Monday, September 16, 2013

Dinner.


Traditional mashed potatoes beneath some pan-seared salmon, topped with some mushed-up peas and mint (recipe of which is mentioned earlier on this blog), drizzled with some olive oil and topped with some homemade potato chips made out of the cutest baby purple Peruvian potatoes EVER. 

It was my first time trying this out, but... isn't it pretty? The clean flavors melded together amazingly, too, as well as the textures of the different components. You probably can't tell, but that largest potato chip up there is the size of an American quarter.

And it was delicious.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Marzipan!

Okay. For those who don't know, marzipan is an almond-based confection that basically consists of blanched almonds, sugar, and a teeny bit of water. It's usually a paste-like consistency, usually sculpted into the shape of fruit for some reason, and usually... really boring.

But I recently heard about a way to make marzipan at home that sounded like it could have rather interesting results. And if you let your imagination run wild, incredibly interesting results.

Marzipan.
Seen here coated with lime zest, toasted almonds, and saffron.

I came across the basic technique on a cooking show, but when I looked it up on their site the recipe was vastly different from what was televised, so I just sort of took the idea and improvised. 

What I did was:

1/2 pound blanched, peeled almonds
1/4 pound confectioner's / icing sugar
2 tbs + tiny bit extra water
1 plum pit kernel 

That's right. 
The inside of a plum pit.

Marzipan traditionally calls for bitter almonds, which are kind of hard to find here, so the kernel of stone fruits (plums or peaches) can be used as a substitute. They're also probably poisonous; haven't really looked into that. But if the tv says it's an acceptable substitute, I believe it! 

Put the sugar and water in a blender jar and whiz it up to dissolve the sugar. You want enough water so that it doesn't look like icing, but you don't want it to be too watery.

Then add about 2/3 to 3/4 of the almonds, a handful at a time, blending until smooth before each addition. You'll end up with a rather stiff, workable paste. 

Crush up the rest of the almonds and the plum kernel by hand, either in a mortar and pestle or with a knife or the bottom of a pot or something. This part's all about texture, which most store-bought marzipan is lacking. Fold the crushed stuff into the prepared paste by kneading it, so that it's fairly evenly distributed. 

Then... You fry it!!!

Toast the mixture in a dry skillet until it's warmed through and you can smell the almond-y goodness. Then soak your skillet in hot water for an hour and pray it comes clean and you don't have to buy another piece of cookware.

After the whole frying thing is done, wrap the stuff in cling wrap and fridge it overnight. It'll keep in the refrigerator for up to three weeks, and in the freezer pretty much indefinitely. 

That's the basic set-up but the fun part is deciding on what to put on the outside. In addition to the pieces pictured above, we've also tried herbs de provence, which was interesting because the lavender and fennel contained therein accentuated the sweetness of the almond paste, while the savoryness of the basil and other herbs added sort of a pungent kick.

Next to try: lemon zest, orange zest, toasted coconut, cardamom, cinnamon, macha, curry, lavender, cocoa nibs, and possibly black pepper.

Open to more suggestions if anyone has any...




Thursday, August 22, 2013

Picnic at Hanging Rock.

So, you know that ultra-creepy movie from the mid-1970's called Picnic at Hanging Rock?

... There's an ultra-creepy movie from the mid-1970's called Picnic at Hanging Rock. It's Australian. It's directed by Peter Weir, who later went on to direct stuff like Witness and The Truman Show. But first he did weird, creepy, disturbing stuff in Australia.

Picnic is about a group of school girls who went on an outing and wound up getting... something. They disappeared or got killed or raped or sucked into a temporal displacement or something. One of their teachers disappeared, too.

Told you.
Creepy.

So when we found out there was a place titled Hanging Rock National Natural Landmark within two-hours' driving distance of our house, naturally my first instinct was:

Let's go on a picnic!!!

We loaded up our picnic basket with stuff to make ham & swiss sandwiches on sweet brioche with whole-grain mustard and those little individual bottles of wine that you don't have to bother resealing. Two flat stones provided natural benches on the banks of the Wabash River.

I really don't have much to add beyond that, except --

 It's pretty.

 Pretty.

  PRETTY.

Mmmm..... petroleum-based dessert at the summit of Hanging Rock....


 Next stop -- Blair Woods!!
 Who's with me?!?!


...Yeah; okay. That's understandable.

 


Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Peaches!!!

Peaches 25 - 36

We have a peach tree in our yard. 

Usually we manage to get about a dozen peaches in a year, if we're lucky.

And then, there's this year.

We haven't done a thing different.
Seriously. Not a thing.

This winter, a big wind storm blew a third of the thing down. The poor tree's been struggling since we bought this place, and we'd pretty much given the thing up for dead.  We've even considered cutting it down.

But...

This is the third dozen peaches we've harvested in three weeks. Not counting the ones stolen by birds and squirrels over the last month, or the dozens rotting on the ground. 

We've had parfaits and crumbles and just... sliced peaches, and I'm happily running out of ideas.

 Definitely pickling some of these babies.

Happy end of summer, peoples!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Spring!!

Happy Spring, Party People!!

I can't help noticing that my next-to-last entry in this blog is from about a year ago to the day.

And that it's about 35 degrees (fahrenheit) outside.

Nonetheless!

It is SPRING once again, and I am thrilled.

Pretty soon everything'll be twitterpated and abloomin'.

In celebration, here is this year's variant of eggs, peas, and mint:

Pea and mint puree on garlic-scrubbed crustini, drizzled with olive oil 
and accompanied by a soft-boiled egg.
In a Spring!!
Get it??

Wish I could say that presentation bit was on purpose. Matt didn't think of it until we were bouncing the things off the table after dinner. 

..What?

Anyhow: Holy fantastic WOW.

Freshness of the peas and mint melded perfectly with the richness of the egg.
Better than I could've ever hoped for. 

I have extra puree left; I think I'll use it as a pesto.

Oh! And:
I took some peas, I put in some mint, I drizzled in some olive oil and sprinkled in some salt and pepper, pureed and then adjusted to taste. That's it. No measuring or anything.