If Garlic is Love, then durian is...durian.
Squatting in the snow in my backyard, durian laid out in front of me on a pizza box, I tried to gather the courage to eat this mysterious and misunderstood fruit.
I saw it, frozen, at my local Oriental Mart. I was stunned. I'd heard of it before--on exotic travel and food shows--but thought it was only available in its native Asia, not my middling Midwest town. I had some cash in my pocket, and figured, for a little more than 5 bucks, I had little to lose.
I noted the packaging. Clear hard plastic case, shrinkwrapped in more plastic. Inside, two fruits were bound up in clear plastic wrap, like fat, cream-colored sausages.
I picked it out of the freezer case, tucked it under my arm, and did a little more shopping. After a while, I noticed a strange smell that seemed to be following me. You know how sometimes, if you have a dog, and the dog is laying down across the room, and all of a sudden, your'e on the couch and you get a whiff of dog fart out of nowhere?
A little like that.
I sniffed my hands. Amazingly, the durian smell had transferred through all three layers of plastic. It was faint, but distinct. And seemed to be getting stronger the more I focused on the scent.
The cashier at the counter wrapped the durian box in another plastic baggie. I smiled at her, and thanked her. I could still smell it as I put it into the trunk of my car. Four layers of plastic.
I thought of my friend Donna, a fearless, brilliant woman, who just had a milestone birthday. She wouldn't be afraid of a fruit. Even if it did grow looking like a big, spiky football that could kill you if it fell on you. I thought of all the other odd foods I'd tried--garlic and honey ice-cream, duck's blood soup, chocolate cheese.
I nearly threw the durian in the trash, unopened.
Now that I had direct experience with how fragrant the durian actually was, as soon as I got home, the whole package went directly into the snowbank in my backyard. We'd just gotten a good foot of snow, and the temperatures weren't getting anywhere near freezing, so it was the safest place for it. I had to shoo the dog away from it a couple times until more snow the following week buried it completely.
Just this week, we got a thaw. I looked out my window and saw the box, the pale yellow sausages staring at me. Taunting me.
There was no way I was tossing the durian, I decided, but no way I'd be eating it in the house. I scrounged in the kitchen for a plate I wouldn't mind getting rid of, a fork and a knife. I put my snow boots on and went into the backyard.
I held my breath, opened the layers of packaging. One, then two, then three, now slicing the end off the tube. I squatted down, dug out a hunk of creamy fruit, and chewed.
The taste was not nearly as strong as I thought it would be, considering the smell. Perhaps this was because it was still pretty cold, and the flavor was somewhat muted. It tasted like a very chewy cantaloupe, mixed in with a very runny and stinky goat cheese, with a little bit of onion character thrown in, especially on the aftertaste.
Even so, I only had one bite. I couldn't decide if I liked it or not, and I had absolutely no viable storage options for the rest of the fruit now that I'd opened it and the weather was warming up. So, still undecided, I closed the pizza box lid, and walked the whole thing across the backyard, to the garage, to the trash.
It would have been nice to figure out something else to do with the fruit, but small steps. I was proud that I'd tried it. The risk taker in me (such as she is) wins out again. And, if for a very short second, it was no longer winter in Michigan, but summer in Malaysia.
Now if I can just find a place nearby that serves Fugu.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
2009 culinary recap
I was so busy cooking in the last quarter of 2009, I had little time to blog. Here's a quick highlight of what I was up to between then and now:
* Hosted an epic Halloween party which included two types of punch (both with dry ice smoke), squid-ink pasta, roasted garlic with anchovy paste, and numerous other spooky bites.
* Wrote a 50,000 word novel in the month of November, using dining scenes for inspiration when I was stuck.
* Baked three different types of cookies, some chocolate chipotle brownies, cranberry sauces, green been casserole and saganaki (opa!).
* Got back on the scallops wagon six months after eating some bad ones while celebrating my 5th wedding anniversary.
* Improved my soup-fu (aka improv soup making).
* Made a halfway decent (and somewhat authentic) curry for the first time.
* Fell in love with saba nigiri (mackerel sushi).
* Re-created at home a roasted squash and bean hummus dip that I'd had at a fancy restaurant.
* Lost, then gained back, 4 pounds.
My food goals for 2010 are to:
* Consume wine or cheese older than I am
* Do another "Iron Chef" party with friends, but as a judge, not a competitor
* Master pastry crusts (I'm thinking just about the time that berries and peaches come into season).
* Eat more fish; get more creative with fish meals
* Have more fun with vegetarian food
* Find more fun and delicious local restaurants
* Enjoy food more; worry less
2010 should be a good food year.
* Hosted an epic Halloween party which included two types of punch (both with dry ice smoke), squid-ink pasta, roasted garlic with anchovy paste, and numerous other spooky bites.
* Wrote a 50,000 word novel in the month of November, using dining scenes for inspiration when I was stuck.
* Baked three different types of cookies, some chocolate chipotle brownies, cranberry sauces, green been casserole and saganaki (opa!).
* Got back on the scallops wagon six months after eating some bad ones while celebrating my 5th wedding anniversary.
* Improved my soup-fu (aka improv soup making).
* Made a halfway decent (and somewhat authentic) curry for the first time.
* Fell in love with saba nigiri (mackerel sushi).
* Re-created at home a roasted squash and bean hummus dip that I'd had at a fancy restaurant.
* Lost, then gained back, 4 pounds.
My food goals for 2010 are to:
* Consume wine or cheese older than I am
* Do another "Iron Chef" party with friends, but as a judge, not a competitor
* Master pastry crusts (I'm thinking just about the time that berries and peaches come into season).
* Eat more fish; get more creative with fish meals
* Have more fun with vegetarian food
* Find more fun and delicious local restaurants
* Enjoy food more; worry less
2010 should be a good food year.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Improv recipe: Roasted Curried Sweet Vegetables
This is not the healthiest dish out there, but it sure is tasty. You could probably tone down the amount of oil used, and omit the butter entirely, if you are trying to be a bit healthy. You can, of course, make things less spicy if you don't do well with heat. Make sure to taste the mixture to see if it's to your liking before you slather it on your veggies.
One last note: Unless you are an expert with a knife, do not attempt this recipe without a sharp vegetable peeler. Acorn squash are kind of a pain to peel. You can substitute a small butternut squash, which is a little bit easier to peel.
Roasted curried sweet vegetables
Serves 4 as a side dish
2 sweet potatoes
1 medium acorn squash
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup brown sugar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1-2 Tablespoons curry powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 cloves
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Peel vegetables, cut into 1 inch cubes. Combine the rest of the ingredients except for the butter. Taste mixture and adjust seasoning as necessary. Coat vegetables with mixture.
Put vegetables in large oven-safe dish or wide-lipped baking sheet. Dot with butter.
Cook for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, or until veggies are tender.
One last note: Unless you are an expert with a knife, do not attempt this recipe without a sharp vegetable peeler. Acorn squash are kind of a pain to peel. You can substitute a small butternut squash, which is a little bit easier to peel.
Roasted curried sweet vegetables
Serves 4 as a side dish
2 sweet potatoes
1 medium acorn squash
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup brown sugar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1-2 Tablespoons curry powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 cloves
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Peel vegetables, cut into 1 inch cubes. Combine the rest of the ingredients except for the butter. Taste mixture and adjust seasoning as necessary. Coat vegetables with mixture.
Put vegetables in large oven-safe dish or wide-lipped baking sheet. Dot with butter.
Cook for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, or until veggies are tender.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The Secret of Salads
I may have finally discovered the secret to salads.
But first, a little background.
My grandma J was the salad making expert of the family. Anytime we got together for the holidays, she'd bring a crisp, veggie-filled layered delight. Every bite seemed to be full of mushrooms, radish, tomato or bell pepper. And her salads rarely had cheese. Which makes it especially surprising that I loved them so much.
I thought I hadn't gotten the salad making gene from her, for all my salads tended to be lettuce-heavy and short on veggies. Any veggies I did add were chopped small and tended to sink to the bottom of the bowl.
Last night, while making a salad, I had an epiphany. I must give much of the credit to the ingredients I had on hand. The salad was to be the main course, so I had procured some end-of-summer tomatoes, thick chunks of fresh-boiled chicken, two types of nuts, homemade croutons, and goat cheese. It's kind of hard to go wrong when you start with good ingredients.
For all these years, I'd been chopping my veggies much too small. Sure, that's how my mom did it, but she always portioned the lettuce first into bowls, then sprinkled the veggies on top. Thus, no sinkage. But for salad in the big bowl, if the bites were larger, they rest much better on top of the lettuce.
Comparing this salad to others I'd made, I realized I had put a lot more non-lettuce ingredients into this one. Increasing the amount of other stuff in the salad made it tastier and more interesting.
I also needed to layer like a lasagna. So, a layer of lettuce, then a layer of each of the other ingredients, before I got back to the lettuce. For my normal salads, I had been putting a layer of lettuce between each other ingredient, which meant too much lettuce, not enough other stuff.
With those concepts in mind, I have created a simple salad formula. I'm confident this formula will help me remember what I've learned, so I can create successful salads in the future.
Secret of Salads
1. Start with flavorful ingredients. At least one of the ingredients should be nuts, cheese, dried fruit, bacon, or some other ingredient that packs a flavor punch.
2. Make the ratio of lettuce to other ingredients 1 to 1. e.g. make sure the amount of "guts" of the salad (meat, cheese, nuts, veggies) is at least as much as the lettuce.
3. Ingredients should be in large bite-sizes.
4. Layer like a lasagna.
Here's the salad I made using those rules.
Hearty Chicken Tomato Salad
1 bag pre-washed lettuce
2 cups chicken breast, pulled apart into large bite-sized chunks
1/4 cup nuts
1 cup cherry tomatoes, split in half
2 ounces goat cheese
Bacon Salt croutons (recipe follows)
Put a small layer of lettuce in the bottom of a large bowl. Sprinkle with half of chicken, tomatoes, nuts, croutons. Crumble half of goat cheese and sprinkle on top. Repeat, adding the rest of the lettuce and the rest of the other ingredients.
Serve with large salad tongs so you can get pieces of everything in the salad. Dressing is optional.
Bacon salt croutons
half a loaf of Italian or French bread
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons Bacon Salt (Click here to find Bacon Salt near you)
Slice bread crosswise. Cut into large bite-sized cubes.
Set bread aside and heat butter, olive oil, and bacon salt in a large skillet, over medium heat. Stir to combine.
Once butter is melted, add bread cubes. Stir, making sure that each bread cube gets a little bit of the bacon mixture soaked into it.
Stir frequently until cubes start to brown slightly. Remove from heat. Can store in an airtight container at room temperature for a day.
But first, a little background.
My grandma J was the salad making expert of the family. Anytime we got together for the holidays, she'd bring a crisp, veggie-filled layered delight. Every bite seemed to be full of mushrooms, radish, tomato or bell pepper. And her salads rarely had cheese. Which makes it especially surprising that I loved them so much.
I thought I hadn't gotten the salad making gene from her, for all my salads tended to be lettuce-heavy and short on veggies. Any veggies I did add were chopped small and tended to sink to the bottom of the bowl.
Last night, while making a salad, I had an epiphany. I must give much of the credit to the ingredients I had on hand. The salad was to be the main course, so I had procured some end-of-summer tomatoes, thick chunks of fresh-boiled chicken, two types of nuts, homemade croutons, and goat cheese. It's kind of hard to go wrong when you start with good ingredients.
For all these years, I'd been chopping my veggies much too small. Sure, that's how my mom did it, but she always portioned the lettuce first into bowls, then sprinkled the veggies on top. Thus, no sinkage. But for salad in the big bowl, if the bites were larger, they rest much better on top of the lettuce.
Comparing this salad to others I'd made, I realized I had put a lot more non-lettuce ingredients into this one. Increasing the amount of other stuff in the salad made it tastier and more interesting.
I also needed to layer like a lasagna. So, a layer of lettuce, then a layer of each of the other ingredients, before I got back to the lettuce. For my normal salads, I had been putting a layer of lettuce between each other ingredient, which meant too much lettuce, not enough other stuff.
With those concepts in mind, I have created a simple salad formula. I'm confident this formula will help me remember what I've learned, so I can create successful salads in the future.
Secret of Salads
1. Start with flavorful ingredients. At least one of the ingredients should be nuts, cheese, dried fruit, bacon, or some other ingredient that packs a flavor punch.
2. Make the ratio of lettuce to other ingredients 1 to 1. e.g. make sure the amount of "guts" of the salad (meat, cheese, nuts, veggies) is at least as much as the lettuce.
3. Ingredients should be in large bite-sizes.
4. Layer like a lasagna.
Here's the salad I made using those rules.
Hearty Chicken Tomato Salad
1 bag pre-washed lettuce
2 cups chicken breast, pulled apart into large bite-sized chunks
1/4 cup nuts
1 cup cherry tomatoes, split in half
2 ounces goat cheese
Bacon Salt croutons (recipe follows)
Put a small layer of lettuce in the bottom of a large bowl. Sprinkle with half of chicken, tomatoes, nuts, croutons. Crumble half of goat cheese and sprinkle on top. Repeat, adding the rest of the lettuce and the rest of the other ingredients.
Serve with large salad tongs so you can get pieces of everything in the salad. Dressing is optional.
Bacon salt croutons
half a loaf of Italian or French bread
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons Bacon Salt (Click here to find Bacon Salt near you)
Slice bread crosswise. Cut into large bite-sized cubes.
Set bread aside and heat butter, olive oil, and bacon salt in a large skillet, over medium heat. Stir to combine.
Once butter is melted, add bread cubes. Stir, making sure that each bread cube gets a little bit of the bacon mixture soaked into it.
Stir frequently until cubes start to brown slightly. Remove from heat. Can store in an airtight container at room temperature for a day.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
So long, CSA
Last Thursday was the final week of my CSA. I had the good fortune to be in a year-round CSA run by the local university. With hoophouses and cold storage, they provided veggies for every single week of the year, except the short breaks between semesters.
Although I loved getting a new treasure trove of goodies, I could not keep up. The demands of a full-time job, maintaining a household, and cooking with oodles of fresh veggies each and every week just became too much for me. So, with much sadness, I've given up the CSA for now.
The CSA was both liberating and constricting. On the one hand, I was preparing more veggies than I had in my life. On the other hand, I was locked in to cooking with the veggies for the week. If I wanted leeks, and there were no leeks, tough cookies.
Also, anytime we takeout or went out to dinner, that meant losing a day's worth of veggie cooking time.
I'll be taking many lessons from my time in the CSA and applying them to my everyday cooking. I have a lot of veggie recipes now, and I know how to cook veggies-and how I like them prepared-in a way I didn't just two years ago.
I may still participate in a smaller, growing-season-only share from May to October of next year. And there's always the farmer's market. One just opened within walking distance of me, which I can now take full advantage of. And, I may plant my veggie garden for the winter so I can harvest some carrots, parsnips, and leeks in the spring.
So long, monster cloves of garlic. Bye-bye, basil. Sayonara, random bitter Asian greens (and, no offense, but good riddance).
You are gone, but not forgotten.
Although I loved getting a new treasure trove of goodies, I could not keep up. The demands of a full-time job, maintaining a household, and cooking with oodles of fresh veggies each and every week just became too much for me. So, with much sadness, I've given up the CSA for now.
The CSA was both liberating and constricting. On the one hand, I was preparing more veggies than I had in my life. On the other hand, I was locked in to cooking with the veggies for the week. If I wanted leeks, and there were no leeks, tough cookies.
Also, anytime we takeout or went out to dinner, that meant losing a day's worth of veggie cooking time.
I'll be taking many lessons from my time in the CSA and applying them to my everyday cooking. I have a lot of veggie recipes now, and I know how to cook veggies-and how I like them prepared-in a way I didn't just two years ago.
I may still participate in a smaller, growing-season-only share from May to October of next year. And there's always the farmer's market. One just opened within walking distance of me, which I can now take full advantage of. And, I may plant my veggie garden for the winter so I can harvest some carrots, parsnips, and leeks in the spring.
So long, monster cloves of garlic. Bye-bye, basil. Sayonara, random bitter Asian greens (and, no offense, but good riddance).
You are gone, but not forgotten.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Epic win for appetizer party
A good friend invited me to a party she was hosting, and asked if I could bring some appetizers.
I generally don't do the cocktail-party style of appetizers. It's just so time-consuming to make dozens or hundreds of little bites and then, if you have done your job well, to see them disappear in a matter of minutes.
However, she asked so nicely, and I had by chance just picked up a new cookbook chock full of appetizers, so I was game.
I used two recipes from the book, and one I invented on the fly when I saw that the local grocery store had apricots on sale. The recipes were time-consuming, but very easy to do and very flavorful.
Almond-Stuffed Apricots
Makes about 20-24 appetizers. Can easily be doubled.
1 bag fresh apricots (about 10)
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 cup raw almonds (no skins)
2 fortune cookies (can substitute any kind of crunchy cookie here)
2 large pieces, or 2 small pieces, crystallized ginger
3 tablespoons amaretto
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Take butter out of fridge to soften.
Cut apricots in half, removing pits.
Toast almonds until lightly browned and fragrant.
Break open fortune cookies, remove paper.
Crush fortune cookies and almonds into medium-sized pieces.
Mince crystallized ginger into very small pieces.
Add amaretto and stir to moisten everything.
Add butter and brown sugar. Mash until butter is evenly mixed in and there are no huge chunks left.
Add a touch of salt to taste.
Oil a baking sheet.
Place apricots on baking sheet, skin side down.
Fill apricot halves with amaretto almond mixture.
Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.
Let cool slightly before serving.
Pesto Tomatoes
This is so simple, it's hardly a recipe. It scales up well, and can be made a day in advance. I made a pesto using garlic scapes (when they are in season) and almonds, but store bought pesto is fine here.
Cherry tomatoes
pesto (homemade or store bought)
Slice tops off of cherry tomatoes.
Scoop out seeds and flesh with a small spoon or melon baller.
Fill tomatoes with pesto.
Cheesy Quail Eggs
Adapted from a recipe in Appetizers, Finger Food, Buffets & Parties by Bridget Jones
Quail eggs taste just like regular eggs, but are adorably small. They are worth tracking down. Try an Oriental or Asian grocery store. Do not be scared off by the length of the recipe. These eggs are very easy to make, but they are a little time-consuming because there are a lot of steps involved. You’ll want to do a lot of steps in advance, and break up the cooking over two or three days.
2 dozen quail eggs
4 cups breadcrumbs
1 bag pre-shredded cheese (I used a mozzarella provolone blend)
1 leek
1 teaspoon powdered garlic
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 teaspoons mustard
½ teaspoon black pepper
Half a bunch of parsley
4 chicken eggs, separated like so:
4 egg yolks
2 egg whites
2 egg whites
¼ cup milk
¼ cup sesame seeds
bottle of neutral vegetable oil
20 basil leaves (optional)
In advance (a day or two before)
Boil and peel quail eggs
Add a splash of vinegar and a tablespoon of salt to a large pot of boiling water.
Gently lower half the quail eggs in and boil for 3 minutes.
Get rid of any eggs that immediately float to the surface—these eggs are bad.
Remove eggs to a colander, and repeat with the second batch. Let cool.
Crack bottoms of eggshells, then roll egg around on a clean counter to crack the rest of the shell.
Peel carefully starting at the bottom of the egg.
Rinse off in water to get rid of the last bits of shells. Set aside.
Make cheesy breading.
Take shredded cheese and, if it’s not super finely shredded, chop it up a little bit more on the cutting board.
Put cheese and breadcrumbs into a very large glass or metal bowl.
Chop white part of leek very finely and add it to bowl.
Chop and add parsley. Add mustard, salt and garlic salt. Add pepper.
Beat egg yolks and add to bowl. Stir until everything is well mixed.
In a separate bowl, beat 2 of the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Fold egg whites into breading mix, stirring well.
Let it rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour, or for up to two days.
To assemble eggs
Take a large handful of cheesy breading and squeeze it with your hands so it comes together into a ball.
Flatten to make a little hamburger-looking thing.
Place basil leaf on one side (optional) then place egg on top of leaf.
Carefully squish the breading around the egg, making sure there are no gaps. (You may need to grab a little bit more coating to fill in the gaps.)
Take the other two egg whites, and mix them with a little bit of water.
Get a small plate and put the sesame seeds on the plate. Add a little bit of salt and pepper to the sesame seeds.
Dip the breaded eggs into the egg whites, then into the sesame seeds.
When all eggs are coated, let them rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
To fry eggs
Fill a pan at least halfway full of neutral vegetable oil (canola, corn).
Heat oil on high for about 5 minutes, then turn the heat to low.
Fry eggs in small batches of no more than 3.
Turn eggs frequently while cooking.
When they look golden brown and delicious, remove them to a plate lined with paper towels to let them drain.
Wait at least an hour for them to cool.
Once they are cool, slice them in half and serve with mayonnaise or your favorite flavorful dipping sauce.
They are also pretty tasty by themselves without any dipping sauce.
I generally don't do the cocktail-party style of appetizers. It's just so time-consuming to make dozens or hundreds of little bites and then, if you have done your job well, to see them disappear in a matter of minutes.
However, she asked so nicely, and I had by chance just picked up a new cookbook chock full of appetizers, so I was game.
I used two recipes from the book, and one I invented on the fly when I saw that the local grocery store had apricots on sale. The recipes were time-consuming, but very easy to do and very flavorful.
Almond-Stuffed Apricots
Makes about 20-24 appetizers. Can easily be doubled.
1 bag fresh apricots (about 10)
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 cup raw almonds (no skins)
2 fortune cookies (can substitute any kind of crunchy cookie here)
2 large pieces, or 2 small pieces, crystallized ginger
3 tablespoons amaretto
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Take butter out of fridge to soften.
Cut apricots in half, removing pits.
Toast almonds until lightly browned and fragrant.
Break open fortune cookies, remove paper.
Crush fortune cookies and almonds into medium-sized pieces.
Mince crystallized ginger into very small pieces.
Add amaretto and stir to moisten everything.
Add butter and brown sugar. Mash until butter is evenly mixed in and there are no huge chunks left.
Add a touch of salt to taste.
Oil a baking sheet.
Place apricots on baking sheet, skin side down.
Fill apricot halves with amaretto almond mixture.
Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.
Let cool slightly before serving.
Pesto Tomatoes
This is so simple, it's hardly a recipe. It scales up well, and can be made a day in advance. I made a pesto using garlic scapes (when they are in season) and almonds, but store bought pesto is fine here.
Cherry tomatoes
pesto (homemade or store bought)
Slice tops off of cherry tomatoes.
Scoop out seeds and flesh with a small spoon or melon baller.
Fill tomatoes with pesto.
Cheesy Quail Eggs
Adapted from a recipe in Appetizers, Finger Food, Buffets & Parties by Bridget Jones
Quail eggs taste just like regular eggs, but are adorably small. They are worth tracking down. Try an Oriental or Asian grocery store. Do not be scared off by the length of the recipe. These eggs are very easy to make, but they are a little time-consuming because there are a lot of steps involved. You’ll want to do a lot of steps in advance, and break up the cooking over two or three days.
2 dozen quail eggs
4 cups breadcrumbs
1 bag pre-shredded cheese (I used a mozzarella provolone blend)
1 leek
1 teaspoon powdered garlic
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 teaspoons mustard
½ teaspoon black pepper
Half a bunch of parsley
4 chicken eggs, separated like so:
4 egg yolks
2 egg whites
2 egg whites
¼ cup milk
¼ cup sesame seeds
bottle of neutral vegetable oil
20 basil leaves (optional)
In advance (a day or two before)
Boil and peel quail eggs
Add a splash of vinegar and a tablespoon of salt to a large pot of boiling water.
Gently lower half the quail eggs in and boil for 3 minutes.
Get rid of any eggs that immediately float to the surface—these eggs are bad.
Remove eggs to a colander, and repeat with the second batch. Let cool.
Crack bottoms of eggshells, then roll egg around on a clean counter to crack the rest of the shell.
Peel carefully starting at the bottom of the egg.
Rinse off in water to get rid of the last bits of shells. Set aside.
Make cheesy breading.
Take shredded cheese and, if it’s not super finely shredded, chop it up a little bit more on the cutting board.
Put cheese and breadcrumbs into a very large glass or metal bowl.
Chop white part of leek very finely and add it to bowl.
Chop and add parsley. Add mustard, salt and garlic salt. Add pepper.
Beat egg yolks and add to bowl. Stir until everything is well mixed.
In a separate bowl, beat 2 of the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Fold egg whites into breading mix, stirring well.
Let it rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour, or for up to two days.
To assemble eggs
Take a large handful of cheesy breading and squeeze it with your hands so it comes together into a ball.
Flatten to make a little hamburger-looking thing.
Place basil leaf on one side (optional) then place egg on top of leaf.
Carefully squish the breading around the egg, making sure there are no gaps. (You may need to grab a little bit more coating to fill in the gaps.)
Take the other two egg whites, and mix them with a little bit of water.
Get a small plate and put the sesame seeds on the plate. Add a little bit of salt and pepper to the sesame seeds.
Dip the breaded eggs into the egg whites, then into the sesame seeds.
When all eggs are coated, let them rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
To fry eggs
Fill a pan at least halfway full of neutral vegetable oil (canola, corn).
Heat oil on high for about 5 minutes, then turn the heat to low.
Fry eggs in small batches of no more than 3.
Turn eggs frequently while cooking.
When they look golden brown and delicious, remove them to a plate lined with paper towels to let them drain.
Wait at least an hour for them to cool.
Once they are cool, slice them in half and serve with mayonnaise or your favorite flavorful dipping sauce.
They are also pretty tasty by themselves without any dipping sauce.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Ren Fest Fun
Went to my first Wisconsin Ren Faire yesterday. I've been to three others, two in Michigan, and have actually been going to Ren Fests since well before I could drive.
This one, the Bristol Renaissance Faire, was pretty nice. Most fests are the same, but with a few minor variations. This one was nice because there was more open space, so it felt less crowded. Also, flushable toilets, which was amazing. Anyone who says that flush toilets detracts from an authentic experience hasn't had to use a privy in a hoop skirt and a bocice.
But I digress.
The other interesting difference between my "home" fest and the Bristol Faire was the food. There were certainly some of the same items--giant turkey leg, soup in a bread bowl--but there were also a lot of different things on the WI menu.
Some of the standout foots of both fests:
Scotch Eggs: Take a hard-boiled egg. Cover it with tasty sausage sphere. Bread and deep-fry. Split in half and eat. Recommended limit is 1 per lifetime, or else you shortenn your life.
Sassafras: A root-beer like beverage. Soft drink with a nice herbal, complex flavor, somewhat licorice. Very thirst-quenching for those who don't drink beer.
Fried cheese balls: Cremy, gooey fried cheese.
The beer selection at the Bristol Faire was also much more comrepehensive than my home fair. At my home fair you can get Guinness, Harp, etc. At Bristol, I had a Newcastle, a Hacker Pschorr, a Leinenkugel's, and a cider. They had two types of cider so I can't remember which it was. My home fair's selection is a touch more limited, and it's the same beer pretty much on any tap you go to. At Bristol, you've got to hunt around for the keg you want.
I'm sure I'm suffering a bit from the "Grass is Greener" syndrome, where my faire is routine to me, and this was new, therefore better. But I think there were some key places that Bristol shines through. I'll never give up my home faire, but I may be getting to Bristol once a year from now on, too.
This one, the Bristol Renaissance Faire, was pretty nice. Most fests are the same, but with a few minor variations. This one was nice because there was more open space, so it felt less crowded. Also, flushable toilets, which was amazing. Anyone who says that flush toilets detracts from an authentic experience hasn't had to use a privy in a hoop skirt and a bocice.
But I digress.
The other interesting difference between my "home" fest and the Bristol Faire was the food. There were certainly some of the same items--giant turkey leg, soup in a bread bowl--but there were also a lot of different things on the WI menu.
| Michigan | Wisconsin |
| Chili Dogs | Brats |
| Scotch Eggs | Cornish Pasties |
| Suffed, battered mushrooms | Grilled, Marinated mushrooms |
| Hummus and Pita | Butterfly Potato chip |
| Cheese sticks with marinara sauce | Fried cheese balls with mustard mayo and BBQ sauces |
| Root Beer Float | Sassafras |
Some of the standout foots of both fests:
Scotch Eggs: Take a hard-boiled egg. Cover it with tasty sausage sphere. Bread and deep-fry. Split in half and eat. Recommended limit is 1 per lifetime, or else you shortenn your life.
Sassafras: A root-beer like beverage. Soft drink with a nice herbal, complex flavor, somewhat licorice. Very thirst-quenching for those who don't drink beer.
Fried cheese balls: Cremy, gooey fried cheese.
The beer selection at the Bristol Faire was also much more comrepehensive than my home fair. At my home fair you can get Guinness, Harp, etc. At Bristol, I had a Newcastle, a Hacker Pschorr, a Leinenkugel's, and a cider. They had two types of cider so I can't remember which it was. My home fair's selection is a touch more limited, and it's the same beer pretty much on any tap you go to. At Bristol, you've got to hunt around for the keg you want.
I'm sure I'm suffering a bit from the "Grass is Greener" syndrome, where my faire is routine to me, and this was new, therefore better. But I think there were some key places that Bristol shines through. I'll never give up my home faire, but I may be getting to Bristol once a year from now on, too.
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