Pantry cooking
Apr. 3rd, 2003 09:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidI didn't bring enough food to work last night, so I was rather hungry driving home (having successfully resisted the call of the Chocolate Drawer). I debated stopping to get some sushi, but it was raining, and I didn't have a hat. So, home it was, to find something to eat.
First off, I started the oven heating to roast veggies. I cut up a bunch of smallish onions, and realized I still had some grape tomatoes that were perhaps a bit past their prime, so no longer salad candidates. I halved them and put them in the pan. Next up were the rest of the Yukon Gold potatoes in the bag I'd bought last week, cut into rough cubes. I ground some black pepper on top, added some sea salt and lots of fresh rosemary, then a drizzle of olive oil, and into the oven.
An hour later, it was done, and the next two things could go into the oven (they were dairy).
I crumbled up the last two and a half rolls from last Friday's baking, added cinnamon and nutmeg, then added eggs mixed with milk, enough to thoroughly soak the bread. I added more cinnamon and nutmeg, then the end of a bag of raisins, and the end of a bag of julienned almonds, and the rest of the maple syrup. I let it soak until the oven was ready. And this flavor of bread pudding came out to be just what I wanted: not incredibly sweet, but with some interesting textures.
It was also incredibly satisfying to be finishing so many containers of things. I know, it means that I'll just have to remember to buy more, but even so, there's a good feeling to use up what I have. I suppose at this time of year, with only two weeks until Pesach, it's particularly good, slowly but surely clearing out the fridge. Still, there are bound to be things like condiments left to give away when I finish the cleaning.
The third thing I made was a total experiment. I had made a sweet potato soup with caramelized onions and fresh sage (plus a touch of apple juice) for Shabbat, and somehow never got back to it. I'm not sure why I thought to transform it at all, rather than freeze it or something (not into one big soupsicle, though; I've learned my lesson!). I mixed the last of the eggs with some cream I'd bought when I'd thought I'd make another batch of truffles, then mixed that into the soup, which was reasonably thick and somewhat lumpy. Later on I realized it would've been a good idea to add some flour to thicken it, but it was already in the oven at that point. It was rather liquidy; I wasn't sure what would happen, but I figured baking it at a low temperature would be most likely. A couple of hours later, it seemed solid, and the top had started to brown a bit. It tastes good, so it seems to have worked, though I have far more of it than I'm likely to be able to eat, so I suppose I've only changed the form of the same problem, getting through what started out as too much soup...
I'm still not sure what to call it. It doesn't stay together like a kugel would, nor is it the totally smooth texture I associate with "sweet potato kugel." The word timbale floats through my mind, looking for a vegetable to connect to. Perhaps that's it.
a
First off, I started the oven heating to roast veggies. I cut up a bunch of smallish onions, and realized I still had some grape tomatoes that were perhaps a bit past their prime, so no longer salad candidates. I halved them and put them in the pan. Next up were the rest of the Yukon Gold potatoes in the bag I'd bought last week, cut into rough cubes. I ground some black pepper on top, added some sea salt and lots of fresh rosemary, then a drizzle of olive oil, and into the oven.
An hour later, it was done, and the next two things could go into the oven (they were dairy).
I crumbled up the last two and a half rolls from last Friday's baking, added cinnamon and nutmeg, then added eggs mixed with milk, enough to thoroughly soak the bread. I added more cinnamon and nutmeg, then the end of a bag of raisins, and the end of a bag of julienned almonds, and the rest of the maple syrup. I let it soak until the oven was ready. And this flavor of bread pudding came out to be just what I wanted: not incredibly sweet, but with some interesting textures.
It was also incredibly satisfying to be finishing so many containers of things. I know, it means that I'll just have to remember to buy more, but even so, there's a good feeling to use up what I have. I suppose at this time of year, with only two weeks until Pesach, it's particularly good, slowly but surely clearing out the fridge. Still, there are bound to be things like condiments left to give away when I finish the cleaning.
The third thing I made was a total experiment. I had made a sweet potato soup with caramelized onions and fresh sage (plus a touch of apple juice) for Shabbat, and somehow never got back to it. I'm not sure why I thought to transform it at all, rather than freeze it or something (not into one big soupsicle, though; I've learned my lesson!). I mixed the last of the eggs with some cream I'd bought when I'd thought I'd make another batch of truffles, then mixed that into the soup, which was reasonably thick and somewhat lumpy. Later on I realized it would've been a good idea to add some flour to thicken it, but it was already in the oven at that point. It was rather liquidy; I wasn't sure what would happen, but I figured baking it at a low temperature would be most likely. A couple of hours later, it seemed solid, and the top had started to brown a bit. It tastes good, so it seems to have worked, though I have far more of it than I'm likely to be able to eat, so I suppose I've only changed the form of the same problem, getting through what started out as too much soup...
I'm still not sure what to call it. It doesn't stay together like a kugel would, nor is it the totally smooth texture I associate with "sweet potato kugel." The word timbale floats through my mind, looking for a vegetable to connect to. Perhaps that's it.
a