10/13 Bugs Bunny
With all do respect to Heather and everyone else who enjoys the company of rabbits, these little creatures are a great change of pace from chicken (not much more expensive either) and something I used to enjoy often as a kid. Preparation for this particular dish was relatively easy. Basically, I broke down the rabbit into 6 pcs and covered them with mustard and a touch of oil. I let that sit for a couple hours before roasting bugs bunny with some potatoes, celery & carrots in a 425 degree oven for 35 minutes. That's really about it. If you have cream on hand you can make a creamy mustard sauce from the pan drippings and some of the veggies. Unfortunately I used all mine in the chowder yesterday.
10/12 Chowdah
In anticipation of what turned out to be one of the worst Patriots game in quite some time I'd decided to make some clam chowder tonight. I forget when I had made some last, but I didn't quite remember the Garibaldi's recipe I had learned. I think this ended up being relatively close...
I started off by browning some bacon and using the fat to cook some miripoix (onion, carrot, celery) along with oregano, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. After all that had softened up nicely for 5-10 minutes, I added a few tablespoons of flour to make a roux of sorts and help thicken the eventual soup. I let the flour cook off for 5 minutes and then added the liquids. 'Twas about 1/2 a cup of white wine, a pint of whipping cream, about 1.5 cups of milk and two 8oz bottles of clam juice. Brought everything to a boil to let the flavors meld and added in 3 medium Yukon potatoes, cut up in medium dice. Cooked those on low heat till just soft, 15-20 minutes, and added about 2 cups of chopped up cooked clams. These were pre-cooked, though not canned, but you could replace with canned or fresh - depending on who you're trying to impress. Don't cook the clams too long though or theyll get tough and chewey. Add the bacon back in and that's about it. Now if only the Pats had held up their end of the bargain this would've felt much more successful. Oh well...
I started off by browning some bacon and using the fat to cook some miripoix (onion, carrot, celery) along with oregano, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. After all that had softened up nicely for 5-10 minutes, I added a few tablespoons of flour to make a roux of sorts and help thicken the eventual soup. I let the flour cook off for 5 minutes and then added the liquids. 'Twas about 1/2 a cup of white wine, a pint of whipping cream, about 1.5 cups of milk and two 8oz bottles of clam juice. Brought everything to a boil to let the flavors meld and added in 3 medium Yukon potatoes, cut up in medium dice. Cooked those on low heat till just soft, 15-20 minutes, and added about 2 cups of chopped up cooked clams. These were pre-cooked, though not canned, but you could replace with canned or fresh - depending on who you're trying to impress. Don't cook the clams too long though or theyll get tough and chewey. Add the bacon back in and that's about it. Now if only the Pats had held up their end of the bargain this would've felt much more successful. Oh well...
10/09 Pasta with Butternut Squash
On the verge of going out to get fried chicken for dinner, I decided to fight the craving and stay home instead. After sifting through the pantry, I ended up cooking myself another recipe from Bittman's blog. For you loyal readers with an amazing memory, you'll note that this is very similar to something Heather put together almost exactly one year ago! That too was inspired by Mark, though it was a tad bit more complicated.
The recipe is relatively simple. It's just some finely chopped/grated butternut squash, cooked slowly and mixed in with pasta. Pretty straight forward, though I was mostly just intrigued by what it would taste like. Note that the food processor did a great job with the squash - something I was initially a bit concerned about. I also did make my own pasta while the "sauce" cooked, since there wasn't really much else to the recipe and I hadn't made a batch in a couple weeks.
As for the taste? Well I guess pretty much what you'd expect... It actually goes really well together and if you like butternut squash I can't imagine someone not liking this. One suggestion a reader made on Bittman's blog was that the recipe would benefit quite well from a little fresh sausage and sage. I couldn't agree more and may try this in the near future since I now have half a butternut squash left.
The recipe is relatively simple. It's just some finely chopped/grated butternut squash, cooked slowly and mixed in with pasta. Pretty straight forward, though I was mostly just intrigued by what it would taste like. Note that the food processor did a great job with the squash - something I was initially a bit concerned about. I also did make my own pasta while the "sauce" cooked, since there wasn't really much else to the recipe and I hadn't made a batch in a couple weeks.
As for the taste? Well I guess pretty much what you'd expect... It actually goes really well together and if you like butternut squash I can't imagine someone not liking this. One suggestion a reader made on Bittman's blog was that the recipe would benefit quite well from a little fresh sausage and sage. I couldn't agree more and may try this in the near future since I now have half a butternut squash left.
10/8 Risotto Cakes
Inspired by a recent post on Mark Bittman's blog, I made a ton of mushroom risotto the other night for dinner. It was a pretty basic risotto with some not so home-made stock and some formerly dried shiitake mushrooms. All things considered, 'twas pretty good the first time around. Rather than nuking it today for the second go 'round, I decided to make some risotto cakes out of what was left. As I'm sure you can see, I did use a mold, but this could easily be done without one. I seared them in some butter (as recommended in Harold McGee's latest article to minimize stickiness) and served the three "cakes" with some lightly dressed greens. All in all, a rather successful meal.
10/05 Stuff in a Jar
Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to cook and go to business school at the same time. However, I have not determined whether it is possible to cook, attend school and blog all at once. Here is my first true attempt. I'll keep it short since I have some stupid assignments to attend to after this.
So... stuff in a jar. When you're busy, the best thing to do is to make lots of extra food and have plenty of leftovers later. Stews, soups, chilis and roasts are perfect for this. Another idea is to can things and keep them even longer - ideally a couple weeks or more. Hence stuff in a jar... Here are three examples:
1) Yogurt. I've been making yogurt since early September - so just about a month now - and I'm still using the original bacteria culture I started with. In the process I've rediscovered a simple thing from my youth: Plain yogurt and sugar. Yumm. I think this'll keep at least a week in the fridge, probably longer. Oh and yogurt machines (incubators) cost as little as $15.
2) Apple sauce. I bought a bunch of apples recently that were starting to go soft. Apple sauce is an easy way to extend their shelf life for at least a week - maybe more. This is key when you're poor and can't afford to be wasting apples left and right. Apples, water & sugar is all you need.
3) Pickles. I want to learn how to make pickles. I've tried before and kindda failed (ie taste wasn't quite right). My latest attempt is with some random recipe found online, we'll see how it works out. It's just a quick pickling which will be ready in a few days and wont keep more than a week or two when done. It think it's a step in the right direction though.
So... stuff in a jar. When you're busy, the best thing to do is to make lots of extra food and have plenty of leftovers later. Stews, soups, chilis and roasts are perfect for this. Another idea is to can things and keep them even longer - ideally a couple weeks or more. Hence stuff in a jar... Here are three examples:
1) Yogurt. I've been making yogurt since early September - so just about a month now - and I'm still using the original bacteria culture I started with. In the process I've rediscovered a simple thing from my youth: Plain yogurt and sugar. Yumm. I think this'll keep at least a week in the fridge, probably longer. Oh and yogurt machines (incubators) cost as little as $15.2) Apple sauce. I bought a bunch of apples recently that were starting to go soft. Apple sauce is an easy way to extend their shelf life for at least a week - maybe more. This is key when you're poor and can't afford to be wasting apples left and right. Apples, water & sugar is all you need.
3) Pickles. I want to learn how to make pickles. I've tried before and kindda failed (ie taste wasn't quite right). My latest attempt is with some random recipe found online, we'll see how it works out. It's just a quick pickling which will be ready in a few days and wont keep more than a week or two when done. It think it's a step in the right direction though.
8/23 Evanston Farmer's Market
not feeling particularly well today thanks to my new classmates and their tequila drinking habits. in any event i decided to walk it off by going to the farmer's market this morning. when i arrived last week, i was pleasantly surprised to find out that the evanston farmer's market is only a couple blocks away from the house. so, at least through october, i wont have to rely on whole foods for my food. the market is actually quite large - they claim to have about 30 vendors - and seems very popular, always a good thing to see. the farmers seem to come from pretty far away, michigan and indiana for example, though some are more local. unfortunately i couldn't buy much of anything since i'm leaving on a big jet plane tomorrow. i did pick up a few tomatoes and some arugula to enjoy for lunch however. overall, i couldn't be happier to have this essentially next door. good news for me!
8/22 Cajun Shrimp&Bacon Ravioli
my fridge and pantry are still rather empty as i fill out the kitchen. however i did have some bacon and frozen shrimp on hand and so decided to make full use of the herbs and spices in the pantry. i made a quick tomato pasta dough (1 egg, 3/4 flour and a squirt of tomato paste per serving) and rolled it out to make some ravioli. i've determined fresh pasta is actually
easier to make for one person than for multiple people since the amount of time it takes to make is directly proportional to the size of the group. in any event, for the filling i cooked up a couple slices of bacon - not too crisp - and whizzed that together with some defrosted shrimp, cooked onions&celery, and what amounted to a cajun spice mix. this already looked and smelled delicious. then i just put the ravioli together using a little egg wash to bind the two sides of the pasta dough together. Nothing tricky here, you just need to avoid overfilling the raviolis.at this point i realized i had way too much of the filling and decided to mix in some of the egg wash and bread crumbs into it. this allowed me to make a small cajun shrimp and bacon cake of sorts. fried that up to golden crispy goodness and made a little chipotle-lemon mayo to serve along side. the pasta was topped simply with some good olive oil, fleur de sel and parseley.
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