Notes about Recipes in this book

• Make-ahead white wine vinaigrette

  • averythingcooks on July 29, 2020

    Hmmmm.....molasses in a vinaigrette??? I trusted in ATK and yes - this was a fully emulsified and tasty salad dressing that has still (after a couple of hours) not separated. I keep questioning my self re: whether I could pick out the flavour of molasses...I really don’t think I can.

• Quick pickled carrots

  • averythingcooks on June 18, 2021

    I used this brine / method to pickle some matchsticked carrots, radishes and red onions. Tasted alone, I think I missed the sugar that many other recipes include, but they were great in our Korean beef lettuce wraps.

• Quick sweet and spicy pickled red onions

  • averythingcooks on April 27, 2023

    What sets these apart from others I've made is that the onions are stored WITHOUT the brine...they soak for 1 hour & then the brine is drained away. The idea is that this will help keep them "nice and crunchy" for up to a week in the fridge. We do like the addition of jalapenos and they were great on the 1st day with our pork chili verde but I will update on their condition/the claim later in the week.

  • averythingcooks on April 30, 2023

    A quick update: it is day 4 of storing these guys in the fridge without the brine and yes...they are still tart & fresh tasting AND still crunchy :)

• Creamy buttermilk coleslaw

  • averythingcooks on April 09, 2021

    I came here for the dressing and sadly, it simply did not have enough flavour for us. Perhaps we are now used to a coleslaw dressing with higher proportions of both acid & sweet than this one offered. I doctored it up well enough for us, but I wont repeat it - there are lots of others on my bookshelf that are a much better match for our palates.

• Fresh tomato sauce

  • averythingcooks on September 26, 2023

    This is a different method of making a sauce out of fresh tomatoes compared to others I've tried. I wish I had cooked the chopped tomatoes down before pureeing as I had lots of pieces of skin visible after blending so I end up straining the puree anyways. Seeding into the strainer and keeping the flavourful liquid (without the seeds) to stir back in worked well. As usual I had heavier hand with the aromatics (adding onion & upping the garlic). This method was certainly worth trying and will be repeated.

• Pad kee mao with pork

  • averythingcooks on July 31, 2020

    The specific technique here is how to cook rice noodles (aka pad Thai noodles) perfectly - and it worked. For the actual dish, I did follow some parts verbatim and some not so much. I added the meat from a hot Italian sausage to the pork and at the end, added green onions, chopped red peppadews, peas and some additional hot sauce with the fresh basil. Absolutely delicious!

• Kung pao chicken

  • averythingcooks on January 09, 2024

    As I took some liberties with the method (sooo many separate "mix in a small bowl" & "in/out of the pan" steps), this is really about the sauce ingredients coming together beautifully. I marinated 6 oz of pork tenderloin sliced into thin strips as instructed & I cut the sauce in 1/2, replacing whole dried de Arbols (which would have to be removed) with my dried/crushed de Arbol flakes to taste & cashews in place of peanuts. With lots of extra vegetables & a bed of cauliflower rice, we had a very tasty ( & spicy from the de Arbol) dinner bowl.

• Skillet peach cobbler

  • klrclark on July 25, 2020

    This was easy to make. Tasted great. I didn't quite have 5 lbs of peaches but it was still good.

• Cranberry-apple crisp

  • klrclark on December 13, 2020

    It does not call for old fashioned black gunpowder; it does call for old fashioned rolled oats.lol!

• Best ground beef chili

  • averythingcooks on November 14, 2022

    Of course, this is based on personal preferences/palates but since the claim is "the best", my response is "no...no it isn't". I followed this closely including the baking soda when cooking the beef but I knew my spice grinder was a better choice (rather than food processor/blender) for the whole spices/toasted ancho etc so I used it and just ran scissors through some diced tomatoes. My problem was that it all seemed very one note and so I began to doctor with more salt, chili lime seasoning, some blends from the spice cupboard, fresh peppers, corn & even some honey. The acid added at the end was also not enough so lots of lime juice went in. We ultimately enjoyed our bowls with raw onions & cheese on top but I certainly played with it to get it to "pretty good".

• Classic corn chowder

  • averythingcooks on November 28, 2021

    This is a really good corn chowder. The combination of fresh corn, canned corn pureed in broth and the cobs included in the simmer brings tons of lovely corn flavour. I wanted something a little "fuller" so I also added diced ham and chopped roasted red peppers to the pot but the chowder was certainly really good before I did that. I would repeat this method for sure.

• No-churn strawberry-buttermilk ice cream

  • Liz_Young on November 18, 2024

    Delicious - VERY rich!

• New York-style thin-crust pizza

  • averythingcooks on December 31, 2023

    I made a 1/2 recipe of dough (with my own sauce & toppings) for 1 pizza to serve 2. It was very sticky but then easily formed a ball with a floured surface & hands. Again, ATK asked for ice water in a dough & yes - it works. After 24 hours in the fridge, it took 7 lines of text to say "form a ball & rest for an hour" (ie step laden!). The oven instructions involve over an hour of 500, then the broiler then 500 again for a 10 minute cook time. Instead, I heated my stone at 475 for a 1/2 hour & then cooked the pizza for around 10 minutes. The result was a beautiful crispy thin crust with 1 issue - I am 95% sure that I cut everything in 1/2 EXCEPT the yeast. T asked for a thin crust & we did really like the result.

• Chocolate-almond coconut cake

  • klrclark on August 02, 2020

    Everyone raved about this cake. I probably like the icing to be more marshmallow texture and flavor and less buttercream, but it was amazing.

• Eat Your Books by Jenny Hartin

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