Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Two recipes I have made from that book that I have made many times are the B&B pickles, and the snickerdoodle. Most snickerdoodles have shortening in them, which dilutes the butter flavor, while that is all butter, as well as eggy. I do reduce the milk to 2 1/2 tb - the 4 tb makes it just too sticky (you can tell I have made countless batches, if I remember this!).

I'm sure there are a number of others I've tried, but don't remember!

Not if it wasn't take-your-head-off-hot, no. Chili Con Carne originated with the "Chili Queens" in the old town square of San Antonio. Original recipes would have been dried chilies, longhorn beef, and mexican spices in broth or water (some recipes are still basically this). And very, very spicy.

Hmm... maybe just a step in the road, then. Still, it were purty good chili.

Obviously I suck at projects...

I picked up Jerusalem again for a dinner party I had yesterday. I made the spinach and date salad. I liked it so much I am making it again tomorrow. You fried broken pita and almonds in butter and then seasoned with sumac, dried chillies and salt. The dates and red onion are marinated in some white wine vinegar and then the whole thing mixed with spinach and dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.

My main was also an Ottolenghi that I found on the web and adapted for grilling a beef tenderloin. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... f-beetroot

Loved it and got to use a tiny bit of the giant jar of preserved lemons I made.

It was too hot to even breath yesterday so I wanted to make something cold. I found a recipe for an apple pie float. Vanilla ice cream in half ginger ale half cider. I had one of my biannual good ideas and finely chopped a couple apples and sautéed them in butter, Penzey's apple pie spice and some rum, let it cool and put some in the bottom of each glass. Seriously like drinking a cold apple pie. Also a good use for those straw/spoons I have in my drawer.

Mary

That salad sounds amazing.

Foods of the World: The Cooking of Spain and Portugal by Peter S. Feibleman -- This book is one of the few from the series that I had already read, but I braved the illustrious Mr. Feibleman's purple prose again, just to be thorough. Much of the book is written in second person imperative. "Finish eating the grelos slowly, sitting in a window seat of a country house before the misty blue and green of the land as the day fades." It's like eating your way across the Iberian penninsula with a bossy Jay McInerney. Along the way he meets Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo y Maura, 21st Duchess of Medina Sidonia, and develops a weird crush on her. He says that she is called "The Democratic Duchess" for her advocacy of Spanish workers, but Wikipedia (and other sources) say that she was styled "La Duquesa Roja" -- "The Red Duchess." I suspect that either the author or the editors felt that wouldn't make her very sympathetic in the eyes of Americans of the time.

At any rate, after hauling my butt off the country window seat and into the kitchen, I prepared a Portuguese dinner and a Spanish one. For the Portuguese portion I made Lombo de Porco com Pimentos Vermelhos Doces -- thin slices of pork loin cooked in red peppers and white wine. It was sort of like Smothered Pork Chops with peppers instead of onions. Very simple and delicious. On the side I served Uma Salada Portuguêsa. It was way sour, not a keeper.

Last night I made a Spanish dish, Pollo a la Chilindrón -- browned chicken pieces cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, peppers, and onions. I was a little distracted yesterday and forgot to make a side until the last minute. We had some fried potatoes, but I think a big mound of rice would have been perfect. The sauce has Serrano ham and lots of olive oil, so it is much richer than I anticipated. I will make it again when I can survive a Serrano ham-sized hole in my budget.

This from the NYT today: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/dinin ... ref=dining

A friend has a 2 of his other books (Plenty and Ottolenghi) and they are also amazing. I have been searching for recipes lately by google Ottolenghi + whatever ingredient I want to use. Yesterday I made butter shrimp with tomatoes, kalamata olives and Pernod. Great sauce, I made it as a main dish with orzo but think I would like it better as a started with bread because the sauce is just crying for it.

Mary

Mary, I'd planned to make the butter shrimp tonight. Had to drive 18 miles for the Pernod. Didn't realize how late it was until I got home so it will have to wait a day. It sounds sooooooooooo good. Can't wait.

fitzie

Fitzie, sounds like one of my moves. My biggest are: writing a list and forgetting it, good memory game for staving off Alzheimer's. Forgetting the main ingredient, I would have brought home the Pernod, the tomatoes, the parsley, etc but no shrimp. Either assuming I had something or was out of it, if you need cumin seeds let me know.

Hope you like the recipe and don't forget the bread!

Mary

JB, the salad is indeed amazing. I think I will need to up the amount of the fried pita/almond mix as it is a big hit with my taste testers and it was a bit of a challenge having enough for the salad.