Breakfast and 2 dinners.

So, we had a remarkably satisfactory diner type breakfast at this place on Granby St.  As Stephen Fry says as Gordon Gordon Wyatt in Bones "There's something remarkable about the American griddle that it always turns out perfect eggs."  I feel that often diner scrambled eggs just taste, oddly un egg like.  But these were delicious.  The potatoes were also really good.  No Pamela's potatoes, to be sure, but were quite tasty.

So, after that meal we left the oddity that is the South and came home.  I made a late dinner of pasta with cheese sauce.  I must say, that it was my most successful cheese sauce to date.

Here is what I did:

Ingredients:
half onion
half stick butter
quarter cup flour (I did not actually measure this, so use your judgement based on how the roux is looking in the pot!!)
1.5 cups milk
.5 tsp oregano
2-3 oz sharp cheddar
2-3 oz parmesan
2 cloves garlic
I used about a total of a half stick of butter in my roux, but I did it in two parts, because of the onions.

So I took about a quarter of the stick of butter and melted it then sweated the garlic and onion.  Then I added the rest of the butter and whisked in the floor.  Constant whisking is key here.  It will turn into a smooth (well except the onions) white-ish gooey paste.  (I really don't know how to describe a roux.)  Happily, Uel and I had had a Good Eats marathon early this summer so I remembered the different stages of roux.  For this sauce getting a fairly good brown (or brick) roux.  Between a medium brown and a dark brown, I'd say.  As Alton Brown says "Your patience will be rewarded."  While the roux is browning, you should put on water for the pasta.  Once the roux has started to get fairly well on to a darkish brown, you should warm the milk to on the verge of hot.  When the roux is quite brown and the milk is warm, whisk the milk into the roux.  Keep whisking until the milk is well incorporated.  Whisk in the oregano. Then add the cheese whisking until the cheese is melted.  When the pasta is done cooking, mix the sauce with it and enjoy.  Salt and pepper to taste!

Tonight I made a mushroom fake bolognese sauce.  But it is midnight, so I shall post about it tomorrow.

Beki

The SOUTH.

So, the food I've had wasn't anything extraordinary, but I can't not comment on the South, if only because I never come here and it is utterly ridiculous.  Like wow.  When we were crossing into Virginia there was this big sign that said "THE SOUTH STARTS HERE."  Like wow.  Calm down.

Unfortunately I haven't had any hardcore southern food.  I'm not sure I'm far enough south for that?  I'm only in Va.  Uel and I went to a bar that was kind of lame and had some food there.  We had pizza and potato wedges.  The pizza was huge and sloppy?  There was cheese under my slice.  It was just too much.

People watching has been entertaining though.  The bartender and waitress were working their pushup bras for all they were worth, for a slightly alarming effect on the part of the bartender.  I'm also pretty sure the waitress wanted to hit on me, but wasn't really sure how to go about it.  Then walking back we saw some of the trashiest women I have ever seen.  These girls clearly didn't understand what heels do to your ass when you put them on.  So, they're constantly pulling down on their dresses because they're trying to come up over their asses.  Not very classy.  Also, when you're wearing a tight stretchy white dress, you only get a few points for actually wearing a white thong.

The South makes no sense to me.   Everyone here seems really sad.  Well, everyone that lives in Norfolk VA.

Maybe better food luck tomorrow.

Beki

Butternut Squash Soup

Uel and I went down to the Clark Park farmer's market to pay a very nice farmer the $5 dollars owed and to get some dinner inspiration.  We saw butternut squashes.  I, personally, am not really a fun of summer squash.  But winter squash?  I can't get enough of it.  Especially butternut squash and pumpkin.  So, naturally, we thought to make butternut squash soup.  Next challenge:  How to complete this plan without having to do further shopping.  The recipe (click me!) calls for heavy cream, which we didn't have.  However, at the same farmer's market, there was a guy selling whole milk goat's milk and we decided that that would suffice.

Note:  4 Oz, is definitely not 4 cups.  I tend to forget that it calls for 4 oz of heavy cream/goat's milk, which is mostly just silly and causes me to demand people come over and eat pasta alfredo.

Making the soup this time (the last time I made it was in Pittsburgh) was much easier due in no small part to my now owning a stick blender.  A stick blender is key for this (and I'd argue) a lot of soup making.  The one I have is by bamix (here), it comes with several different blade attachments and is undoubtably the boss when it comes to stick/immersion blenders.

The recipe itself is rather simple, bake squashes, scoop insides into pot, add chicken or vegetable stock, add dairy of choice, spices and you're good!  If you are like me and Uel and make this recipe for just yourself you can either freeze the leftovers, or cook down the soup a little bit into a delicious sauce.  The sauce form is served best over a cheese type pasta live ravioli or tortellini.

Oh!  You couldn't really tell the difference with using goat's milk instead.  It was maybe a bit less creamy and a bit more squashy, but I still thought it was delicious.

Beki

Mushrooms!!

Today I went to the Mushroom Festival in Kennett Sq. with Uel and his parents.  In addition to deciding that mushroom growing was going to become my latest hobby/crazy thing I was known for doing (I even already have 1 mushroom log!  I am investigating obtaining others) I had some delicious food.

I had a bowl of mushroom risotto.  It was absolutely delicious.  Even though risotto can be time consuming to make, I have definitely been swayed into mushroom risotto experimentation (once I have sufficient mushrooms from my logs of course.)  This risotto seemed pretty simple, which took nothing away from it's deliciousness.  There were shitake mushrooms, and maybe one other kind (possibly oysters, but I don't think so) and some herbs as the main flavors.  I think that the risotto rice (I am not good enough to tell you what kind of risotto rice was used but arborio is the most commonly used) may have also been cooked in some kind of stock, but maybe not. There was also parmesan cheese.  Sounds simple, and was completely delicious.  Mushrooms, if you use interesting ones and not the common button ones, can add wonders of flavor to foods.
Another example being the mac and cheese with mushrooms that Uel had (and that I stole some of) which was also just absolutely delicious.  I know I just said that mushrooms can add a lot, but I don't know how fully I realized that until today.
To top off the food explorations of the day, I tried egg nog ice cream.  It was super rich and super delicious it was hand made by the lamichoacana ice cream parlor.  They do a lot of very original ice creams and water ices including a mango chili pepper water ice.  For the festival they had a mushroom ice cream bar (which I did not try) that consisted of vanilla ice cream with mushroom pieces.  Sorry, all, I wasn't quite brave enough.   


I think that is all for today!


Beki

Orzo and Peach Cobbler

Today I made peach cobbler and an orzo salad.  The peach cobbler recipe comes from Bubby's Homemade Pies.  I tend to think of pie recipes along the same lines as the pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean think of the Pirate's Code - as guidelines, rather than actual rules.  At this point in my culinary education, I can put flavors together pretty well, and I can tell pretty well how much of something to put in without measuring, but I don't always think of the flavor combinations.  So that was mostly what I used the recipe for, to figure out what spices I should use.  This recipe won easily because it said to use Cardamom.  Cardamom is one of my favorite spices, in spite of the fact that I don't use it very often.

So, I made a basic pie crust (any recipe will do, they're pretty much all the same) and then cut up 5 large peaches (you can peel them if you want, I decided against it) and mixed them with some lemon juice, sugar, cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg.  I didn't measure, so I can't tell you how much of what or which.  Just add until it looks right and taste it.  If it tastes good, then you're done, if not fiddle until it does.  I then did a lattice crust (a rather successful one too!) and baked it for about half an hour.

Now the Orzo Salad is from an actual recipe.  If you have a copy of the Frog Commissary Cookbook, it is on page 65-66 - "Orzo Salad with Fragrant Sesame Dressing."

Basically you cook some orzo, shred some carrots and mix them with yellow raisins, sunflower seeds and a dressing consisting of salt, corn oil, sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, scallions, red paper flakes, rice wine, orange peel, pepper and a little sugar.  I am not really sure about the legality of putting the actual recipe on my blog, but if you want it I can get it to you.

Until my next food adventure!
Beki

Introductions and Beginnings

As anyone that knows me at all could tell you, I like food.  I like eating it, preparing it, everything.  I like to cook and bake and discover new foods anytime I can.

So that is why I thought I'd write this blog.  In it I will post about things I have eaten, things I have cooked, things I have baked and when the time is right, an update on my progress and experiences in culinary school.

I hope you enjoy reading it!

Beki