Monthly Cooking Update

[Jamestown1630]

Dear Cooking Friends;

Since I changed my weekly cooking thread to a monthly one, I've received several private emails from folks who are disappointed at this change.

It's very gratifying to me that the thread has been so popular and that so many have enjoyed engaging it. As I mentioned in March, my life is going to be rather consumed with a couple of unusual projects over the coming Summer. I have felt that my free time wouldn't be predictable enough to give the thread the care that I tried to give it over the past several years.

However, if anyone would like to access the ping list on my home page, and post more frequent threads, that would be great. Yaelle and Cottonball have done a wonderful job of this in the past.

-JT

[Chipper]

Check out the Sous Vide Everything guys on YouTube. I’m sold on this method. Nothing gets dried out, over cooked, or burnt. I can actually stand the chicken I make with this method.

[CottonBall]

“I’d probably be shot for wearing my maga hat. I even hid it in my closet because you never know which guest might go in there.”

i’m still shocked that i can talk about being conservative in public and that other people do too. And MAGA bumper stickers and clothing are proudly displayed. i’ve been here 3 years! The decades of bullying and attempts at brainwashing obviously took their toll on me. I keep forgetting i really am free here, lol

What i’ve noticed also is liberals here are also free to have their own opinions. People might argue with them but they don’t scratch their cars or egg their houses. Conservatives are respectful while liberals in California were truly fascist bullies. My liberal yankee neighbor even yelled at me for not being a socialist When I told her we decided not to pay into Social Security anymore because it was heavily socialized, we would pay in hundreds of thousands and get nothing back. She actually yelled at me. So I made sure everyone else in the holler knew about it, and now she is pretty much ostracized. Liberals don’t even allow us to have our own opinions!

So NSM i agree, If you have to deal with liberals in your business it is better to keep quiet. They would go out of their way to financially hurt you, or even deface your property.

[CottonBall]

Any chance you could post the recipe? I am hoping to have an abundance of San Marzano tomatoes again this year, and slow roasting them would really bring out the flavor.

I can’t get the recipe without creating an account. Which I don’t really want to do with the New York Times :-)

[pugmama]

Here is the recipe I use:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/6322-slow-roasted-tomatoes

[pugmama]

This on e is also very nice:

http://www.mlive.com/food/index.ssf/2011/02/bobby_flays_greek_chicken_sala.html

[pugmama]

You should see the number of people from Penn that like in upstate SC. Lots of mt areas in our area.

[pugmama]

Alabama was on our final list. We went back and forth with that and SC and finally decided on upstate SC, as we wanted mountain regions. We have several friends who fled Mexifornia (as we did) and settled into rural regions of Alabama. They love it.

[CottonBall]

Yeah, I still can’t get to it without creating an account. The recipe is blocked. It probably works for you because you were already logged in.

I can just Google roasted tomatoes and find something maybe on allrecipes.

[pugmama]

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes
Eric Asimov

Yield 8 tomato halves/ Time 3 hours

Ingredients

4 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, seeds removed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Marinate ingredients in bowl for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Place tomatoes on baking sheet. Roast for two hours.

[pugmama]

Curried Chicken Salad With Slow-Roasted Tomatoes
Eric Asimov

Yield 4 sandwiches/ Time 45 minutes

Eric Asimov brought this recipe to The Times in 1998, part of a round-up of some of the specialty sandwich shops cropping up in Manhattan at the time. “Sandwiches are as American as Dagwood Bumstead,” he wrote, “and outlandishness has always been part of the recipe.” The new combinations he wrote about went well beyond the ham and cheeses, tuna salads and pastrami on ryes of the past. This recipe, adapted from Sandbox, a small chain, elevates the classic chicken salad, with Madras curry powder and slow-roasted tomatoes deepening its savory qualities, and the walnut-raisin bread adding a bit of sweetness and bite.

Featured in: The Hottest Lunch In New York: The Sandwich.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, whole or halved, with bone
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
½ cup diced celery
½ cup diced onion
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon Madras curry
½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ cup chicken stock or canned broth
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt
8 slices good-quality raisin-walnut bread
8 arugula leaves
Slow-roasted tomatoes (see recipe)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season chicken with salt and pepper, and place on a baking sheet. Roast until juices run clear when chicken is pierced, 25 to 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.
In a small saute pan over medium-low heat, heat the oil and then add the celery, onion and ginger. Saute, stirring, until onions are softened and transparent, about 5 minutes. Add the curry powder and turmeric, and cook for 2 minutes. Remove chicken from bone, and cut into thin strips. Add the chicken strips and stock to pan, and saute until the liquid has evaporated.
Let chicken cool, then place in a mixing bowl and add mayonnaise and yogurt.
To assemble sandwiches: Place a slice of bread on each of 4 plates. Top each slice with 2 arugula leaves, an even layer of curried chicken and 2 roasted tomato halves. Cover with a slice of bread, and cut in half. Serve immediately.

[Yaelle]

I have friends who live in small towns, and I’ve done in in Switzerland. Everyone knows your business. It freaks me out. I babysat a friend’s cat for one weekend. Next week at the bus stop all the other ladies commented that we got a cat. What?? No thanks.

[Yaelle]

Do you make small slits for venting or not?

---

No, because the point of throwing the whole gourd into the oven is to soften it and avoid the knife slipping and cutting you. Just set your timer as early as you think it could soften. Like 20 mins or so at 350. Then you can slit or cut as you wish, but sometimes if I want the flesh soft I’ll just continue and cook it all with the peel still on (which it won’t be at the end).

[CottonBall]

oh that sounds good! Better than the Ina Garten one that uses balsamic. Not that i don’t like balsamic vinegar but i think it would limit what the tomatoes would go with.

thanks!

[pugmama]

I made a ton of these last summer, vacuum packed them and froze them. Hoping for more tomatoes this year, but it has been so cold here, that our little seedlings are suffering. It’s April 16 and it will be 36 degrees tonight!

[Stand Watch Listen]

FYI...

Aldi and Trader Joe's are owed by two German brothers of the Albrecht family. In Europe the stores are known as Aldi North, Aldi South. Each store is known by their select unusual products. But the items, when they're gone...they're gone (until the next time).

A big European competitor Lidl groceries is coming to the states. A few hundred stores by the end of 2018. Starting in Virginia/ North Carolina/South Carolina. Lidl is considered an upscale Aldi. I have a Trader Joe's and two Aldi within a few miles drive. A Lidl is being constructed across from one of the Aldi.

[Jamestown1630]

I like the Christmas candies at Aldi’s. We’re looking forward to getting a Lidl nearby, too.

[GOPJ]

(If you DO want to make fancy bread: I usually use the Bridgford frozen bread dough, cutting dough in half and baking each half in a canapé bread mold sprayed with PAM. To slice the bread for sandwiches, it helps to partially freeze it. Slice thinly.)

Great hint... I use that technique cutting meat thin - but never thought of doing the same with bread. Thanks.

[Jamestown1630]

If you make tea sandwiches with bread from canape molds you really do have to slice it very thin; otherwise, with the crust all around such a small bread, the bread takes over the sandwich. I made that mistake once ;-)

[Yaelle]

I really do want a sous vide one day, with the silicone bags.

Right now I am eyeing the pellet grills though... that might be my next foodie item.

[pinkandgreenmom]

I really need that - I’m so afraid of undercooked chicken that I over cook it.