Once in a blue moon, we feel a bit lazy and pick up a rotisserie chicken for dinner. Today was meant to be that day: I was busy volunteering, and Dwight spent much of his day horizontal, recovering from the same cold I’ve just managed to shake. Ultimately, it wasn’t meant to be. The rotisserie shelves were empty, and when I asked, there was none ready in the back. It was time for Plan B: cooking from scratch.
Category: Cook
Local farmers¹ vs. a tacky billionaire²
Picked up a bunch of ramps for a stir-fry from our local farmers market¹. The ramp season in Minnesota is remarkably short, lasting only about three weeks. Sadly, it’s still too early in the season for local cruciferous vegetables, so I reluctantly walked over to Whole Foods² where I found some healthy-looking dino kale from Michigan and red chard from California.
Linguistic roots
I had to go to the tool chest for a rubber mallet to help me chop this rutabaga without losing any fingers. If I were doing this in the UK, I would call the veggie a swede or a turnip. Here in the US, however, the term “turnip” is reserved for the smaller white variety. Right now, the rutabaga and four other types of root veggies are assimilating themselves into a lamb stew.
Risotto repurposed
Tonight: leftover mushroom risotto, repurposed. Stabilized with fresh breadcrumbs and egg, then coated in panko. Served on Spode, just because. Salad by Dwight. Enough excitement for one day.
Avoiding phytohaemagglutinin
I’m making a kidney bean dish for dinner and decided to switch up my routine. Instead of my usual quick hot soak, I started with a 24-hour cold soak in the fridge. My original plan was to use the slow cooker, but I recently learned about a toxin called phytohaemagglutinin. To destroy it, the beans must be boiled vigorously on the stovetop for at least 10 minutes. Since I have to boil them on the stove anyway, I’ll finish the entire dish there, as I’ve always done.
A winter forage
Walked over to the farmers market on a fresh overnight dusting of snow, a reminder that winter isn’t finished and that local produce would be scarce. I carried home crusty bread straight from the baker, along with bacon sausages and lamb from a local farm for “Sausage Saturday” and a Sunday root vegetable braise.
One in, one out
This beauty arrived from Williams-Sonoma today: a Le Creuset cast iron gratin dish, my online Black Friday purchase. I generally do the bakes, so I’ll be making good use of this. The dish is made in France, so I will have missed the more extreme tariff placed on China. Our household rules dictate that an old kitchen item must now go to Goodwill.
Deconstructed turkey served with gratitude
We’re quietly celebrating this Thanksgiving, and the centerpiece of our meal is Dwight’s stuffed turkey thigh (minus the bone), finished with a rich gravy. The stuffing is equally rich, with about a dozen ingredients, including meaty porcini mushrooms. And we have plenty left over for another meal.
I love cooking with wine…
…sometimes I even put it in the food. (I think I’ve used that line before.) Forgot to take a photo as I went about my day, so here’s me cooking dinner.
Unconventional eggplant
Dwight brought these home from the farmers market yesterday: African eggplants, grown by farmers originally from West Africa. While cubing them, skin on, I noticed their internal structure was a little different from a conventional eggplant, but decided to go with my original plan: microwave for six minutes at 60% (as I usually do with eggplant), then saute in a pan before adding them to a slow braise. Dwight gave the final result a thumbs up.