Yup, baked alaska and beef wellington. Totally want to try these on a day I have time. Will wear a beehive updo and pointy bra to feel in character!

Sushi ?

Cassoulet. I don't think its necessarily that hard, just a lot of hard to find ingredients and day-long cooking.

Anonymous wrote:Creme brûlée is actually not that hard, you should try it! If you don't have the fancy-shmancy blow torch, just put the cooked/chilled custards (sprinkled with sugar) under the broiler for a minute or two. The blowtorch does make it easier to get an even finish, but it's not required.

I'd like to make more types of bread. I can make the basic dinner rolls, but the rustic artisan loafs intimidate me.

And homemade pasta. I've made gnocchi, but have never made classic pasta noodles.

OP, try one of the no-knead breads. They make beautiful boules and are absolutely effortless. there are also a lot of great recipes on The Fresh Loaf (aka bakers porn).

Creme brûlée is actually not that hard, you should try it! If you don't have the fancy-shmancy blow torch, just put the cooked/chilled custards (sprinkled with sugar) under the broiler for a minute or two. The blowtorch does make it easier to get an even finish, but it's not required.

I'd like to make more types of bread. I can make the basic dinner rolls, but the rustic artisan loafs intimidate me.

And homemade pasta. I've made gnocchi, but have never made classic pasta noodles.

Creme brûlée.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quinoa, but DH is suspect. He is a meat and potatoes type of guy.

Oh you should just make a side dish of it and see if he'll try it. I did and I'm not a fan - but at least I know now that I'm not a fan. Dh wouldn't even try it. He stuck with his rice.

PP here. I have a quinoa, chicken and kale soup recipe in my list that I was going to try soon. I imagine he wouldn't mind trying a bake of some sort, with cheese and maybe chicken. Do you have any quinoa sides to recommend?

Two quinoa salad-type dishes I like:

quinoa with black beans, tomato, corn and avocado, with a chili-lime dressing to mix it all together (basically, dice up the tomatoes and avocado into pieces that are about the size of the corn and black beans and just stir it all together)
quinoia tabbouleh (tomato, cucumber, red pepper, green onions, parsley and mint, garlic, lemon and olive oil plus salt and black pepper - you can sprinkle feta on top if you want too, which is nice)

Cioppino. I've had it at Off the Hook in Bethany a few times, and it is so so amazing. I want to try but I'm afraid of ruining all those lovely shellfish.

Anonymous wrote:I love to cook, but am so intimidated by baking. So my list would be items like lemon merengue pie (the pie crust and merengue - oy vey), creme brulee, rugelech cookies, a layered cake with a lot of jam filled layers, with fluffy icing from scratch.

The key to merengue is to keep everything cold- The bowl, egg whites, whisk. High is best as far as speed. Usually add around 1 T sugar and small amount of vanilla.

Beef wellington

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quinoa, but DH is suspect. He is a meat and potatoes type of guy.

Oh you should just make a side dish of it and see if he'll try it. I did and I'm not a fan - but at least I know now that I'm not a fan. Dh wouldn't even try it. He stuck with his rice.

PP here. I have a quinoa, chicken and kale soup recipe in my list that I was going to try soon. I imagine he wouldn't mind trying a bake of some sort, with cheese and maybe chicken. Do you have any quinoa sides to recommend?

Samosas (I tried once but couldn't get the crust right)

I'm intimidated by baking, too. I'll make cookies, but that's it.

I'd love to make a pie crust, or a layer cake with homemade frosting. I bet it's a lot easier than I think.

I'd also love to make my own duck confit.

After years of making pie crust by hand, with a pastry blender, I recently needed to make a quickie crust and used my food processor. It was easy and amazing. The whole process, including rolling it out, took about 7 minutes.

I've never made meringue (not a fan), but PP, please don't let pie crust intimidate you. Find a good recipe that involves butter and use a food processor. Make sure you go easy on the liquid - you want it just to hold together.

I was told over TG that you can make an amazing flaky crust if you use vodka instead of water (because the alcohol evaporates when you cook it) but I haven't had vodka in the house to try it.

Anonymous wrote:Quinoa, but DH is suspect. He is a meat and potatoes type of guy.

Oh you should just make a side dish of it and see if he'll try it. I did and I'm not a fan - but at least I know now that I'm not a fan. Dh wouldn't even try it. He stuck with his rice.