Catching Up
It's been a busy few days. Lots of tedious, unrewarding, time consuming work at the office. I tell myself I'm getting it out of the way before classes start back up a week from today and the 80 hour weeks resume. It's been a good recess.
Sunday I wrote a recipe blog and didn't post it. Second time this week an entry has been written but finding time to post and proof held it up. I mixed Sunday's left over pasta and sauce for dinner tonight, and it reheats very nicely. Wish I had a lot more. Sunday I was working on some other projects, including prepping crock pot ingredients for Monday morning. Worked out well, giving me a home cooked meal after thirteen unexhilarating hours in the office. Easier, but not so tasty as my Sunday creation. I wonder if I tried using my own seasonings...
While I was cooking and such this weekend I was doing homework. I read most of Romeo And Juliet aloud on Saturday, and Sunday all of Richard III. Tonight the first half of Julius Caesar. I'm on track to finish that and Othello well before class starts. Just got an E-mail from our voice instructors, and I'm to read The Tempest too. Damn good thing for maybe the first time in my life I was actually ahead of schedule on homework.
So, the rest is what I wrote on Sunday. Making this timeline something like Memento, sans the great plot, suspense, and dead people.
---- Sunday ----
Mmm. I got a wild hair yesterday and bought some produce and beef with an eye towards making a pasta dish, with the little shell pasta. It came out a little different, but lots tastier than I'd initially envisioned. Most everything in my kitchen is different from an idea's inception as it evolves, and when it is better, well that's frosting. If I have a vague resemblance of what I did the next time round I can build on it, but some of the surprise is lost. Still, so I remember the basics of this one...
I cut up and sauted five vine ripened tomatoes, which were medium sized, about two inches in diameter, in a good dollop of olive oil at medium low heat with some salt. When about 3/4 of the liquid was reduced away I added two chopped and deseeded red bell peppers. I got a small package of fresh basil and one of chives (one ounce each), and minced 2/3 of it and added it with the peppers. [Next time I may saute the peppers first, as they take longer to soften and reduce than I expected.] I added a little balsamic vinegar and some dry vermouth. Then, I added about a tablespoon and a half of old oregano and a teaspoon or two of fresh ground pepper. I also added a couple pinches of chipotle red chili powder. I couldn't find any red wine, and I think the dry vermouth was a serendipitous substitution. I set this aside to simmer while I prepared the second part of the sauce, putting the lid on the pan when a good deal of the liquid had boiled off.
Again I had a good dollop of olive oil, which I put on at medium low heat while I cut up one pound of a surloin tip roast. I sliced across the grain, then into 'slivers', averaging an inch and a half long and a quarter inch a side. Pretty rough as raw meat isn't always cooperative. I put the meat immediately followed by nine chopped garlic cloves in the pot with the olive oil. I turned the heat up just a touch past medium then diced and added half a yellow onion. Once most the onion bits were translucent I added half a pound sliced mushrooms, and mixed in a way to break up the larger pieces. Once the mushrooms were mostly translucent I added the tomato mix from the other pan. The rest of the basil and chives were minced and added, to provide an aromatic presence for them. I added some anchovy paste, and some of the sun dried tomato paste which also comes in a tube, about an inch and a half (1 and 2 tsp respectively) of each. They are great, especially the anchovy paste, for making soups a bit heartier, and I figured this mixture needed it. I added a little more salt to taste (be sure you do this after adding the salty pastes), and started heating the water for pasta.
The mix was allowed to simmer while I cooked the pasta, which took about twenty minutes, and the heat turned off when the pasta was put in the colander. A few minutes later, dinner.
I cooked the tomato stuff separately at first for a couple reasons. I think it comes out tastier, but that may simply the the 'made it myself syndrome'. Also it allowed me to simmer the tomato and pepper portion longer, then add the rest later so I could simmer and tenderize the meat mixture for about half an hour, while blending and mellowing the flavors. I think you could probably cook it all together, but I like doing it in a couple parts so I can taste test the separate bits for what I want to achieve before they are all tossed together, and so I can do more saute cooking. Mixing it all together gives you more of a stewing process.
While I was doing this I was reading Romeo And Juliet aloud, sitting down or pacing the kitchen. So the tomato and pepper mix had a good deal of time to saute and simmer, which made that part come out pretty much the way I'd hoped. The end product reminded me of a beef Burgundy, but had a lighter consistency and a sharper, lighter, and to me, a more pleasing flavor.
Sunday I wrote a recipe blog and didn't post it. Second time this week an entry has been written but finding time to post and proof held it up. I mixed Sunday's left over pasta and sauce for dinner tonight, and it reheats very nicely. Wish I had a lot more. Sunday I was working on some other projects, including prepping crock pot ingredients for Monday morning. Worked out well, giving me a home cooked meal after thirteen unexhilarating hours in the office. Easier, but not so tasty as my Sunday creation. I wonder if I tried using my own seasonings...
While I was cooking and such this weekend I was doing homework. I read most of Romeo And Juliet aloud on Saturday, and Sunday all of Richard III. Tonight the first half of Julius Caesar. I'm on track to finish that and Othello well before class starts. Just got an E-mail from our voice instructors, and I'm to read The Tempest too. Damn good thing for maybe the first time in my life I was actually ahead of schedule on homework.
So, the rest is what I wrote on Sunday. Making this timeline something like Memento, sans the great plot, suspense, and dead people.
---- Sunday ----
Mmm. I got a wild hair yesterday and bought some produce and beef with an eye towards making a pasta dish, with the little shell pasta. It came out a little different, but lots tastier than I'd initially envisioned. Most everything in my kitchen is different from an idea's inception as it evolves, and when it is better, well that's frosting. If I have a vague resemblance of what I did the next time round I can build on it, but some of the surprise is lost. Still, so I remember the basics of this one...
I cut up and sauted five vine ripened tomatoes, which were medium sized, about two inches in diameter, in a good dollop of olive oil at medium low heat with some salt. When about 3/4 of the liquid was reduced away I added two chopped and deseeded red bell peppers. I got a small package of fresh basil and one of chives (one ounce each), and minced 2/3 of it and added it with the peppers. [Next time I may saute the peppers first, as they take longer to soften and reduce than I expected.] I added a little balsamic vinegar and some dry vermouth. Then, I added about a tablespoon and a half of old oregano and a teaspoon or two of fresh ground pepper. I also added a couple pinches of chipotle red chili powder. I couldn't find any red wine, and I think the dry vermouth was a serendipitous substitution. I set this aside to simmer while I prepared the second part of the sauce, putting the lid on the pan when a good deal of the liquid had boiled off.
Again I had a good dollop of olive oil, which I put on at medium low heat while I cut up one pound of a surloin tip roast. I sliced across the grain, then into 'slivers', averaging an inch and a half long and a quarter inch a side. Pretty rough as raw meat isn't always cooperative. I put the meat immediately followed by nine chopped garlic cloves in the pot with the olive oil. I turned the heat up just a touch past medium then diced and added half a yellow onion. Once most the onion bits were translucent I added half a pound sliced mushrooms, and mixed in a way to break up the larger pieces. Once the mushrooms were mostly translucent I added the tomato mix from the other pan. The rest of the basil and chives were minced and added, to provide an aromatic presence for them. I added some anchovy paste, and some of the sun dried tomato paste which also comes in a tube, about an inch and a half (1 and 2 tsp respectively) of each. They are great, especially the anchovy paste, for making soups a bit heartier, and I figured this mixture needed it. I added a little more salt to taste (be sure you do this after adding the salty pastes), and started heating the water for pasta.
The mix was allowed to simmer while I cooked the pasta, which took about twenty minutes, and the heat turned off when the pasta was put in the colander. A few minutes later, dinner.
I cooked the tomato stuff separately at first for a couple reasons. I think it comes out tastier, but that may simply the the 'made it myself syndrome'. Also it allowed me to simmer the tomato and pepper portion longer, then add the rest later so I could simmer and tenderize the meat mixture for about half an hour, while blending and mellowing the flavors. I think you could probably cook it all together, but I like doing it in a couple parts so I can taste test the separate bits for what I want to achieve before they are all tossed together, and so I can do more saute cooking. Mixing it all together gives you more of a stewing process.
While I was doing this I was reading Romeo And Juliet aloud, sitting down or pacing the kitchen. So the tomato and pepper mix had a good deal of time to saute and simmer, which made that part come out pretty much the way I'd hoped. The end product reminded me of a beef Burgundy, but had a lighter consistency and a sharper, lighter, and to me, a more pleasing flavor.
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