6 posts tagged “my cooking”

I've had a long few months where I've been doing nothing but writing: I'm still working on that story, truth be told, but I'm also trying to lose the urgency a little and do the things I've been ignoring.

For the first time in what feels like ages, I cooked dinner: Two days ago, I made some Prig Kring green beans with fried tofu, and also browned some pear onions to go along with it. (It was a very tasty experiment.)

Likewise, I've been a knitting fool all this week: I'm just a thumb away from being finished with a pair of fingerless mitts that my husband wanted. (It's only taken me 4 days of intermittent knitting to finish both mitts... And a co-worker saw them, and offered to pay me if I make him a pair in black. So, I know what I'm knitting next week!)

I've begun to suspect I'm insane.
Reasoning: I've got plenty to do this evening, between making up some homemade pizza (and I've decided to use a long pan instead of the usual hole-bottomed pizza pan, as I haven't been happy with its results lately) and getting the house ready for an imminent termite inspection, so what do I do?

Pick up my size 2 double-point needles and start two socks at once.
Barking mad, probably.
But, the idea wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to cast on: I'm currently working in complimentary shades of TLC Essentials -- which I don't particularly like the feel of, but it's part of my early stash and needs using -- in a burnt orange and their Falling Leaves ombre.
Never knit a sock in my life (though crocheting is a different story -- and I've several pairs, thank you!), and then I get the wild hair to do two at once.
I'm also planning on trading off the colors at cuff, heel, and toe, as if I weren't already confusing myself as it is.
Should be some pretty sweet socks if I can do it right, though, and I won't be afraid to wreck them through wear.

Note to self: I want this in Wild Wild West. Just one skein, but I've got a sock pattern in mind that I'd love to try.
... Well, maybe Blue Bayou, too.

Anyhow. Tonight, pizza.
The fiance and I picked up another of Trader Joe's pre-made pizza doughs in the garlic and herbed crust variety, and I'm currently contemplating whether I want to use a tomato sauce as the base or just go with garlic and olive oil as a pseudo-white sauce... I mean, olive oil and garlic. Good stuff, especially when you consider I've got mozzarella and roughly shredded parmesan to put on top, and then cover with prosciutto, salami, and capocollo. I'm also debating whether or not to add sun-dried tomatoes to the list or not: Alas, though I can see the tomatoes getting bigger by the day, there are still none ready for eating on my tomato plants.

... Don't think that I'm not looking up how to make sun-dried tomatoes for when that crop finally comes.

It does sound like a good, if meat-heavy pizza... And since it's going to be a pan pizza, that means it's going to be a bit more square than usual. (Alas, I can't guarantee thicker... Though I have rolled the dough out and I'm leaving it to rise some more, so. If I'm lucky.)
I suppose I do have some bell pepper strips in the freezer, and can also go that route. The fiance's kinda meh on the topic of olives, though, and tempting as it is to go viciously harvest the sneaky mushrooms in my yard... Probably not advisably edible, and since I haven't any criminis in the fridge, that means no mushrooms for the pizza.
That's life: Ought to get to making that pizza, or at least gathering the ingredients.

I have things cooking in my head again: I'm in a making mood, probably partly at fault from my recent (compulsive knitting / dye experiments / interest in spinning / gardening).

Every once in a while, I forget that I honestly love to cook.
Starting a vegetable garden has reminded me, though. I don't have anything save ten (count 'em, ten!!) tomato blossoms at the moment (one of which has clearly pollinated and is in process of changing from flower to fruit), but I'm already gleefully bouncing on my toes and waiting for the moments the first round, green fruits begin to show: My Cherokee Purple heirloom plant is new and still getting used to its pot, so its main purpose at the moment is to just get up and grow.

I honestly cannot wait for that heirloom to blossom and produce tomatoes. Cannot wait. I want to try them and come up with even more weird-color food, since if I'm honest, I enjoy cooking more when the colors don't match the expected. I am utterly in love with blue potatoes, and since I've found that my local Whole Foods does indeed carry them at cheaper per pound than the variety mix at Trader Joe's, I'm revving up to hit the produce bins for scalloped purple-blue potatoes. (And yes, it's going to look weird, royal blue potatoes peeking up from inside orange cheddary sauce, but I love doing that sort of thing. Weird colored food rules!) So. Rose-purple tomatoes to go with my purple-tinged blue potatoes? I cackle with glee.
And contemplate all sorts of summery tomato-based meals. I stopped at 101Cookbooks.com to check out the 1000 Layer Lasagne that went up Thursday morning, and while looking at her homemade ricotta recipe, I hovered the mouse over the image at top and found the next recipe was an heirloom tomato tart. And then I went hunting for anything involving specifically heirloom tomatoes, and found her cheesy heirloom paninis.

Wow. If I wasn't hungry before...
I anticipate a lot of homemade foccacia, caprese, and tomato-based recipes this summer. I think I may even delve into things like making tomato sauce and stewing tomatoes from scratch if the plants produce enough... After all, we know the hazards of gardens: You end up with more than you know what to do with, and your friends and family will only take so many. ;)
Seriously. Found the best foccacia I've had in ages at the Whole Foods of Doom, and it was not only crisp and garlic-parmesan-y, but had quarter inch tomato rounds pressed into its top and sprinkled with basil and oregano...
Which means I can do that, easy.
Also, the idea of making my bagels, slicing them in half, and making it into a cheese and tomato sandwich and then sticking it in the toaster oven for a little bit.... Sounds like heaven to me!

So, yes. I've been poking thoughtfully around the comments in the 101Cookbooks.com recipes and it's led to some interesting sites: The one holding my interest at the moment is a page on making cheese -- and while I'm honestly contemplating dragging my little college fridge out of storage to set up as a cheese making fridge for the blue cheese recipe, the one that really has me grinning like a fool is the recipe for fresh mozzarella from a gallon of milk.

Home grown tomatoes. Fresh mozzarella. My friends are right, I do need to start growing my own basil: I'll have myself a caprese garden at this rate. And there's just something satisfying about knowing where the things came from, as opposed to buying things from the store.
I'm still gleefully hunting up tomato recipes online: I really ought to hunt through my vegetarian and four-ingredient cookbooks for more ideas -- after all, the four-ingredient cookbook is where I picked up a favorite puff pastry tomato 'pizza' recipe, and that's pretty delish.
At that, I have a cookbook called Tomato. I think that just might be a good resource for tomato recipes. Who knew?

Also: It's Saturday, which means to bagel, or not to bagel, that is the question...
So I went to make some bagels. I made my last batch of bagels with King Arthur's white whole wheat flour, and it wasn't bad, but they were a little more dense in flavor than I'd have liked. No problem, but I decided to go half and half with the all purpose and wheat if you're going that route again, see if that resolved the issue.
I think I used too much water or something this time around -- the problem with attempting to do recipes from memory, honestly -- because the dough was sticky like mad. I ended up pulling it out of the bread machine and adding more flour by hand: It still doesn't feel right for bagels, though, and the proportions were probably close enough to pull off a foccacia instead... So I went crazy, kneaded in about half a tablespoon of dried 'italian herbs' (as the bottle proclaimed -- probably a mix of basil, oregano, parsley, possibly more). It's currently rising on a silpat, and I'll be sure to pat it out into my baking pan and start doing the olive oil / garlic topping.
Fresh bread. Nothing really like it, even if it wasn't the first thing I'd intended.

Got to meet up with the fiance for lunch yesterday and ran some errands.
I know what we're having for dinner (since it's honey-glazed chicken, currently sitting in the fridge and marinading), and I get to bully him into starting up our charcoal grill for it. I'm still debating whether the side is going to be steamed rice or soba noodles.

I'm eyeing lots (as in, actual bagged lots) of bamboo yarn, though I've already been swearing up and down that I've done my last with bamboo, thank you... Clearly, I'm out to drive myself nuts.

Right now, I'm thinking I've 50% figured out how to make this sweater. Really: The sleeves look like they've been knit from cuff to cuff, and I've been playing with knitting longways recently -- and the neck itself is easy enough, since I've already messed with that making my poncho. The biggest issue, I think, would be how to do the body of it -- but even that might not be too tough, so it's a question of working in panels or in the round. Think, think, think.
I may have to play with this for fun, see what I come up with.

I've recently found a new knitting blog to follow -- Eunny has some beautiful work out there, though it seems she and I disagree on the topic of ombres and what makes good colors, but she's inspiring. I don't know how long she's
been knitting, spinning, or designing her own patterns -- Where do you learn how to make patterns for more complex garments, anyway? Ponchos and the like, not so difficult -- but sweaters seem more so. I have yet to grasp the concept of short rows. Gussets, I have yet to grasp. Steeking sets me running off to quiver in the closet... But I'm getting over my fear of lace (though lace patterns slow me down like mad) and I certainly came to grasp the concept of double-point needles. (Seriously, circular needles still elude me. I suspect I'll need to watch them in action or get a detailed write-up to truly get it.)
I had a lot of fun with my introduction to amigurumi (thanks to Amy Gaines' Jellybean Bunny), though the first attempt wasn't something I'd consider giving anyone outside my immediate family. -- It wasn't ugly, but, well. It was a first attempt, and had all those little flaws that first time projects tend toward.

And Eunny makes me want to get back into learning to spin again. Just reading about how passionate she is, and seeing the results of her labors -- Dude. I wish my attempts with the drop spindle hadn't been so very juvenile, comparably. Also, the idea of making my own yarns always fills me with inspiration and a fierce kind of glee.
I want to make my own yarn. I want to dye roving and then see what comes off the spindle.
I really need to try spinning again in the near future.

Today is clearly the day of even more foodie-like things.
This evening, it was a Trader Joe's 'found' pizza:

- One package refrigerated garlic-herb pizza dough
- A third of a small jar of their new pizza sauce
- some quatro frommagio shredded cheese
- eight to ten crimini mushrooms, washed
- between six and ten sun dried tomatoes in oil, chopped roughly
- two fresh hothouse tomatoes from the produce section
- chicken, mushrooms and asiago sausages

And yes, I realize I know several people that are not terribly fond of the 'shroom, but the fungi is my friend and I find it exceedingly tasty.

However! I preheated the oven to 400 F and set a plate on the vent burner of my stove, putting the dough in the center to rise while I cut everything else up. I love thick pieces of mushroom, so I cut them accordingly, wedged two of said hothouse tomatoes into eighths, drained the oil from the sun dried tomatoes, and cut a sausage into rounds. (Yay, three more left for me to play with in cooking!)

Through with that, the dough had risen nicely: I ended up oiling the pizza tray with olive oil, since I seem to have utterly misplaced my cornmeal for dusting, and then stretched the dough by hand and laid it out on the pan. Sadly, I'd miscalculated slightly, tore the center of the dough, and balled it up to start from scratch again. It didn't quite recover that lovely round shape, but honestly -- If homemade pizza were meant to look perfect, I'd never bother making it.

Currently, I had a well-oiled pan and stretched pizza dough. Next ingredient is obvious: Sauce, and whatever the hell else I want to put on it before the cheese goes on! Today, it was just sauce, shallot salt and a little pepper: If it hadn't been a garlic-herb crust, you can bet what else I would've added.
So the sauce went. Then sun dried tomatoes. Then mushrooms, cheese. Then more mushrooms, and the fresh tomato pieces, and chicken sausage. It starts to look a little topping-heavy at this point, so I sprinkle more quatro frommagio on it.  Into the 400 F oven it goes for twenty minutes: When the timer goes off, it comes out looking fabulously golden around the edges. I set it aside, let everything cool 10 minutes, and then it's time to cut it up and serve.

It was a good pizza -- Not one of my best, but still very tasty.
I think the sun dried tomatoes were sadly unnecessary: I wasn't able to taste them beneath everything else. And perhaps next time, I should go back to using the bruschetta toppings for sauce, since though very oily, they tend to have more texture and a more memorable flavor.

... Of course, it was still completely delicious.
I know I had three pieces around here somewhere, but they seem to have disappeared....

Dinner is made.
It contains no cat.

...No meat either, though it wasn't by design.

I'd set out intending to have some of the frozen bean selection I'd picked up from Trader Joe's and chicken in a nice wine sauce, but after I'd started the beans a' boiling, I discovered that the fiance had used the last of the pre-cooked chicken last night with dinner, and it was going to take more than two minutes to finish the chicken like I'd wanted.

First thought: Feck.
Second thought: Well, I've got a well stocked kitchen. What else can I do?

There was Tequila behind the cupboards, milk in the fridge, stone-ground mustard and peppercorns in the pantry, and I knew where my starches were hidden.
Perfect.

Drain and olive oil the hell out of the beans: It's already got a nice color mixture, since this particular offering from Trader Joe's has the world's loveliest thin green beans, wax beans to match, and baby carrots. Eye it, add minced garlic cubes from their home in the freezer, stir. Let it start to sizzle and splash in about a quarter cup of tequila. (Don't worry, I didn't use the GOOD tequila for this.)
I can smell the almost-tart of the tequila, so I temper it with a splash of milk. It's boring that way, so add two teaspoons of the stone ground mustard and stir well. Smell: It needs pepper. Pick up the grinder and pepper the hell out of the thing 'til it smells right to me, and then stir more.

I let it start to bubble and add a generous pinch of my tapioca starch, since the stuff works perhaps a little too well sometimes: It turns out to be the perfect amount for sauce, making me wish I'd measured it. Stir until sauce-ish and serve.

Mmm, tasty.
And the carrots and beans taste so sweet when contrasting with the sauce.