Gilding the Lily since 2006
Today, Scott and his broworkers went to Green Papaya to get some delicious Vietnamese food, as was their daily wont until the bulk of them relocated to an office further away than across the street. Today was Green Papaya for old times’. They sat down …
I dunno. I totally made this up. A few weeks ago Scott and I ate at Castagna, in the more casual cafe (we save the restaurant for fancy occasions). Scott had the cassoulet (of course) and I had their pasta dish de la saison: maltagliati …
I should just go ahead and change the name of this blog to Soup and Brekkie, cuz I’m on a fucking kick. Soup is a basic thing, though, and anyone can make excellent soup if they’re willing to keep bags of bones and carcass in their freezer. If they’re not, though, they can still crank out a reasonably fantastic split pea.
Split pea soup doesn’t even require stock to be awesome. The peas bring plenty of flavor of their own, particularly when combined with a (celery-less) mirepoix of minced carrot and onion, ham and pancetta. Render the pancetta in a drip of olive oil, then brown the mirepoix in the bacon fat. Add the diced ham and the split peas, and stir them around to coat in the fat (sorta like making risotto). Add a couple bay leaves and thyme sprigs, then a bunch of water. Simmer for an hour (stirring once in awhile), or until the peas are softened but still retain their shape when stirred. Salt and pepper to taste, and stir in lots of chopped parsley and mint. I like extra mint and black pepper in mine.
I made some fatty croutons from some leftover pugliese (although I lied to Peter and told him it was ciabatta, just to fuck with him). Just cubed and browned in butter with a crunch of salt and some thyme, and there was a nice textural contrast always welcome in a bowl of soup.
Enjoy with early pajamas and a mug of budget chardonnay.
It’s finally soup weather. We’ve gotten back to the sodden, gloomy, winter weather that makes people slit their wrists when they move here. I love it. It’s damp and moldy, and it smells like warm compost and fecundity again after all that stupid Arctic Blast …
I get a wild hair up my ass for weekend breakfasts. I’m never in a very big hurry, and I have the rest of the day to burn off the calories, so I can really splurge on two or three proteins and as much dairy and starch as I want. I can always, I dunno, go shovel snow or someshit.
This little treat is a testament to that philosophy. I wanted pancakes, but was really craving savory flavors, like salty ham, melty cheese and drippy yolks. I didn’t want to phone it in with a Ham and Egg McChee™ (my go-to weekend brekkie), so I thought about making blini. Without buckwheat flour (or caviar), though, blini seemed pointless. But think about it: blini are just a savory pancake. Why can’t I make a basic pancake recipe that’s savory? I couldn’t think of any reason why not, so I did.
Halving Joy of Cooking‘s basic pancake recipe, I omitted the sugar and added minced onion, chopped thyme and parsley, salt and pepper and a handful of grated Madrigal cheese (a French baby Swiss). I cooked little silver dollar pancakes, poached two eggs, and browned some shaved Niman Ranch applewood-smoked ham and some sliced mushrooms. When everything was ready (45 minutes later, including pre-cooking cleanup and prep), I stacked the little pancakes with a layer of ham, a layer of mushrooms, and a poached egg on top.
Served with some boiled potatoes tossed in crème fraîche and herbs (and the requisite mimosa), it was a luxuriant and elegant brunch. Let the diet start on Monday.
I picked up these beautiful little quail eggs at Fubonn. I was thinking of what little appie I could bring over to Carolyn’s house that wasn’t crackers and dip (she was making Amy Sedaris’ Lil’ Smoky Cheese Ball) or something that would require heating in …
We’d been invited to a champagne-tasting party, to which we were instructed to bring an appie or somesuch. Easy, right? Except that I totally procrastinated, and it started snowing. Hard. I didn’t want to press my luck and brave a drive to the store for …
I got your Holiday Cheer right here. Ghirardelli Double Chocolate cocoa with Rumple Minze peppermint schnapps and marshmallows. Serve with Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate-Covered Peppermint Joe Joe’s for dunking. They taste like a cross between Girl Scouts Thin MInts and Oreos, with crushed candy cane on top.
This tastes like the holidays.
…or, Special Christmas Breakfast I really haven’t gotten into the holiday spirit this year. No baking, no candy, nothing. I still have time to pretend I’m Russian, though, in which case the New Year celebration is more important. Technically, my people were German-Russian for a …