skdouglass' Reviews
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Website: Cooks Illustrated
Add this one to your box; it's worth your time and ingredients. It is a comfortingly familiar cookie but subtly different that you expect. I won't divulge CI's secret, but I will remember its lesson when I pull out my spices next cooking-baking time.
This is one instance where size matters. Mind your cookies as they approach the end of cooking time. I found the published times did not reflect my reality. At all. Stupid non-standardized ovens.
My amendments: Used Sucanat instead of brown sugar, plumped my raisins in hot water, added a cup of tasted, chopped pecans.
Future change: mess with the sugar. The cookies were a little sweet for my tastes, but altering the sugars will change the chewiness. Good thing I'm up to the challenge.
useful (0)
Per 14-year-old: "It looks like the most depressing food on earth, but it was really good."
Per other 14-year-old: "If there is any left on Monday, I'll take it to school for lunch."
Both are accurate representations of this recipe; I can only chime in with the technicalities.
I added approximately double the feta required by the recipe and added some carrots for color; the salad is really quite drab-looking. The 5:3 proportion of the vinaigrette is nicely appropriate.
Two planning notes:
1. Unless you're potlucking or your family size approaches Duggar-esqe, I don't recommend doubling the recipe. One cup of lentils doesn't seem like a lot, but two cups produces a vat of salad. Keep in mind you'll need to pull a hot pot holding 8 cups of boiling liquid out of the oven. And
B. Plan ahead. The lentils are brined, then baked - two hours of lead time minimum.
We'll be making it again. But not for a while. I doubled.
UPDATE: If you intend to serve this salad in a less-than-immediate fashion (that is, leftovers or next day), keep the components separate. The mint turns a nasty color and the flavors overall are quite muted by sitting around.
useful (0)
Lemon, Parmesan, pepper and olive oil all playing very nicely together on my pasta plate. I was tempted to bump up the lemon juice and zest, but resisted. And glad of it. Following the recipe as it stands, the strong flavors were balanced.
Composed of pantry staples and using one pot, the longest step is waiting for the pasta water to boil. Once the noodles are cooked, the rest of the recipe comes together very quickly.
Adding some poached chicken bits or some shrimp would not come amiss, and promote it to main-dish status.
I will make it again and I would cheerfully serve it to company.
useful (2)