Leftover Pizza Breakfast Casserole, March 27-April 3, 2020

Hosted by Barbara J Nosek

New Salon every Friday – c’mon in

CS friends, and help yourself to tasty resources

CS Friends

I considered suspending CooksSalon during these times when ingredients can be hard to find and we have more on our minds than a new recipe. The other side of that is that perhaps there’s a benefit in staying connected through a shared passion and enjoying a little respite from the cares of the day.

So here’s  what we’re going to do for now

First, keep publishing CooksSalon each Friday for the present.

Second, post anything we can find to provide help in our cooking realm – ways to protect our health, make the best of what we have on hand, substitute for what we don’t – the first example being the shopping guidelines just below.

Third, watch for any signs that we should in fact suspend the Salon for a while.

Stay safe my friends.

  Here’s what you’ll find this week when you scroll below  

  TIDBITS – baking crafts / safer shopping for the times / boffo cake     CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT – recipe clone source    FEATURED RECIPE – really, this time    TIP – Wilbur’s chicken trick   THE WEEK – grits hits / safe, easy, pretty Easter eggs / Japanese Home Cooking cookbook

♦  TIDBITS 

Newsy, schmoozy stuff for cooks 

  This is sort of an interesting case of kitchen meets craft room. Most of us most days just don’t have time for time-consuming recipes. But every now and then it might be nice, even therapeutic, to just let hands and mind concentrate on something that will reward us with a pretty and tasty end result. Epicurious thinks so, and backs that up with this slide show of “31 Epic Dessert and Baking Recipes for When You Need a Project.” Maybe a giant chocolate candy bar, best morning buns, caramel apple drip cake, or spiced hazelnut-pear cake with chocolate sauce.

  As we all know, right now there are some scary times out there. To help in the food realm, msn.com offers these suggestions on How to Protect Yourself from Coronavirus When Grocery Shopping.  You’ll find guidelines for picking up pre-assembled grocery orders, receiving deliveries, and handling the items once they’re in your home.

  Haven’t even made this yet but what an interesting cake. Take a look at the picture of this Sweet and Salty Snack Food Cake AND the ingredients and see if you might not agree. The topping is so different, potato chips, cookies, coconut, raisins, nuts, butter, brown sugar. Think this rich cake might also be good as is or with just a touch of glaze or frosting.

  CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT  ♦ 

Send in the clones

Oh, this is fun. Think of your favorite restaurant food, or even selected grocery store items, and you just might find a copycat in this cookbook.

Todd Wilbur’s reason for creating “Top Secret Recipes . . . Step by Step/Secret Formulas with Photos for Duplicating Your Favorite Famous Foods at Home” would warm any cook’s heart. “. . . the enjoyment we experience when everyone is amazed by the successful re-creation of a delicious dish they thought they could only get in a restaurant or in a package sets this type of cooking apart from any other.”Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step: Secret Formulas with Photos for Duplicating Your Favorite Famous Foods at Home

Requests from fans turn into quests by Wilbur, a mix of “snooping, exploring, and experimenting,” a process he enjoys it seems every bit as much as creating the end result. And this is nice – little information boxes atop each recipe specify first time or improved hack, active and inactive prep times, level of difficulty, and yield.

All in all you’ll find 125 recipes from over 60 sources – think fast food outlets, family restaurants, ethnic places, breakfast spots, steakhouses, coffee emporiums and dessert bars. The packaged goods clones include Twinkies®, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels®, Fudgsicles®, a couple of Girl Scout cookies, and more.

Yikes, so many temptations here. Think my list-toppers might be the Chili’s® molten chocolate cake {with caramel sauce!}, Legal Sea Foods® clam chowder, Panera Bread® Asian sesame chicken salad, Red Lobster® Cheddar Bay Biscuits®, Ruth’s Chris Steak House® barbecued shrimp, and Taco Bell® Mexican Pizza.

“Top Secret Recipes Step by Step”    Wilbur’s other Top Secret Recipes cookbooks

CS Marketplace Directory

  FEATURED RECIPE  

A pizza journey 

AllRecipes magazine in effect is asking us this question about leftover pizza: Why have a cold slice in the morning when you could instead use those leftovers to fill your plate with hot “Pizza Breakfast Casserole.” What a way to start the day.

When I went to their site to get the link to post for you, the dish in the photo with the recipe looked quite different from the one in the magazine. The recipes are identical except in two regards and I think that accounts for the difference in appearance.

First, the mag one bakes the casserole for just 30 min before uncovering, while the one on the site calls for 45 min, and then both continue for another 20 min. Second, at that 30 min point, the mag version tops the dish with pepperoni.

So, onto my prep. One change I made was minor, stirring the red pepper flakes into the egg mix instead of using as a topper. The second was more significant  – had buttermilk to use up and that replaced the milk. It was probably the latter change that led to the dish testing done at the 30 min point. Laid on the pepperoni and back in uncovered for just 3 min.

Next time? Since this is fork food rather than finger food, I would cut the pepperoni into halves or quarters depending on the size of the slices.

I think even with regular milk the 30/20 timing would probably be enough and accordingly I would lightly saute the onion and garlic in the melted butter. And with that just-right baking, it’s likely your pizza casserole will look like the one in the magazine – and like mine {plus parsley}.

Recipe    AllRecipes magazine  

  TIP  

Straight from our Spotlight book

In his cloned recipe for KFC Original Recipe Fried Chicken, author Todd Wilbur offers this way to keep the finished chicken warm while the remaining pieces are cooked. Thinking that would also be good if you have to wait for other dishes or late guests.

So, do this, he says. Place the fried pieces on a rack on a baking sheet and then into a 200 degree oven. This should maintain a nice serving temperature without overcooking the chicken.

Now wondering what else this might be applied to. French fries, bacon, toast? Might try it.

Items featured here also appear in our weekly Tip Tuesday posts on Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn

  A PEEK AT MY WEEK  

Welcome to my kitchen and living room

  So now that I’m a bit of a grits-o-phile, I’m suddently seeing preps elsewhere. A feature in the current issue of Food Network magazine stirs in shrimp & cheddar, or mushrooms & acorn squash, or coconut & short ribs. The Epicurious site shows a version very similar to the one we featured in our 02.14.20 Salon, but kicked up with jalapeno. Serious Eats crafted a “biography” of grits on its site with some really interesting flavor variations along the way. All those sound good, but for a quick and simple prep I like to cook it now in chicken bouillon with a bit of butter, top with bacon and chives. If I want to go a little gussier, I stir in cheese and add a fried egg on top.

  So, in our 03.13.20 Salon we showed the pretty lavender results of  dipping peeled hard cooked eggs in beet juice. But maybe you’d like a bit more decoration, and also eggs with their shells still on. Well, alrighty then. Let’s take a look at our chat from last July {07.26.19} that showed an easy way to decorate Easter eggs with food color pens. Fast. Safe. Even prettier!

  Recently finished “Japanese Home Cooking” by Sonoko Sakai. Maybe not for everyone, but definitely a good source for the serious student of this cuisine. And student is appropriate because Sakai taught Japanese cooking first in her home, then across the country and eventually around the world, and that comes through in her carefully designed recipe instructions and also the separate sections on principles, equipment, tableware, and ingredients. You’ll find pantry style {everyday} dishes and then some a bit more complex in this book where Sakai offers “the craft and reverence of three generations of women in my family.”

This week’s:

  •  Photo credits – book-Amazon / chicken-Wilbur book / others-mine
  •  Link sources – snack cake-Food Network / books-Amazon / recipe-AllRecipes / AllRecipes mag-AllRecipes subscription page
  • Partnerships – Amazon

Click here or on the Amazon logo    to go directly to their home page

So far next week: sheet pans 2.0, chocolate cobbler, best cobbler, party gift book, potato snow, upgrading jarred marinara, taco fillers, no self-rising flour no problem, freezing milk, impromptu dressing

Last week, just below: brunch watch, sheet pan trick, food spending, a new home for your spices?, cheddary apple crisp, paring knife to go, tiddy whatty?, pizza does breakfast, book for bloggers

Looking for something in CS?

Scroll & check previews OR use the search box OR contact me at bjnosek@gmail.com

Questions, comments?

Use the same email, enter CooksSalon in the subject line – see the Let’s Chat tab for further details

Note

All transactions are solely between the buyer and linked supplier

Cook with passion and a party spirit, whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you

All pages ©2020 CooksSalon.com

 

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Apple crisp with cheddar crumble, March 20-March 26, 2020

Hosted by Barbara J Nosek

New Salon every Friday – c’mon in

CS friends, and help yourself to tasty resources 

  Here’s what you’ll find this week when you scroll below  

  TIDBITS – brunch watch / sheet pan trick / food spending    CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT – a new home for your spices?    FEATURED RECIPE – promise made-promise sorta kept    TIP – knife to go    THE WEEK – tiddy whatty? / pizza even better / book for bloggers 

  TIDBITS 

Newsy, schmoozy stuff for cooks 

  It’s today! But, fear not, if you’re interested can still catch up with it Sat or Sun. “It” is chefs checking in with some favorite brunch dishes on the PBS channel, Create. Kevin Belton, Lidia Bastianich, and America’s Test Kitchen bring on, respectively, tastes of New Orleans, Italy, and from the latter, best coffee cake and more. In my PT zone, today 9p-2a, Sat 10a-3p, and Sun noon-5p.

  Looking at the current food mags and food shows it would appear that sheet pan cooking has matriculated from trend to staple. Meanwhile did you see this idea in the ads Reynolds Wrap is running right now? The pieces of foil, in this case three, were crimped on the edges to create separate compartments on the pan. Keeps the flavors and juices right where they belong, with easy cleanup as a bonus.

  Thinking it may be our group that’s responsible for any escalation of these averages. In fact it was  CS-er, and many thanks, that sent along a report from msn.com that took a look at food spending in 22 major American cities. Click the link to see how your household compares.

♦  CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT   

Rack ’em up

I love my spice rack. Three pull-out drawers, nine slots in each. Now don’t tell it, but there’s one on Amazon I’m sorely tempted to order as a replacement.McCormick Gourmet Three Tier Wood 24 Piece Organic Spice Rack, 27.6 oz

It one holds all the jars face forward. Easy to see at a glance what you what you’re looking for.  Easy to see at a glance what needs to be replenished. And no worries about if it will fit in your pantry or cabinets because, as you can see top left, it’s handsome enough to sit on the counter much like a nice piece of furniture.

Spice Rack Wall Mount Invisible Acrylic Wall Spice Rack Wall Mount Spice Rack Spice Rack Spice Rack Organizer Spice Rack for Door (Pack of 4)This is an “Amazon Choice” and Prime eligible. It is a little on the pricey side, but many are not, including the other two shown here, with actually quite the discount on the crisscross one, and a Kamenstein 5085178 Criss-Cross 18-Jar Bamboo Countertop Spice Rack Organizer with Free Spice Refills for 5 Years, Browntouch of magic for the one on the right that makes your jars appear to be held in place by an unseen force.

Not too surprisingly there are other gussy offerings on Amazon, lots of styles, features and prices. Some come with their own jars, other accommodate the original store-bought jars. All of the selections shown are clickable.

Spice racks 4 stars & up    Spice jar labels 4 stars & up

CS Marketplace Directory

  FEATURED RECIPE  

Cheddar apple crumble yummer

Well here’s the story. After promising this tasty desert recipe last week, things went bad this week.

Couldn’t find the frappin’ thing {thank you Aunty Peggy for that polite word}. The victim no doubt of TMR syndrome {Too Many Recipes].

Since cheese was the guest star here, turned to Sargento and voila! And to the best of my recollection it’s pretty much the same as the one that’s been in my family for decades {and presumably somewhere still is}. Btw, I sometimes baked these in individual oven-proof bowls.

I think you’ll like this. And their addition of vanilla ice cream atop the warm confection sure can’t hurt.

 Recipe  

 

  TIP  

The cutting edge

. . . has its place. But not when a paring knife is accompanying you to a picnic, potluck or other destination where further prep may be needed.

The solution may be as close as your stash of travel items. With a bit, that is, of repurposing.

Rummage through the stuff and extract the two-piece tube that usually transports a toothbrush. Alternatively there’s a good chance you can find one in the trial and travel section of your grocery store or pharmacy.

Knife in, container sealed. Good to go.

Items featured here also appear in our weekly Tip Tuesday posts on Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn

  A PEEK AT MY WEEK  

Welcome to my kitchen and living room

  Since you folks aren’t here to do it, smacked myself upside the head. In our 03.06.20 Salon, in the chat about “The Secret Garden Cookbook” I included reference to tiddy oggies with no clue what the heck that is. It’s actually pasties filled with budget-friendly potatoes rather than meat, with tiddy being the Cornish name for potatoes. Google corrects this to tiddly. Turned to good ol’ Diner’s Dictionary to arbitrate and it opted for tiddy, further informing us that oggy is the Cornwall term for pasty – much more to the story under the oggy listing, including its role in the sports chant, “Oggy, Oggy, Oggy Oi, Oi, Oi.”

  CS friends, I apologize for the tease. I did make the promised breakfast casserole from leftover pizza and it is very good. But there’s so much to say about it, discrepancy between two recipes, my results, my changes to the recipe, my planned changes for next time around, baking time. So . . . since it is so good it indeed qualifies as a Featured Recipe and that is exactly what it will be next week. All the details!

  True to its name, the Serious Eats site is dedicated to those serious about food, where recipes are like cooking lessons, ingredients merit detailed backstories, appliances are virtually disassembled and reassembled, techniques are designed to refine. The book “Serious Eater” by site founder Ed Levine, parallels the approach by delivering an eye-opening primer on starting and sustaining a blog. The hobby blogger can pick up some pointers but for anyone planning to pursue this as a business, the book is required reading. All of us CS-ers, however, can appreciate his tales of restaurant reviewing in the early chapters and restaurant recipes sprinkled throughout, starting with C.C Brown’s hot fudge.

This week’s:

  •  Photo credits – spice racks-Amazon / apple crisp-Sargento / pizza casserole-mine
  •  Link sources – spice racks, jar labels, books-Amazon / recipe-Sargento
  • Partnerships – Amazon / PBS {member, not affliate}

Click here or on the Amazon logo    to go directly to their home page

So far next week: baking projects, safer shopping, top secret restaurant recipes source, grits 2.0, the whole breakfast pizza casserole story, snack-topped cake, chicken trick, Japanese cookbook, even prettier eggs

Last week, just below: Irish hangover cures, using up milk, juice reuse, good food read, savory creamy herbed steak sauce, say nuts to tight bottle caps, made the shrimp & grits, pretty eggs, virtual Paris read

Looking for something in CS?

Scroll & check previews OR use the search box OR contact me at bjnosek@gmail.com

Questions, comments?

Use the same email, enter CooksSalon in the subject line – see the Let’s Chat tab for further details

Note

All transactions are solely between the buyer and linked supplier

Cook with passion and a party spirit, whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you

All pages ©2020 CooksSalon.com

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This savory sauce on steak is just the beginning, March 13-March 19, 2020

Hosted by Barbara J Nosek

New Salon every Friday – c’mon in

CS friends, and help yourself to tasty resources

  Here’s what you’ll find this week when you scroll below  

♦  TIDBITS – Irish hangover cures / using up milk / juice reuse    CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT – food read    FEATURED RECIPE – savory creamy herbed steak sauce    TIP – say nuts to tight bottle caps    THE WEEK – made the shrimp & grits / gussied up eggs / virtual Paris 

  TIDBITS 

Newsy, schmoozy stuff for cooks and 

  Well perhaps you won’t need this, but just in case you do . . . you can thank this authoritative source, IrishCentral, for The Best Irish Hangover Cures. It was originally posted for New Year’s Day but we all know what other beverage-centric Day is coming. Clearly you have to use your own judgment here {we’re guessing it will have returned by morn after apparently leaving the building last night}.

  So, I found an article about using up milk, especially welcome since this is such a perishable product. But when I went to share it with you here, ummmm, seems it became “un-found.” No worries, can probably “re-find” it on google. Did, bonanza! All kinds of folks ready to suggest ways to do this very thing.

  Wait! Don’t throw this out either, at least not just yet. First, let’s take a look at “Liquid Leftovers Get a Second Chance in the Kitchen.” It offers ways to repurpose pickle juice and other brines {see one more below in My Week}, whey {you may have it without realizing it}, and liquids from bean cooking, canned tuna, poaching meats, tofu, plus leftover oils. I particularly like the tuna one.

  CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT   

“Recipe for a Perfect Wife,” Yeas 3, Nays 1

What quickly turns this into a fascinating read is the interplay of two women, generations apart and unknown to each other, who connect through a house, a cookbook, and the next door neighbor. The launching point is when Alice and Nate move into the home previously owned by Nellie and Richard.

In page after page we see their parallels regarding husband and family, neighbors and friends, sex and Recipe for a Perfect Wife: A Novelpregnancy, decor and wardrobe, gardening and cooking, work and play, and yes, secrets. The device puts a klieg light on changes, both within the lives of the two women and between the generations, as well as what vestiges can survive down through the years.

The second yea is for the recipes from the 1950s cookbook Alice finds in the basement, once belonging to Nellie’s mom but with notations from Nellie. Wow, preps for such mid-century favorites as tuna casserole, meatloaf with oatmeal, herbed cheese popovers, rose caramels {with actual petals}, boiled chocolate cookies and baked Alaska, about a dozen in all.

The third one comes from other readers. with 77 of them giving it an average 4-star rating. And they join the kudos in the cover comments.

So, the “nay” arrives with the last page where the story arc seems to stop short, leaving us with no clue about Alice’s next step. Or, is there? Among her various options there might be hints she’s contemplating one last parallel.

“Recipe for a Perfect Wife”    Other books by Karma Brown

CS Marketplace Directory

  FEATURED RECIPE  

Fourth time was the charm 

It started with a recipe in one of the old English cookbooks I’ve been going through. A topper for beef called Chasseur Sauce sounded just so good.

But as it turned out, as much as I love mushrooms didn’t like them in this prep, and also wanted it a bit more flavor. Ha! will make my own variation.

So, second version. Nope. Third version. Nope. Fourth version. Eureka! Flavor bomb!

Here’s the thing. Try a nice thick ribbon of it on steak for sure. But no need to stop there.

Instead of beef, nap it on sauteed chicken breasts or boiled peeled shrimp. Beat into scrambled eggs. Mix with cooked rice and maybe a bit of green onion for a hot side dish. Or with pasta instead, straight or blended with marinara. Use it as a baked tater topper. Thin a little with another dressing or pickle juice for a salad dressing or egg salad. Take it right from the refrigerator {it will have thickened} to serve as a dip for chips, crackers or veggies. And, and, and . . .  ???

Recipe  

♦  TIP  

This didn’t work . . . but then

So I came across a handy tip that I thought was worth a try. But truth be told, should have realized the fatal flaw right from the start.

The subject: uncooperative jar lids. We’ve all I’m guessing had the experience of lids that can resist such heroic efforts as banging on the carpet, running under water, beating the rim with a heavy utensil.

The tip was to use a nutcracker, basic, not the kind of the Suite of the same name. But, ahhhhh, unless you have one sized to crack coconuts chances are the nutcracker isn’t going to span the lid.

But . . . don’t chuck the nutcracker yet. It is a perfect fit for bottles, e.g., water, soda, ketchup, taco sauce, vanilla extract, certain vinegars, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and especially already opened syrup bottles. Oh yeah, and sake, possibly Champagne, and also leftover wine {hahahah} that you’ve re-corked.

Btw, a crab cracker is much the same thing as a basic nutcracker and chances are you have one or another or both in your utensil drawer. In case not, here’s a link . . .

Basic nut crackers

Items featured here also appear in our weekly Tip Tuesday posts on Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn

  A PEEK AT MY WEEK  

Welcome to my kitchen and living room

  So I made the shrimp and grits, the Featured Recipe in our 02.14.20 Salon. Yikes, now I’m a grits convert. ‘Course this prep did have a lot of help from onions, garlic, bacon, cheese etc. I don’t think mine actually created soup, but it does have a kind of juicy, loosey texture. And though this is likely the proper consistency, based on what I’ve been served in Southern restaurants and also the recipe’s soup promise, in fact I liked the leftovers even better after reheating tightened it all up a bit. So if you wanted, you could achieve this with extra baking time, or another egg, or more cheese. The flavor though needs no help at all. Even so, now planning to be brave and try a plainer version.

  Well how pretty is this??? You just never know where or when a kitchen tip will come your way. In this case the source was a nice lady at a political event who mentioned how much she loved pickled eggs created by dropping peeled hard cooked eggs into the juice from store-bought pickled beets. And they take on the color so quickly you can do them one at a time {vs needing enough juice to cover a bunch of them}. Wouldn’t a bowl of those be a nice addition to the Easter table? Because it’s beet juice it’s safe and easy to use, and pretty much “free.”

  Btw, also tried this with unpeeled hard cooked eggs – in a separate container – but the color really didn’t stay on. Maybe cook the eggs right in the beet juice, though would need quite a bit more juice. For the peeled and unpeeled, transferred them to a baking rack set over paper towels atop sticky wrap to dry for a bit before refrigerating. Btw II, I just dunked these in juice right from the fridge, but if you want to follow an actual recipe, here you go.

  Reading right now “The Food Lover’s Guide to Paris,” even though no plans right now to be back in that culinary capital. It is interesting though to read author Patrica Wells’ descriptions of her tasting experiences and even better the 40 restaurant-inspired recipes. She covers, bistros, brasseries and restaurants along with reservations, ordering, dining hours, tipping and more as well as side notes and observations. One of the latter I especially liked: “You know it’s a good restaurant when you are already planning and looking forward to a return visit before you pay the bill.”

This week’s:

  •  Photo credits – book-Amazon / others-mine
  •  Link sources – liquids-Epicurious / books, nutcracker-Amazon / sauce recipe-CS page / eggs-Taste of Home
  • Partnerships – Amazon

Click here or on the Amazon logo    to go directly to their home page

So far next week: compare your food spending, brunch watch, foil trick, rack ’em up, the promised apple cheddar crisp, seriously interesting food book, leftover pizza 2.0, its a what now???

Last week, just below: bakers source, brown sugar chewies, chefs who nuke, “secret” recipes source, “best ever” Irish stew, oopsie fixes, cheese crackers where?, crochet dinner, easy spice up for fries

Looking for something in CS?

Scroll & check previews OR use the search box OR contact me at bjnosek@gmail.com

Questions, comments?

Use the same email, enter CooksSalon in the subject line – see the Let’s Chat tab for further details

Note

All transactions are solely between the buyer and linked supplier

Cook with passion and a party spirit, whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you

All pages ©2020 CooksSalon.com

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“Best . . . ever” Irish lamb stew, March 6-March 12, 2020

Hosted by Barbara J Nosek

New Salon every Friday – c’mon in

CS friends, and help yourself to tasty resources

  Here’s what you’ll find this week when you scroll below  

  TIDBITS – bakers rejoice / a chewy, chewy, oh chewy / closet nukers    CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT – “secret” recipes    FEATURED RECIPE – St Pat’s classic    TIP – save the dish    THE WEEK – cheese it! / crochet dinner / and again, cheese it!

  TIDBITS 

Newsy, schmoozy stuff for cooks 

  Bonanza for bakers! Taste of Home, another superfavorite recipe source, has introduced Bakeable, a one-stop destination for all things related. There looks like a lot of sweet stuff going on here, most under the banners of Baking Guides, Baking Essentials, Baking Recipes and Bakeable Community. I have not tried this myself, but if you’d like the rest of the story, please click the link.

  Well my CS friends, this sure looks to be worth a spot on the to-make list. Paula Deen actually posted this as a Super Bowl treat, but once you take a look, aiyyyyy, is there any occasion, any time of year, we wouldn’t want this. Her Brown Sugar Chewies are dangerously simple, which is to say too easy to make any time day or night with the stuff that’s likely already in your pantry.

  Ha! busted. Topline chefs may scoff at the very idea of a nuker in the kitchen, but MyRecipes tells all. The curtain is pulled back in their tale of “18 Unexpected Items These Chefs Always Microwave.” Some of this actually might be expected, but most live up to the title. One of the most surprising to me was grilled cheese, especially since the chef identified this as one of his favorite things on earth so I believe we can rest assured he would not use a technique that disrespected this classic sandwich.

  CS MARKETPLACE SPOTLIGHT   

Better late than never

When I was just a child {censored} years ago I read, and loved, “The Secret Garden.” For reasons lost in the mists of history I didn’t finish the book with only about 25 pages to go.

In more recent years a friend and I attended a book store opening and there on a kind of easel display stand among other books, was “The Secret Garden.” It was just too tempting – while my friend did her thing, I stood at that stand, believe it or not able to pretty well figure out where I’d left off, and finished the book.The Secret Garden Cookbook, Newly Revised Edition: Inspiring Recipes from the Magical World of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden

To this day the story, the setting, and the characters are still so fresh and dear. So, was absolutely delighted to come upon “The Secret Garden Cookbook.”

The dishes were inspired by the book and adapted by chef and culinary historian Amy Cotler from traditional Victorian recipes, and in fact are often accompanied by tidbits on the era’s food, eating habits, and cooking customs. Among such offerings as cheese muffins, potato snow, tattie soup, and “tiddy oggies,” I particularly found the Snap Baskets intriguing, with “magical” batter that once baked can be molded into, e.g., rolls or baskets and then filled.

The book says for ages 8 and up and “where necessary work with an adult” – but while I think youngsters would enjoy looking through the recipes with their notes and quotes, really all should be supervised. It’s 4+ stars on Amazon, Hardcover in new and used, and Kindle discounted.

“The Secret Garden Cookbook”   “The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett”

The Secret Garden Prime Video & DVD  ♦  Other Cotler books    Other Hodgson books

CS Marketplace Directory

  FEATURED RECIPE  

Go really, really, Irish for St. Pat’s Day

What could be a more warm and welcoming taste of Ireland than a rich and hearty Irish stew??? And what a great way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Let’s be clear here, though. That “best . . . ever” claim comes from the recipe source. But once you look at the ingredients and process, and even before you taste it, you might see the potential of the promise.

And, ahhhh, have to be clear about something else. This is not your typical recipe, in that it’s not a list of ingredients and then the procedure, but rather a running chronology of both of those at once. Second, much like many passed-down grandma preps, why bother with pesky amounts.

And yet, and yet, here’s another of those magnetic headlines, drawing you in and prompting a give-it-a-go, especially with the added creds of coming from mom and appearing on IrishCentral. I have not made this yet, but if I do before next week will post the results.

“The best lamb stew recipe you ever had”  

  TIP 

  To the best of my recollection

And actually I have quite a bit of faith in the details here. It was on Julia Child’s tv show, not a rerun, back when this culinary icon was still among us.

Of course we wholeheartedly appreciated her straight-talking French techniques. But we also know she was subject to the occasional mishap.

In this particular instance, while the dish turned out just fine in terms of taste, something went bad with the surface, the appearance. All these years later I do not recall if it was a sweet and savory dish.

What I do remember quite clearly was her advice in either of those cases. To be ready to cover up a cosmetic oopsie {my word} on something sweet be sure to always have chopped nuts available. For savory, parsley. All better.

Items featured here also appear in our weekly Tip Tuesday posts on Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn

  A PEEK AT MY WEEK  

Welcome to my kitchen and living room

  Here’s yet another novel idea from Trisha Yearwood, which I saw on her Food Network show. Most of us could agree that cheddar and apples make a darn good combo. One of my long favorite recipes uses cheddar in the topping for apple crisp, and lots of folks just simply plop a slice of the cheese on a slice of apple pie. So the Yearwood twist – using cheese crackers in the crumble atop apple pie. Take a look at her tasty idea. {Well that was rude, tell you about great recipe in my files and then nothing, so thinking I’ll feature it for the 03.20.20 Salon}

  After I got past my annoyance with the author for not telling the rest of us what the heck amigurumi is, I became AmiguruMe Eats: Make Cute Scented Crochet Foodsquite captivated with this Japanese art of crocheting items made 3-D usually with fiberfill. In this book, titled “AmiguruME Eats,” the items are mostly food but also plates, bowls, glasses, flatware, pots & utensils.

  The cuteness factor notches even higher when there’s a face, and yet another sense is brought into play with the addition of scents. Thinking this could even be great fun as a wall decoration, on a plate or other surface, for your own kitchen or a hostess gift. Btw, the book does include crochet lessons.

  So, guessing we can all agree there’s nothing wrong with french fries just as they are in all their golden glory. {Just ask Betty White!} But, if at some point you’d like to add just a quick hit of kicked up flavor, you might do what I did tonight. After they’re nice and hot, melt on some pepper jack. Oh yeah.

This week’s

  •  Photo credits – books-Amazon / Chewies-Deen site / Irish kitchen-IrishCentral
  •  Link sources – books & DVDs-Amazon / stew recipe-IrishCentral
  • Partnerships – Amazon

Click here or on the Amazon logo    to go directly to their home page

So far next week: Savory sauce on steak is just the beginning, Irish hangover cures, “Recipe for a Perfect Wife,” omg made the shrimp & grits

Last week, just below: restaurant dishes you can make at home, no clinking & other niceties, don’t take a fake, St Pat-ifying your kitchen, new MADA shirt on Zazzle, red wine braised red cabbage, tater-free hash browns, food of the ancients, cookie redux, Temple {Shirley} & trivia

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