Well, I tried. I gave it my all. I even used two different recipes: One for a no-knead sourdough (Figured I couldn't mess that one up...right...), and one for a traditional kneaded sourdough. Despite the fact that this is loaf-ish thing is obviously burned (why do I keep burning … [Read more...] about Sourdough Disaster and Killing Little Bettie Sue Rice Culture Watson
Patience and Ginger Confit, Part 4
Finally, after 5 days the ginger is ready to be canned. Sterilize the jars, keep them pristine -- no fingers since you are a mold that will contaminate them -- and fill them with the ginger in its syrup which has been drained and brought to a boil one last time. No cold liquid … [Read more...] about Patience and Ginger Confit, Part 4
Patience and Ginger Confit, Part 3
It's two days later and now I drain the syrup again into a saucepan. I bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to medium for 8 minutes, then pour it back over the half-confit-ed ginger in the bowl. Cover it. Wait 2 more days. More sleeping. More praying my kitchen isn't too cold and … [Read more...] about Patience and Ginger Confit, Part 3
Patience and Ginger Confit, Part 2
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of sleep later, I drained the sugar/water from the ginger into a saucepan and brought it to a boil. Reduced the heat to medium to simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. then I poured the syrup (it's almost syrup now) back on top of the ginger … [Read more...] about Patience and Ginger Confit, Part 2
Patience and Ginger Confit
Wines can take years to make and mature. Alcohol can take months to infuse. Pickles can take weeks to soften in brine... ...so 5 days for ginger confit should be nothing. It should be like getting to the end of one breath and instead of getting bored and moving on to your next … [Read more...] about Patience and Ginger Confit
Balance and Seaweed Salad
I ate this over the course of three days and not on one day did I remember to take a picture. Well, the seaweed is long, wide, flat, green and slimy -- kind of like "not my tagliatelle noodles" pictured above -- except my green guy looked like a forest and weren't so perfect. … [Read more...] about Balance and Seaweed Salad
Pauper’s “Raw” Sun-dried Tomato Pesto and Life-Lemon Juice at Chez Snips, Part 2
I ran out of lemon juice, but I doubt that jives metaphorically with life not giving me lemons anymore. My point is that there was plenty of "life-giving-me-lemon"-juice left over after I made a pound and a half of roasted jerusalem artichokes, and plenty of free time. What do … [Read more...] about Pauper’s “Raw” Sun-dried Tomato Pesto and Life-Lemon Juice at Chez Snips, Part 2
When Life Gives You Lemons You Roast Jerusalem Artichokes (Part 1)…
...Or maybe that's just me. The thing is, I love lemons, but if they were all life gave me, I'd be a well-fed, yet unhappy person. Until today I'd had four beautiful items sitting in my kitchen waiting to be cooked and no time in which to cook (or 'un-cook') them. So when life … [Read more...] about When Life Gives You Lemons You Roast Jerusalem Artichokes (Part 1)…
Lemon and Thyme Roasted Fennel: “How Did I Get So?”
Dear Fennel, I feel as though a beautiful song by Ingrid Gatin aptly reflects how I feel about our relationship. Please watch this video before reading the rest of my letter: "Time swelled the moment that we started"...I washed you and cored you carefully, then thinly sliced … [Read more...] about Lemon and Thyme Roasted Fennel: “How Did I Get So?”
One Love Fennel: Roasted Pasta Sauce or Ragout
I went to my fruit guy in Jean-Talon, Leopoldo. He doesn't do local. Neither did he have ataulfo mangoes (though he did the next week), and I knew the white peach and white nectarine seasons were over, so why did I go back to him? Because that's my Sunday. He makes my Sunday a … [Read more...] about One Love Fennel: Roasted Pasta Sauce or Ragout