Shrimp Florentine over fried polenta for dinner.
Made two batches of bread, one worked well and one didn’t. The sourdough was very slow and stayed flat in the cloche. The medium long ferment white bread did better, but I had to retard one loaf and it too, did not spring as much as I would prefer.
Building an entrement of almond pear cake, caramel creamaux, vanilla mousse and caramel galcage, just to keep my hand in. And it gave me the excuse of buying a proper entrement ring. The mousse goes on tomorrow morning, then the glaze in the afternoon. It’s really different making one at a time instead of dozens.
I got the vanilla beans from a company called native vanilla-they smell great, are plump and juicy, and were very well priced-I recommend the company.
We still haven’t been out to eat or gotten take out (since March 19, 2020!) and tonight I successfully recreated one of our favorite dishes from the local Italian joint: dirty pasta and peas.
Made a super simple Alfredo sauce in our heavy Dutch oven by melting 6 T butter, tossing in some ( about 1.5C total) frozen peas and frozen peppers, and then when the pasta was done boiling, adding that and some (about 1C) cream (we had half and half, so I used that, with a little flour to thicken). Tossed everything for a few minutes to thicken, then added shredded Parmesan cheese (1 C). The crowning bit was adding a chopped grilled sausage link, then tossing it all together and topping with a bit more shredded Parmesan.
It was even better than I remember the restaurant version. And I’m so sleepy now…
food coma.
Heh, this comic is perfect (and no, I’m not strictly vegan).
i’m not vegan either but i have a dozen or more vegan recipes i cook every now and then because i’m a fan of tofu.
Spot on (also not vegan, obviously). A friend of mine in the building science world has developed a really cool presentation kind of around this. We always talk about the built environment and energy usage and health impacts of indoor environments, and more recently there’s been a larger stage to extend the energy conversation out to water. And she took it a step farther by talking about food, and how the food choices we make effect the very same energy and water resources we claim to care so much about, being in this field. (She has a funny bit where she talks about, if you have teenagers in the home and you complain about their long showers and wasting water, how much water could be saved by eating one less hamburger that week.)
Long way around to say, the audience comments are very similar to this comic and to the “outraged ranchers” from the epicurious story above.
Lately I have been adding Hainanese Chicken and Rice to the weekly menu at the Mangochin household.
It looks like it should be bland and boring, but is surprisingly flavorful and crazy simple to make. The big part is the rice is cooked in the broth that the chicken was poached in.
Stock photo, not my work
That looks like a delicious spread! Yum!
The word “toothsome” comes to mind.
Far better looking than my lackadaisical plating skills could ever muster. But I have those small plastic soup bowls at home.
Just looking at the main course, I would never have ordered it in a restaurant or made at home, because it looked lifeless and drained of color. But then I tried it at a friend’s suggestion and then learned how to do it at home. I was surprised how easily the online recipe replicated restaurant version. Even the sauces.
So much this. When I was strict vegan (and even lacto ovo vegetarian for most of my adult life) I would never admit it at a public meal as I would be browbeaten and grilled and forced to defend myself and “listen I just want to eat and I don’t want to hear what you think about food” after half an hour of me saying nothing is me being rude.
So fucking annoying. I sometimes cook for large groups of people and I cook vegan, halal, gluten free, etc. and you can eat it or complain about the lack of meat
People are so weird about other people’s food choices! A good friend has Celiac disease, and people are always trying to get her to eat stuff that will make her really sick. It’s frustrating.
I found this bittersweet tomato jam recipe. I tried to do it, but it looks more like ketchup. I think in fact, ketchup is a kind of jam…
Yum! And agreed, I never really thought of it before, but since tomatoes are botanically fruit, ketchup is technically jam. 
Is it jam if you’re not adding or extracting any pectin?
Tomatoes have quite a lot of pectin. But I don’t think pectin is what thickens ketchup, I think that’s mostly tomato pulp and reduction. And ketchup is descended from thinner sauces similar to Worcestershire.
It does have a lot of sugar and acid in it, which are the two things you need to make pectin gel. Most packaged ketchup uses concentrate or paste, I dunno how much pectin is left after the process to make that.
I have made tomato jams before and they kick the shit out of ketchup. There’s a similarity there, but the texture is a lot firmer and more gelled. And the flavor is a lot more intense. Though I’ve usually made tomato onion jam with a shit ton of caramelized onions in it.
Wow! That looks real good. Thanks!
Thanks. Obrigado.
As Ryuthrowsstuff rightly said, tomato jam is far superior to ordinary ketchup. At first, I thought it looked/tasted like the condiment that we find in supermarkets, but it really tastes more striking.
Now I need to find something to eat with this jam. The recipe said to serve with breaded cheese.
It’s good spread on cheese. Or used as a sauce anywhere you might put anything tomatoey. I’ve put it on tacos, fish, steak. Used it in place of mint jelly with Lamb. It is excellent spread on a burger, hot dog. Or sandwich of any kind.
It’s also (like a lot of jams), a pretty damn good go to base for stuff. A couple tablespoons tossed with some pasta water and al dente pasta in a pan (while the pasta finishes cooking) makes a very good, quick pasta sauce. Especially if you sauté some garlic and anchovies first, and finish with a pat of butter.
You can cook down a bit when you’re browning or sweating aromatics and veg for most braises and stews. Basically use it like tomato paste that doesn’t suck.
You can use small amounts of it to flavor vinaigrettes. Or stir it into sour cream or yogurt for a dip/sauce.
Thank you!
