Truly. Deeply. Madly

Tonight's dinner was a triumph of improvisation, ergo I want to record it before I forget the details of what went into the pot.

* 1 lb ground chicken

* 3 smallish cloves of garlic, minced. (For once, I did NOT salt-grind them.)

* One poblano pepper, chopped.

* One small yellow onion, similarly chopped.

* A drizzle of sesame oil. I'd guestimate between a teaspoon and two.

* One 15 oz can of tomatoes. (I used Muir Glen's fire roasted with green chiles, but you should use whatever you fancy.)

* One wee can of sliced black olives, drained of its brine.

* A cup, more or less, of chicken broth (I eyeballed this. Sorry for the inexactitude.)

* One cup of long grain brown rice.

* Black pepper (five grinds,) cumin ( a very light dusting over the top,) and crystalized garlic (a generous dusting over the top,) to taste.

Prep is ridiculously easy. In a very deep frying pan, saute the chicken, garlic, onions and pepper in the sesame oil. Once the chicken is not very pink anymore, add the rice, and saute for as long as it takes you to get your cans open, and your broth measured out. (The extra saute induces the dry rice to take up the liquid easier, which, being brown rice, it really could use the help.)

Dump the tomatoes into a two cup pyrex glass measure, and then add chicken broth to the tippy top. Dump that in, then splash another third cup or so in for good measure. (Consider using that to rinse the dregs out of the tomato can. Cos it's yummy, that's why.) Stir in the olives (which will bring all the boys to the yard with their saltiness,) Bring it to a boil, then down to a simmer, and cover the pan for 25 minutes. I put the dry spices in about fifteen minutes before serving, but really they can go in just about any time.

Overall simmering time was around half an hour to 40 minutes, with three stirrings in, and the lid left off for the last ten minutes.

Try not to be appalled by how much like boxed mix the result will look. Fact is, it tastes worlds beyond better. And what's more? Gluten free.

If you're a lightweight, you can replace the poblano pepper (which ain't that spicy, really,) with something like a Romano, Anaheim, or Cubanelle pepper. If you do it with a bell pepper though, I will scorn you from afar, so it's best you don't tell me that detail. However, as usual, I want to hear the REST of how it comes out if/when you try this in your own kitchens.

Om Nom, my darlings!

Ahh, it's soup weather in New England at last!
And to celebrate, we made up a batch of wonderment tonight, which I shall now document, lest it be lost to the ages.
It's a twist on an Olde Favorite, this one, but a variation well worthy of its own name. I thought about calling it Headless Horseman soup, but I thought that might add an element of uncertainty regarding the sausage, so... no.

ANYway!
Here's the shopping list:
* One medium to large butternut squash. It should be at least 1.5 lbs, if not 2, to yield a nice, thick brew. This, you will peel, seed, and chop into smallish pieces.
* One medium yellow onion -- not the sweet sort. This you will peel, and chop into small pieces.
* One ear of garlic -- of this, you will use three or four large cloves, which you will mince.
* One package of Andouille sausage -- this you will chop into bite sized pieces.
* A big hank of fresh sage -- at least 20 leaves, which you will roughly chop, and add to the soup last.
* A dozen baby portobello mushrooms -- these, you will quarter, and add when you add the sausage.
* One quart chicken broth
* One quart butternut soup (both of these are sold in cartons now, in many supermarkets. I used the pre made soup as an extender, but I didn't much need to, another quart of chicken broth, or even of water would have done just as well.)
* Olive oil
* Sesame oil
* Coarse sea salt.

And that's it.

As I've mentioned before, you begin by peeling, chopping, and mincing stuff. The squash will take the longest, but it's not too hard, just tedious. You don't want the chunks too big, because you want them to cook fairly quickly, and mash smoothly once they have done. Salt-grind the garlic to really release the potency of it -- to do that, you take a tablespoon or so of the minced, raw garlic in a small glass prep bowl, and to it, you add a rounded teaspoon of rough sea salt. Then you take your pestle... or the back of a tablespoon if you've not got a pestle, and you really pulp the mince down. Now you could do this with a food processor, but I think you'd wind up leaving a lot of the flavour behind in the machine if you did, so I always like to do this by hand.

Now, add the oils to the pan, a ratio of 3 parts olive oil to one part sesame, and enough to saute the onion and squash together. Once you get this going, you can add the garlic. (A trick; use the pestle to stir the saute about a bit, so you waste none of the garlicky goodness. Another trick; use the broth to 'rinse' the prep bowl, and slosh what remains of the salt-garlic mash into the main pot.) Add the chicken broth, and the roughly chopped sage leaves, cover your pot, and bring it to a boil. Then you'll turn the heat down and let it simmer for about... let's say half an hour, but the real telling thing is when the squash is really not resistant at all to being mashed against the side of the pot with a fork.

Then fetch out either your electric hand mixer, or your manual potato-masher, whichever you prefer, and have go. You're not looking for a smooth-as-butter bisque texture here, but you do want it fairly liquid, and you'll know if it wants more cooking.

Once the squash is ... well, done, you can add the second carton of broth, or soup, or whatever you've decided to use. Then chop the andouille, and quarter the mushrooms, and chuck them in. Bring the soup back up to a boil for long enough that the chunks of sausage begin to puff out, and release their oils into the soup, and the mushrooms are cooked.

Then serve it with an autumn ale, crusty brown bread, and the severed heads of your enemies.
It will blow your mind how good this soup is!

Oh. My. Dear. And. Fluffy. LORD, you guys!

Okay, so I totally PWND dinner tonight. We had some Tilapia -- lots more than I had any business buying for two, but that's another story, -- and I had to cook it all off tonight, or else start throwing it out. So when I was thinking about what to do with them, things like Chicken Parmesan and that southern catfish breading were dancing through my head, however I was absolutely and completely NOT interested in deep frying them. (I can't stomach that kind of oil anymore, alas.)

So I decided I was going to create a breading mixture, dredge them, and bake them, after pan-searing them on the stovetop.
And they came out AMAZING!!! Seriously, miles beyond my expectations. And what's more, with am herb substitution here or there, the mix could be adapted to serve with marinara, or a cream sauce, or a butter and mushroom demi-glace, and what's even better, I came up with a solution to the inevitable 'leftover breading and egg wash' issue. And THAT was delicious too!

All right then; I'll stop bragging and tell you how now.

Start with a coffee-grinder, and the following ingredients:
1/4 c toasted buckwheat groats
2 T dill
2 T dried onion flakes
1/4 - 1/2 t whole peppercorns, mixed
1/2 T salt (may be omitted in favor of soy sauce in the egg wash if desired.)
1/4 t ground sage

Pulse these until they're generally powdered, and you can't find any large chunks of the pepper anymore. Then add about an equal or slightly lesser amount of corn flour -- coarse milled for preference, but not quite so coarse as masa flour.

Whip four or so eggs together with 2-4 T of water, about 1 T of sesame oil, and if desired, 1 - 2 t soy sauce.

Dredge your tilapia fillets in the egg mixture, and then coat with the breading. The amounts above will give you a solid coating on six fillets, with a bit of leftover breading, and a lot of leftover egg -- fear not, just mix the two, and add a handful or two of walnuts, and you can make a ridiculously tasty griddle cake out of it after the fish comes off.

Spray your largest flat pan, or griddle with olive oil, and add a splat of butter of oleo for the taste of things. Once the pan is hot, begin laying the fillets in. Leave them sit for a bit, to get a slight singe on the crust -- as usual with pan-searing, this is a test of patience and nerve. Just remember that you'll definitely smell it before they begin to really burn, and let them go all toasty before you turn them. You're brave; you can do it.

If your flat pan is big enough, slip that bad boy right into your hot oven to finish (about 350, for around ten minutes should do it.) But if you want to do them on the stovetop entirely, then you'll need to turn the flame down from sear to medium-low, and if you can possibly cover them, it will help the fish cook evenly. Don't be shy about spraying a little more oil on the fish if they need it, but... up... turn the flame off first, okay? Because exploding in the pursuit of deliciousness makes Auntie Clue cry.

Your fish will be done when you can poke the spatula at the thickest part of the fillet, and it doesn't mush like when you poke the webbing between your forefinger and thumb, but rather it reacts about like muscle at the heel of your hand does. It's weirdly subtle, I know, but that's the best way I can describe it without having you cut the fish all open to check for pink.

The end result is deliciously savory, and can stand up well on its own, or to a lemon-garlic-pepper sauce if you've the patience to make one up while they're cooking.

If you want to serve the fish with marinara, substitute the dill for Italian herb mix. If you want to do a wine sauce, you can sub tarragon, or savory, or just keep the dill.

The griddle cake, by the way, is amazingly tasty. The corn flour and ground buckwheat gives it a wonderful, substantial tooth, but it's not too heavy next to the fish at all. If I'd had an onion and a potato or two, I'd have mixed the lot up for a run at goy-latkes, but alas, all I had was walnuts. That was just fine though. Just fine indeed.

As always, please let me know if/when you try this out in your own kitchens!
I thrive on feedback!

So while at Azkatraz, on Monday evening, I believe it was, a small mob of fanartists (and a few writers as well,) found ourselves at the Chinese restaurant across the street from the Con hotel. I ordered their 'braised green beans', and when they arrived, shared them around the table, saying that I made them at home. This was met with a request for the recipe.

And therein lies the problem; because it's not so much a recipe, really, as it's a process. I can't give you weights and measures, but I'm married to a photographer, and so I can give you a tutorial.

( And that's just what I'm gonna do! )
And that's how it's done.
Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Marriage proposals? Political opinions?
Do please let me know how this comes out when you try it in your own kitchens, won't you?

Mithril's parole officer has come and gone. There was no actual exam or anything, he just needed to have a look and be sure the cat was alive, and not foaming at the mouth and climbing the walls or anything. I explained the circumstances -- to whit, that the bite happened at a vet's office when he'd been taken in for severe constipation, and was tired of having fingers shoved up his bum. The man laughed, and said "Yeah, I'd probably bite someone too."

And that was that.

The weather being a balmy 50 degrees today -- In February! I KNOW, RIGHT?! -- I chucked outside all cats who were keen to go. Which wound up being everyone but Hilfy. Gave them all a stern warning to remember about the street, and the yard with the Big Dog in, and hied myself off to pick up groceries. When I came home again, Godric, my big lump of creamsicle love, was half swamped in the FILTHIEST ditchwater ever. The spray pattern essentially busted him; he'd gone down streetside, and was sniffing about, and got tyre-splashed with road runoff. Can't say Medusa fails to look after these beasties, no matter how unpleasant her reminders to them might be.

I let them all in -- the white cats magically still white, aside from Godric, who was half grey, -- and proceeded to attack the idiot with a towel. Went through two before I stopped sopping black water off him. Anybody else remember back before we'd decided to keep him, when the cat's name was Filthy?

Yeah.

Had it been warmer, I'd have given him a proper bath. Because yes, I AM just that evil.

---

Went to see Coraline in 3D last night.
WAO!!!

The story is pretty much the same as ever it was, with the addition of a character, and a couple of sight gags, and so that was satisfying. Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher did fantastic work with the voice acting, and the animation was really great. But I gotta say it, if you're one of those who can stand 3D, you MUST see it that way! The 3D isn't intrusive, or saved only for the 'Gotcha!' moments, it's pervasive, subtle in places, absolutely magical in others. And stay through the credits for the Easter Egg when you do. It's amazing. Prolly not the best movie to see high though. Tripping through the Other Mother's scenes would lead to some really REALLY bad headspace.

---

I have just made the BEST egg salad ever.
Oh yes I have.

6 eggs, boiled hard, then peeled and chopped.
1 shallot, minced
2 stalks of the tenderest celery, from right near the heart, minced
2 - 3T bleu cheese dressing.
Dill, Paprika, Salt, and Pepper to taste.

Ciabatta toasts to put it on.
OM NOM NOM!

I made this for dinner tonight.
The gentlemen partook, and declared it worthy.
Here's how:

* Start with a medium winter squash -- I used a butternut, about 12 inches long, and quite thick, and stop sniggering back there, are you twelve?
* Seed the squash, peel the squash, and cube the squash relatively fine, so it'll cook evenly and quickly. I wound up with about four or five cups of raw squash.
* Peel and clean six to eight cloves of garlic. If possible, keep these whole, so the oils won't escape during cooking. It's a pain, I know, but it's SO worth it.
* Steam the squash and garlic together, until the squash is fork tender -- this will take awhile. Half an hour or more, depending on how fine you cut the stuff, so be patient, and DON'T let your steamer boil dry, whatEVER you do!
* If you really want to speed this up, you could microwave the squash, so long as you have a glass lidded dish you can use in the microwave. It should take around ten or 12 minutes, with regular stirring, but I can't vouch for evenness of cooking, so I wouldn't recommend it, really.

* While that's cooking, start some rice. 3 cups of water, 1 1/2 cup brown basmati, 1/4 cup black Imperial, and 1/4 cup red rice is the blend I used, and I splashed about a teaspoon of tamari in while it was cooking, too.

* When the squash isn't crunchy anymore, take out your hand mixer, or immersion blender, and commence to mash. Add in a splash of light cream -- a tablespoon or two will do nicely. Add a solid teaspoon of salt, an equal amount of black pepper -- yes, really, -- and even more garlic powder, and whip until creamy.

* Serve like a gumbo; in a stew bowl, with 1/3 cup cooked rice in the bottom, and a scoop of the squash mash overtop. Garnish with a solid tablespoon of parmesan cheese, and eat with a spoon.

* Let the Clue know how your guests and family enjoy this recipe, please.

We made an amazing meal tonight. Here's how:

* two ham steaks, cubed.
* 1/4 c of minced garlic
* 1 bunch of scallions, chopped
* 1 c butternut squash, peeled and cubed. (I found this frozen, so that made it easy!)
* 1 c shelled edamame. (again, frozen, and eyeballed to match the squash amount, rather than measured.)
* 1 large, or 2-3 small apples, cored, and cubed. (I eyeballed equal amounts of the squash, edamame, and apple.)
* 2 c quinoa grains. (mixed white and red.)
* 4 cups broth -- (I use a mix of chicken broth, and mushroom broth, but another time, I mean to try this replacing some of the broth with cider.)
* 1 T rubbed sage leaves
* 1/2 t black pepper
* 1/2 t ground ginger
* 1/2 t garlic powder
* 2 T olive oil, spiked with a drizzle of sesame oil
* 1 c sharp cheddar cheese, grated, or crumbled.

First, chop everything that wants chopping, before you start cooking.

In a deep skillet, saute the garlic, onions, and ham with the oil.
Once the onions are wilted and translucent, put the quinoa into the skillet, and toast it for a couple of minutes, then turn the heat off, and spray a 3 liter casserole dish with cooking spray. (The one I use is olive oil, but you can use whatever you like.)
Pour about half your broth into the skillet, and add the squash and edamame.
Transfer the lot into your baking dish, stir in the cheese, and add the rest of the broth. This will make the dish very full, so transfer it carefully into an oven that's heated to 400F.
Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, then stir in the apples, and bake for another 15 minutes, or until nearly all of the liquid is absorbed. (You want to hold the apples till late in the cooking, so that they won't go to mush.)
Remove the casserole from the oven, and let it rest for another 15 minutes before you serve it.

I didn't make any side dish to go with this, because honestly, it really did not need it. Neither bread, nor sauce, nor added veggies would make this any better than it already is. If you need to serve it with anything, I reccomend you try it with your favorite ale.

And as always, please let me know how this works out when you try it in your own kitchen!
Cheers!

I improvised this sauce for some fish I picked up at S&L today, and it was AMAZING! Seriously, my mouth is still awed by how good this was. So, as usual, I have to brag about it by way of inflicting the recipies on you!

2 cans of diced tomatoes.
1/4 - 1/2 an ear of garlic, minced -- Dominus said it looked to him like about four or five large cloves, all in.
2-3 T olive oil, with a splash of sesame to round it out.
2-3 T balsamic vinegar
2t chili powder
1 pinch red pepper flakes -- to taste, this.
1t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground cardamom
1/2 t orange rind
1t salt
1/4 - 1/2 t ground black pepper
1 bunch scallions, chopped
5 - 10 shakes of tabasco sauce -- again, to taste here.

* By way of making things easier on yourself, measure out all your dried spices into a small dish before you start cooking. Also, chop everything that needs chopping before anything goes on the heat. Trust me, this is the way you want to cook, especially when making a sauce.

* Put oils, salt, vinegar and garlic into a saucepan, and turn the heat up high. You want to try and get it to reduce just a bit, and to get the garlic thoroughly inundated with the salty-sour goodness of the vinegar. I let mine cook for a couple of minutes, but not more than five, then I put the tomatoes and spices in.

* Once that begins to bubble, add the scallions, and the tabasco, stir it all down, and let it simmer while you attend to whatever you're going to dash the stuff all over. In our case, it was pan-seared grouper and mushrooms, but this sauce will work incredibly well with eggplant, zuchinni, chicken, shark, portobellos, and probably even tofu, if you're of that persuasion. It brought out the sweetness of the grouper incredibly well, while adding a nice range of flavours to what would otherwise have been a pretty bland meat. What I did was lightly saute some rough-chopped mushrooms in a nearly-dry pan -- just some olive oil spray, -- until they started to shrink and colour down a bit, then I moved them to a plate, sprayed the skillet once more, got it hot, and slapped the fish fillets in. Once they'd started to cook, I dashed the sauce all over them, and stuffed the whole shebang into a 450f oven for about five minutes or so. If you're cooking veg, or chicken, this will obviously take longer.

We served this on a bed of lemon pepper quinoa, with brocolli on the side, along with Ravenswood Red Zinfandel -- which is a drier vintage than I usually like, but with this dish, it was perfect.

Dominus agrees that this isn't a sauce for strong-tasting, or fatty meats like pork, beef, salmon, or shellfish. And it really wouldn't go at all well with pasta, but with quinoa or rice, and a nice, mild base? Perfection.

Try it yourselves, and see if you don't agree!
Oh, and also, please let me know what you decide to put under it, and how it works out. Y'all are my official test kitchens, you know that, right?

Dominus and I have developed an absolute obsession with this grain. It's delicious even by itself, but it's also incredibly versatile, and best of all? Gluten free, so celiacs can eat it without fear.
It cooks up about like rice -- two parts liquid to one of grain, done in about twenty minutes on the stovetop, and it comes in white, and red varieties. The red, I think, has a bit of an earthier taste, and takes just a little longer to cook than the white, but I like to mix both kinds when I cook it. Oh, it also keeps very well, and even tastes good cold the next day.

This is our favorite way to prepare it:
Clue's Lemon Pepper Quinoa

Shopping list:
One cup of quinoa. (It's pronounced 'keen-wa', by the way.)
around two cups of broth -- you can use chicken, or mushroom, whichever you prefer. This measurement is not exact, because the juice of the lemon makes up part of your liquid, and the total should be two cups, so subtract as necessary.
1T butter
1 large shallot, minced
1 lemon, juiced, and the zest grated off.
1 t salt
Several twists of black pepper

* Grate the zest off the lemon before you slice it -- that makes it a lot easier.
* Juice the lemon into a two cup measure, and make up the balance with broth.
* Mince the shallots, then put them into a saucepan with the lemon zest, the salt, and the butter, to brown a little.
* When they start to soften and look translucent, add the quinoa, and toast that in the mix a bit. (Less than a minute will do.)
* Add the broth to the saucepan, then add the salt, and cover.
* When the broth boils, turn the heat down to a simmer, and finish cooking it as you would a pan of rice.
* I find that this serves four comfortably -- that is, Dominus, me, and two portions put by for lunches.

I have served this as a side dish to plain and fancy meals, mild, spicy, ethnic, American, you name it. I have yet to find something this really doesn't go with, it's so tasty.
As usual, please let me know how it works out, if/when you manage to try it in your kitchens!

I love pie. Mainly, this is because I'm damned GOOD at making pies, and I'm proud of that fact.

Today I love pie because I have made up a new recipe.
It's blueberry season here in upstate New York, and since my local greengrocer has lovely wild-picked blues in stock, I decided it was a chance not to be missed. I also decided that I didn't want to just adapt someone else's recipe as my own -- nono, I'm kind of beyond that now where pies are concerned. This -- this would be all me.

And it was, and godDAMN, but it was delicious!

Here's how you to do it.

Crust: This is a standard two crust pastry recipe, divided by four, and lining four Emile Henry mini pie dishes. You could use foil or silicon, but I'd recommend doing this with small pies instead of a large one, just for servability's sake.

* 1 stick of chilled butter. (That should be 1/4 lb, and I use salted butter for pie crusts, so I don't have to add as much granulated salt to it.)
* 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour. (This is one of the few times I advise against substituting wheat flour -- it's just too heavy for pastry.)
* 1/4 to 1/2 t salt, depending on how salty you like your crust.
2 - 3 T icewater.

With your pastry cutter, combind the flour, butter, and salt, until the mixture becomes crumbs, and you can't see any large chunks, or dry flour left.

With a fork, toss the crumbs in with the water, one tablespoon at a time. Stop when most of the crumbs have adhered into the central wad of dough, but before the dough looks slimy.

Use your hands (wash them in cooooooold water first,) to gather up the last of the crumbs, and form it all into a ball.

Split that ball in quarters, wrap each in waxed paper, and chuck them in the fridge for at least an hour.
(Note; the key to pie pastry is that it should all stay cold until you cook it. So don't over-handle it if you can manage. And don't leave it lying around on the countertop while you clean up.)

While it's chilling, start the filling:
* 2 1/2 c Greek Yoghurt. I used Fage, 0% fat variety, and it turned out amMAZingly good. But Fage is expensive, so substitute plain American Yogurt if you must.
* 2 - 3 t honey
* 1/4 t each ground ginger/ cinnamon / ground allspice
* 1/2 of a vanilla pod, minced fine.
* 2 t cornstarch (optional. This is to firm the mixture up, and make up for the stabilizing effect of the missing fat from the yogurt I used. You might not need or want it, and it doesn't affect the taste to remove it, or to add more as needed.)

Mix all the ingredients, cover them, and refridgerate until just before serving the pies -- this will be the topping, replacing whipped cream in the presentation.

Now take out the dough rolls one at a time, and roll them out till each is about two inches bigger than the lip of your mini pie dish. (Hint, I use the waxed paper as a surface for this, because it's easier than washing the counter after every one. Also, once it's big enough, it's a Pfuck of a lot easier to just flip the paper over into the dish, than to try and peel the crust up off whatever surface you rolled it on, and transfer it without tearing the thing.)

Trim the edges if they're longer than an inch once you've tucked the crust into the dish, and then roll all the edges under to form a ridge all around the lip of the pie dish.

Prick the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork now, because you're likely to forget to do it later if you don't.

Cover each dish with its waxed paper sheet, and put it back in the fridge while you work on the next one down the line.

Once the dishes are all filled, preheat the oven to 450 F, and put all your crusts in (you should have four if you managed your dough correctly.) for about ten or fifteen minutes -- watch them closely, and take them out as soon as the upper ridge of crust begins to darken from pale yellow to tan. Remember that you'll have to bake them again once you put the fruit filling in, so you don't want to wind up with burnt bits on top.

While those are pre-baking, make the fruit filling:

* 4 - 5 cups fresh blueberries, washed and picked over for stems and mooshies.
* 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 3 T butter
* 1/4 c American Honey bourbon.
* the other half of the vanilla bean, minced fine.

Melt the butter in a skillet, and throw the minced vanilla in for a few moments.

Add the blueberries, and the brown sugar, stirring carefully to avoid mushing the fruit. Once the sugar has blended in, and a syrup coats all the fruit, add the liquor.

Flame the liquor off immediately -- you can do this with a lighter, or if you've got a gas range and a steady hand, you can use the cooker flame, but this is the fun part, and you don't want to wait till there's no more fumes left to burn.

As soon as the flames burn out, remove the filling from the cooker, and let it stand until the pie crusts come out of the oven. It should thicken as it cools.

When you take out your pie crusts, divide the fruit filling between them -- here you want to be careful, because blueberry pies are prone to bubble over and make a mess of things, so fill the crusts to just barely shy of the upper edge of the dishes fluting. Don't overfill them, and don't worry if you wind up with extra filling -- put that in a dish and call it cook's perogative to nosh on it before anyone else gets to eat.

Turn the oven to 475 F, and bake the pies for 20 - 25 minutes. But watch them for the last ten or so, and if the crusts start to look too dark, take them out.

Cool these on the countertop (NOT in the fridge!) and once they're room temperature, or a little bit warmer, spoon the yoghurt topping equally between all four pies.
Serve with strong tea, or dark roast coffee.
And be prepared for people to be astonished at how yummeh it is.

And lastlly, let me know how this recipe works out for you in your own kitchens please!
Cheers, and happy Blueberry season!

My dessert brings all the boys to the yard...

This is a custard based yummeh, and it does not even pretend to be good for you.

Here's what you need:
2 1/2 cups of cooked rice, done al dente -- I tried this out with black rice, and it was fabulous, but I'm guessing you could use whatever you had.
3/4 cup of sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried bluegerries
5 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup light cream.

Here's how:

Preheat oven to the Temperature of Food. (350f)

Combine your rice with half of your sugar, your blueberries, and your vanilla. Stir, and set aside.

Beat the eggs together with the milk, cream, and remaining sugar, then combine with the rice mixture.

Pour into a buttered baking dish -- I used 10x5x3, and it worked just fine, -- and bake in the middle of the oven for 40 - 50 minutes, or until a knife slipped into the middle, emerges clean. NOTE; the pudding will still jiggle a little bit, even though it's cooked through. Don't let that throw you, because overcooked custard puddings get crumbly and watery, which is less pleasant than a nice firm pudding.

Let the pudding rest for at least five minutes before you serve it, lest your guests scorch their mouths, and top each serving with a drizzle of cognac, and/or a dusting of allspice.

And, as always, please let me know how this turns out when you try it in your own kitchens!
Cheers!
C

My kitchen is hotter than hell. I know this because hell is surely far too logical and stingy a place to have the floor heater churning away when it's already hot enough to break a sweat just walking from the living room to the fridge. Clearly, this has NOT been a weekend when I felt like investing a lot of time, effort, and body sweat into laboring over a hot stove.

So I made this chilled chicken noodle dish instead, and we have been noshing happily ever since. Just finished it up tonight, in fact.

Shopping list:
2 large raw chicken breasts -- OR six pre-cooked chicken cutlets from the frozen isle.
1 package frozen, shelled edamame. (Put these in the fridge to thaw, along with the chicken, if necessary.)
1 ear of garlic
1 ear of fresh corn -- OR a small can of sweet corn
1 bunch scallions
1 bottle of Thai Peanut Padang sauce. (If you can't find the exact stuff, look for pad thai sauce, or Thai peanut sauce in any brand you can lay hands to. They should work fine.
1 package of Soba noodles. Look for the ones that come in bundles inside the package, as that makes the measuring easier.
Olive oil
Soy sauce
Salt
A Really Big Bowl

Here's how:
1. Make the oil: Mince up about half an ear of garlic. Add some coarse ground sea salt to it, and crush with the back of a spoon until soggy. Then add about a third to a half cup of olive oil, with a splash of sesame oil for balance. Pop this into the microwave for around 2 minutes (stirring at one minute, and watching carefully so it doesn't go all 'floomp'. Once the oil is hot, leave it in the microwave until you need it -- it'll have cooled enough to handle by then.

2. Make the noodles: Three bundles of soba noodles are about exactly right for this dish. If you're using fresh corn, shuck it and chuck it in with the noodles to blanch. This will make it much easier to cut the kernels off. When the noodles are al dente, dump them into a collander, and leave them there until you...

3. Make the chicken: If you're using raw chicken, cook it in the microwave, turning the cutlets over every 2 minutes, and cutting the thick part to make sure it's cooked through. Set it in the fridge to cool a bit once it's cooked, and take care of the corn. It's not hard, really, just use a small, sharp paring knife, and don't be afraid to cut deeply -- you'll know it if you hit cob. After you've finished with the corn, get out your chicken, and chop it up into wee bits. You want the chicken pieces to be roughly equivalent to the size of the edamame beans, if that's a helpful guideline. Slice up the green onions into bits roughly the same size, and then dump the whole package of edamame in -- no, do not cook them first, they're just fine as they come. Pour in a tablespoon or so of soy sauce, and then the whole bottle of Padang sauce, and mix.

Now go back to the noodles. Run them under some water until they loosen up a bit, then put them into the same pan you boiled them in. Pour the garlic oil over them, and toss with two forks until the noodles are slippery. Then dump them over the chicken mixture, and toss all that lot together. Use a scraper to get all the garlic in -- that's the best part! Next you cover the dish with cling wrap, and pop it into the fridge to chill.

It is absolutely delicious cold, keeps for several days, keeps you out of the kitchen for several days as well. It can comfortably feed six adults. More, if you're offering side dishes to extend it. And it's lovely with a nice, light Chardonnay, as well. Not too spicy, and definitely not boring. It might even almost be good for you. A little.

As usual, please let me know if you try it, if you like it, if you have any questions, and so forth.

Tonight, for no significant reason whatsoever, I made a magnificent meal.

I took a pork roast, covered it in a rub of salt, sage, pepper, mustard seed, clove, and allspice, then seared it and oven roasted it in cranberry juice, a dash of Worcestershire's and balsamic vinegar, with whole garlic cloves, cranberries, onion, and sweet royal gala apples. Then when it was done, I spooned off a cup of the drippings, and made couscous to go along with.

Dominus made his world famous brussels sprouts in garlic/lemon/dill glaze, and we had cosmos too.

The pork fell apart around the knife, it was so tender, and the apples had taken up just enough of the garlic and pepper's bite to stop them being too-sweet mush. The couscous was a perfect base for the tangy-but-sweet drippings, and the fantastic citrus green taste of Dominus' sprouts was just perfect to break up the 'sameness' that can often make a one-pot meal into a trial of endurance.

I am now full like a hobbit, and far more smug than any cat should be.

I'd consider dessert, but I think I'd splode.

Still, what a great meal! And better yet?
Leftovers!
Mmmmm...