Big Green Egg short parts

Well, I took the dive last Friday and bought a Big Green Egg...the big egg..the extra large egg....and the cart to put it in...and no, didn't put in the back of my truck.  Yesterday the gentleman who contracts with them brought the egg and cart in a number of boxes...and guess what?  Yup..short parts...short the ceramic top...didn't get the rounder handle to open the egg that was on the showroom model...and no plate holder....still sitting around at 5 this afternoon...haven't heard from a sole...or is a for a shoe?  Can't cook tonight...will I be able to cook tomorrow?  or for the weekend?  not sure what is going on..will call...don't you love a phone recording that is three months out of date?  They want you to sign up for the cooking academy class in January...for tailgate parties for the football games...guess no one likes to answer the phone at the end of the day either...probably figure that I can wait...so will post while I am waiting for this 'great customer service'....

bstilla, Mocorro pigeon pie,

Back up and running.  This heavenly pie was baked off yesterday and taken to a friend's house for a dinner party.  In this case, my pie was made with chicken and not pigeon...alas...I also prepared it ahead...froze it, thawed it, baked it.  My pie is like the one I had in Algeria 40 years ago and finally found a recipe in Claudia Roden's book A Book of Middle Eastern Food several years later.  Rememer...no internet then and the cook books were the ones that the book seller thought he could sell...not many people going to North Africa back then.

This savory pie is layers of phyllo, almonds, eggs, phyllo, savory chicken and eggs and phyllo....baked and then garnished with cinnamon and sugar...If you can find a copy of the out of print book it would be wonderful for your library...if not you will be able to find some recipe on the web.  I can't vouch that it would be like the one I had in Algeria....but perhaps close to Ms. Roden's.

One very wonderful aspect of this recipe is that I have made it in smaller 'packages' and frozen all sizes to be thawed later and then baked off.  This has always been that special recipe that will be able to be made in all sizes.  I have made then first off in cast iron skillets for the form and then later in a ring that was sold for a deep dish pizza...worked great for this.  I have always used a form...the pie is built with the first layer being the buttered roasted nuts...I have made it with spray butter flavor in the can, melted butter in a spray bottle and then melted butter with a brush....I prefer the phyllo in the larger sheets...most grocers now are carrying the package with two smaller individually wrapped portions...they are about half sheets...but just allow enough time and work quickly when using the phyllo..

In any case, make it, serve it, and enjoy your pie being the center of attention.

Parsnips and Pastilla

Parsnips...check out whoshotthechef . Roasted, olive oil, salt and pepper. And the pastilla or also known as the bstilla which is the pigeon pie that I ate in Algeria and later cooked at home. Find out about this wonder pie in my other blog!

Who shot the Chef

There has been a time since the last ...for one thing, found two types of lung cancer but successfully removed both...been a long, slow time for recovery. Not long ago also my blogs were block and I started all over...so I am going to jump back and forth...I will try to keep you all caught up...the other blog is www.whoshotthechef.blogspot.com ..now why that didn't make it so you can double click, I don't know. However, just posted there is a great Hot Shrimp Pasta Salad made from things in the fridge...

So, back to work on the blogs...never said much about the month in China last summer...sick after, basement flooded, found cancer, tested from one end to the other, operated on, and finally getting back to semi-normal. After waking up I had terrible tremors..I couldn't pour from one thing to another, couldn't work on the torch with the glass...so I read a lot, a lot, and then a lot more.

So, now I am going to try to catch up on all the food, pictures and what have you...and I will do a much better job keeping up this year with the photos...trying not to eat before I shoot.

pop up advertisements

There are now blogs, websites and blogspots that I am going to unfortunately going to ignore for now on..there are websites that I will only go to under duress...why....it takes FOREVER to find what I am looking for...the ads take forever to load and in the meantime...I can go someplace else...what about the popups that then block what you want to see...unless you take the time to close them out...or where you can hardly see what is on the site..because the ads take more room than the information...

It is a sad site where the ads overpower the site or looking for something you have to go through 'pages' and 'pages' to get to where you want..or to check out..when buying something...of course then there is the ad on Amazon where the company says 9 in stock...and I have waited for a month and then the company wants to delay shipping for another 2 weeks...so what's with the 'in stock'?

Most of you are not...not going to make a living off your ads....yet you have more ads than information......and for those of you...it's time to say goodby....I think my time is better spent checking out my own library than spending hours trying to find something on the web that might be a little better...and forget those sites where you can't back up to the page before...some of my favorite sites will now be forgotten...

Stuffed Artichokes

What am doing? Went to the Buford Highway Market to pick up some fresh veggies for this week. I also picked up two items from the meat department...Mohammed's ground lamb meat on a skewer and his pieces of marinated lamb on a skewer. The seasoned ground lamb was good..had it with left over risotto..and tonight had the lovely seasoned lamb chunks...with it only being myself and not wanting to turn on the grill...just cut the pieces smaller and panfried and put on a piece of wonderful French baguett which I had pulled from the freezer. Being in a hurry, just used good old Kraft mayo...using a light touch. Then that stuffed artichoke that I had thawed and turned the oven on to heat....would have been too much...so tomorrow will heat that up again.

Day before yesterday I did the risotto bit. I do not follow a recipe...just know what I am doing...for me..part of the liquid was a little white wine and cream...then cooled the risotto, added a couple of eggs which I had beat up..and then folded in gently by hand one pound of lump crab. Then I made individual patties and wrapped each in plastic wrap. These will be taken out of the freezer and generally panfried as the occasion arises....

I had also make a couple of quiches using be basic quiche recipe from Julia Child added a little more cheese..onion..and bacon. These were cut up and frozen in individual servings. This is great for that breakfast on the go or when you want something but don't have the time or patience to cook.

Oh, yup, out of the freezer again the night before...the most wonderful....yum, mac and cheese. And again..I just don't know what is wrong with writing down a recipe as I make it up...the mac was the hollow spirals....the sauce, who knows what cheese...a little lighter than velvetta..smooth, oh so smooth, then I had added blanched cauliflower and pieces of cured chorizo...I had been to a checkup..of sorts and wanted something that would soothe my soul as well as the body...well that was it! I ate the WHOLE thing...yup..maybe left one piece of pasta...how much did I eat...wellllll...it was packed in a 2.25 pound container...and I heated another one last night and could only eat half..almost half...so how did I eat the whole thing? heaven only knows...

Journey of a Lifetime

Guess you would like to know where I've been that it could be called Journey of a Lifetime....was supposed to happen the first of May...then the end of May...must have been nuts but had a great roommate and great sounding trip for but the weather was going to be hot...where...China but halfway through it was going to be Nepal...how great is that!....then the opps....well there was the sullen guide named Lily who had us for a day or so before leaving on the cruise through the gorge....you could miss this...and on the morning after docking to leave for the airport..no Tibet...didn't get our visa to go...so then an 8 hour ride to Chendu...spend the night and off again in the a.m. only to be in the middle of a three car accident on the expressway.......and then the NEXTO 'romote hard drive...yes the golden extreme crashed w/ all my pictures on it...what luck...did sent it back to the manufacturer...they fixed it ..and reformatted the hard drive...yup, everything from the new Nikon gone...so where have I been? who knows...to top that off the fellow at Nexto said he had had to have his hard drive replaced on his..two years old...not too swift. I would have done better to give it to my tech here...void the warranty and save all the pictures! and yes, it was hot, hot, hot....sweaty hot....and then the flight to S.F. from Beijing...another story...late leaving Shanghai...so didn't hold the plane for 1 hour for 40 of use...just left us in the airport in Beijing...stood in line for 8...yes, Air China, eight hours trying to get a flight to the states...they had me scheduled for 4 days later to get out...just sit in the airport for 4 days...the following is so long but we were saved...at least a 6 hour layover at a hotel after spending two hours on a bus..FULL..people sitting on suitcases in the aisle...push and shove....anyway...thanks to the local tour agency who did some incredible work I was able to get out a day late....got to San Francisco sick...stayed in bed there til my flight home a couple days later...then had the respiratory for five weeks...then more stiff not relating to the trip...so for pictures...some of the food...even lost of those lost from being on the Nexto Extreme..so DON'T waste money on storage...buy more chips.....hate talking about the trip....