experiments – Page 7 – no counterspace

experiment #2 with mustard oil – Potatoes with onions and peppers

How did you miss experiment number 1? Easily. I hadn’t posted about it yet.

Well, there I was reading A Mad Tea Party‘s back catalog of entries, and I came across this piece about the joys of mustard oil, and I was intrigued. A few months later, I decided to give it a try and dropped her a comment for help finding the piece and looking for suggestions, and she has generously become my guide to this new-to-me lipid.

So I went to my local Indian grocer and located the mustard oil – all of which was explicitly labeled at massage oil, not for consumption. So I went to the guy behind the counter and commiserated with him about the evils of US Customs and their regulations on importing foodstuffs, but I was assured that it was good quality and edible and just the thing I was looking for.

So experiment 1 was going to be with the mashed sweet potatoes served at Cooking with Catladies. Only not only did I decide that they didn’t need any oil, but also I found the taste of the mustard oil surprisingly strong. Straight out of the bottle, it tasted of dark green, earthy things – sort of like gnawing on the very dark tip of leeks. Which I do, so it’s not a deal breaker, but it did put off subsequent experiments.

So I wrote a comment to the original inspiration for the experiment, and I asked her if it was supposed to taste like that (just in case). And heard back that it was indeed, and that high heat cooking mellows out the flavor.

Well, I do surprisingly little high heat cooking. It’s the combination of my love for electric ranges and my love for non-stick cookware. Yes, I know I have no class. I’m okay with that, and it’s easy to make rice and wash dishes.

But I’m still excited about the mustard oil.

So when I was looking for something to do with two scrawny remaining potatoes, I reached for the mustard oil.

Potatoes with onions and peppers
I poured 2 teaspoons of mustard oil into a pan, and turned up the heat.

When the oil had spread out, I added 1 tsp mustard seeds (and propped a larger skillet over top because they pop up and get everywhere otherwise).

After the mustard seeds were popping away gleefully, I threw in 2 potatoes, cut into pieces just a bit larger that 1cm squared; 1 diced yellow onion; and 2 jalapeno peppers, de-seeded and sliced.

When the onions became limp, I added 2 minced cloves of garlic and a frozen cube of minced cilantro.

I added some curry powder, and that dried things out a bit too much, so I added water. I had the feeling that dicing a fresh tomato into the mix would have been the perfect option here, but I didn’t have any fresh and a can would have been too much.

The end product was tasty. Actually, it was a little too oily, but the oil flavor was mild and delightful and it was not strong at all.

Foodbloggers pot luck

So I have some leftovers from the Catladies event that really need to leave my house. I have an incredibly tasty loaf of vegan challah I have been devastating (and have sliced and frozen more than half of it, like a responsible person.

And I have two ramekins of flavored butter: honey butter (a little too weak) and chipotle butter (a little too strong).

And I have a pint of heavy cream. From the farmers’ market. From happy cows. *clings*

I really must not eat all of these on my own.

However, for the foodbloggers potluck, I think I shall be making more cabbage/beet shred that was so tasty and healthy.

Can you think of anything else I could make that would use up a lot of dairy products? Without also making bread to go with it because baking is not my forte, and while I’ll go it in front of friends, I am not going to do it for food bloggers.

And I just don’t think a spicy, buttery bread pudding would work too well. …huh.

Okay, so if you got a tough multi-grain bread… like the spelt from Metropolitan Bakery, perhaps… and then cream, eggs, honey, dried cherries, and vanilla from a bean. Brown the butter? Ooo… kind of like with the toasting?

That’s an insanely complex recipe for bread pudding. And it’s something that I’d have to be able to take to work and still have tasty at the end of the day.

Right, so no experimental bread pudding for the pot luck. Does anyone else want to experiment and try a spicy heart attack of joy sometime? The butter can keep, but the heavy cream won’t last more than a month I don’t think.

Cicero

Damn – I love my own cooking.

I could totally convince a chickpea hater (me) to love chickpeas with this thai chickpea dish. It is some awesome.

ETA: My co-workers continue to be philistines who do not get excited over savory foods.

Dear Nigella,

Yes. The purple salad would be slightly better with some fish sauce. Bother, vegetarians. But it’s still very exciting without it. You should try it with beets.

love,
Purple Fingers

tomorrow morning

To Do List

Cooking with Catladies – experiment 1

Thai beet slaw/salad (needs a better name)
- peel and slice thinly 1 beet
- shred a complementary amount of purple cabbage
- halve a purple onion and slice one thinly
- Jalapeno, seeded, sliced into thin matchsticks (core reserved for stock)
- make dressing of:
  - 1 clove garlic, minced
  - 2 tsp sugar
  - 1 teaspoon vinegar (still haven’t decided between rice vinegar for the thai theme or red wine vinegar for the color theme)
  - juice of 1/2 lime
  - 1 tsp good olive oil
- toss together with some generous grinds of black pepper
- give a further toss with 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
- ETA:decided on 1 teaspoon of each kind of vinegar – needs more lime juice!
Thai-inspired chickpea taco filling (version 1)
- Drain a can of chickpeas
- fry 1 tsp shredded fresh coconut (no really, from a coconut – no sugar added), purple onion, garlic, ginger, cilantro stems, jalapeno flesh in 1 tsp olive oil.
- Add half the can of chickpeas, juice of 1/2 the lime, 1 bay leaf, and some lime zest
- Add a mixture of vegetable stock and water and cook until no longer thin.
Thai-inspired chickpea taco filling (version 2)
- fry 1 tsp fresh coconut in 2 tsp olive oil
- add 1/2 tsp thai green curry paste
- Add the rest of the chickpeas and a similar mixture of vegetable stock and water
- cook until no longer thin
ETA: Instead of one or the other, it should be both – add some green curry paste to the first recipe to give it a yummy base flavor. And don’t forget to add a little salt in the cooking

Vacuum floor
Hang up stuff in closet
Clean off kitchen table
1 hr pilates
shower

Walnut Hill Restaurant School

I live a block from a Restaurant School, and they have community classes on the side of their formal chef training. I’ve taken a couple classes on wine there that taught me quite a bit more than I expected (though I didn’t know much to start).

So the Winter/Spring catalog of community classes came in the mail. Here’s a list of what interests me in case you are interested in joining me, too –

Knife Skills – Wednesday, April 22, 2009 – 7:00-9:30pm – $65

Indian Cassis – Tuesday, February 17, 2009 – 7:00-9:30pm – $65
Spanish Tapas – Wednesday, February 25, 2009 – 7:00-9:30pm – $65
Thai Cooking – Wednesday, May 13, 2009 – 7:00-9:30pm – $65
Bread & Pizza Workshop – Sunday, May 17, 2009 – 11:00am-4:00pm – $125
Croissants & Brioche – Sunday, March 8 and 15, 2009 – 11:00am-4:00pm – $125
Vegan Baking Class – Monday, March 2, 2009 – 7:00pm-9:30pm – $60
5 Wine Challenge Dinners – 7:00pm – $45 each, $150 for all
- Wednesday, January 21, 2009 – California vs Australia
- Wednesday, February 18, 2009 – France vs U.S.
- Wednesday, March 25, 2009 – Germany vs Alsace
- Wednesday, April 22, 2009 – Spain vs Italy