Don’t get me wrong, I love sriracha along with the rest of you. That said, I much prefer the other product with the green cap — Chili Garlic Sauce or Tuong Ot Toi Viet-Nam. All around the flavor is bolder, spicier, and the nature of the sauce much more versatile.
Try throwing it in a pan for 15 minutes with some raw shrimp. Toss with noodle s and a splash of soy sauce, and you’re set.
Using a micro-plane, or another grating device, zest the two lemons and one orange; then juice. Measure out a portion of sugar equal to the juice and put both into a pot. Add zest. Boil the mixture and reduce. Place syrup in freezer (15 minutes) or refrigerator (45 minutes) to cool. Mix with seltzer — to taste — and serve.
for variations add mint, ginger or lavendar to simple syrup.
I’ve been using The All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking for just over a year now. Its been a great resource and reference… especially when I want to make pancakes but don’t have pancake batter*, or I want to roast a turkey and don’t quite know how to proceed. In every instance of use I’ve found this book to be simple to use and immensely practical. Take this morning, for example…
After waking, I turned over in bed and in our typical Saturday morning routine asked Rachael what she wanted for breakfast. As usual, she requests something unpredictable and that we don’t have. “Cheddar and dill scones,” she responded.
Okay. That’s a challenge.
I got out of bed, opened our copy of the Joy of Cooking and turned to page 787, ‘About Biscuits and Scones’. Of course there wasn’t a savory scone recipe, but nonplexed I found instructions for Classic Currant Scones, page 791. I simply swapped out 1/3 c of sugar with a 1/4 c, put lots of dill into the dry ingredients along with some chopped cheese. Followed the rest of the instructions, topping the cut scones with sprigs of dill and cheddar.
After 17 minutes in the oven we were treated to the tastiest most perfectly textured scones either of us may ever had.
Now that the process of cutting butter and baking scones has been perfected, biscuits are next on the horizon. Once those are out of the way its highly unlikely that your hosted brunch will ever be as good as mine.
Yeah, thats a challenge.
*Its supper easy to make a pancake batter from scratch — plus it’ll save you money and taste lots better.
This is the second time we made this recipe. The first, Rachael took the lead and it was awesome. Last night I tried my hand at it… and I wasn’t too pleased.
I think I followed the recipe (from Martha Stewart) a little too doggedly. My meatballs were mis-shapen and my sauce got watered down.
Next time I do this, I am definitely going to focus on a making a more robust sauce (more garam masala, turmeric, coriander… less water) and allow a slow low heat to reduce. I’d also blend or puree the onions meant for the meatballs instead of a fine dice. If the onions are too big they prevent the ball from holding its shape in the simmer.
The other big disaster was using a brown basmati rice. Cooking it took a lot longer than planned and the taste was just a little off the mark. The recipe recommends naan, and of course that’d be good, but I also might recommend some Greek yogurt, especially if you go overboard on the heat.
Here is a quick easy way to make pickles at home. I had mine with hamburgers.
*I prefer the English cucumber because of its denser flesh.
** The pickles are probably good in the refridgerator for a day or two, though I recommend eating them shortly after preparation. The brine is also probably good for a few days in the fridge.
