recipe weekend
Apr. 15th, 2017 04:12 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitToday has been my day to try new recipes and screw them up. *sigh*
I wanted to finally make some mini-pavlovas; the last time I meant to, I didn't get around to it right away and then left the egg whites in the fridge for a couple of days and was not sure of their safety. So today I whipped up the egg white mixture, spooned it out into circles, put them in the oven . . . and then discovered that I had forgotten to add the necessary cornstarch (cornflour) that makes them marshmallowy pavlovas instead of crunchy meringues. Also, the sugar didn't dissolve properly, so they'll be grainy. They'll probably still be usable--if I can't make pavlova, I'll make Eton Mess--and next time I'll know what to do to get it right, but it's still frustrating.
Incidentally, I used the toasted sugar that I made a while back in the meringues, and even in the uncooked mix the caramel flavor was absolutely lovely. I just have to whirr the sugar around in the food processor next time, to make it finer.
With the leftover egg yolks, I decided to make some creme patissiere. It turns out that a crucial thing about creme patissiere, which my recipe didn't tell me, is that you boil it. Not for long, but it has to boil or it won't thicken enough. I of course didn't boil mine, because what idiot boils an egg custard? So now I have a perfectly nice pouring custard that is not creme patissiere.
I had been planning to make a version of Paul Hollywood's Potato, Onion, and Cheese pie today, adding some dandelion greens to the original recipe and substituting feta cheese for some of the cheddar. But since this seems to be the day of baking fail, I will wait for tomorrow, when I'll also bake the bread I started today.
In other recent cooking, I sauteed the rapini from last week with some garlic, then added it to pasta along with goats' milk ricotta (it was on sale, and I thought "oh, why not?") and just a little cream to bind it all together, since the ricotta's texture was more curdy than creamy. It was quite nice.
The black radishes that I bought on an experimental whim were, to my taste, not very good. The flavor isn't much different from ordinary radishes, perhaps a bit spicier, but they are dense and chewy rather than crunchy. I found them unpleasant to eat and ended up guiltily throwing a couple of them away. Supposedly you can cook and mash them but when I've cooked daikon I haven't loved it, so I didn't bother.
This isn't quite cooking, but the other day I, a former confirmed salad hater and then more of a lettuce-hater, voluntarily made and ate a salad of just lettuce. I had bought a nice little variety pack of interesting lettuces, and I had also bought some walnut oil; these two things seemed meant for each other and I thought any other guests at the party would be too many. So, lettuce, walnut oil, and lemon. It was pretty good. I wouldn't want one every day (well, maybe a little one as a side dish, but since salads involve some time consuming washing and spinning dry of lettuce, when I make one I tend to make a big one), but pretty good.
I wanted to finally make some mini-pavlovas; the last time I meant to, I didn't get around to it right away and then left the egg whites in the fridge for a couple of days and was not sure of their safety. So today I whipped up the egg white mixture, spooned it out into circles, put them in the oven . . . and then discovered that I had forgotten to add the necessary cornstarch (cornflour) that makes them marshmallowy pavlovas instead of crunchy meringues. Also, the sugar didn't dissolve properly, so they'll be grainy. They'll probably still be usable--if I can't make pavlova, I'll make Eton Mess--and next time I'll know what to do to get it right, but it's still frustrating.
Incidentally, I used the toasted sugar that I made a while back in the meringues, and even in the uncooked mix the caramel flavor was absolutely lovely. I just have to whirr the sugar around in the food processor next time, to make it finer.
With the leftover egg yolks, I decided to make some creme patissiere. It turns out that a crucial thing about creme patissiere, which my recipe didn't tell me, is that you boil it. Not for long, but it has to boil or it won't thicken enough. I of course didn't boil mine, because what idiot boils an egg custard? So now I have a perfectly nice pouring custard that is not creme patissiere.
I had been planning to make a version of Paul Hollywood's Potato, Onion, and Cheese pie today, adding some dandelion greens to the original recipe and substituting feta cheese for some of the cheddar. But since this seems to be the day of baking fail, I will wait for tomorrow, when I'll also bake the bread I started today.
In other recent cooking, I sauteed the rapini from last week with some garlic, then added it to pasta along with goats' milk ricotta (it was on sale, and I thought "oh, why not?") and just a little cream to bind it all together, since the ricotta's texture was more curdy than creamy. It was quite nice.
The black radishes that I bought on an experimental whim were, to my taste, not very good. The flavor isn't much different from ordinary radishes, perhaps a bit spicier, but they are dense and chewy rather than crunchy. I found them unpleasant to eat and ended up guiltily throwing a couple of them away. Supposedly you can cook and mash them but when I've cooked daikon I haven't loved it, so I didn't bother.
This isn't quite cooking, but the other day I, a former confirmed salad hater and then more of a lettuce-hater, voluntarily made and ate a salad of just lettuce. I had bought a nice little variety pack of interesting lettuces, and I had also bought some walnut oil; these two things seemed meant for each other and I thought any other guests at the party would be too many. So, lettuce, walnut oil, and lemon. It was pretty good. I wouldn't want one every day (well, maybe a little one as a side dish, but since salads involve some time consuming washing and spinning dry of lettuce, when I make one I tend to make a big one), but pretty good.
no subject
on 2017-04-15 10:56 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2017-04-16 01:57 am (UTC)Are you re-watching GBBO on Netflix? They just added three seasons, one and a half of which I hadn't seen before, so that made me happy.
no subject
on 2017-04-16 02:21 am (UTC)Coincidentally I watched an episode with a swiss roll challenge, and then clicked on the Guardian food column, which had a "how to make the perfect swiss roll" article on March 23.
If you have a suitable alcohol, the custard could also be turned into zabaglione. Or if you have jam (pretty likely) and sponge cake (less so), into trifle. But you're right, that's a lot of faff when custard over fruit is so nice. I really like Nigel Slater, who has a passion for the combination of bananas and custard.
no subject
on 2017-04-16 03:07 pm (UTC)And now I'm craving swiss roll. I don't know why rolling cake around filling makes it even better, but it does.
Nobody in Town Can Bake a Sweet Jellyroll Like Mine
on 2017-04-16 03:27 pm (UTC)A swiss roll is about the best thing to crave because it's made out of things that you're likely to have in the fridge--unlike, say, a cardamom pistachio torte with za'atar syrup!
no subject
on 2017-04-16 12:59 am (UTC)Making creme pat is a really good idea! I usually make a custard or an ice-cream with the left over yolks, but creme pat would be handy.
no subject
on 2017-04-16 02:05 am (UTC)Next time I will definitely be more careful about the sugar. I saw a recipe at the Guardian that suggests heating the sugar in the oven so it dissolves faster; I might try that next time as well as running it through the food processor.
Supposedly creme patissiere can be frozen, so it wouldn't necessarily have to be used right away, which is handy.