Posted on 02/28/2021 5:08:01 PM PST by Jamestown1630
In honor of Mr. Potato Head’s ‘transitioning’ - (from what-to-what I’m not exactly sure, as I’ve always understood potatoes to be, in Nature, self-pollinating and containing both sexes in one plant anyway) - I thought we’d do a thread on SPUDS this month.
I like potatoes done certain ways, and despise them other ways. I like baked potatoes (with plenty of butter and sour cream), and home-made potato salad, mashed potatoes, scalloped, etc. I do NOT like potatoes cut up into soups, or store-bought potato salad (in the latter, the potatoes are always undercooked, and the salad is always strangely sweet.)
This video from America’s Test Kitchen presents a way of making baked potatoes that interests me; it involves brining them a little, and I’m anxious to try it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr-o01qiRYI
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My favorite recipe for potato salad, which my Grandmother made the best and one of my co-workers does a close second, is really a sort of ‘dump’ recipe:
Boil a few pounds of thin-skinned potatoes until easily pierced with a sharp knife, but not TOO soft; and then peel them (I usually use red potatoes, and leave about a third of the skin on. )
Cut them into ½ to 1 inch pieces. Make a mixture of about 2/3 Mayonnaise and 1/3 prepared Mustard, a few tablespoons of finely chopped onion and finely chopped celery; salt and pepper, with a little cayenne thrown in. Add more mayo/mustard as may be needed for your quantity of potatoes, taste for seasoning, and then pour all of this over the potatoes. Mix well, taste again for seasoning, and chill. (If you like throwing in pickle relish, you can do so; but that is verboten in my house, just as any ‘sweetness’ is disallowed in a deviled egg, here ;-)
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I’ve only had the French cold potato soup – Vichyssoise – once, in a fancy French restaurant in Virginia; but it was excellent. Here, from the website ‘Mother Would Know’, is Julia Child’s recipe for that soup. (You can eat this warm or chilled, though I think chilled is classic in the so-called 'haute cuisine'):
http://motherwouldknow.com/julia-childs-vichyssoise-html/
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When Rush Limbaugh died, by husband had a birthday coming up in a few weeks.
I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, and he said that he wanted the Rush Revere series of books by Mr. Limbaugh.
I said that I thought those were books for kids; and husband said, “Yes; and I want them”.
So, I ordered; and they are really beautiful books. Very well-bound and high-quality production, with lots of illustrations (including some reproductions of historical paintings) and lots of supplemental information.
The history is told in a very engaging, modern ‘story’ way which incites one to seek out more information on the issues presented.
I would suggest that people order this collection, whether there are young people in their network, or not. Even adults will enjoy them very much and find many references that they would like to follow up further. And the more we order, the more they will have to print – and the more will be in circulation for young people to find in the future.
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(The picture at the top of this post is of the flower of a potato plant; it is taken from the USDA website of John Bamberg, plant geneticist and devotee of The Potato, q.v.)
“Gone with the Wind”: The movie not seen in over 30 years;
The book not recently read for the gazillionth time. What was the root vegetable which Scarlett ate? “As God is my Witness, I will never go hungry again!”.
Rutabaga, turnip, beet, potato? Do remember it was no carrot! Yuck for the Rutabaga, the only turnips eaten are the greens, cooked and eaten with a bit of hot sauce. Yum, these toxins are certainly tasty! :-) It’s apparent beets (the brain food) are not often eaten. Thus, memory lapses and brain freezes.
Being in the Deep South, I always thought the determined Scarlet planted cotton——which she traded for food.
LOL
Yes she raised cotton, even picked it during hard times.
The planted vegetables found in the kitchen garden. That scene, even though it might not be remembered exactly, was the final scene before intermission. Her, holding her hand up, bowed over, retching what was just eaten, making that pledge.
That life, forever Gone With The Wind.
The scene truly had its effects on me as a teenager,
Life as we know it can be altered in a heartbeat.
Keto Lemon Tart
Ing Crust: 1 3/4 cup almond flour 1/4 cup coconut flour 1 egg yolk 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted 1/4 cup granular Swerve (or preferred granulated sweetener)
ING Curd: 1/2 cup lemon juice 2 tsp lemon zest 2 eggs + 2 egg yolks 1/2 cup granular Swerve 1/4 cup unsalted butter cold and cubed 1/8 tsp salt
Crust: combine almond flour, coconut flour, egg yolk, melted butter and granulated swerve. Press into greased 8 inch pie dish; bake 350 deg 8-10 minutes til lightly browned. Remove from oven; cool. Make the lemon curd filling. Strain curd through a fine-mesh strainer into pie crust. Cover/chill 2 hours, ideally overnight.
SERVE topped w/ strawberries.
CURD Whisk eggs, egg yolks; set aside. Whisk lemon juice, lemon zest, granulated Swerve on low til combined. Whisk in eggs; cook on low-med heat 5-7 min (curd thickens; reaches internal temp of 170°F. Offheat stir in cold, cubed butter. Whisk smooth, butter has melted.
Will have to show my husband. (We learned today that raspberries are ‘keto friendly’.)
flr
“‘Weber’ is awfully cute right now”
Weber! LOL!
Future steak carpaccio!
” Many DECADES ago when we could freely associate with others?”
Ain’t that the truth.
My fondue recipe had cheddar cheese and beer. Back when we were humans!
2020 has been a long decade.
Unfortunately true.
“Weber” is such a cute name....named after the Weber BBQ grill I presume?
Weber opened its own restaurant offering Big Cowboy Steaks and thick,
bone-in rib eyes slathered with Weber’s famous Whiskey BBQ Sauce....
all cooked on the iconic Weber grill.
The Weber Cookbook has great recipes.
STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE BARS
ING ● BOX FAVE VANILLA CAKE MIX ● 2 LGE EGGS ● 1/3 CUP VEG OIL ● 3 OZ PKG STRAWBERRY JELLO ● 3 OZ PKG VANILLA INSTANT PUDDING ● STICK UNSALTED BUTTER ● CUP FLOUR ● 8 OZ BAR CR/CHEESE ● CUP CONF ● TSP VANILLA ● 8 OZ TUB THAWED COOL WHIP
PREP: Foil 9×9 cake pan extending into handles--then spray.
STEP 1: elec/mixer cake mix, eggs, and vegetable oil until combined into thick batter.
STEP 2: Press evenly into pan w/ spatula. Bake 350 deg 20 min (edges lightly brown). Cool completely before frosting.
CRUMBLE TOPPING: STEP 1: combine strawberry jello powder, 4 Tb butter, and 1/2 cup flour. Fork/mix into a crumble. Separately combine vanilla pudding powder, 4 Tb butter, 1/2 cup flour. Fork/mix into a crumble. Spread strawberry and vanilla crumble onto parchmented cookie sheet or silpat. Bake 350F deg 10 min.
FROSTING STEP 1: elec/mixer cream cheese, conf, vanilla, and Cool Whip blending on high til light and fluffy.
STEP 2: Frost top of cooled bars and sprinkle a generous amount crumble on top. Cut into squares to serve.
Super easy to cut these bars into squares, with aluminum foil handles. Use a sharp knife to cut these bars into squares. Liftout to server.
CHEF NOTES---CRUMBLE BURNS EASILY----Keep an eye on it when baking---check/stir at 5 minutes to avoid burning. After 10 min of baking, freezer the whole pan 10 minutes to cool down quickly to SPRINKLE atop the frosted bars.
Ingredient | Weight (g) | Amount (%) |
|---|---|---|
Apple cider | 530.00 | 59.35 |
Cream, fluid, heavy whipping | 145.00 | 16.24 |
ZULKA, MORENA, PURE CANE SUGAR | 60.00 | 6.72 |
Condensed milk sweetened | 145.00 | 16.24 |
Gelatin 2g/sheet | 7.00 | 0.78 |
Spices, cinnamon, ground | 4.00 | 0.45 |
CLOVES GROUND | 1.00 | 0.11 |
GROUND NUTMEG | 1.00 | 0.11 |
Vanilla extract | 1 tsp | 0.00 |
Name | Amount |
|---|---|
Overrun | 25 % |
Total fat | 7.36 % |
Carbohydrates | 23.08 % |
Sugar | 19.32 % |
Energy/100g | 165.62 kcal |
POD | 213.50 |
PACtot normalized | 333.5 |
Freezing point | -2.5°C, 27.5°F |
Weight | 893.00 g |
Ice cream volume | 1.02 L |
The sweetened condensed milk was converted to Dulche De Leche by pressure cooking the can for 20 minutes. No other heating. Stick blended very well. Chilled overnight and churned. Tastes oh so good. Like frozen apple pie. As a bonus it is only about 165 calories per heaping scoop.
That looks good.
I had a young friend years ago who was from South America - I believe Venezuela. She used to boil an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a pan of water for a long time (you have to be careful about this) until it became caramelized; and then she’d spread it on a store-bought pie crust and bake it.
She called it ‘wonderfulness’ - and it was!
(We will have to do a thread on pie, soon. I found an Amish Shoofly Pie recipe the other day.)
Making Dulche De Leche is super easy when you make it in a pressure cooker and safe to make without any tending. The pressure is equalized for everything in the pressure cooker so there is no excess pressure in the cans. They will not burst, even the pop top cans. The outside pressure is the same as the inside pressure. trat the cans like you would treat jars in lifting them off the bottom so as to let the water heat the cans and not the bottom of the cooker. Let it go for a half an hour for a nice thick caramel like your friend made. Let it cool in the cooker and you are golden. The cans can go in the pantry and will last as long as the sweetened condensed milk unopened. Take the paper off before you cook them and try and get as much of the hot glue off before hand or you end up with a bit of a mess in your pressure cooker that will require some steel wool.
Oh BTW, I did scale back the cinnamon to half of my recipe numbers. 2 grams was even a pinch too much.
The resulting concoction it a cross between a sorbet and a gelato (a sherbet - kinda like dreamcicles were). It melts fast but is very crisp and refreshing. It really does taste almost exactly like apple pie. The caramel brings the maliard reaction flavors to the party giving the crust flavor, not just the filling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction
I was not entirely happy with the size of the ice crystals created. I need to do some more chemistry work to make it form smaller crystals to make it smoother on the palate and make it melt just a scoche slower, but I would order it at a high end restaurant as is. I just need run the calcs for pectin, xantham gum, etc and see what will make the crystals as small as is possible and slow the melting down a bit.
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