Recent food play
Oct. 21st, 2006 08:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidI got a bag of organic limes, remembering how I kept wanting them all summer (lemons were not appealing at all, not being complex in the right ways. So strange). The seasons have changed, however, and limes aren't quite as compelling. So they were sitting on the counter, aging, when I finally decided to do something with (some of) them, making a lime variant of Shaker lemon pie. I've made this pie before and adored it, but served it to non-peel-liking people, so haven't done much with it since. I used three limes instead of two lemons, given their size, using the rest of the recipe pretty much as given. Slightly lower temperatures (from another online recipe), because 450 F seemed just a bit too hot for pie, but otherwise straightforward substitution.
Results: Shaker lime pie is pretty good, but not as good as the original, because the peel texture doesn't change as much as the lemon peel does, retaining a bit too much texture. Perhaps an initial blanching would help, perhaps not. For reference, it is definitely worth using a deep-dish pie plate; this one in a regular pie pan overflowed mightily (the overflow goop tasted great, anyway). Also, having peel-eating guests makes a difference in how this is received. Other thought: including some fresh mint and/or mint extract in the pie, perhaps with a rum sauce to go with, would make a mojito pie.
I made yet another batch of orange and green soup, fast becoming an autumn staple for me. Every time it's a bit permuted from the last, and I haven't found a version I don't like. This time I'd intended to put in ground turkey, perhaps mixed with currants and pine nuts, but Trader Joe's failed me, so I lacked ground bird. I fell back on what I had in the freezer: whole chicken thighs. Which turned out fine, but not what I'd originally hoped for. If I have people over next week, perhaps I'll try for that version again.
What was in this version: a large red onion, diced; some cloves of garlic, crushed; a bunch of lacinato kale, chopped; one kohlrabi's greens, chopped, including purple stems; a bunch of collards; and a large sweet potato, cubed. All this was sauteed together as I layered the vegetables in . Then I added black pepper, cayenne pepper, the end of a bottle of Chateau de Gairoird red (2000; in an interesting Coke-bottle-shaped bottle), and enough water to just cover the vegetables. I let that simmer a long while before adding three frozen chicken thighs. I let that cook a long while, then decided dumplings were in order. I put together the usual dumplings (1 cup of flour, a bit of salt and baking soda, enough soy milk to make it all a reasonable consistency), but to keep with the rest of the soup, added a generous amount of cayenne pepper, which made them wonderfully spicy. I will do that again (and in fact, the leftovers are reheating with another batch of spicy dumplings as I type).
I still have a lot of sweet potatoes left, also some butternut squash (the only kind I'd consider peeling before cooking), but no more winter greens. I should rebalance my Boston Organics preferences list again. (And remember that the Copley farmers market runs through the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.)
I finally started making a dent in the squash. I roasted the two acorn squash, cut sides down, until very soft, then mixed the flesh with cinnamon, nutmeg, and black pepper. I'd wanted to use ground ginger, but I seem to be completely out (quelle horreur!). Freshly-ground pepper had a little of the bite I wanted (there was enough cayenne in the soupe that I didn't want to repeat that note), though it interrupted the smooth texture. I added an egg, some maple syrup, and some soy milk, then baked it again, a sort of crustless squash pie. It was decent, but I really need to get more ginger.
I have a plethora of plums, piling up as Boston Organics sends them my way. I should make jam, but the large pot is full of a batch of applesauce in need of canning already, and I didn't feel like dealing with jam. So I decided on a crumble instead. I remembered the Liberte yogurt flavor using plum and walnut together, and decided that would be a nice pairing to replicate. I chopped up all of the oldest plums (yes, I still have many more), tossing them with a little sugar to macerate them, and some walnut bits. I put a thin layer of ground walnuts in the bottom of the pan (to soak up any juices), then the fruit-nut mixture. I debated what to do about a topping, since I don't have any pareve margarine defrosted, and I'm finding the thought of it more nasty over time. Necessary at times, sure, but I'd rather avoid it if possible. So I improvised. I put some mixed grain flakes (like oatmeal, but not just one grain), some flaxseed meal, and some white flour in a bowl with a little cinnamon, then added some olive oil and some maple syrup, enough to moisten all the dry stuff. I put the resulting crumbles on top of the fruit, and it worked fairly well.
Verdict: the plum-walnut crumble is a good combination, but I should've baked it a bit longer to get the fruit mushier. (I'm not sure how long I did bake it, but I think it was at 325 F or so; a slightly higher temperature would've worked better, perhaps, as well as at least an hour in the oven.)
Those polenta logs lend themselves so nicely to pretty appetizers, but I tend to think of them as going with milchigs only, the cheese providing not only flavor and interesting stringiness, but a way to stick veggies atop the polenta rounds. I was having fleishig soup, though, so that wouldn't work. In the end, I baked the polenta circles, each sprayed with a little olive oil, until they were nicely crunchy at the edges, then topped each slice with some eggplant-garlic spread (Trader Joe's) over which I put a spoonful of mixed roasted vegetables (red onion, zucchini, and green Italian peppers, roasted with salt and pepper), putting them back in the oven to get friendly. And it worked, excellently so. Yet again, TJ's eggplant-garlic stuff is the answer :-).
Results: Shaker lime pie is pretty good, but not as good as the original, because the peel texture doesn't change as much as the lemon peel does, retaining a bit too much texture. Perhaps an initial blanching would help, perhaps not. For reference, it is definitely worth using a deep-dish pie plate; this one in a regular pie pan overflowed mightily (the overflow goop tasted great, anyway). Also, having peel-eating guests makes a difference in how this is received. Other thought: including some fresh mint and/or mint extract in the pie, perhaps with a rum sauce to go with, would make a mojito pie.
I made yet another batch of orange and green soup, fast becoming an autumn staple for me. Every time it's a bit permuted from the last, and I haven't found a version I don't like. This time I'd intended to put in ground turkey, perhaps mixed with currants and pine nuts, but Trader Joe's failed me, so I lacked ground bird. I fell back on what I had in the freezer: whole chicken thighs. Which turned out fine, but not what I'd originally hoped for. If I have people over next week, perhaps I'll try for that version again.
What was in this version: a large red onion, diced; some cloves of garlic, crushed; a bunch of lacinato kale, chopped; one kohlrabi's greens, chopped, including purple stems; a bunch of collards; and a large sweet potato, cubed. All this was sauteed together as I layered the vegetables in . Then I added black pepper, cayenne pepper, the end of a bottle of Chateau de Gairoird red (2000; in an interesting Coke-bottle-shaped bottle), and enough water to just cover the vegetables. I let that simmer a long while before adding three frozen chicken thighs. I let that cook a long while, then decided dumplings were in order. I put together the usual dumplings (1 cup of flour, a bit of salt and baking soda, enough soy milk to make it all a reasonable consistency), but to keep with the rest of the soup, added a generous amount of cayenne pepper, which made them wonderfully spicy. I will do that again (and in fact, the leftovers are reheating with another batch of spicy dumplings as I type).
I still have a lot of sweet potatoes left, also some butternut squash (the only kind I'd consider peeling before cooking), but no more winter greens. I should rebalance my Boston Organics preferences list again. (And remember that the Copley farmers market runs through the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.)
I finally started making a dent in the squash. I roasted the two acorn squash, cut sides down, until very soft, then mixed the flesh with cinnamon, nutmeg, and black pepper. I'd wanted to use ground ginger, but I seem to be completely out (quelle horreur!). Freshly-ground pepper had a little of the bite I wanted (there was enough cayenne in the soupe that I didn't want to repeat that note), though it interrupted the smooth texture. I added an egg, some maple syrup, and some soy milk, then baked it again, a sort of crustless squash pie. It was decent, but I really need to get more ginger.
I have a plethora of plums, piling up as Boston Organics sends them my way. I should make jam, but the large pot is full of a batch of applesauce in need of canning already, and I didn't feel like dealing with jam. So I decided on a crumble instead. I remembered the Liberte yogurt flavor using plum and walnut together, and decided that would be a nice pairing to replicate. I chopped up all of the oldest plums (yes, I still have many more), tossing them with a little sugar to macerate them, and some walnut bits. I put a thin layer of ground walnuts in the bottom of the pan (to soak up any juices), then the fruit-nut mixture. I debated what to do about a topping, since I don't have any pareve margarine defrosted, and I'm finding the thought of it more nasty over time. Necessary at times, sure, but I'd rather avoid it if possible. So I improvised. I put some mixed grain flakes (like oatmeal, but not just one grain), some flaxseed meal, and some white flour in a bowl with a little cinnamon, then added some olive oil and some maple syrup, enough to moisten all the dry stuff. I put the resulting crumbles on top of the fruit, and it worked fairly well.
Verdict: the plum-walnut crumble is a good combination, but I should've baked it a bit longer to get the fruit mushier. (I'm not sure how long I did bake it, but I think it was at 325 F or so; a slightly higher temperature would've worked better, perhaps, as well as at least an hour in the oven.)
Those polenta logs lend themselves so nicely to pretty appetizers, but I tend to think of them as going with milchigs only, the cheese providing not only flavor and interesting stringiness, but a way to stick veggies atop the polenta rounds. I was having fleishig soup, though, so that wouldn't work. In the end, I baked the polenta circles, each sprayed with a little olive oil, until they were nicely crunchy at the edges, then topped each slice with some eggplant-garlic spread (Trader Joe's) over which I put a spoonful of mixed roasted vegetables (red onion, zucchini, and green Italian peppers, roasted with salt and pepper), putting them back in the oven to get friendly. And it worked, excellently so. Yet again, TJ's eggplant-garlic stuff is the answer :-).