of sad to look at. So this morning, needing something with a better presentation, I went back to the (also gluten-free) Chocolate Almond Torte from Bon Appetite, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo..., a cake I make regularly. I cut back both the almond extract and the lemon zest a little bit. It is out of the oven and very handsome.

It was a bother to bake this morning, but it was instructive to make the two so close together.

Yesterday I made a (gluten-free) Chocolate-almond Torte from Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert - a cake I haven't made in a long time. https://themoveablefeasts.wordpress.c... It rose unevenly, and it slumped when I took it out of the pan. I'm sure it will tas...

THewat
THewat commented 6 years ago

It's the part melted / part held their shape thing that fascinated me. I didn't actually get the recipe from the site I linked to, but it is the exact recipe I used - it's posted in a bunch of places. I have no idea who's recommendation led me to it - usually I'm better about attribution, but in this case... I will say about 85% of the recipes I try come from recommendations from people here.

 
THewat
THewat commented 6 years ago

Sandy, I agree completely. I actually ran out of parmesan and added some gruyere - I felt like the end taste was somehow less than the ingredients I used. I did like the seeds on the outside, though - that was fun. And I really liked the onions on the top.

 
THewat
THewat commented 6 years ago

I use the Julia Child butter / shortening crust a lot. (I use butter / margarine, for what that's worth.) I roll it relatively quickly. I chill / rest it before & after I roll it out. I blind bake if it's single crust & the filling is wet, or if the recipe specifies. I have had very few slumpage / shrinking problems, blind baked or not.

Macrogenoff, I've never used bleached flour for crusts - it doesn't make sense to me that unbleached flour would cause slumping.

 
THewat
THewat commented 6 years ago

FRANGIPANE TART, page 53. I love this tart. It is super easy, delicious & beautiful. I've always used the variation cream & included the optional brandy. My notes say to roll the dough very thin. I love the kitchen note on this recipe, too, which suggests using a tart shell ring only, placed on a baking sheet lined with parchment. It gives a beautiful crust.