southerncooker's Reviews
2276 recipes reviewed. Showing 2251 to 2276Sort by: Book Title 
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The Zuni Cafe Cookbook: A Compendium of Recipes and Cooking Lessons from San Francisco's Beloved Restaurant
By Judy Rodgers, Gerald Asher
W.W. Norton & Co. - 2002
I decided to make some boiled red potatoes to go with our New Year's meal and wanted more than just plain potatoes. I came across this recipe while searching The Zuni Cafe Cookbook and decided to try this dressing since it says in the description of the recipe it will turn ordinary boiled potatoes into excellent potato salad and Ms. Rogers is absolutely correct in that statement.
I already had all the ingredients on hand to make this one except some of the fresh herbs. I used a pinch of dried tarragon instead of fresh and some green onion blades in place of the chives. I know I'll be making it again. I think it would also be good on a salad, as a sandwich spread (suggested in the book) and on the many other things also suggested in the book like, shrimp, crab, scallops, clams and mussels.
I'd never made a dressing where you started with a boiled egg and then proceed like making mayonnaise. It turned out just as described. All the ingredients come together and make a delicious marriage. I love the taste the capers, herbs and shallots give to this dressing.
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I used some left over collards (which I substituted for the Kale as suggested in the recipe) to make this for my breakfast this morning. I decided to try two of the four ways with my leftovers. This one was fantastic. I've always enjoyed the "pot liquor" on my cornbread but would have never thought to serve collards or kale on thick chewy toasty, garlicky pieces of bread. I used shaved pieces of Parmesan instead of Romano and that with the fresh cracked black pepper was so good.
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After taking a couple bites of the Boiled Kale on toast (collards in my case). I proceeded with the next recipe (this one) since it said prepare the soggy toast as described in the previous recipe then proceed. I decided to go with the fried egg. I enjoyed this one too but didn't care for the red wine vinegar that much. Still good but my preference would be without the egg and vinegar. I didn't have any prosciutto or I would have tried that as well.
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I like each of the ingredients in this one but didn't really think it was all that special. I enjoyed the vinaigrette best on the oranges and it's a really good vinaigrette with the fresh OJ included. My tasters both said they thought it was just ok. My Mom tasted of it though and didn't care for it at all, of course she doesn't like avocado and doesn't think oranges and onions go together. It looked really pretty on the plate.
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I've been eating and making a form of polenta for as long as I can remember. I grew up eating southern polenta, what we called mush. We always used coarse ground cornmeal. I've made polenta on top of the stove and in the oven but I've never used a method quiet like this one. This polenta was good but even better when we added some Parmesan cheese and actually got a bit thicker. It never got as thick as I like it though. I've happy to have tried it this way but the way I usually make it cooks faster and gets thicker so I'll stick to that. I plan on using the left overs to make another recipe one day this week.
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I had a little problem with the dough for this one. I've never been that good at pastry dough and need some more practice. My daughter and great-niece assisted me in arranging the apple slices and it turned out looking quiet nice. I did get a little ahead of myself and drizzled the honey before baking when I should have waited until it was cooked. It still turned out quiet good and my great-niece ate 2 slices and took the left overs home with here. It was great with a nice hot cup of coffee. Nice dessert.
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I have never been that great at pastry dough. Maybe it's the fact I've never made it that many times. I had problems with the dough sticking to the plastic when I rolled it out. Then also had some problems getting it to press into the tart pan. I like the idea of putting in the freezer before adding the filling and the ease of only two ingredients -- flour and butter. I'll be trying this one again with other fillings.
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I decided to try and make this with my left over Sage and Onion Polenta. I refrigerated the leftovers and removed them from the fridge just before trying to cut them into the chunks to put into the baking dish. Since my polenta never did get really firm I had to scoop it into the chunks. When the gratin was baking the polenta ran back together so I had a solid hunk instead of individual chunks. It did get a bit browned on the top though and tasted good even if it wasn't solid. I may try this method again with some firmer polenta.
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I decided to make this to go with the Pappa al Pomodoro page 164. This is definitely a grown up version of grilled cheese. I liked the little crispy bits of sage on this. I didn't brush quiet as much sage onto my husbands sandwich since he's not a big sage fan. He liked the sandwich but wanted ham added to his. I used Swiss. I wasn't sure if I'd like it grilled with olive oil since I like my sandwiches grilled in butter but this worked really with with the sage and swiss.
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This was excellent. I used Roma tomatoes since they tend to have more flavor this time of year. I loved how the flavors of the onion, garlic, basil and tomatoes enhanced one another. The soggy torn pieces of bread where wonderful in this soup. It's much thicker than most soups and wonderfully filling on a cold winters night. It'd be great alone but I served it with the grilled sage sandwiches from page115 and thought they went well together.
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My daughter and I are the only ones here who enjoy occasionally eating chicken gizzards and hearts. I was intrigued with this recipe and since unlike duck fat (which is hard to find here) gizzards are easily found in most supermarkets.
We both loved it and my daughter said she hopes I'll make this one again and I agree. This was a very hearty meal and a nice bowlful was warming and filling on this very cold winter night.
I used baby portobello mushrooms and didn't use the optional pancetta nor the optional sugar. I did use some optional tomato paste at the end. I didn't add extra olive oil as suggested many times. The only time I added a bit more was when I cooked the veggies. I opted to use the mostaccioli pasta. I used some of my left over Merlot wine that I had for the red wine braised lentils. The veggies gave a nice touch to the sauce.
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I made this delicious pot roast at my Mom and Dad's for them, my daughter, son in law, hubby and a cousin. It was a big hit. My cousin especially loved it. It turned out with a wonderful flavor and very tender.
I couldn't find a celery root in our local market so I used some celery instead. I know not the same but the closest thing I could think of.
I forgot to get some kitchen twine so I just omitted that step. I'm sure the roast would have held together better using the twine but I had no complaints.
For the wine I choose one of the suggested ones Cabernet Sauvignon. It gave the meat a great flavor along with some store bought beef stock.
I choose the method of pan browning before starting the braising process. There are a few steps before getting the roast into the oven but once it's in there you can sit back and enjoy the heavenly smells filling your kitchen.
I didn't need the optional sugar and didn't add the optional balsamic vinegar. I had some problems pushing the veggies through a mesh strainer so I pulsed them in a food processor first. I liked using them to thicken up the sauce. My husband who usually won't touch a cooked carrot enjoyed the sauce even on his potatoes. Sneaky way to get some veggies in those picky eaters.
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I have made my own stock many times and this one was similar. I do usually add some spices to mine, like a bay leaf, some poultry seasoning and other herbs in addition to the veggies and some peppercorns. I followed the recipe this time though.
Like Quezzle_Sister I wasn't able to skim off all the foam but don't think it had an adverse effect on the finished product.
Since I work at a poultry plant and have worked on the line where they remove the breasts, I already had some working knowledge of how to remove the breasts. I really thought the instructions given in the book were helpful though, especially to someone not familiar with this technique.
I am looking forward to making some of the Asparagus and Rice Soup page 166 with this stock.
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One of the things I like about the Zuni Cookbook is that often there are recipes for using up left overs from other recipes. This is one of those recipes.
You use some of the braising liquid and leftover roast from the Brasato recipe (page 373), then crack an egg on top and bake.
I baked my husband, son and I one of these in individual shallow baking dishes. I cooked the guys eggs a bit longer as they don't like any runny in their yolks. It did take about twice as long to bake as suggested, even mine, but it may have been my oven.
I liked it especially with the suggested toasted bread used to soak up those lovely juices and yummy egg. Hubby and son thought just ok.
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I really love scones and am always on the look out for new recipes to try. I searched and searched our local markets for dried currents with no luck. I really wanted to make these so I did some research on the Internet and found that raisins were a good substitute for the currents.
I halved this recipe since I didn't need so many scones. I was in a baking mode since it's snowing outside that also was a consideration for why I made a half recipe. Not sure who I'd share them with since hubby and son aren't bit fans.
The orange zest in these give them a wonderful flavor and they smell wonderful baking. They would make a great snack, breakfast or brunch addition and taste wonderful with hot tea or coffee.
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I found some great looking asparagus and decided to try this recipe. With such few ingredients I didn't think this soup would be so flavorful. Perfect on this snowy cold day.
It says to add lots of black pepper at the end and I agree this makes the soup wonderful.
Since I had some Arborio rice on hand and it was one of the suggested rices to use I used that. It gave it a nice nutty flavor. The pancetta also adds tremendous flavor.
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I decided to use this brine on the chicken breasts that I removed from the chicken that I made stock with. I made the stock on Sunday so I pan fried the breasts in olive oil tonight as suggested in the brining instructions.
This chicken had just the right amount of salt without adding any more. I only added pepper to mine and it was delicious , very moist.
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I definitely need a new omelette pan. I tried frying the bacon and precooked potatoes together per instructions but the bacon didn't fry properly and the only parts of the potatoes that browned stuck to the bottom of the pan. I made two small omlettes, one for my husband and one for myself. On the 2nd try I tried frying the bacon a bit before adding the precooked potatoes. This worked a bit better and the bacon cooked nicely and the potatoes browned a bit. The 2nd omelette browned a bit more than I prefer.
We both enjoyed these omlettes despite my problems. We both agreed though they would be even better with a little onion added and a good pan to keep them from sticking.
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This was surprisingly good. I used store bought stock and arborio rice. I went to several stores in our area and couldn't find any mascarpone. I'm not sure why but sometimes I can find it here and sometimes not. I ended up using some cream cheese. My daughter helped me make this and when we tasted of it without the cream cheese we decided it needed that. It was very creamy and delicious.
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We love almost anything pickled around here so I knew I wanted to try these. I had hoped to make the New Year's Eve Gougeres on New Year's Eve and make these to go on them but didn't get around to doing that. These are good alone and I plan to also use them on some sandwiches and maybe even a burger.
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I have never heard of coppa and couldn't find it here but the recipe says you can substitute salami so that's what I did. I had some jarred roasted peppers I had planned to use but they were bad so I used some sun dried tomatoes instead. My son doesn't like roasted peppers anyway so it worked out better that way. I made a full recipe and divided it between hubby, son and I. My son ate all his and said he could have eaten more. He loved it. We all thought it was very good and I will make it again. Maybe a double batch next time.
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As I've said before we love almost anything pickled around here. My sister makes wonderful zucchini pickles using our dilly bean brine recipe. I've made pickles similar to the brine used to make these zucchini pickles so I knew I wanted to try these. We thought they were very good. I can eat them just by themselves for a snack but I'm sure they'll also be good one sandwiches. I was afraid they'd be really sweet but the cider vinegar balances out the sugar.
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I used grape tomatoes for these since I think they are really flavorful and I couldn't get the Sweet 100 ones. Hubby and I loved these. I used French bread to make the crostini toasts. How can you go wrong with tomatoes, olive oil, bread and garlic. A great snack or appetizer.
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This is a fairly easy puff pastry recipe to make. I used to have a really good puff pastry recipe a friend gave me and I somehow misplaced it. I think I'll be using this one from now on. Mine is resting in the fridge waiting for me to make some onion tarts. Can't wait to taste it. It looks really pretty and I love the instructions Judy gives makes it a breeze.
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Hubby and I didn't really care for these that much. I did think the puff pastry was really good and flaky. I'll make the pastry again just not the onion tarts. It tasted like it needed something more. I didn't use the optional garlic. Maybe I should have. Hubby said he'd rather had something sweet on his pastry.
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After making the rough pastry I made two of these and two of the plain onion tarts. Hubby and I didn't really care for either. I liked this one better than the plain onion though. Hubby said he'd rather have something sweet on his puff pastry. I don't think I'll be making these again but I will make the pastry.
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