Chicken + Eggplant Parm

Chicken Parm, Eggplant Parm - served over spaghetti = very very very full. (sorry no pics was too hungry and it got devoured by all). The eggplant were small round disc's and soo good.

Food Porn

So I read an article the other day
http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/at-on/at-on-the-lost-art-of-cookingmichael-pollan-in-the-new-york-times-7292009-091911

which said we are all watching *more* food shows/etc but actually cooking less. I blame Food Porn (thanks for the image Anthony Bourdain). We all love food porn in all its various forms. Talking about it (the chocolate was molten and oozed from the cookies), watching it (10,000 cooking programs are proof of that), as well as flipping through it (cookbooks? - how many have a collection of these). Something about the primal language of the body speaks to the eye candy of food products. We even participate in food porn when we go out to eat - but like all porn its so much more fun when we don't have to make it ourselves. I think the work involved in creating your own foods speaks to other things within us, but takes away from the insta-gratification/illusion that is food porn. Good thing cooking/baking is just as primal :)

CSA Weekly Haul

So today is CSA (community supported agriculture) day. Which means - we have received our tote of fresh from the farm veggies for the week. Today's haul:
Carrots (a load of really yummy sweet covered in dirt carrots)
Sweet corn
Tomatoes (the first of the season)
Eggplants
Kholrabi
Green beans
Cabbage
Beets
Zucchini
Squash
Poblano Peppers
Cucumbers

Find your own CSA at: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/


So...Who's *YOUR* farmer???

Fish pie

MMMMmmmmm fish pie - think shepard's pie but with fish and white sauce - so good - hearty/filling - you can just picture a fisherman sloughing off wet things and cozy'ing up to a fire place with a bowl of this. Too good.

Trials and tribulations

One of the constant struggles of daily life is "what to have for dinner?????" It becomes a rifling of cookbook piles and freezer/fridge findings amongst other things. (Can you tell what time of day it is in the house?) Today I am leaning towards something with chicken in the chinese/thai land of flavours. We shall see what I end up with.
now...back to the recipe hunt

and after all that - ended up with decidedly not asian at all - English fish pie from my aunt :) nummy

Cookbook overload

So I suffer (or relish in) cookbook overload. I *may* have one or two or 100 'ish. (for complete listing visit my other addiction - Librarything.com and view my books: user:evedeve)

Now these books range from the little supermarket grabs to the poshy ones to the beat up, found in the back bin of a used book store, splattered and dogeared books. There are recipe cards, and books and now the websites (like recipezaar) all tempting me and taunting me. Even the motion picture world seems to have jumped on the bandwagon (that new Julia/Julie movie). Those are just the recipe books - there are even more when you delve into "regular reading" such as mysteries (with recipes!) and gastronomy books etc. Even the travel books give me a bug (usually for breads and hearty soups and teas).

I am trying to make some sense of my culinary ramblings as they cross all food groups, all meals, all regions of the world and some even pop outta my head like mad little things. So if I falter or don't list where I found it or what I did - let me know to keep me focused.

There will be ......pictures

Eventually - they are taken - just need to find the cord....where is the cord!?!

(by this I am of course referring to the pesky little cord that should run between the camara and the comp and has been AWOL for some time now *sigh*)

Mac N Cheese

Lunch:Pot o mac n cheese with dogs
Yes yes a tried and true old time yummy staple of the world - mac and cheese - from scratch (rue to cheese sauce (in this case mexican mix + cream cheese) mixed up with noodles. For a different twist added Tony Packo's Hungarian hot dogs (which are closer to a kelbasa) oh num - must do this again in fall/winter.

Zucchini Ripieni

Mid-summer brings with it an ever increasing amount of lovely veg. and finding ways to use it sends me scurrying to my cookbooks, websites and friends. I found this zucchini recipe on Recipezaar, and was surprised at how wonderfully savoury it is. This was dinner.

In a nut shell - blanch your zucch's whole then slice them in half (lengthwise) and scoop out all the guts making little boats. Now at this time you are *not* to set them adrift in your sink or soup pot, rather you fill them with a lovely stuffing (fresh herbs (basil/parsley), breadcrumbs, eggs, ham (or meat of choice) the guts of the boats, and cheese). You can never go wrong with cheese. Add a rue to the mix and then load up your boats - sprinkle with cheese bake at 350 til yum. (I did end up using rather more breadcrumbs as it was quite soupy to begin with)
Actual recipe is here:
http://www.recipezaar.com/Stuffed-Zucchini-Zucchini-Ripieni-258337

The filling makes overflowing boats. The savoury stuffing with the ham makes a wonderful blend - the zucchini ends up sweet almost apple-like in flavor and soft with a firm texture to the shell. The stuffing is a mix of flavours with the ham foremost but backed by herbs and nutmeg hints. My mouth is happy.

I imagine this would make wonderful filling for acorn squash boats (oh pretty) and other various gourds. Hmm...perhaps a variation in a pumpkin.

Intoxication

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.
Harriet Van Horne

Wild abandon tastes so good!

Food and the making of it is what we do to show our love - our love of food, of those we feed, of ourselves, of recipes and creating, and most of all of kitchen gadgetry and gastronomy!