Thread concept: list some foods you have been seeing at the grocery store, really want to buy, but don’t know enough recipies for to justify buying.
My problem products:
Canned figs in syrup
Canned gooseberries in syrup
Walnut oil
Hazelnut oil
I’d really like to think of something to do with the oils besides make vinaigrette. I really, really like nuts, so I do hope there’s something.
I’ve not bought the nut oils for the same reason. I don’t think they stay fresh all that long, either.
I’ve only used fresh figs and gooseberries. But I think tinned ones would be good for what I’d use fresh ones for: crumble or a thin pie. They need a little sweetness, so they syrup wouldn’t ruin them.
I’m more dubious about the figs. Of the things I’d use fresh ones for, the most likely to work - if you drained them well - would be a salad with some tart leaves, goat’s cheese, red onion and walnuts.
I use walnut oil on delicate salads of mache or butter lettuce. You’re right, it’s more perishable, but I keep it in the fridge. I recently bought some hazelnut oil, and the salad I dressed with it was overwhelmed with the strong hazelnut flavor. I then read that it’s best to dilute the hazelnut oil with a bland vegetable oil. The walnut oil was not so strong that one can’t use it full-strength, but it may be a little intense for those who don’t like nut flavors.
Ther is a walnut/raisin bread recipe in Rose Beranbaum Levy’s The Bread Bible that calls for walnut oil as the fat in the bread dough; I imagine it would be tasty in other baked goods as well. I actually just bought a bottle, but am waiting for a day when I will be home long enough for the 3 (!) dough risings the recipe calls for.
Also, with fruit preserves/conserves, you can always do the Russian thing; brew some nice, strong, unsweetened black tea and alternate a spoonful of the preserves with a sip of tea.
Oooooooh, nut oil in bread? Be still my beating heart. Sweet things made with nuts short-circuit my brain.
About the Russian tea-drinking: doesn’t one pour the syrup into the tea to sweeten it?
I suppose you could, but then you’d have chunky tea. The traditional way to do it is either to alternate sips of unsweetened tea and preserves, or to sort of sip the tea through the preserves.
Sounds like good fixins for Belgian Waffles or pancakes!
I love walnut oil drizzled on rice, couscous, barley, bulgur wheat, etc. You can go crazy and make an actual “salad” with other stuff chopped up and mixed in, but I think grains tossed with a little assertively-flavored oil are yummy. Haven’t tried hazelnut oil, though. Pumpkin seed oil is also delicious—though it is also dark green, so it looks a little odd.
Oooh! Can I borrow this thread?
I just ordered a lamb from the internet. Apparently when you order a lamb, you order the whole lamb, because the first package contained things that I have no clue what I’m supposed to do with. Like the heart, and the kidneys, and the liver (well, I have ideas for that), and some bones and a… thing… of fat.
Suggestions? Other than give the dogs an extra-special treat, or put a curse on someone?
The bones would be for stock. The kidneys… would those be appropriate for steak & kidney pudding? Or Rassolnik soup?
Make the queen of all lamb dishes: Central Asian plov! (That’s one typical recipe; it varies from region to region, and even from family to family, the common ingredients are lamb with fat, rice, carrots, onions, garlic, and cumin. Other common additions are chickpeas, apples, raisins, and some type of hot ground peppers or paprika.) If you’re lucky enough to have a Persian grocery near you, try it with tart barberries (I can find them sometimes in the refrigerated section, or even dried, and on occasion I’ve even found them in Chinese groceries.) But most recipes emphasize that the lamb should not be completely lean, and it should be fine to sautee the vegetables and lamb for the zirvak in lamb fat rather than oil.