Prog Chefs Unite!!!

three-bean salad tonight with garbanzos, green & kidney beans, red onion, and parsley in a honey-mustard vinaigrette, some good sourdough bread on the side

..any favorites for vinaigrette?  Good olive oil is a must of course, I also like a sweeter vinegar like apple cider or orange, a good clove or two of garlic, a squeeze of lemon, shot of dijon or grain mustard, and cracked black pepper ..I also like honey and sometimes yogurt if I want it creamy

RE Greek yogurt: it is one of the staples of my cooking. I use it instead of sour cream, or even whipped cream on cakes - tonight I'm going to use it as a topping for a chocolate cake. The contrast between the sweetness of chocolate and the tang of the yogurt is heavenly!  I also use it a lot in salad dressings, for instance blue cheese dressing, which I make without adding any oil. As for honey, I am also a big fan of it, though I'd have to sing the praises of Italian honey - something I really miss here (chestnut flower honey is da bomb!).

Sun-dried tomatoes are another of the things we always keep in our pantry - they're wonderful in just about anything! David, try putting some finely chopped ones in your vinaigrettes (I always use the ones not packed in oil, after having softened them in hot water). I also endorse using herbs of any kind! One thing is for sure though: I'd NEVER make any salad dressing with any oil other then extra-virgin olive oil!

OK, we've had our dinner, and the lasagna was fabulous. Next time I'll try it with the fresh pasta sheets - the no-boil noodles were good, but the fresh ones have a different texture, and are definitely thinner. For dessert I made a self-saucing chocolate pudding cake (recipe found on the web), which was also delicious - served with a blend of sour cream and Greek yogurt. Yum!

had a nice flank steak sandwich for lunch at a place near me-- flanksteak is of course quite chewy but if pounded, sliced thin and grilled, has a lot of flavor..it was on a fresh baked roll that was soft and chewy inside but a crunchy crust (lightly baked, not like rustic or artisan bread), greens, tomato and an aioli mayonnaise

Raff wrote: Atavachron wrote: I've been self-saucing for years yeah I don't know what that means either I thought such a great cook as you are knew what that means... It's basically a cake that is meant to be eaten hot, like a steamed pudding, and that makes its own sauce, so to speak. After you've made the cake batter and put it into a pan, you pour a mixture of boiling water, cocoa powder and dark brown sugar (that was the recipe I used at least) onto the batter, without mixing. Then you bake it for half an hour or so. The result? A wonderful, moist pudding-cake in a delicious, fudgy sauce.

In the UK they are known as Pond or Puddle puddings, often named after an English county, such as Sussex Pond Pudding ot Kentish Puddle Pudding, in the past they were usually lemon, but more recently chocolate.

Valentines Day's always a good excuse for indulgent gutty eating - ours? Slow roast beef with a thick red wine shallot & rosemary sauce

Atavachron wrote: had a nice flank steak sandwich for lunch at a place near me-- flanksteak is of course quite chewy but if pounded, sliced thin and grilled, has a lot of flavor..it was on a fresh baked roll that was soft and chewy inside but a crunchy crust (lightly baked, not like rustic or artisan bread), greens, tomato and an aioli mayonnaise

Made a couple flank steaks last night (had some family over).  One was marinated in a homemade teriyaki sauce, the other was marinated in an "Italian" style that I made up on the spot - red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary; very simple.  I just cooked them on my cast iron since my grill is buried in > 3 ft. of snow, and then sliced them very thin to serve.  They came out pretty good, I was really happy with the taste on the rosemary one.

Yes Raff I was going for a "Tuscan" approach - we ate at a place outside of Florence called "I Tre Pini" and it was this massive feast of grilled/roasted meats, among the best I've ever had.

Raff wrote: Rosemary is wonderful with grilled and roast meats. I've noticed it grows very well in this area - there is one of the many historic houses in Old Town Alexandria that boasts some superb rosemary bushes in its garden.

I love Rosemary too and have a nice big bush in the backyard-- fond of it rubbed onto chicken pieces with some maple syrup, olive oil and rock salt and then broiled or grilled.. just delicious and so simple, the aromatics of the Rosemary with the contrasting maple and salt is lovely, with a green salad and a good white wine

I've never tried or even looked for lemon thyme, Jim, apparently it "looks like English thyme" but I assume all we have around here is California grass