Notes about Recipes in this book

• Creamy feta, marinated tomato, and dill crostini

  • Devons on November 30, 2020

    Thoroughly enjoyed this. There are a lot of ways to top crostini, but we thought this is one of the better ones. Fresh tasting with the dill, yum.

• Brussels sprout nachos with pickled chiles

  • Devons on November 30, 2020

    Thought this would be a little weird, but to the contrary it's excellent. Would make it again for sure. We got to feel healthy with the Brussels sprouts :-) Made the following adjustments: 1. I didn't bother to make the Muenster Cheese Sauce. Instead, simply grated the Muenster cheese and saved a few calories :-) Bet it would be great in a sauce though. 2. Used a hand held mandolin to julienne the Brussels sprouts. Would cut them thinly next time, per recipe instructions 3. Instead of pickling chiles, I used purchased pickled jalapenos. Excellent.

  • averythingcooks on January 07, 2022

    These were awesome (as was the look on T's face when he asked what I was making :). I added some slivered red & yellow peppers to the Brussels pan, I quick pickled some red onion & I used jarred pickled jalapenos. I normally just grate cheese onto nachos but I did make the cheese sauce (using pepper jack) and it certainly makes these rich, indulgent & VERY filling. I made a 1/2 recipe (full serves 4) to eat with a lighter soup for dinner and we were stuffed well before we could finish them. We agreed that a little less sauce for a given amount of chips might actually be better.

• Red chile Caesar salad with cotija frico croutons

  • Devons on November 30, 2020

    Flavor bomb dressing -- we used it all week on a variety of lettuces. For the cotija frico, 425 is too hot and burns them. Next time I'd do 375 or 400.

• Roasted sweet potatoes with spiced tahini honey

  • Devons on November 30, 2020

    Good flavors wouldn't make again. What did I do wrong? Tahini and honey flavors taste good, but the mixture turned gloppy as soon as water was added. I actually tried something similar in another recipe, different cookbook with the same results.

• Green chile cheeseburger

  • Devons on November 30, 2020

    Husband and I loved them. Made adjustments to recipe based on what we had on hand and our time available to cook that night: 1. Didn't make the queso sauce; used a slice of Muenster (left over from Brussels sprouts nachos) instead. 2. Instead of a bun, used a Stonefire Grill mini naan.

• Green pork chili

  • averythingcooks on September 18, 2022

    I made / braised the sauce & pork on one day, then reheated & dressed up the chili 2 days later and the results were great. I skipped the cilantro in the beginning (so my sauce wasn't as deep green as the pic) but added Thai basil near the end. I also threw in some roasted poblanos, halved grape tomatoes, pickled fresnos & frozen peas and served it all over smashed red skinned potatoes topped with the suggested pickled onions (Ottolenghi sumac onions - great!) and some sour cream. I looked over at T to ask what he thought and his bowl was scraped clean. Thrilled to use my garden tomatillos and this is a repeat for sure!

• Maple-chile glazed mixed nuts

  • averythingcooks on January 05, 2022

    These are very tasty with a good hit of sweet/hot but he does not specify salted or unsalted nuts. I only buy unsalted to cook with & the lack of salt in the glaze worried me so I sprinkled the pan with a few big pinches of salt before the bake and then after a quick taste, tossed the still warm nuts with another good pinch. We both like them (this time a mix of cashews, almonds and pecans) as the maple syrup & chili de arbol play off each other nicely but I would definitely repeat the salting.

• My favorite black pepper biscuits

  • averythingcooks on January 03, 2022

    These are great! The dough came together quickly & produced lovely, tall biscuits. The black pepper on the top is a nice savoury touch which made for a great dinner side (but could easily be left off). However, I will say that my habit now is to "portion" out the cream for brushing sparingly, adding more to the little bowl as needed....and I definitely did not need all that was called for here.

• Cornmeal-chive biscuits

  • averythingcooks on January 04, 2023

    I should have tried these sooner as we both really liked them. T is not really a fan of cornbread (but I am) so I tried these (to serve with soup) to see if he liked them better - and he does! The cornmeal gives a traditional biscuit (with all its great characteristics) a lovely little bit of extra (crunch? texture? flavour?) something and I will make these guys again for sure.

• Roasted jalapeño pesto

  • averythingcooks on September 19, 2022

    I cut this in 1/2 and am very happy with the results. It is a classic parsley pesto with a nice hum of heat...it is destined for the freezer in 1 tbsp portions but I also know that one its first uses will be drizzling over crispy potatoes. I did sub walnuts in because pine nuts are just too expensive right now and the walnuts do blend in perfectly.

• Classic home fries

  • averythingcooks on December 20, 2021

    A great method for some very tasty home fries served beside a pan of scrambled eggs.

• Hot and sweet pepper relish

  • averythingcooks on November 26, 2022

    I made this to eat with beer braised sausage sandwiches and it was a delicious addition. I roasted a mix of red, yellow & orange peppers for the sweet and for the hot, I used my own pickled red fresnos. I can think of lots of reasons to make this stuff again.

• Mustard vinaigrette

  • averythingcooks on January 12, 2023

    This is a very assertive (and good!) vinaigrette...he does say in the preface to this section that he likes a higher ratio of vinegar to oil than usual recipes. At this point I was really happy to use it over mixed greens but I had dill hanging around so this morphed into his variation called "herb vinaigrette". I'll make this one again.

• Fresh herb vinaigrette

  • averythingcooks on January 12, 2023

    This is an extension of his "mustard vinaigrette". This time I just used dill (which worked really well with the big hit of mustard) but I can see mixing it up with other herbs like parsley and/or basil another time.

• Marinara sauce

  • averythingcooks on April 29, 2022

    This is a very tasty marinara with lots of garlic & 3 different fresh herbs. I did add a splash of red wine to the aromatics and my habit is to crush whole tomatoes with my hand before adding to a sauce but otherwise I made it as written. A 1/2 recipe (with added meatballs) made enough for 2 dinners (serving 2 each) and a small container for the freezer for 1. I actually thought this might be the same recipe that appears in Throwdown, but there are some small differences and I do like this one better.

• Grilled grouper with Balsam Farms tomatoes and avocado

  • bwhip on July 22, 2020

    Super simple, super tasty. Lovely light summer dinner. We grilled some nice Sockeye Salmon fillets with this instead of the grouper.

• Dutch, Dutch apple baby

  • bwhip on October 26, 2019

    Really delicious. I'd never tried the method of starting with a cold oven like this, but the end result turned out great. The apple cider "sauce" was a great accompaniment. Next time I'll cut the vinegar in half, as it was a little more acidy than I thought it needed to be. Also, the recipe has you start the apples on high temperature, but never tells you to drop the temp when covering the pan and cooking for ten minutes, which seemed like too much heat. I used a little less heat, for a little less time through the apple cooking process, and the results seemed to turn out just right. Also, the recipe calls for starting in a cold oven, and baking for 20 minutes or so - but doesn't clarify if that's 20 minutes from cold (not nearly enough), or once oven comes up to full temperature (which could vary by oven). Mine was in for about 35-40 minutes total. I'll make this one again for sure.

• Harvest salad with apple cider-honey vinaigrette

  • bwhip on October 28, 2019

    We loved this salad! Great in every way, with a really delicious and interesting mix of flavors and textures. We had it as a light fall main course, and it was perfect. Looking forward to making this one again.

• Pressure-cooked ropa vieja

  • hbakke on November 11, 2019

    This is an odd combination of ingredients that resulted in a tasty meal. I would serve this with flour tortillas instead of corn as the corn ones disintegated with the liquid. Also, I think the meat was overcooked at 40 minutes so would probably cook less next time. The added cup of broth at the end seem unnecessary as well. The instructions were kind of nonsensical for use with a pressure cooker...as in, why would I add all the liquid to the saute pan if I'm just going to dump them in the pressure cooker. Weird directions.

• Grilled pork chops with peppers and balsamic

  • D.Barker on July 12, 2021

    This bell pepper salsa was fantastic, and the pork chops were some of the best we have had. The balsamic glaze/reduction just turned out floppy and gross, so we left it off. I didn't think there was anything really missing without it.