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Author: Livia N

I feel much more nearly human – rabbit in a habanero cider gravy, spinach, duck soup

Last night was wonderful! Right before the end of work, I had a friend give me a ring to tell me he was in the area and would I like company.

So he came over and cooked for me.

So let me try to tell you what he cooked, oh man!

He took my lil ole thawed rabbit and cut it into sections. Then he dredged it in flour that had been generously seasoned with basil, smoked paprika, savory, thyme, and black pepper. Fried the rabbit. and then we set that aside.

Then we took leeks, which had been sliced in half lengthwise, cut into half-circles less than a quarter inch thick all the way up – white and green parts – and then thoroughly cleaned, and fried them in the oil, too. and then set aside.

Next, he put in a whole container of portobella mushrooms, which had been cleaned and the tips of the stems trimmed but whole, and then once that started releasing juice, he added some five or six cloves of garlic, chopped roughly, and the flesh only of one habanero pepper – and cooked until the garlic was just browning and luscious. He added the leeks, cooked for a little bit together, and then put them back in the bowl on the side.

Then he made gravy with more of the seasoned flour, oil, a bottle of Wood Chuck dark brown cider, and some chicken stock. He added the veggies back tot he gravy and then added the rabbit. We set that to simmer, on pretty high heat for simmering, while I made turmeric rice.

So good.

~*~

Other recent successful experiments in food have included:

Spinach of yum
Clean and remove stems from spinach.

Saute some garlic and a purple onion, sliced thinly but long enough to have texture, and once that is going decently, add all the spinach. When wilted, add unagi sauce. Crack two eggs into the pan – scramble all about.

Best Duck Soup Ever
I had gotten the duck carcass after the last time my family went out for peking duck, and it had been sitting in my freezer. Then I found a little shop where I got half a roast duck for $7 – including the head. Woot!

So I ate up the meat and skins and put the residue in my stock pot with the frozen carcass.

Then I added the base of a bunch of celery, the base of a head of napa cabbage, some carrots, a lot of garlic, some black peppercorns, a bay leaf, some five spice powder, and some red onion. And water. Cook cook cook. Then I removed some of the goodie so I could fit in even more water and make more broth because my pot was pretty packed with goodie. Cook cook cook. Let sit over night. Cook cook cook (boiling at least 20 minutes). Let cook enough to work with. Strain through cheesecloth.

Then I heated the stock back up to boiling and added baby bok choi, some long strands of oniony stuff from the asian grocery, and a bundle of buckwheat soba noodles.

It was so good – it didn’t even need the seasoning adjusted at all.

Food Planning

food I have
Meat
lamb roast leftovers
beef leftovers (just a small amount)
beef roast leftovers (sliced thin)
rabbit puppy

Vegetables
salad greens (new ones)
asparagus
celery
potatoes

Fruits
3 bananas
2 apples

possible meals
Salad
– with steak (with the small beef leftovers) and grilled onions (and peppers?) and cheese (buy blue cheese?)

Pasta and Asparagus as suggested in comments on a previous entry
– buy blue cheese!
– spinach? maybe
– with fried pieces of puppy rabbit?

Lamb curry
– maybe a couple potatoes

Hash
– sliced beef leftovers
– black pepper stir fry sauce I picked up
– potatoes cut like for au gratin
– onions, peppers, fresh herbs

Lamb and Zucchini over pasta

Other possible recipes for puppy

Now to schedule those.

Spring Gardening

Note: this was a poll

Poll #722460 Oops

Have you ever needed to do some gardening where you knew there was poison ivy?

yes
6 (50.0%)

no
6 (50.0%)

Have you ever just gone ahead and done the gardening anyway?

yes
5 (45.5%)

no
6 (54.5%)

Have you ever subsequently gotten poison ivy (despite reasonable precautions)?

yes
2 (18.2%)

no
9 (81.8%)

Was it on your hands (even though you couldn’t so much see any bumps or feel it itching)?

yes
2 (18.2%)

no
9 (81.8%)

Did you then end up with poison ivy anywhere… a bit delicate?

yes
1 (9.1%)

no
10 (90.9%)

Why this line of questioning?

BWWAAhahaahhaaaa! Heeeee! Oooh… *wipes tears from eyes*
8 (66.7%)

These are perfectly reasonable questions about spring gardening
2 (16.7%)

What? I’m lost. Poison Ivy was in the DC Universe, right?
0 (0.0%)

I can’t believe you did that.
7 (58.3%)

I feel your pain,
3 (25.0%)

Questioning? I’m just here for the ticky box.
2 (16.7%)

Ticky box!
5 (41.7%)

ETA: And how come all you people are perfectly willing to say you feel my pain, when you are also saying, “Oh, no, that never happened to me.” TTttthhhhbbbbttttt!!

vegetarian food help?

Last March, the apartment of one of my coworkers burned down, and she is still looking for a place. Since a couple apartments near me are opening up, and she looked really tired last night, I invited her over tonight – and even offered to feed her… because that’s what you do with guests, especially tired ones.

Only I forgot about it.

And now I am looking in my fridge and realising that I have been in the eating down stage of food buying and have gotten down to one bag of spinach of dubious virtue.

Did I mention that this woman is vegetarian and dieting? Did I also mention that she is a very good cook in her own right? And she is from india, so I probably don’t want to try making my amateur versions of indian food… which takes out most of my best vegetarian dishes.

I do have a grocery on the way home and the produce truck, but I need a plan.

Asian food? I can cook the spinach up and have rice – and season them with a sauce or spice that’d be appropriate. Or I could try to buy eggplant and tofu on the way home – I make a great eggplant and tofu stir fry… but that would mean stopping three different places: produce truck for the eggplant, grocery for peanut butter, and asian grocery for tofu.

Italian food? I could whip together pasta and spinach and olive oil with parmesan. … which would be great with sausage or bacon, but those are out. But I think it’s a low carb diet… maybe. I could stop by the produce truck for eggplant and squash and grill them to make sandwiches… but that takes time, and I’m likely to get distracted and burn them because my oven is tetchy.

American food? Well, I could see if the spinach is up to turning into a salad, but she usually has salads for lunch. I’d want to buy a blue cheese on the way home to crumble in.

So do any of you have any better ideas?

ETA: Suggestions in comments included – Pasta Primavera, an egg white frittata with spinach, lentil soup, chilled cucumber soup, hummus, peanut soup, and this recipe:

Here’s an adapted recipe, quick and tasty, good for two people (or more), great for vegetarians – the walnuts have protein, so it’s fairly complete, and the pasta gives it good heft. You can obviously leave the apple out, but it’s a fun, springy addition.

1/2 tablespoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 pound cavatappi, fusili, rotini, penne, or other small-sized pasta
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 pound asparagus , bottom 1 inch trimmed and discarded, spears halved lengthwise if larger than 1/2 inch in diameter and cut into 1-inch lengths
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup walnuts , chopped
2 cups spinach (lightly packed), washed and dried thoroughly
3 ounces blue cheese , preferably Roquefort, crumbled
1 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 Granny Smith apple , peeled, for grating over pasta

1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in stockpot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta, stir to separate, and cook until al dente. Drain and return to pot.

2. While pasta is cooking, heat 1 tablespoons oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until beginning to smoke. Add asparagus, pepper, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook, without stirring, until asparagus begins to brown, about 1 minute. Add walnuts and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until asparagus is tender-crisp and nuts are toasted, about 4 minutes; toss in spinach until wilted. Add asparagus mixture, cheese, vinegar, and remaining 1 tablespoon oil to pasta in stockpot; toss to combine. Serve immediately, grating apple over individual servings.