On the pleasures of pate

I just rushed to the store 10 minutes before closing in search of pate. Thank goodness they had some. Nothing beats that amazing jellied layer on top mixed with the rich delicious soft treasure that lies beneath. Being me is sort of like being pregnant all the time, without the reproduction part. Those who know me well, know better than to get between me and whatever food craving I happen to be having at the moment. They also know to trust my sometimes adventurous concoctions (I don’t do recipes) despite outward appearances and instincts to the contrary. I am grateful for this, it’s like self-administered culinary group-therapy. A wonderful primal way to channel creativity, excess stress and love. I’m a lucky girl.

Forced creativity

It seems I always come up with better dishes when I force myself to work with what I’ve got lying around the house instead of running to the store. Limitations seem to sharpen my creativity. Inevitably potent ingredients that I bought months ago, like shrimp paste or fenugreek or anchovies are called upon. What comes out is more surprising and (usually) more pleasurable than the predictable patterns of cooking I tend to fall into when I have a blank slate. Both from the standpoint of eating, and preparing the food.

So I’ve been purposefully creating this situation for myself. Most recently it gave birth to some fairly tasty ravioli. I’d bought a large bag of semolina a while back for a bread recipe, it’s been taking up space on my counter ever since, and I’d just finished reading the ricotta article on Bittman’s blog and was looking for an excuse to make some.

For the filling, I ended up sauteing some onions and garlic and minced carrots along with some chicken breast, and finely diced some pepper-coated salami for extra punch, threw all of this in my food processor and then folded it into the fresh ricotta with a good helping of parmesan.

Sorry for the awful photo, messy hands.

The ravioli turned out very tasty, but a bit too thick (or ‘rustic’ as I prefer to call them). Next time I’ll use more regular flour and less semolina to make the dough a bit more delicate. I don’t have a fancy pasta attachment for my kitchenaid, and ended up rolling it out by hand which may have had something to do with the flawed texture as well.

I threw together what was supposed to be simplified tomato sauce, but ended up adding anchovies, as well as some breadcrumbs because it just tasted too watery. It turned out great, and worked pretty well with the ravioli, though butter, sage and parmesan would have been more appropriate perhaps.

There were 4-5 raviolis left over that I reheated in some beef broth the next day for lunch, and they turned out much better, less tough.

I was shot in San Francisco

Ah, what lovely round hills you have… what wonderful farmer’s markets… what singularly wacky, fascinating, witty people… sigh.

I’ve been shot through the heart, with an arrow, of love. Also, I’ve been shot with a camera, by my editor/producer/dictator, Chris. We filmed material for 2-3 more episodes which are now in post-production, so I’m told. We recorded shows for Banitza and Apple Leek Risotto with Shrimp. Looking forward to showing those to you as soon as Chris is finished making me look like I know what I’m doing. It may take a while.

We also made Paella and bunches of Hummus. I gorged on savory crepes which were surprisingly abundant, as well as delicious Indonesian lemongrass noodles, and beautiful home-made Indian ice cream.

I’ve been in love since we visited San Francisco this past May, and I’ve been bravely resisting the urge to drop everything and just move. We were there for a week, longer than previous visits, and had the chance to really experience the life, meaning excellent food, beautiful sights, stimulating conversation. Also… steep hills and carrying groceries home by hand which has a firming effect on the legs and posterior. Built-in exercise, granting the ability to eat more - yet another thing to recommend this city.

Yay! Updates!

After a long-ish hiatus, I’m finally getting around to doing a few updates.

Coming soon: Chicken & Chorizo Paella, various Hummusses (Hummusi?), Apple & Leek Risotto, and funny-but-true stories of our San Francisco Shoot. (I promise).

Really Cool Knives

I ran across this article in Gourmet magazine about this Ohio-based knife factory where they still make their knives by hand. The Warther Carving Museum and Knife Factory. I had to take a look because I have an unhealthy love of cutlery, and I have to say, they are beautiful. What really blows my mind is that you can get a set of hand-made knives like these for much cheaper than your run of the mill Henckels or Shun or whatever your blades of choice. Take a look for yourself.

What is Umami?

When you eat something and it feels and tastes rich and luscious and you sort of want to swirl your tongue along the roof of your mouth to get the full intensity of the flavor, that’s umami. Umami is the fifth taste, it’s less obvious and more difficult to capture than the other four. Foods rich in umami have a satisfying, almost addictive quality, foods lacking it taste watery, thin. When you are cooking something and you find that something is missing, but you can’t quite put your finger on what, likely you’re missing some umami. A bit of parmesan, some ground up anchovies, some tomato paste or a dash of soy sauce - depending on which cuisine you’re dealing with - will usually do the trick. Continue reading »

I like bowls.

They’re the best way to serve things, because you don’t really need a table to eat from a bowl, the bowl, by it’s nature, contains whatever is in it much more effectively than a plate, so even if you’re eating sitting on the rug with the bowl in your lap, you’re good to go. The bowl radiates warmth and naturally wafts the aroma of the food up towards your face, drawing you in. You can hug a bowl, the way Pooh hugs his pot of honey, which is a comforting thing.