Notes about Recipes in this book

• Beef Stroganoff

  • lhudson on April 30, 2021

    Finally a Beef Stroganoff recipe I like. I have been reviewing some of the older dishes trying to get ideas of some different things to cook for the Grandkids. I think they will like this one but I will probably pick out the mushrooms on their plates. .

• Pasta and tomato tuna sauce with garlic and mint

  • ashallen on November 10, 2019

    Very nice and quick/easy pasta sauce with great flavors. I substituted basil for mint since that's what I had on hand - worked well. A bit salty - maybe because I used salted tuna? [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

• Soft and chewy molasses spice cookies

  • ashallen on September 14, 2019

    One of my all-time favorite cookies - so good, they make me want to hide them somewhere so I can eat them all myself!!! Intensely flavorful, soft, moist, spicy, and chewy and a light crunch on the outside from the rolling sugar. I usually use a darker vs. lighter molasses - I like the deep and dark flavor it gives. These keep their flavor and their chew for several days after baking. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

  • hillsboroks on January 28, 2022

    These are the kind of molasses spice cookies you dream about. As ashallen says they are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I made the version where you roll them in orange sugar before baking. The orange flavor melds beautifully with the warm spices. I used a 1 1/2 tablespoon scoop to make the cookie balls and ended up with 2 1/2 dozen cookies .

• Chunky cherry tomato-basil vinaigrette

  • wkhull on September 03, 2022

    Too watery. Would recommend draining tomatoes after the 10 minute salting.

• Chicken paprikash

  • ashallen on October 22, 2019

    Very nice dish with a creamy tomato-pepper sauce. I substituted additional red bell peppers for green bell peppers since I'm not a fan of the latter in this type of dish. Making a half-batch worked fine. [Cross-post for Annual Edition /Magazine /Science of Good Cooking/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

• Pot roast with root vegetables

  • ashallen on October 12, 2019

    Solid, basic pot roast recipe. My husband enjoyed it. I'm more of a beef stew vs. pot roast fan - I like how fat/membrane can melt away in stews whereas they seem to linger in pot roasts - but maybe I just haven't had the right pot roast yet! I wasn't able to get one of the beef cuts specified in the recipe and instead used regular beef chuck. The internal temperature of the roast never quite reached the 210F specified in the recipe. Adding root vegetables part-way through cooking brought the temperature down further. Veggies weren't well-cooked after the time specified in the recipe, which is odd because Cook's Illustrated's usually very reliable on timing. I ended up taking veggies out of the oven pot and cooking them separately on the stovetop to finish. Maybe I was opening and closing the oven to check on everything too much?? Meat was tender - though we would've liked it to have been even more so! [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

• Wilted spinach salad with bacon and balsamic vinaigrette

  • PennyG on February 15, 2011

    Excellent! Radishes from Greeling (instead of red onion) were great. I will use this as my go-to wilted spinach salad recipe.

• Spaghetti puttanesca

  • ashallen on November 10, 2019

    This is a robustly flavored pasta dish that my husband loves (I like it, too!). Flavors are both rich/savory and bracing. No fishy flavor from the anchovies (unless I accidentally chop the parsley/olives on the same cutting board I used for the anchovies - oops). Great with parmesan or feta cheese mixed in. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

• Simple lasagna with hearty tomato-meat sauce

  • ashallen on November 09, 2019

    We make this often. It's not an elegant lasagna - lots of tomato sauce and cheese(!) - but it's totally tasty and easy (for a lasagna) to pull together. I like it with ricotta cheese as specified in the recipe, but my husband prefers cottage cheese. When fresh basil hasn't been available, ~1/2 cup basil pesto has been an OK substitution. Ground beef works well as a substitute for meatloaf mix. After making it many times in a standard 9x13-inch pyrex dish and dealing with periodic oozing over the edges during baking, I got a deeper 9x13 dish to contain it better. A 10x15-inch pyrex also works. We also really like the tomato meat sauce in this recipe as a sauce for regular pasta. I'll often make a double batch and, after taking what I need for the lasagna, will add some oregano to the remaining sauce and simmer it slowly for 1-2 hours before packing it into the freezer for future meals. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/ Magazine/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

• Smothered pork chops

  • monicatgood on October 12, 2021

    page 8

• Giblet pan gravy

  • ashallen on November 29, 2019

    This is an excellent recipe for classic turkey gravy - deeply flavorful. It's good with or without the white wine. Also very good with or without the giblets. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Science of Good Cooking/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

• Soft and chewy sugar cookies

  • ashallen on September 15, 2019

    This is a great sugar cookie recipe - great butter-sugar flavor + lovely chewiness. I watch these carefully in the oven - browning just a bit around the edges enhances their flavor, but once the interiors brown they lose their moistness/chewiness and become crisp. This is my back-up sugar cookie recipe for when I don't have the cream cheese necessary to make the sugar cookie recipe from Cook's Illustrated's "The Science of Good Cooking" and "Cook's Illustrated Cookbook" which is my favorite - even chewier, moister, and more flavorful. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine.]