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The Ten Most Recent Comments By benknight

From Required Eating

To Store Chocolate or Not to Store?

I'm storing chocolate I bought in Belgium about a month ago to bring home with me when I'm done studying abroad in Spain in June. Right now I'm keeping it in a plastic bag in an odorless closet. I open the window to the room often, and luckily I think the Spanish spring is not too bad with humidity and temp usually stays between 60-80 F. I hope this will keep the chocolate quality high enough to have been worth it to bring all the way home to the US from Belgium!!

benknight at 11:31AM on 05/11/08

From Recipes

Dinner Tonight: Chicken Breasts in Foil with Tomato, Olives, and Parmesan

Wow! Still licking my fingers after cooking this great recipe!

A couple comments: I substituted the rosemary for fresh thyme... not exactly a radical move, but for anyone wanting to make this, it's a worthy substitution if you have on but not the other. Also, I used plain old 12" foil and had no problem - just make sure you seal it well!

Also, the 7-minute cooking time was dead on. It didn't overcook nor did I have to throw it back on the skillet for a second or two more.

benknight at 10:57AM on 05/11/08

From Talk

Pizza cheese

I don't know if you usually use grated mozzarella but if you do my suggestion would be to "rediscover" mozzerella by buying it fresh at the store and then instead of grating it, slice it thin and put the slices right on top of the sauce.

benknight at 11:54AM on 03/07/08

From Recipes

Snapshots from Italy: Tagliatelle with Artichokes, Leeks, and Lemon

Gina - just went through all the steps and I'm not posting with everything in my belly. I must say it was great - not the type of meal I typically cook in my kitchen. And even though there was no meat, the artichokes here are clearly the star of the show and their flavor shone through with a perfect balance of the other flavors. I must say, due to it being a somewhat obscure item, I did not implement the leek, but rather just did with the lemon/artichoke combo with the addition of some hot peppers and spices.

For the most part everything came out as it should have. My only self-criticism was that I perhaps should have let the chokes steam a bit more since they still had some tougher/chewier regions when I sat down with it.

Oh, and I don't know how relevant it was, but I cooked this dish in Spain - and the artichokes I got were the smaller ones, not the larger ones more common in the US.

benknight at 11:46AM on 03/07/08

From Slice

Ween's Unreleased Pizza Hut Jingle

Where did the cheese in fact go?

I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know that Pizza Hut is totally lame for not using this cleverly orchestrated jingle, and furthermore I will never eat at Pizza Hut again!

Does anyone know if this songs actually ever been played live or not?

benknight at 2:59PM on 02/24/08

Responses to Comments by benknight

From Required Eating

To Store Chocolate or Not to Store?

Oh yeah, I'm one of those 90%! Proudly so!

Thanks for the informative article Clay. :)

SeraCandyEnthusiast at 11:48AM on 05/16/08

From Required Eating

To Store Chocolate or Not to Store?

benknight -
While the chocolate might not be "bad" it certainly will not be at its best after more than a month in storage at room temperature. My recommendation to you, especially if you happen to be studying in Barcelona or will be visiting there shortly before you leave, is to pick up some Spanish chocolates. Some names to look for include Enric Rovira, Oriol Balaguer, Cacao Sampaka, and Blanxart.

:: Clay

Clay Gordon at 10:02AM on 05/13/08

From Required Eating

To Store Chocolate or Not to Store?

Clay
Nice to have a fellow chocophile on board. For the novice, this is a must read article. Superbly done. See you back at "the ranch".

Mark

Boscompb at 9:58AM on 05/12/08

From Recipes

Snapshots from Italy: Tagliatelle with Artichokes, Leeks, and Lemon

Hi Ben! The artichokes here are gi-normous, I must say! Much bigger than the ones I am used to back in the States, which are probably more like to the ones you used. The first couple of times I have made this dish, I did it a la minute, and by cooking the artichokes a bit first, then adding the leeks, they softened up pretty fast with the lid on. But cooking them ahead of time can work too.

I had some friends over for dinner a few nights ago and wanted to cut down on my in-the-kitchen exile; an hour or so ahead of time, I sauteed the artichokes in a bit of olive oil, then added a bit of water and the lid to cook them through, and set them aside. I picked up the rest of the recipe by cooking the leeks, and added the chokes back to the pan when I added the lemon. It worked fine that way, so if anyone wants to break the recipe up in the same manner, go for it...

Gina DePalma at 2:50AM on 03/08/08

From Talk

Pizza cheese

I recently discovered smoked cheeses, they add a great smoky-bacony flavor. Perhaps try a smoked mozzarella? That way you have the same stretchy chewy texture and a nice smoky flavour.

ag3208 at 11:19PM on 03/07/08

From Slice

Ween's Unreleased Pizza Hut Jingle

From what I understand (from reading stuff on the web about it), Ween HATES this jingle and hates being asked about it. I doubt they'd play it live. But who knows.

Adam Kuban at 9:34PM on 02/24/08