Let me tell you who wears the apron in this house, and it's not the molecular biologist XYL with all her peer review, referreed articles -- I had my nieces over from Cali and Eire and made an apple pie last week -- used Upstate NY Apples -- combo of brown and white sugar, mace (the very fragrant part of the nutmeg), cinnamon and a splash of vanilla extract. Crisco crust!!!!! C'est magnifique.
Jacques Pepin is making "quenelle" -- used to be Pike -- but he's using cod, etc. I have now learned that 2 tbsp in French = 1 cup of white wine.
Halibut, after a couple of hours sucking between kelp sheets, hirame kobujime.
(didn't eat the kelp, tossing it in the soup tomorrow)
Halibut doesn't ring my bell when it's fried/grilled or whatever, but raw and/or marinated it's almost addictive.
Nippon juice as in soy sauce, wasabi, Japanese ginger and vinegar, hadn't made my mind up when i posted the pic.
Crawling under the car in the garage after lunch was murder, busy wrenching this weekend.
(didn't eat the kelp, tossing it in the soup tomorrow)
Halibut doesn't ring my bell when it's fried/grilled or whatever, but raw and/or marinated it's almost addictive.
Nippon juice as in soy sauce, wasabi, Japanese ginger and vinegar, hadn't made my mind up when i posted the pic.
Crawling under the car in the garage after lunch was murder, busy wrenching this weekend.
Quick question, how much more do you spend to get real wasabi vs. the green radish they pass off for it?
About $75 the pound overhere. Amusing bit, afaig, the wasabi roots sold here are cultivated in Canada.
The stores i frequent that have fresh wasabi are not around the corner, i visit them every couple of months (good rice e.g. i get in 110lb bags).
What i do is freeze the stuff in ice cube trays, then vacuum the cubes separately in a plastic bag, works great.
I do the ice cube thing with a number of stuff btw, e.g. fond that i make myself a couple of times a year.
There's also a pre-made frozen variety, forgot the name, made in Kiwiland.
The stores i frequent that have fresh wasabi are not around the corner, i visit them every couple of months (good rice e.g. i get in 110lb bags).
What i do is freeze the stuff in ice cube trays, then vacuum the cubes separately in a plastic bag, works great.
I do the ice cube thing with a number of stuff btw, e.g. fond that i make myself a couple of times a year.
There's also a pre-made frozen variety, forgot the name, made in Kiwiland.
Lime Pie
I have no photos for this, but promise to make it again and document it next time.
I love limes -- probably something to do with spending a lot of time in Montserrat BWI when I was young. But I don't eat/drink them very often, although I think I do. So whenever I'm in the shop and see a decent price on decent limes I buy some. Or if my wife makes her grilled chicken recipe that uses 1/2 of one lime, the next time I'm in the grocery store I think "Oh, we need more limes" and buy a few. So recently I looked in the fruit drawer of our refrigerator and realized we had 3 rotting limes and about eight good ones.
So I needed to use them for something. I decided I wanted to bake a lime pie, but not a key lime pie: I didn't have key limes, and I don't like condensed milk. It seemed like every lime pie recipe I could find was for key lime pie. So I thought "OK, I like lemon meringue pie, I'll make that but with limes". So I juiced and grated the zest from about 8 limes, which yielded a little over one cup (250ml) of juice and a large handful of grated lime zest.
So I started cooking the corn-starch-thickened custard for a lemon pie recipe but with lime, but the recipe called for the juice of one lemon and a tablespoon of zest, and some water. Hmm... that won't do, I want to taste the limes! A couple of days before I had made some coconut milk for a curry, and some of it was still in the fridge (not the curry, the coconut milk), so I used that instead of water (and reduced the butter since the coconut milk has a lot of fat), and used all my lime juice and zest. So, as I recall, about a cup of coconut milk and a cup of sugar and about 1/3 cup corn starch dissolved over medium heat, added >1c lime juice and a large handful of zest, simmered for a while, beat 3 egg yolks, tempered in the custard then added to the pot, brought to a simmer and let it thicken.
Meanwhile, rolled out and baked a pie crust. Sprinkled it with unsweetened grated coconut, poured in the (very limey, very tart) custard, beat 3 egg whites and beat in some sugar, spread the meringue on the pie, sprinkled with unsweetened grated coconut, baked.
It was the absolute best lime pie I have ever eaten. My daughter, my wife, and my mother all agree (and my mother used to live in the West Indies, so knows a thing or two about limes). Like I said, I will take photos of the next one!
I have no photos for this, but promise to make it again and document it next time.
I love limes -- probably something to do with spending a lot of time in Montserrat BWI when I was young. But I don't eat/drink them very often, although I think I do. So whenever I'm in the shop and see a decent price on decent limes I buy some. Or if my wife makes her grilled chicken recipe that uses 1/2 of one lime, the next time I'm in the grocery store I think "Oh, we need more limes" and buy a few. So recently I looked in the fruit drawer of our refrigerator and realized we had 3 rotting limes and about eight good ones.
So I needed to use them for something. I decided I wanted to bake a lime pie, but not a key lime pie: I didn't have key limes, and I don't like condensed milk. It seemed like every lime pie recipe I could find was for key lime pie. So I thought "OK, I like lemon meringue pie, I'll make that but with limes". So I juiced and grated the zest from about 8 limes, which yielded a little over one cup (250ml) of juice and a large handful of grated lime zest.
So I started cooking the corn-starch-thickened custard for a lemon pie recipe but with lime, but the recipe called for the juice of one lemon and a tablespoon of zest, and some water. Hmm... that won't do, I want to taste the limes! A couple of days before I had made some coconut milk for a curry, and some of it was still in the fridge (not the curry, the coconut milk), so I used that instead of water (and reduced the butter since the coconut milk has a lot of fat), and used all my lime juice and zest. So, as I recall, about a cup of coconut milk and a cup of sugar and about 1/3 cup corn starch dissolved over medium heat, added >1c lime juice and a large handful of zest, simmered for a while, beat 3 egg yolks, tempered in the custard then added to the pot, brought to a simmer and let it thicken.
Meanwhile, rolled out and baked a pie crust. Sprinkled it with unsweetened grated coconut, poured in the (very limey, very tart) custard, beat 3 egg whites and beat in some sugar, spread the meringue on the pie, sprinkled with unsweetened grated coconut, baked.
It was the absolute best lime pie I have ever eaten. My daughter, my wife, and my mother all agree (and my mother used to live in the West Indies, so knows a thing or two about limes). Like I said, I will take photos of the next one!
Lime Pie Redux
OK, I was always going to make this again, but after writing about it the other night I got a hankering, so... This time I documented the process.
First, the stars of the show:
Here they are naked, with a big pile of lime zest:
Juice extracted, almost exactly one cup this time:
4 eggs separated:
Dry ingredients combined in pot: a cup of sugar, 1/3 cup corn starch, a pinch of salt:
Now the juice and a cup of coconut milk mixed in:
Then the zest added, and the whole mess heated to boil, then some of the hot custard "tempered" into the beaten egg yolks, and that mixture whisked back into the pot and simmered:
Now the pre-baked pie shell (admittedly not my forte) sprinkled generously with coconut:
Hot lime filling poured into shell:
Then the pie is topped with meringue:
That is my limit of 10 image attachments, so TBC.
OK, I was always going to make this again, but after writing about it the other night I got a hankering, so... This time I documented the process.
First, the stars of the show:
Here they are naked, with a big pile of lime zest:
Juice extracted, almost exactly one cup this time:
4 eggs separated:
Dry ingredients combined in pot: a cup of sugar, 1/3 cup corn starch, a pinch of salt:
Now the juice and a cup of coconut milk mixed in:
Then the zest added, and the whole mess heated to boil, then some of the hot custard "tempered" into the beaten egg yolks, and that mixture whisked back into the pot and simmered:
Now the pre-baked pie shell (admittedly not my forte) sprinkled generously with coconut:
Hot lime filling poured into shell:
Then the pie is topped with meringue:
That is my limit of 10 image attachments, so TBC.
Lime Pie Redux Part Deux:
OK, when I left off, the pie was almost ready for the oven. Then it was sprinkled with coconut, then baked:
Mmmmm...
After it cooled we cut a slice:
And my daughter tried a bite. I think she likes it!
So there you have it: Lime-Coconut Meringue Pie a la Nezbleu! Enjoy!
OK, when I left off, the pie was almost ready for the oven. Then it was sprinkled with coconut, then baked:
Mmmmm...
After it cooled we cut a slice:
And my daughter tried a bite. I think she likes it!
So there you have it: Lime-Coconut Meringue Pie a la Nezbleu! Enjoy!
My son figgered out a temp controller for his rice-cooker and has "sous vide" this and other critters.