Gosh -- I love to try new recipes and do it all the time but is there one I'm particular eager to fix, nope! Good luck with your soup -- sounds good!

Well I'm not aching to try this, but I'm cooking this tonight.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/courgette-caramelised-red-onion-tart

Were moving house next week so I can only cope with simple until it's over. Its beginning to feel worse than Brexit lol

I hope it tasted as good as it looks, islay! Best of luck with the move.

Can you make kits for, or maybe freeze already done, a few meals ahead of time so you don't have to worry about cooking in the new house for a couple of days?

I'm trying to think of something and just can't come up with one thing. There are a lot of recipes I've thought of trying but never got around to. Mostly certain very fancy desserts or baked goods. Also many seafood items, I'm not one for cooking seafood except for the occasional broiled salmon and a couple of shrimp dishes. I'd rather go out and have an expert cook that for me, it's too expensive and easy to ruin. Maybe some kind of home-made pasta?? The only pasta I've made is home-made noodles and they weren't anything to write home about.

I'm in a cooking rut lately. Our household is down to 3 and our schedules are varied. I'm in "easy" mode--cooking once, serving twice--and focusing on leftovers that can be reheated, etc.

But I was at a farmstand earlier this week and picked up a butternut squash. I'm going to roast it and make soup this weekend. Fall is around the corner, and this is a time when I love to cook and spend time in my kitchen.

Good luck with the soup, Pillog--let us know how it turns out!

Still hesitating to try to make something with the 2 boxes of organic frozen phyllo dough still in my freezer. I've collected a number of recipes that don't seem too difficult, both sweet and savory. I've never used phyllo, so that's why I'm hesitating.

However, Hubby's on a keto diet now, so I'll likely have to eat whatever I make all by myself.

The only recipes I can think of (that I'd like to try) have to do with gluten-free baking. That's not much fun -- although I did recently try a gf version of the Empire State Muffin recipe I saw here and they were a hit. Mostly I'm anxious to switch gears from summer foods to fall foods. I love to have the time and cooler weather to be able to bake, make soups, etc. etc.

Wow! At least I'm in good company with the feeling of between seasons rut. I haven't even planned meals for the holidays, and now I'm too busy or too tired.

Carol, I grew up with filo and can manage even the worst of it, so please let me know if you need help. I'm guessing if you have organic, it's probably made by Fillo Factory. They make the nicest filo to use. Some of it is thicker than I'd like, but they make up for it by having it come nice and flat and not overly tear prone.

Some pointers:

1. Don't let the dough dry out. Only take out the amount you're ready to use. Cover the rest with waxed paper or parchment, and a soft tea towel or two for insulation. It makes it easier if you put it on a tray or board. You can move the whole packet around flat, without having to pick up the dough. Work quickly so the dough doesn't dry out.

2. Work surface. Filo sticks. Use a dry work surface that isn't slick. That is, if you have a polished stone counter do not put the filo straight on it. A wood baking board is your best bet, though a pebbled nylon board, if it's big enough, should work. The wood will absorb oil and eventually become slick enough to have the dough stick a bit, but you can dry it off or turn it over, and if you're careful, you can ease up the edge of the stuck dough and lift it.

3. Fat. For most applications you need to add fat. There's a Greek restaurant I know where they don't use fat in the filo and it's kind of nasty and floury tasting. Generally, you use a painter style soft pastry brush (more bristles is better for this than the bigger strands of a silicone pastry brush). If you're baking, match the smoke point of your fat to be well above the temperature you'll be baking at. I mostly use sesame oil (not the Asian kind), for Middle Eastern foods. A lot of recipes use melted butter or clarified, or ghee. Both have high smoke points.

Brush every sheet, or every two sheet--the oil will pass through two sheets of thin filo, but maybe with Fillo Factory dough you'll really need to do every sheet. Just lift and check how much the underneath sheet absorbs. Some recipes call for every one, some call for two. Use your best judgment depending on how it all seems to go. Don't be stingy with the fat. Don't leave spots uncoated, dry, partially dry, etc. You're making flaky pastry, not diet food, and it makes a difference in the outcome.

4. Cutting. If you're making strips or otherwise cutting a stack of filo, use a very sharp knife, as long a one as you have, start the point above the edge and press down through the dough. Draw through the cut to make sure the bottom layers are separated, and press again, until you reach the other edge. Try to make only two press cuts, if you have a long enough knife. Even if the dough is a bit tough, never saw or drag, or you'll get a rough edge.

That's all I can think of now. I hope you get a chance to try it!

I have tried to fix the formatting of the above so many times! I've hit an infinite loop.

I want to try to make homemade brioche. Every time I read a recipe it seems overwhelming though. So many steps.

LOL! Amylou, that's something I've also done my whole life. :D My mother's challah recipe has a brioche style dough. The recipe can fit on a file card. The full instructions for someone who hasn't made it is three pages. I get it. It's really not that involved a thing. It may be easier if you do the kneading by hand the first time. Maybe read your recipe over a number of times visualizing each step, then write it over as an outline like this (it may be different for your particular recipe):

Do mise en place early so your ingredients can warm up. Soften or melt the butter.

Proof the yeast if so directed (modern active dry yeast probably doesn't require this step).

Mix the ingredients as directed.

Knead and rise.

Punch down, turn, and rise.

Divide the dough and make a ball for each mold or pan or loaf. Using a scale really helps you get even divisions.

Shape

Rise

Bake

It's really not that big a deal if you have the hours for three rises. It can help if you plan what you're going to do during that time. It's good for phone calls, paperwork, laundry, etc. You just have to hang around close enough to check your rise.

I'm just ready for some cooler weather to start making soups/stews etc.! (It's 100* right now which we don't get very often!)

I do like the warm weather so hubby can grill, but it's too hot for even that right now! Nancy

Thanks for all the tips, pillog! I've saved your post for future reference.

My current goal/plan is to just use something from the freezer and from my very full pantry of home canned goodies every day. so far I'm doing OK, although it's mostly just meat and vegetables, nothing special.

Annie

The tart was really tasty.

At a restaurant recently, we ate "crawfish balls." They were delish and I'm planning to recreate those. They were basically like deviled crab only using crawfish and then breaded and deep fried. Really were good and we DO love our deep-fried foods!

Not a recipe but an ingredient, shirataki noodles.

https://healthynibblesandbits.com/yellow-curry-noodles-tofu-shirataki/

This soup is awesome bumblebeez !

I've been wanting to make this summery dish, but fresh corn season is about over, and I haven't found a good source of fresh sea bass.

Herb-and-Citrus-Cured Striped Bass with Buttered Corn and Tomatoes

https://www.onekingslane.com/live-love-home/easy-nantucket-style-fish-recipe/

cloudy_christine, that looks fabulous! I'd find an alternative fish... it suggests salmon, but I'd love it with something like orange roughy. Unfortunately, I can't get OR here anymore. :(

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I've never tasted an egg bite. I want to try this in my new sous vide circulator set-up.

CC that fish recipe loos sooooo good. Not much in the way of good fish where I live now though, unless you make friends with a prolific fisherman. I miss the days when I had a fish market three blocks from my house! Good fish is the rarest of treats for hubs and I. Particularly given the cost. I made chowder last week with fresh corn and tomatoes, but with canned clams. It was still delish with the fresh veggies!

Dishes on my dream list are: fondue, gelatin salad mold of some type, arancini, and any number of yeasted breads and coffee cakes which I will most likely never have the patience for. My "to try" list is too long to even imagine, but most of it is a version of something I have already made before, like types of pies and tarts and soups, canning ideas, etc. Just today I was perusing the Web for home canned tomato soup recipes, but I don't think this year is my year to do that. Too much other stuff going on.

I see something everyday. Often a few times. With e-mails from NYTimesCooking, FineCooking, and Food52 weekly, all with good formats and easy to save, I'm never without a list of something to try.

This past week...

All I want is a good pic and a clear recipe. Never disappoints.

If I have brussel sprouts and looking for inspiration, but not interested in gnocchi, a header above links their archives for other recipes.

The gnocchi idea looks good! 1 of my fave recipes for brussels sprouts I came up with is sauteeing them with brown butter and seasoning with lemon or orange peel and coriander.

Eggplant Makdous is on my list of new (to me) things to make. I can buy them in the Middle Eastern market that I go to, but I would like to make them myself as well. First I have to find the very small eggplants. Maybe I should grow them myself.

Cuban Buñuelos with Almíbar.

My mother made the best buñuelos I've ever tasted. And, while her recipe was simple enough, I haven't been able to replicate it.

But I haven't given up.

Sol

Sol, what kind of dough are the buñuelos?