No OO flour to be found, so I tried this recipe with half cake and half all-purpose. (And a little oil to make it more cohesive--my dough-stretching skills are abysmal.)
My family uses Groupon, Living Social, AND restaurant.com certificates, because our finances have been destroyed by my husband's illness. (Ten surgeries in four years, and still counting.) We already feel bad enough about what is happening in our lives that we truly don't need the eye-rolling, shitty service, and worst-tables-in-the house. Do we feel we have a "right" to eat a meal in a fine restaurant? No, but the fact we may have eaten beans, rice, and ramen for three weeks so we can afford the "privilege" of being treated poorly there leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And as a frequent certificate user, I've observed it is only restaurants where we've been treated badly. The management and staff at the spa, hotel, dentist, Irish music festival, theater, winery, clothing boutique, and oil change business where I've redeemed certificates were all pleasant and seemingly happy to accept my custom. Why has it been only restaurants that have been resentful of our having actually used a product/service THEY have offered for sale?
French onion soup for 12. (Any recipe beginning with "caramelize ten pounds of sliced onions" is bound to stink even the most uxorious husband out of house and home.) Even the dog gave me dirty looks for a week.
I cannot make myself scrimp on cheese, fresh herbs, rice, or ingredients to make bread. Pretty much everything else I can either do without, or at least until I can find it on sale or in season. I buy way too much citrus in the winter, asparagus in the spring, eggplant in the summer, and roots in the winter; I eat too much when they are cheap and then don't even want to LOOK at them for another year! Except good whisky, which I buy year-round, no matter the cost. It's not exactly seasonal, but I doubt I will ever tire of it.....
Coffee only. I usually have a food hangover (and sometimes one of the more liquid variety) and cannot stand the thought of eating anything else.
For most of my parties, I usually plate because of a couple guests who pick through each dish and serve themselves the best parts. All the best parts. ALL the oysters out of the stew. ALL the beef out of the bourguignon. ALL of the fried chicken breasts. The piece of cake with the most frosting. One even scooped out all the soft part of a piece of brie and left the bloomy rind for the rest of us. Unfortunately, they are family I can't disinvite or children I can beat.
I agree with TOL above (that's "the other larry", for MISTER Ghislain, in ENGLISH) on the smashed potatoes. Especially if they are to be reheated. It's so easy to overdo it when whipping potatoes that just the stirring to reheat can take even perfect spuds over the edge into icky heavy glueyness. Plus I just plain old LIKE the lumps--they sort of remind me where they came from......
DADT might be a questionable policy in the military, but I think it's a good one at the dinner table. Sometimes it's just best to keep one's opinion to oneself. I have a vegan friend whose cooking would be just as dreadful even if she did use animal products of any type. After the first taste of any new dish, I usually don't eat anything she has prepared because it is disappointing at best, truly disgusting at worst. (Except for her chopped salads, which taste absolutely delicious!) If I don't like something, then I just don't eat it and will explain why only if asked. I have begun that unfortunate middle-age fight with my weight; this means that if I don't enjoy something, then I can't afford to eat it. I have only enough calories in my day to eat what I absolutely love, and it's difficult enough to consume a balanced, nutritionally complete meal without having to choke down a chunk of cinnamon scented concrete poorly disguised as a cookie. (Or a chicken breast overbaked to dry flavorlessness--the pushy bad cook phenomenon is not reserved for vegans, by any means!) I love my friend dearly and would not hurt her feelings for the world, but I draw the friendship line at what I put in my body. If this makes me a food snob, so be it. I just don't want to be a fat(ter) one as well.
Christmas dinner with then-boyfriend's family "ham" dinner. Large canned ham BOILED for half hour. Iceberg lettuce wedge (not too bad, but for the fact that there was no salad dressing provided) and "strawberry shortcake". Twinkies with defrosted strawberries and frozen Cool-whip. The only thing that salvaged the meal was a keg of Heineken.
Now: asparagus, rhubarb, and morel mushrooms
Summer: tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes! watermelon
quiche lorraine-type would be the easiest (VERY important when feeding 50+)
I am getting married in September and want to save money by making food for the cocktail reception myself. I had a recipe for crustless quiches made in a mini-muffin tin (bacon, onions, cheese) but cannot find it. Do any Serious Eaters have a similar recipe that they love and would care to share? Help!
I lovelovelove the depth that a roux gives to gumbo, gravy, and thick soups, but hatehatehate making it. Can I make a big batch and hold it in the refrigerator to take out and use as I need it? And if so, how long is it likely to last? I'm sure that it would have to be sealed up tight so it doesn't take on "refrigerator taste", maybe even with plastic wrap directly on the surface. I'd probably have to stir/shake the crap out of before use too.
Any thoughts on or experiences with this? Help from you wonderful home cooks out there would be greatly appreciated!
When I make nachos, I play to win. I like powerful flavors, multiple sauces, lots of creaminess and plenty of crunch. I like to balance all of those elements carefully in every bite. These nachos have got all that and more, because when my mind turns to the Super Bowl, it's football be damned. Every ounce of attention gets heaped onto a platter of tortilla chips. More
When we talked to Cook's Illustrated publisher Chris Kimball about the November 2007 issue of the magazine, we asked what recipes really stood out in it this year. This pie crust is one of them, he said. "It's a brilliant... More
This Cajun pizza from Donald Link's Real Cajun is great just about any time of the day. Bacon, tomatoes, onions, and cheese in a flaky pie shell? I can't think of any time that I wouldn't want to eat this.... More
Egg slicer--eggs, strawberries, mushrooms, peeled plum tomatoes, and anything I can pierce with my thumbnail