Saturday, March 12, 2011

Notes--Cookery Roundup.

1: Beans for quick! a

blackeyedpeas
So, I make a lot of beans. And here, in far too close detail, is one easy favorite (on injera no less). Black Eyed Peas + Water in Pot + Spices (and when it's going on injera I usually use one of the Ethiopian Berbere blends I got from Auntie Arwen) + Olive Oil + Sauteed Onion. Cook to a slightly mushy consistency.

2: Beans for Quick! b

No pictures yet, just some notes in case this works well. I love sausage. I bought several sausage spice blends from Penzey's, & first try, of course, was the ol' "homaid" seitan sausage, which, as usual, came out tasting amazingly not like sausage. So, two experiments underway: beans spiced appropriately & with a little vegetable. Blend 1: kidney beans, onion, jalapeno, breakfast sausage mix. Blend 2: Navy beans, potatoes, and either bratwurst or Italian, probably Italian. The Italian is a slightly sweeter blend, and so it it will likely be a better match. I experiment with it, choice depending upon whether I roast or boil the potatoes. Roasted taters might be nicer with a "sausage forte" rather than a "sausage douce" blend (a la' poudre forte versus poudre douce. I'm so medieval).

3: Duck eggs!

Pacific Produce

There we go. Hard boiled, fresh, and boiled and dyed duck eggs. At last, a source. Whether they are regularly there or not I can not say, but given that it's an oriental market, I expect there's a good chance that they're there regularly. They'll stay a treat, though. 79¢ for one egg rather means that I won't be buying them often. I had one fr breakfast with black beans and tortillas the next day, though, how could I not? However the best bit of cookery so far was this lacto-ovo vegetarian medieval nom nom:

DSCN0844

Leek & Mushroom Pie. Nom. Nom. Nom. I have the research and stuff gathered for it, but I just haven't felt like writing it up. It's something I have actually made a lot. I just have never presented it as something that I would have other cooks prep up with some assurance that it's SCA appropriate.


I need to get to it soon, though. Then I won't have it on my to-do list.

4: Why Pictures are so often fail for me:

DSCN0786

This was a delicious lunch one day in January. I took a picture so that I'd write it down and share, because, again, it was simple and yum. The roasted veggies were delightful and tend to be the same trick used over and over: veggies, olive oil, spice mix. I can't recall which mix I used here, but the nigella seed is pretty obvious, so it was one of only two blends in my spice box. I remember it was okay, but not as good on roasted veggies as other blends. What I really wanted to recall was the fact that I found that broccoli stalks roast well. Peel the woodiest bits off the stalk with a peeler, chunk 'em up the same way you might chunk a carrot, and go forth and roast.

The moment of fail? The quinoa. I can't recall how I treated it. And it was good. Darn. This happens to me all the time. I'm just not diligent about keeping my cookery notes. ::sigh::