Queezle_Sister's Profile

From: Salt Lake City, UT USA

Joined: March 29th, 2010

About me: I enjoy cooking, and my favorite internet COOKING community is the one here at cookbooker. If you want to connect about my other non-academic passion, you can find me as QueezleWeaver on Ravelry, and mostly Warped Weavers. But I've miss you cookbooker, and so here I am again, and happy to contribute.

Favorite cookbook: Savory Way

Favorite recipe: roasted anything (most recently grapes)


Latest review:

August 23rd, 2019

Stuffed Zucchini with spiced beef or lamb from Zaitoun

When it is zucchini time, it can be difficult to find something interesting. But this was both different and a total delight! Zucchini are scraped out and roasted. The "meat" from within the zucchini... read more >


recipe reviews (1403)
book reviews (39)
useful review votes (961)

Queezle_Sister's Reviews


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1394 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Book Title | Date | Rating | Recipe Title

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

11th December 2010 (edited: 11th December 2010)

Fried Eggs in Bread Crumbs

Crunchy and delicious!

To maintain the spirit of this cookbook, I made sure to buy really fresh eggs, free range chickens. I prepared them two ways. I made an over-easy egg using Panko crumbs, and a sunny-side up using crumbs from an Italian Olive loaf (day old). I used the olive oil, thyme, and salt, and toasted them in my cast iron frying pan until they started to color.


For the over-easy, I sprinkled the additional crumbs when the egg was ready, flipped, and out. Then used the tsp of basamic, swirled, and poured over the egg. I t might not look that great (see my picture), but it was really amazing tasting. Crunchy, with a perfect runny yolk. The tsp of balsamic soaked into the crumbs. The bites that included the balsamic were fantastic.

Then, I prepared a sunny-side up for my daughter. It came out much more beautiful.

I really enjoyed my over-easy panko, but my daughter was nuts about her sunny-side up. She licked her plate, and asked for another. This is very unusual, especially when eggs are involved.

useful (2)  


16th December 2010 (edited: 16th December 2010)

Rosemary-Roasted Potatoes

Delicious potatoes. Lovely crunchy exterior, fabulously creamy interior. I used local (Idaho) butter potatoes - nice yellow color and great taste.

Previously, I made rosemary roasted potatoes by chopping up what every variety is at hand, dousing them in olive oil, and sprinkled rosemary, kosher salt, and pepper. This old method works OK.

Where the recipe from Zuni Cafe differs is that the potatoes are cooked first. I agree with the other reviewer that the amount of salt matters. I tasted the water, and added till it seemed salty to me, but in the end, the potatoes were a bit bland. And I agree with the other 2 reviewers, definitely needs longer cooking - and a hotter oven. I used 425, and cooked for an additional 10 minutes.

My complaint is that to make this recipe, you will dirty, and so need to clean a big pot for boiling, a collander, a bowl, and a roasting pan.

useful (1)  


8th December 2010

Fagioli All'Uccelletto

This recipe combines white beans, prosciutto, tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, and spices. In keeping with the spirit of this cookbook, I used most of the tail-ends of my home-grown yellow, orange, and red tomatoes. I had to cook the beans with my pressure cooker (I live above 5,000 feet, meaning my water boils at a cooler temperature, and most beans need a lot of help to cook).

The recipe called for an end of prosciutto. I used 3 slices, and cooked it in a bit of water. This gave me a liquid to substitute for the bean liquid, which I had discarded yesterday.

This tasted really amazing. We ate it with some whole grain bread.

useful (0)  


12th December 2010 (edited: 14th December 2010)

Zuni Chicken Stock

This recipe provides excellent detailed instructions on how to make chicken stock. I looked for chicken feet, including the local Asian market, to no avail, and still was able to make great broth using a standard grocery store whole chicken. I followed the instructions (except no feet and no extra wings), and the resulting broth has an excellent bright chicken flavor. I really enjoyed following the instructions for how to remove the breasts. It made me feel like Julie in the move "Julie and Julia".

One concern I had was with skimming off the foam. I did this, as per instructions, stirred, and skimmed again. However, foam continued to come up, and I was unsure whether to remove it or not. I decided not to, and it seemed to go away, but I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts on this.

This cookbook instructs us to do a lot of tasting, and in this recipe, to taste from the beginning. I was nervous about sipping a spoonful of water that contained a raw chicken carcass, but I did, and lived to tell about it. I found it instructive to monitor the development of this broth's wonderful chicken flavor, and I look forward now to trying recipes calling for high quality broth.

useful (1)  


13th December 2010 (edited: 13th December 2010)

Endive & Fuyu Persimmon Salad with Pecans

I prepared this salad because I had received fresh persimmons from a person with a persimmon tree. This salad features an unusual combination of ingredients. The endive, with its slight bitterness and good crunch, paired nicely with the sweet fuyu persimmon. I couldn't find any pecans, so I had to use walnuts, but they, too, were nice.

I served this salad to four people, two of us loved it, one doesn't care for nuts, and one thought the dressing needed more punch. If I could have given it 4 1/2 stars, I would have.

What I liked best was the unusual ingredients, and the play of sweet and slightly bitter flavors. I will definitely make this again when I have fuyu persimmons.

useful (2)  


13th December 2010 (edited: 7th March 2011)

Roasted Applesauce

This has become my go-to approach for applesauce. Its versatile, and delicious. Its also easy because once the apples are pealed, there is almost no additional work - just roast and then mash. I find the cooking time varies with apple type, but I have yet to make a batch that was less than delicious.

The first time I made this applesauce, I used a combination of fuji and gala apples, which I think was a mistake. The two apples required different cooking times, and took at least twice as long to soften as suggested in the recipe. Nevertheless, they did eventually soften and get the golden roasted color that the recipe described. I've uploaded a pictures showing the roasted apple sections.

The flavor, though, was exceptional. I will probably never again make the water-apple stove-top applesauce of my youth. In this oven roasting approach, the apples dried out, which gave the applesauce a very concentrated flavor.

The recipe suggested a bit of cider vinegar. I tried, and couldn't really see that it made a difference, so I omitted it.

useful (1)  


13th December 2010 (edited: 13th December 2010)

Savory Apple Charlotte

This recipe took a lot of time to put together, and the result was very dry. This recipe requires having peasant-type bread, day old, that you butter, line a custard dish, fill with roasted applesauce, and bake. I think its more appropriate to a restaurant, where day old bread might be a common thing.

Between the old dry bread, baked, and the dry applesauce, this desert really needed something wet on it - like a scoop of ice cream. If your roasted applesauce is wetter - maybe because you've used a moister apple, or live somewhere with a less dry climate, yours might turn out better.

The write up says that you should have caramelized spots, where the applesauce bled through the bread. Unfortunately, this applesauce wasn't going anywhere! I won't bother with this recipe again.

useful (1)  


16th December 2010

Brine for Chicken Breasts

I tested this brine on the breasts removed from the intact chicken that I used for making broth.

I am not much of a meat cooker, and this was only the second time I've brined. This seemed to be a pretty gentle brine - salt, sugar, lots of water, and a crushed bay leaf. I incubated the two breasts for 2 days, rinsed, and cooked as suggested - dry off, brush with olive oil, and fry.

I was very pleased with the result. Delicious, and not at ll salty. This was much better than the other brine I used, years ago. I will use this again.

useful (2)  


This frittata is very different from the standard fare - more like a scrambled egg dish. This particular recipe started with sweet onions (I used a sweet red onion), and then pouring the eggs into the middle.

The best thing about this recipe is learning the technique - scraping the eggs into the middle, and letting it cook 5 seconds (while it spreads). I thought that the eggs turned out very nice and light - but the rest of the family didn't care for the rarer bits in the middle.

Perhaps I should have cooked a bit longer - I will certainly use this technique again.

useful (2)  


Of the four of us, one loved this dish, but the other 3 of us did not care for it, so it averaged to a 2.

I prepared this with canned tuna, capers, pine nuts, etc. I found that the capers accentuated the fishiness of the tuna, and not in a good way. I liked the pine nuts - to me they were the redeeming part of this recipe.

useful (0)  


19th December 2010 (edited: 22nd December 2010)

Cornmeal Biscotti

Crunchy, sweet-salty, nutty (almonds), and perfect.
This was the best Biscotti I've ever had. The recipe says that it gets better after a couple days - but I cannot imagine how one can let these wait.

I prepared a single batch to see if its good enough for the neighbors. I found that I had to bake the initial long rolls quite a bit longer than the 15 - 20 minutes suggested; probably I baked them 30 minutes and they were still fairly soft.

I didn't have the anisette that the recipe called for, and substituted Pernod, a french liqueur with a distinct anise flavor. The cookies had a lovely but subtle anise flavor.

Highly recommended!

useful (3)  


20th December 2010

Bread salad

Very delicious.
Wester's advice to carefully read, and re-read, the instructions were right on. The bread chunks require a lot of different steps, and you don't want to be catching up once the roast chicken is done.

I really loved the tiny bits of sweetness from the currents. My concerns about the recipe was that it wasn't clear how much salad greens to use, and the recipe at the end calls for vinaigrette, and I wasn't sure if this was something I was to have made from the instructions, or just a generic vinaigrette.

Everyone in the family loved this one.

useful (1)  


20th December 2010

Zuni Roast Chicken

The detailed instructions provided with this recipe were easy to follow, and the result was amazing. I started 2 days before serving with the preparation (jamming salt/herb mixture under the skin), and then cooked the chicken in a cast iron frying pan.

I have not roasted many whole chickens, and certainly not recently. I remember chickens sticking to the pan, and so I was nervous about flipping the chicken over half way through. But the instructions - to start with a hot pan and a dry chicken - did seal the skin, and flipping it over wasn't too much of a problem.

The only problem, from my perspective, was all the splattering grease. I'm very thankful for my self-cleaning oven.

The succulence of this chicken was amazing. Delicious and moist! My 15-yr old son has been unwilling to eat more than one bit of chicken for at least 5 years. But this, he ate, enjoyed, and even had seconds.

useful (1)  


22nd December 2010

Orange-Currant Scones

These scones are sweet, rich, and very tender. I love currents, and here they gave that zing of sweetness in every bite, which was nicely balanced by the tartness of the orange zest.

These were very easy to put together - only about 5 minutes. But I didn't give the recipe the full 5 stars because they were too rich, and perhaps a tad dry.

useful (1)  


22nd December 2010

Lemon Mayonnaise

I've always wanted to try make mayo, but been too intimidated to try. Until now, that is.
We followed the instructions as given, and our second attempt worked. And it tastes pretty good. We compared it to "the Ojai Cook's Lemonaise", which claims to be #1 in taste in a New York Times taste test. We compared the two directly, and the commercial lemonaise had a predominant mustard flavor. My daughter, who claims to hate mayo, actually liked it, and we used it for avocado sandwiches for lunch.

useful (1)  


27th December 2010

Mock Porchetta

Preparing this dish was a 3-day process, much of it hands off. We prepared the herb/garlic/caper/lemon peel mix as per instructions, except I had to use dried sage and dried rosemary instead of fresh. Preparing the cut of meat to expose veins was a challenge for me; I seldom cook meat. In the end, I had several large segments opened up, but one big piece with no natural vein. Wanting to get the yummy mix into that part, I went ahead and cut a large slice right into the middle. As per instructions, I tied the meat up with cotton cord, wrapped it, and tucked it away in the refrigerator. The instructions say 1-3 days. I had planned this for Christmas dinner, but we delayed by one day, giving us 3 days of seasoning.

I prepared a mix of vegetables - fennel, parsnips, turnip, carrots, garlic, onio, and rutabaga.

I cooked the meat in my 12-inch cast iron frying pan, but there wasn't enough room for all the vegetables. I put the overflow into an 8X8 pyrex dish. After 1 1/2 hours, the vegetables had cooked down enough that I could combine them all.

I cooked for the suggested 2 hrs and 1/2 hours, and added chicken stock (made from a zuni recipe) in the last 15 minutes.

I prepared the pan sauce also as suggested, with vermouth. 1/3 C stock is also recommended here. I had saved the best drippings from the Zuni roast chicken, and used it here. The sauce was AMAZING.

My family of largely non meat eaters just loved this dish. They all wished we could give six starts. The rich herb mixture made the meat very flavorful. I especially liked the flavor from the fennel seed. The meat turned out moist and perfectly cooked. The vegetables were amazing. And the pan sauce was to die for.

This recipe looks intimidating because it takes a long time, but most of the time is sitting in the refrigerator. I highly recommend you try it.

useful (2)  


28th December 2010 (edited: 12th February 2011)

Hashed Sweet Potatoes

I love sweet potatoes, and so was excited to try this recipe. As with southerncooker, I was unable to "swirl the pan" to compact them into a single mass. In fact, even with my spatula, I couldn't get them to be a single patty of hashed potatoes. When I flipped them with my spatula, the pieces fell apart.

But oh - the flavor! So buttery, and the earthy sweet flavor of the sweet potatoes was great. Yum.

I used my well seasoned cast iron pan, but perhaps the technique here required a true non-stick pan.

Update: I tried the Ad Hoc strategy of rinsing the shredded sweet potatoes and then coating with corn starch. This helped them stay as cakes much better than the zuni recipe - but it turns out my kids prefer non-caked, just shredded browned sweet potatoes.

useful (0)  


This was a very easy dish to prepare, and it was beautiful. For me, this dish was also an education. It called for thinly sliced bresaola, an Italian air-dried beef. I had never tasted this before, and found it at our small Italian market (Granatos). Wow - lean and smokey, this sliced beef is a treasure!

For this recipe, the bresaola really shows its stuff. Its paired with sweet Fuyu persimmons, fresh fennel, and a bit of dressing.

useful (1)  


31st December 2010 (edited: 31st December 2010)

Polenta with Fresh Corn

Another important step in my culinary education from using Zuni is to learn to cook polenta. I started with a search for the type of ground corn described by Judy Rogers, no luck, but found a lovely polenta from Italy (not cheap, but see the cute package in picture 2). I cooked it as instructed - soft simmer in a big heavy pot for an hour - but the next step was to put it in a double boiler, and my double boiler is too small. I used the improvisation suggest: I placed my largest pyrex pan in the oven, filled it with boiling water, and placed the pot into the water. I didn't like the idea of the plastic-wrapped lid, and so skipped it. I found that a 300˚ oven made for a steamy environment, and wow - the polenta really did become very creamy - and no skin formed. I also like that you can hold the polenta like this for hours - so very flexible and forgiving.

I've not prepared polenta from scratch before, so I cannot compare, but this tasted really excellent. Surprisingly excellent.

No fresh corn, though, so I used frozen sweet corn (Costco - which is very tasty), and I also added some black pepper. Very comforting - good food for after a day of cross country skiing.

useful (3)  


1st January 2011 (edited: 1st January 2011)

Zuni Caesar Salad

The most exciting part of preparing this salad was hunting down and trying salt-cured anchovies. We had to buy a kg (see picture 2), anybody need anchovies? I was careful to follow the instructions on page 514 - it really answered all my questions about how to filet, etc.

The salad was delicious. The dressing had a good salty/sour/cheesy taste, and the croutons were very very good.

useful (1)  


Lentils are one of my favorites, but they are difficult to cook at my altitude (~4800 ft), and the result is that the vegetables are overcooked by the time the lentils are soft.
This soup had an amazing flavor after cooking the instructed amount. But after the additional hour to soften the lentils, the flavor was not as bright.
Next time, I will pressure cook the lentils first.

useful (0)  


1st January 2011

Roasted Polenta

I first made soft polenta as per the Zuni instructions (page 191), and then I spread some olive oil in a small pyrex pan, and added it to about 1 inch. I was impressed at how well it set up.
The next night, I cut it into irregular triangles, brushed with olive oil, and roasted at the 275˚F recommended.
It was supposed to be crunchy on the outside after 30 minutes, but really, it had not changed at all. I moved the heat to 325, then 350, and finally 375. I ended up cooking it about twice as long as suggested.

The final product was as suggested: crunchy outside and very tender inside. Somehow I felt they were greasy, undoubtedly my fault, I must have brushed on too much olive oil.

I would be very interested to hear if anyone else thinks these need to be cooked at the higher temperature.

useful (2)  


This is a good basic salad recipe, but what makes it special is the careful consideration of how a salad should be prepared (pages 136-138). I tried chilling the bowl - something I have not done before, and I swear it really did make the salad appear fresher for longer. For me, this will be an especially useful trick in our hot dry Utah summers.

useful (0)  


4th January 2011 (edited: 4th January 2011)

Onion Soup with Tomato & a Poached Egg

I was enticed to try this from SoutherCooker's review. Alas, my rendition was nothing to write home, errr, to cookbooker about.

I was unable to locate duck fat, so had to use olive oil, I didn't have the optional salty confit gelée so had to skip that, and I didn't have salt-cured salt cod (also optional). But I did make a fresh batch of Zuni chicken stock just for this soup.

To me, the soup tasted pretty bland. I added more salt and more pepper, but that wasn't enough to rescue this. My advice would be to add at least one of the optional ingredients.

I raised my rating to 4 because my husband loved this dish. Maybe sitting on the back burner for an additional hour helped meld the flavors.

On the plus side - it was easy to make, and I was surprised at how much I liked the egg!

useful (2)  


This salad was a delicious combination of flavors. The sweetness of the pears played off the fennel and walnuts very nicely. I really enjoyed the Parmigiano curls (vegetable peeler). When all four of these were in the same bite, it was heaven!

Fennel is not a common vegetable in my house, and I love that this cookbook is giving me many interesting ways to use it.

useful (3)  


5th January 2011

Sugar Snap Boats

This recipe took a bit of time for preparation (about 15 minutes), but led to a very nice side dish. This recipe calls for removing the strings - I've never bothered before when I've prepared these peas, and I was surprised at how robust those strings were. The stringed and sliced peas were really beautiful.

I added the 1/4 inch of water, but wished I had less because it took longer to cook it off than I really wanted to cook them. Nevertheless, they still had a crunch.

I thought the peas presented this way were really beautiful, they smelled wonderful, and tasted great. A perfect antidote for the snowy weather outside.

useful (2)  


8th January 2011 (edited: 8th January 2011)

Boiled Kale

Kale is one of those vegetables that I typically do not even consider cooking - but why? I guess its because I didn't really know how, and I think I've been served both really tough and really over-cooked kale in the past.

This recipe, though, is excellent. I used curly kale, and followed the recipe except I omitted the red pepper flakes (I don't like their flavor). I cooked it about 5 minutes longer than suggested, and added pepper as well as salt. It was excellent. A good flavor, good texture, and eating it made me feel healthy!

useful (1)  


8th January 2011

Boiled Kale on Toast

I was so intrigued by southercooker's review that I had to push on with my boiled kale. How could soggy toast make boiled kale better?

It was amazing! I didn't have the peasant-style bread, and had to make do with a slice of whole-grain sandwich bread, but it was still great. I used about 1/2 slice of prosciutto, and some Parmesan, and lots of black pepper.

This isn't pretty food that you'd want to serve guests, but for a tired friday after 12 hours in the office, it was heaven.

useful (2)  


8th January 2011 (edited: 8th January 2011)

Boiled Kale with Eggs, Fried or Poached

For me, this was every bit as good as the kale on toast. I was hungry for more, so decided to go on to the next recipe...

Because I liked the poached egg in the onion and tomato soup, I decided to poach the egg in the kale. I skipped the vinegar (thanks for the tip, southerncooker). I added the prosciutto, and again lots of black pepper. I also skipped the drizzle of olive oil. I'm sure it would have been good, but wanted the lower calorie option.

This is comfort food, pure and simple.

useful (1)  


9th January 2011 (edited: 9th January 2011)

Pasta alla Carbonara

This was delicious! I made my own ricotta (a first), and I agree with wester - it made a lovely sauce. Creamy, yes, in the form of creamy curds. The egg also gave the sauce some substance.

The only complaint was that people wanted bacon with every bite. I recommend chopping the bacon into smaller pieces, and/or using more bacon.

I enjoyed the peas. I used sugarsnaps, and didn't shell them. That gave the occasional sweet bite.

This will definitely be made again in my house.

useful (1)  


13th January 2011

Citrus Risotto

This is an interesting dish. It had the nice creamy umami feel of the risotto, with little citrus zings.

I made this using chicken stock from this same cookbook. I think I liked it better before adding the citrus or the mascarpone.

I have not made many different risotto recipes. This seemed straight forward and innovative, but next time I might stick with a more traditional sort of recipe.

useful (0)  


14th January 2011 (edited: 14th January 2011)

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi

Big disappointment here.

I like that this recipe goes on for six pages. Over the past month, I've probably read it at least 10 times. One caution was to use good ricotta, and there is a paragraph on making sure it isn't too wet. I made my own ricotta from whole milk (following http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/02/how-to-make-fresh-ricotta-fast-easy-homemade-cheese-the-food-lab.html I then hung the ricotta in cheese cloth over night (refrigerator), and if anything, my ricotta was too dry.
I followed the variation where you use lemon zest. I made sure to have nice curds in the ricotta, and then beat them till the curds were tiny, etc.
The gnocci were very soft, I added the suggested extra white, and it didn't help. The gnocci tended to fall apart when simmering, and never really firmed up. I ended up cooking them not for 2-5 minutes after they float, but more like 10 minutes. Still they had the texture of cottage cheese.

If you could get past the texture, these tasted amazing. Light, with a hint of lemon. But they are nothing you could serve company, and even my kids didn't want to do more than a courtesy taste.

I wonder if the lower boiling temperature of my 5000 foot elevation made these not cook correctly? At sea level, water boils at 212˚, and at 5000 feet, it boils at 201˚. I double, triple checked that I hadn't forgotten any ingredients, or any steps. I think either there is a mistake in the recipe, or else its best done close to sea level!

I looked around at other Ricotta Gnocchi recipes on the internet. The others had the same ratio of ricotta to eggs to parmesean, but they also called for flour. That would probably make the gnocchi hold together better, and cook more firmly... Live and learn.

useful (3)  


15th January 2011

Carol's Pickled Onions

Crunchy, sour, and sweet, all at the same time! These pickles were really easy to prepare, and I am delighted with the result. Everyone in the family loves them, I will definitely make them again.

I used sweet onions (they were the only ones I had on hand), and white wine vinegar (not champagne vinegar). I used 1/2 of a large Ancho Chili. These are nicely flavored, but not hot, peppers. It gave the onions a decidedly reddish color, and a lovely flavor.

useful (1)  


15th January 2011

Basic Rich Tart Dough

This tart dough went together easily, but it was not so easy to roll out. I really liked working the butter in with my fingers. In the past, I've made pie dough using a pastry cutter or two knives - but I liked this better.

I have a picky complaint. The instructions clearly say to cut the butter lengthwise, and they refer you to a picture on page 482. But if you look at the picture, they show the butter being cut crosswise. This is a small detail, and one that I don't think matters. What I'm more bothered by is that is suggests a lack of attention to detail during the editing process.

Back to the dough - i tasted a small piece, delicious!

useful (0)  


16th January 2011 (edited: 16th January 2011)

Open-Faced Apple or Pear Tart

This was a delightful tart, baked in the zuni rich tart dough (see that review...). The recipe made up easily (once the tart dough was dealt with), and it was simple and good. I think the salt on the fruit really helped raise the flavor. I'll make this one again!

You'll probably notice that I didn't use a tart pan (I don't have one), and please don't look too closely at the very messy crust!

It would be very good served with an espresso and a tiny dab of vanilla ice cream.

useful (1)  


18th January 2011

Rough Puff Pastry

I gave this recipe a 5 because it actually worked. I've never made puff pastry before, and I cannot believe that a combination of flour, butter, and water can actually puff up this way.

I really liked the way this recipe was written. It was as if Judy Rodgers was standing at my side, guiding me. I had trouble believing that it would work, and work as described, but it really did.

Making this also gave me an excuse to get one of those beautiful wood-handled bench knives - fun!

useful (0)  


18th January 2011

Savory Onion Tart

This recipe entails first making "rough puff" pastry, or frozen puff pastry. You then cook up some onions, spices, and place on the puff pastry, and bake. If you start with purchased puff pastry, it would be very easy to make.

I used more onions than the recipe called for (I used 16 oz and the recipe called for 12), and I still felt that I didn't have enough filling.

I was amazed to see these things puff up in the oven. Everyone enjoyed it.

useful (1)  


This appetizer starts with making the savory onion tart filling, but includes extra spices, and extra additions. I really enjoyed the tomato and salty bite from the anchovies, but anchovies are not a universally liked thing, including in my family.

It was difficult to tell what these pastries were supposed to look like, how much to fold the edges up, etc, but perhaps it didn't matter - they looked great.

useful (0)  


19th January 2011

Oranges and Rosemary Honey

This is a delightful light healthy dessert. We were lucky to find big juicy sweet California oranges. I used local clover honey, and dried rosemary. The honey picked up just a small kiss of rosemary - just the perfect amount. Everyone in the family enjoyed this dessert. And as the recipe says, its perfect for winter time.

A plus to me, this recipe was very easy to prepare!

useful (0)  


19th January 2011

Brasato

This pot roast was a very involved recipe. I gave the meat one day with the salt rub, I'm sure 2 extra days would have been better. I also used a Cabernet for the wine. Cooking down a full bottle to 0.5 cups is a long process, and consequently the wine was added late. I used zuni cafe chicken stock (home made).

I didn't think this recipe called for enough vegetables, so I tripled the number. For some reason, after 4 hours, my celery root was still really tough. But the sauce was amazing. Like southerncooker, I didn't need to add any sugar, basalmic vinegar, or additional stock.

Not very pretty, but very good.

useful (2)  


20th January 2011

Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

I do not make mashed potatoes very often, but my family does enjoy buttermilk. We all liked these mashed potatoes. I purchased local (Idaho) butter potatoes (yellow fleshed), and followed the recipe as it was given. I wish I had doubled the recipe because it disappeared very quickly.

Making this dish taught me two things: that buttermilk has even more uses than I had though, and that my family just LOVES mashed potatoes.

We will prepare this recipe again.

useful (0)  


20th January 2011

Sage Grilled Cheese

I must agree with the other reviewers here. This was a delightful version of a grilled cheese sandwich. We didn't have Gruyere, and so substituted manchego.

What I really liked about this sandwich is not just that it was delicious, but it also is infinitely variable. The outside was brushed with olive oil, pepper, and sage. You could easily substitute other herbs (I'm thinking basil here) as well as vary the cheese type.

I will remember this recipe, and try it in many variations.

useful (1)  


Very nice soup, especially considering how easily it went together. I agree with all the other comments!

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Zaitoun

By Yasmin Khan
- 2000

So simple - freeze up some bananas, and then grind them to an ice cream-like consistency. But don't stop there. Add tahini, a bit of salt, and serve with Date Syrup and sesame seeds.

The date syrup is what really sets this recipe apart. It is thick and sweet, but somehow seems less sweet than other syrups. And it was easier to find than I had imagined.

The tahini is also a nice touch with the bananas. It adds depth to this lovely sweet.

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When it is zucchini time, it can be difficult to find something interesting. But this was both different and a total delight!

Zucchini are scraped out and roasted. The "meat" from within the zucchini was also roasted. Meanwhile, ground meat is cooked with a lovely assortment of spices, including pomegranate molasses. Finally a mix of the cooked innards, tahini, and lemon juice is put on top.

This dish manages to stay fresh and light, the zucchini plays a supportive role, but its the meat and tahini sauce that really set this recipe apart from others.

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Wiliams-Sonoma The Kid's Cookbook: A great book for kids who love to cook (Williams-Sonoma Lifestyles)

By Abigail J. Dodge
Oxmoor House - 2002

6th March 2011

Fruity Morning Shakes

This very easy to make smoothie was a little too thick. it calls for only fruit, yogurt, and sugar, so its texture depends on the water content of the sugar. The recipe suggests fresh strawberries or blueberries, and we substituted frozen mixed berries. The addition of 3T milk made it the right texture.

We also didn't have vanilla yogurt, so used plain. To compensate, we added an additional 2 tsp sugar.

This recipe might make a warm drink if your berries are not frozen, because the called for ingredients are not frozen.

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6th March 2011 (edited: 22nd March 2011)

Oven baked carrot fries

This recipe gives carrots a wonderful rosemary flavor, and that alone probably deserves a five rating. However, there were some problems with the recipe. We had to cook them 30 minuets instead of 20, and they still didn't get brown and crunchy (as the recipe promised) and there was too much olive oil. But when a recipe gets kids wolfing down carrots, its also got a lot of positives.

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'wichcraft: Craft a Sandwich into a Meal--And a Meal into a Sandwich

By Tom Colicchio, Sisha Ortuzar
Clarkson Potter - 2009

Super easy and surprisingly delicious. Who knew smoked ham and avocados were such a natural combination?

We used a smoked rosemary ham from our local deli, rolls instead of baguette, and we skipped the butter.

My kids prepare dinner once a week - and it can be a struggle getting them to do it. My daughter selected this recipe, and we were able to get it on the table in 10 minutes.

Not too many 10 minute meals taste so good.

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Meh - nothing too special. The tuna was mixed up by having celery root in place of celery. The tuna tasted too sour to me (the recipe includes lemon juice). I did like that it was served on english muffin, that it included roasted tomatoes, but the small amount of celery root was lost in the mix.

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This was a good sandwich, just not remarkable or unusual. Its about what we'd make with no recipe. Asparagus is the king here, and when at its peak, needs no special adornments.

We used a regular sharp cheddar in place of the vacherin cheese.

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