I had a bread disaster, using a starved sourdough starter for a Sally Lunn. The bread came out rubbery. In spite of that texture, it was filled with bubbles, so not a complete brick. Bread pudding ended up a great way to repurpose the failed Sally Lunn. I’ve always enjoyed the pudding from the Station [...]
Category Archives: Food
Brussels sprouts & cauliflower gratin topped with panko+nuts
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Hellllooo, Winter! Brussels sprouts and cauliflower star in this cheesy, creamy seasonal dish. Mine is a somewhat lighter version of the Epicurious recipe, taking copious hints from comments mentioning how heavy the original felt. Already crisp panko breadcrumbs gave me a head-start, so I didn’t need to fry the topping. I also added cornstarch to [...]
Upside down fruit tarts, er, improvised Tatin
Sunday, 19 December 2010
[Yipes, nearly three months since I've posted an entry! I've been busy with cooking and whatnot, just haven't gotten to the writing bit for some time. Thank you for your patience.] Okay, so maybe not quite a tarte Tatin, since we serve these tarts with the crust topside, to reduce the sogginess factor. These are [...]
Tart (or pie) crust recipe, made with vodka
Monday, 20 September 2010
I’ve always approached making tart crusts with some amount of trepidation. What are the right amounts of ingredients? How do I avoid overworking the dough so it doesn’t turn out like cardboard? I’m still a wimp about how to roll out and shape the dough. Simon has that skill down pat. But I have figured [...]
Lemony-garlic mayonnaise
Saturday, 11 September 2010
I kept forgetting that we were running out of mayonnaise, until I was reminded by Sonya S. how easy it is make at home. It ended up taking me about five minutes to make this mayonnaise, but more time to clean up!
Lentil stew with eggplant & tomatoes
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Unsurprisingly, I’ve been wanting to make more eggplant dishes, not to mention more lentil dishes. Elise Bauer’s Eggplant Lentil Stew with Pomegranate Molasses became a great inspiration for this rich (and vegetarian) stew. However, my rendition uses already cooked eggplants and onion, as well as additional Middle Eastern spices. Another bit of rationalizing: if I [...]
TCHO: milk chocolate beta & citrus
Thursday, 12 August 2010
So I enrolled in TCHO’s milk chocolate beta. They didn’t want to be judged on texture yet, which made critiquing the creaminess aspect a bit tricky. As of this writing they have yet to release version 1.0. Overall, though the later betas did show remarkable improvement over the earlier samples. But to answer some questions [...]
Purple overload: Roasted eggplants
Monday, 26 July 2010
This is the first time I’ve had an eggplant deluge. They even arrived before the tomatoes or chili peppers decided to ripen. Having them in the Very Hot bed with southern exposure helps, I bet — along with El Niño slowing down the remaining nightshade plants this year. During the cold months I develop a [...]
Atakilt wat: Ethiopian cabbage, carrot & potato stew
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Atakilt wat (a.k.a., atakilt alicha, ye’atakilt wot, etc.) is another one of my favorite Ethiopian dishes, made of humble vegetables: cabbage, potatoes, carrots and onions. Even though it’s rather mild, it’s still quite tasty.
Yedoro tibs: Ethiopian boneless chicken stew
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Ethiopian cuisine offers such a wide range of vegetable dishes that it’s easy to go meatless. However, yedoro tibs (a.k.a., doro tibs) is one of the few meat dishes I really enjoy. The boneless chicken is in an easy munchable size, and the rich sauce has such depth! Yedoro tibs on (yep, store-bought) injera. Yedoro [...]
