Choosing Soup Ladles

On September 28, 2022September 27, 2022 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Dry storage, Freezing, Topic, UsingLeave a comment

I’ve put quite a bit of thought into recipes for a wide range of soups, but I didn’t think much about the tool I use to serve those soups until I tested 15 soup ladles for The Spruce Eats. It turns out that how comfortably and cleanly you scoop soup from a pot and pour it into a bowl depends mostly on the ladle shape, size, and material. The latter can be especially important if you have nonstick cookware. Size might be the key consideration if you make soup in a small saucepan or giant stockpot. And shape and other features can be crucial if you’re skimming fat, drizzling gravy, or pouring into an oversized mug or wide, flat bowl.

By testing so many ladles, I developed all sorts of opinions and ideal uses for various ladle shapes, sizes, and materials. I also made a lot of soups, many of which will be lunch and dinner staples now that cool weather is becoming the norm.
Learn about choosing and using soup ladles

Best DIY Salad Dressing

On September 24, 2022September 22, 2022 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Topic, UsingLeave a comment

After the heat of summer sent lettuces bolting, recent cool fall temperatures and rain mean salads are back. If you don’t grow your own salad fixings, you may not have noticed the shift from sweet, tender greens to bitter, coarse leaves. But home gardeners will be well aware of the change and have transitioned from lettuce-based salads to ones featuring heat-tolerant or late-season vegetables.

In a piece for Clean Pates earlier this summer, I shared my technique and ratio for making a collection of salad dressings. Even if you don’t grow salad greens, I’m a firm believer that you should make your own dressings. Among disappearing food traditions, one of the most lamentable is scratch-made salad dressing. As Mark Kurlansky writes in The Food of a Younger Land, “What could better spell the beginning of the end than bottled salad dressing, the manufacture of a product that was so easy to make at home?”

Easy is right: Using a basic ratio, you can make so many dressings. A pinch of this and dab of that completely change a dressing’s flavor. My technique clocks in under 60 seconds, and I can now eyeball the proportions without even dirtying measuring spoons.
Learn to make the Best DIY Salad Dressing

Tomato-Cucumber Salad with Asian-Inspired Dressing

On September 1, 2022September 1, 2022 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, Ingredient, UsingLeave a comment

Tomato season is on. I harvested 45 pounds of heirloom paste and slicing tomatoes in one go earlier this week, and these larger tomatoes already need to be picked again. The cherry tomatoes have been prolific too; bowls of them are currently scattered around my house, waiting to be eaten, frozen, or canned.

As I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, fresh cherry tomatoes and small cucumbers make a delicious salad. Nothing beats the taste of homegrown ones, of course, but local farmers can do the work for you and even a larger tomato and cucumber can be sliced up for a similarly quick, bright dish when they’re in season. Although most people think of a balsamic-based vinaigrette for tomatoes, I love to flavor this pairing with an Asian-inspired dressing—especially if I’m eating it with the recipe I shared in last week’s Flathead Beacon column: Zucchini-Basil Pancakes, one of my favorite was to use zucchini.
Learn to make Tomato-Cucumber Salad with Asian-Inspired Dressing

Creamy Balsamic Salad Dressing

On June 4, 2022 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, Refrigerating, TopicLeave a comment

If you want to look pro in the kitchen with minimal effort and little expense, a smart move is to make your own salad dressings. As I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, store-bought dressings are expensive and loaded with additives easily avoided in homemade blends. I eat salads almost daily in summer, but I never buy dressings and am convinced you don’t need to either.

Among the first recipes I ever published on this blog are my base blends for vinaigrette and creamy salad dressing. For one of my more popular workshops, I bring more than 30 ingredients to blend into personalized dressings. This week, I share one of my go-to combinations that builds on those basic ratios.
Learn to make Creamy Balsamic Salad Dressing and other vinaigrettes