Back in a minute, hon
Quick chit – I had the baby, and you can read about it at my new blog, The Legend of Zephyr. I am back in the kitchen periodically, but this time of year is still hard on photographers who rely on natural light, so I …
Year: 2009
Living off the fat of the land
I guess it’s fairly obvious that I’ve got a lot on my plate these days, so to speak, and my writing has taken a back seat to more important ventures. I do still cook, once in awhile (last week produced a kabocha and eggplant mulligatawny …
Lobster mushroom, sweet corn and watercress risotto
This is the best time of year. The weather is up to its typical late summer bipolar antics, and while I still have sweet Silver Queen corn down here in the Valley (thanks to sunny days), the mountains are cooling off enough in the evenings that lobster mushrooms have made their way into my neighborhood fancy grocery store.
Scott had a bee in his bonnet for some lemony chicken and risotto, and even though those are a springtime jones, such is his wantlessness that I tend to cater to his every (infrequent) craving. And despite the fact that our garden is a cornucopian money-shot of nightshades (six tomato varieties for a dozen plants total, four chile varieties and an eggplant), this third trimester heartburn started kicking in today, and I just didn’t feel like one more helping of spaghetti Margherita (with a masochistic craving for extra chile flake).
I melted some butter in the pan while I thawed some homemade chicken stock (frozen in June), and sweated a quarter of a tiny red onion with two minced garlic cloves. I added a drib of olive oil to prevent the butter from browning and added one fist-sized lobster mushroom, sliced and broken into bite-sized pieces. I tossed in a couple handfuls of arborio rice and stirred it around, doing the “making risotto” thing until time to add a glass of chardonnay (now that I’m getting late in the pregnancy, I’m not afraid to taste the wine that goes into my cooking). I added splashes of the rich chicken stock, stirring lovingly, and then added an ear’s worth of corn cut fresh from the cob.
A few fat pinches of lemon zest went in at the end, along with some fresh thyme and a few handfuls of chopped watercress. The peppery, nasturtium verdure of the watercress slapped the sleepy, smalltown white carbs right in the kisser, the mineral parsley gave it some backbone, and a sprinkling of crumbly fat and salt Parmigiano Reggiano gave it cheeks.
Enjoy with a crispy pear cider, or I suppose a nice Gewürztraminer, if you had one laying around.
Millions of Peaches
The little white peach sapling that I planted last fall shot up about 6 feet this spring, splashing out a crown of wavy, crescent-shaped leaves and slutty, hot pink blossoms like too much rouge on a little girl that got into her mother’s makeup. When, …
Three parts love and seven parts forgiveness
Who says a wedding cake has to cost hundreds (or thousands) of dollars? For under $25, some friends of ours got a beautiful, whimsical and delicious wedding cake that they’ll never forget. Leonard and Caireen recently got married, and being an intimate affair (only six …
Pork tenderloin and warm succotash with heirloom tomatoes and bacon
Damn, I’m rusty. I’ve almost completely forgotten how to use my camera. I should probably just restore it to its factory settings and start over. Stupid blurry corn. Sigh.Hey, I cooked! The week of 105 degree temperatures followed by the week of 90+ degree temperatures has been chased by the pleasant partly-cloudy and low 80s that I can really get with. My garden is exploding with corn the size of my forearm and state fair tomatoes, my scarlet runner beans are hanging heavy on their vines and the peppers are nearly ready. I feel reinvigorated (being thoroughly sick of Vietnamese takeout gave me a much-needed kick in the ass, too).
A perfectly-cooked pork tenderloin surprised me after not having cooked meat in what feels like forever. I brined it quickly in Kumquat Dry Soda with a tablespoon of salt and a pinch sugar. I seared it on all sides and finished it in the oven, pulled it at medium (to the touch test), rested for five minutes and was delighted to find it rosy and juicy when sliced into thick medallions.
“Mmm…Heather cooking,” Scott approved as he dove into the succulent pork bedded down on a bowl of summer warmth: corn cut from the cob and sauteed with red cipolline onions, bacon and sliced scarlet runners (pods and all). When the beans were al dente*, I added some lemon zest and a fat knob of butter, some chopped thyme and summer savory, and a couple of handfuls of chopped black brandywines (the garden’s first!) and sliced cherry tomatoes. They brought a nice twang of acid to the fatty, creamy succotash.
Enjoy with a crunchy Reed’s ginger beer. Here’s to hoping that a new-found nesting instinct includes getting my sealegs in the kitchen again.
*These scarlet runners were probably a week older than what would be ideal for eating with the pods – the waxy cuticle needed to be removed from the pod and the skins on the beans could’ve benefited from a longer cooking time. I’ll look forward to letting the rest of them completely ripen and shell them for cassoulet or feijoada. Never eat scarlet runners raw – they are high in phytohemagglutinins and can cause stomach problems like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
A Letter to Anonymous
“ew..i hope this happens to your unborn child as well” – Anonymous This was a comment left by one “Anonymous” regarding my recent Pig Roast 2009 post. I let that one marinate for awhile, wondering whether or not I should ignore it, delete it or …
Pig Roast 2009
After two weekends in a row hosting parties at our house (and all the fretting and prepping and feverish house-cleaning that it entails), I needed a few days’ recovery to revel in inactivity. This quickly descends into crippling laziness, as is its wont, until I …
Poutine Galvaude
…Now, with more confit!
Awhile ago, I made poutine with sweet potatoes and veal demi glace gravy. Oh, man, was it ever a delight. A bit more recently, my good buddy Marc at the stellar (yet erroneously-named) No Recipes made it also, but one-upped me by photographing it like a genius (seriously, steam shot and everything). When I noticed the linkback in my Sitemeter readings, I took a look at my old post from last November and remembered that I’d threatened to make this with turkey leg confit leftover from Thanksgiving. Of course, I totally forgot to do that, and hi. Here we are.
Technically, this probably can’t be called “galvaude” because I used duck instead of turkey or chicken, and I omitted the peas (some asshole is also probably gonna swing his/her peen around about this not really being poutine, either, since I used sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes), but honestly, who gives a shit? It’s French fries with gravy and cheese curds. It has duck confit on top. SUCK IT. And after I confited the duck, I oven-roasted the fries in the hot duck fat. I used sweet potato again because they really are just more nutritious and tasty, but I have to admit that they have a hard time holding their shape after they’ve been essentially poached in duck fat. Next time I’ll fry them on the stove top to get the proper crispness. Beef demi gravy and local white cheddar curds, and we’re laughing.
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If anyone has noticed or cares, I’ve been lagging on the blogging in a big way. I just can’t pretend to care that much right now, but it’s not you, I swear. I just am such a dipshit these days. It’s strange what hormones do to the female brain, but each time I do cook, I forget to shoot it. For fuck’s sake, I made mac and cheese with brie last weekend and forgot to photograph it. I have a couple things lined up, but who knows when I’ll get around to it. I’ll try to at least be present when I can, but I just have a lot of other shit going on right now, and ice cream makes a fine dinner.
Sweet Black Sesame Butter
Smear this on a toasted (and buttered) English muffin with strawberry preserves or marmalade. Imagine sweet tahini, but black. It’s like Taiwanese Nutella, or a non-grainy adzuki paste. I bet it’d be great rolled up in some strudel dough with pears and a little cinnamon.