Let it be released from the mind

Monday, February 26, 2007

Diary of a Possessed Cook

Since being back from vacation, the cooking itch has finally settled in. And you know once you start to itch, you just keep scratching, even though it's painful and you know it will be worse later. (This has been happening as my body adjusts to the cold climate again as well and I find myself occasionally obsessively itching my legs like I have the pox or a bad heroine reaction).

This weekend hubby and I worked together to create some excellent ravioli--a play off of several recipes with the lead from Mario Batali. Taking 2 days worth of prep work (cutting and roasting the shallots, and preparing the pasta dough), it was mostly worth our efforts. Yes, lackluster response. I wish my pasta had been a bit more tender. It seemed strange from the beginning and much too tough. I wonder if the flour was a bit off, although it's not very old. It was an excellent learning experience as I've only cooked with radicchio and chestnuts once, and in separate dishes. I wish that my food processor had a bit more oomph to really process down the filling a bit more and make it a bit more creamy. It had a little too much texture to be completely perfect.

To make the recipe my own, I added a few more ingredients to the filling: white truffle oil for earthiness, prosciutto for salt, and a shallot for sweet sweet goodness. I went with the traditional browned butter and sage sauce, and that was appropriate. We have a nother meal waiting for us in the freezer, and it was fun (at least for me). I have plenty of chestnuts still remaining for another recipe, so I'll probably make a creamy soup. Other ideas?

Last night I was very pleased with my concoction of things in the fridge. It's hard for me to not rely on recipes when I prepare food in new ways. So, I spent an hour consulting my different cookbooks yesterday, but then just made something up on my own. I cut up a whole chicken into 4 parts and rubbed roasted garlic, rosemary, kosher salt and pepper under and over the skin. Then I seared it in a cast-iron with butter and olive oil. Sidebar: I can't believe how lame this is. After it was golden brown, I put the chicken aside and added prosciutto, wedges of vidalia onion, and sliced mushrooms to the skillet and cooked at high heat only for a few seconds and then doused with sherry---sizzle sizzle sizzle. Then I put the chicken back over top of that and baked for about 35 minutes. As someone annoying would say, "Yumm-o".

Uh--and sorry for the delay with the vacation posting. I should've worked on it yesterday, but I spent some quality time getting rid of some of the stuff on our Tivo. Hard work, but someone has to do it.

1 Comments:

At 9:29 AM, Blogger Chris said...

Word K. I loved the pictures - you have definitely given me the travel bug. Oh yes.

Nice work on the cooking. I have had many travails in the pasta world, but I've gotten more consistent of late. I find that it's key to not be set on using all of the flour you put out there. Too wet is better than too dry because you can add extra flour far more easily than you can add extra egg/oil/water or our liquid of choice. The filling sounds most excellent!

When I was in Bonn in December, at the Weinachtmarkt you could buy these paper cones full of roasted chestnuts. Very, very simple. The warmth and sweetness of the chestnuts coupled with a hot mug of gluhwein in the cold air was absolutely brilliant. Highly recommended. Look into roasting them (score the shells so they don't explode up in your grill piece), and make some gluhwein. Works best when it's cold out.

 

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