Stuff and such
Jan. 12th, 2011 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamflowerWell, my internet is not entirely cured, but it's much better today. The Cable Guy did some kind of speed test on my connection, and so it's working faster, and I'm able to navigate better. But he said it may still go out in the evenings when the temps drop (along with our upper TV channels and our phone) until they can get an outside crew to our neighborhood to do something to the box, which is apparently getting too MUCH signal for some reason, messing everyone up around here.
I'm off work today and tomorrow, but the DH is working, won't be home till after 1AM. The house is very quiet with him gone, except for the furnace popping and snapping. I've done some writing and knitting today, and uploaded some new fanfic onto my Nook.
The other day, I heard an interview on public radio with the editor of the new Essential New York Times Cookbook and she was talking about it covering 150 years of recipes. I found it at the library shortly afterwards, and have been enjoying reading it. I tried my first recipe out of it...
The recipe in the book is Cauliflower Soup with Cremini Mushrooms and Walnut Oil. My version is "Cauliflower Soup with Baby Portabella Mushrooms and No Walnut Oil", because that's the kind of mushrooms I had, and I don't have any walnut oil.
Here's the recipe, with my adjustments in parentheses:
1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ pound cremini mushrooms trimmed and cut into ½ pieces
(I substituted baby ‘bellas, pre-sliced, because that’s what I had)
Sea salt
1 clove garlic, mashed and chopped
1 ¼ pounds cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
(I didn’t weigh it—I used one pretty good sized head of cauliflower, and it probably did weigh approximately that much.)
5 cups water
(I had a partial can of low-sodium chicken broth that I did not want to waste, so I had ¾ cup of chicken broth and 4 ¼ cups of water.)
1/4 cup heavy cream
(I used my usual substitute for that: fat-free evaporated milk. I almost always have it on hand, and there are a lot less calories.)
Freshly ground black pepper
About 3 tablespoons walnut oil
(As I said, I don’t have any, so I just used a little more EVOO.)
1. Place a large casserole over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and heat until it shimmers, then add the mushrooms. Season with salt and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
2. Add the cauliflower and water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the cauliflower is tender, 5 to 7 minutes. (I simmered mine about 10 minutes, as I was baking a batch of garlic-cheese biscuits to go with it, and that’s how long they needed to bake.) Working in batches, use a blender or food processor to pureé the soup until it’s very smooth. (I took out a few of the florets and some of the mushrooms before pureeing, as I like to have a few chunks in the soup. I stirred them back in after everything else was blenderized.) Return the soup to the pot and place over medium heat. Stir in the cream (Or evaporated milk), adjust the salt and season with pepper.
This stuff was delicious, especially with those biscuits! I'm going to see if I can find the walnut oil in the supermarket here, so I can see how much difference that makes. There are a few other recipes I want to try as well-- especially a couple more soup ones. But I have not even gotten a quarter of the way through this book--it's the size of a dictionary! So I'm sure I will need to re-check!
I'm going to reheat some leftover baked chicken and half a leftover baked potato with a salad for my supper tonight.
So, anyway, that's what's up!
I'm off work today and tomorrow, but the DH is working, won't be home till after 1AM. The house is very quiet with him gone, except for the furnace popping and snapping. I've done some writing and knitting today, and uploaded some new fanfic onto my Nook.
The other day, I heard an interview on public radio with the editor of the new Essential New York Times Cookbook and she was talking about it covering 150 years of recipes. I found it at the library shortly afterwards, and have been enjoying reading it. I tried my first recipe out of it...
The recipe in the book is Cauliflower Soup with Cremini Mushrooms and Walnut Oil. My version is "Cauliflower Soup with Baby Portabella Mushrooms and No Walnut Oil", because that's the kind of mushrooms I had, and I don't have any walnut oil.
Here's the recipe, with my adjustments in parentheses:
1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ pound cremini mushrooms trimmed and cut into ½ pieces
(I substituted baby ‘bellas, pre-sliced, because that’s what I had)
Sea salt
1 clove garlic, mashed and chopped
1 ¼ pounds cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
(I didn’t weigh it—I used one pretty good sized head of cauliflower, and it probably did weigh approximately that much.)
5 cups water
(I had a partial can of low-sodium chicken broth that I did not want to waste, so I had ¾ cup of chicken broth and 4 ¼ cups of water.)
1/4 cup heavy cream
(I used my usual substitute for that: fat-free evaporated milk. I almost always have it on hand, and there are a lot less calories.)
Freshly ground black pepper
About 3 tablespoons walnut oil
(As I said, I don’t have any, so I just used a little more EVOO.)
1. Place a large casserole over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and heat until it shimmers, then add the mushrooms. Season with salt and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
2. Add the cauliflower and water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the cauliflower is tender, 5 to 7 minutes. (I simmered mine about 10 minutes, as I was baking a batch of garlic-cheese biscuits to go with it, and that’s how long they needed to bake.) Working in batches, use a blender or food processor to pureé the soup until it’s very smooth. (I took out a few of the florets and some of the mushrooms before pureeing, as I like to have a few chunks in the soup. I stirred them back in after everything else was blenderized.) Return the soup to the pot and place over medium heat. Stir in the cream (Or evaporated milk), adjust the salt and season with pepper.
This stuff was delicious, especially with those biscuits! I'm going to see if I can find the walnut oil in the supermarket here, so I can see how much difference that makes. There are a few other recipes I want to try as well-- especially a couple more soup ones. But I have not even gotten a quarter of the way through this book--it's the size of a dictionary! So I'm sure I will need to re-check!
I'm going to reheat some leftover baked chicken and half a leftover baked potato with a salad for my supper tonight.
So, anyway, that's what's up!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 12:19 am (UTC)Yum, chicken, potatoes, and salad. I could eat that nearly every day.
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Date: 2011-01-13 12:41 am (UTC)I don't know about EVERY day, but I could eat it a lot...
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Date: 2011-01-13 12:26 am (UTC)Not a huge fan of cauliflower, or mushrooms (though I'm starting to appreciate the blander ones as a filler) but I've been on a huge cooking (and soup) kick myself. And chocolate. Last night I spent about 4 hours just chopping the stuff to make this soup: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/green-soup-with-ginger-recipe.html (with modifications), and then made some couscous on the side and then (because such a grand meal calls for a dessert, and as I said above, chocolate) tried out the chocolate feather steam puddings in my Joy of Cooking. The method for the individual puddings was super easy, so I'm going to see if I can't weasel out a Shire-appropriate variation, possibly using Mrs. Beeton (who does have a recipe for individual apple puddings). There is just something inherently comforting about a steam pudding, in a way that dry cakes aren't. But first I have to actually sit down and test-kitchen the recipes for my Yule fic.
Anyway, I recommend the soup I linked above, and it survived well under my tweaks (though I was really upset to find out that I accidentally threw out my fresh ginger and had to substitute dried!).
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Date: 2011-01-13 12:43 am (UTC)(And I'm sure I'll be around unless my 'net conks out!)
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Date: 2011-01-13 03:41 am (UTC)and wriggling) but that recipe actually looks very promising! :) Yum, biscuits!no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 03:24 pm (UTC)And garlic/cheese biscuits are yum!
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Date: 2011-01-13 08:10 am (UTC)*hugs*
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Date: 2011-01-13 03:31 pm (UTC)It's funny, cauliflower is one of those veggies I didn't like growing up, but like a lot now.
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Date: 2011-01-13 08:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 03:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 12:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 03:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 12:59 pm (UTC)My daughter would probably love that soup... she's a huge cooked cauliflower fan. Me... not so much, I'm afraid.
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Date: 2011-01-13 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 03:00 pm (UTC)That recipe sounds absolutely delicious!
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Date: 2011-01-13 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 03:05 pm (UTC)*Oddly, my spawn don't care for mushrooms. My son calls them "fruit of Morgoth." :^D
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Date: 2011-01-13 03:55 pm (UTC)Clearly your spawn are not hobbits!
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Date: 2011-01-13 04:04 pm (UTC)When I pointed out Tolkien's extended writings on the Woses in the Peoples of Middle-earth to Rampaging Frodo, he took it as justification for not eating mushrooms. Tolkien wrote something to the effect that the Edain and the Eldar both eschewed mushrooms, and that the latter race in particular associated them with Morgoth. I contended this was ridiculous and so much superstitious nonsense to Rampaging Frodo, who took a hard line with these noodlings of JRRT as "canon." This triggered one of the most geekly arguments you can imagine! :^D Btw, Rampaging Frodo will be attending the con with me. Hee!
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Date: 2011-01-13 09:12 pm (UTC)And I do think that soup would be good for dropping pounds!
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Date: 2011-01-13 06:07 pm (UTC)That soup sounds very rich and nourishing. And goodness, I'd love to have one of your biscuits.
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Date: 2011-01-13 09:14 pm (UTC)It's quite yummy! The biscuits were ordinary Bisquik biscuits, with about a half cup of grated cheddar and about a teaspoon of minced garlic stirred in. Do they ever smell wonderful while baking!