A Publishing Idea

I found this great site for a self-publishing store in Brooklyn, NY: http://www.voxpopnet.net/micropublish.html. It’s aptly called Publish Yourself and it’s got me thinking about making a small cookbook, with simple ideas on how to be creative and experiment with different dishes. I think it would be fun to work on a set number of dishes and really work on them until they meet my expectations. I’ve given a number of my recipes out to friends and family, including easy to make soups, stews and carrot cake. It might be a fun project, and who knows, maybe it’ll lead somewhere.

in the land of too much pasta

In an attempt to save money, I'm refusing to buy food and just working with what I have in the pantry. Which isn't much, I'm afraid. It seems that I have a very weird way of shopping: I take the list of ingredients for several dishes and metaphorically rip it in half. I have boxes and boxes of pasta, but no pasta sauce, no tomatos and no fresh basil to even make pesto. And no sausage or cheese either!

To answer this dilemma, I tried to get really imaginative. I decided to make Tuna Pasta in Garlic Butter Sauce. Another recipe that's going to need some tweaking. Basic ingredients: canned tuna, angel hair pasta, butter, garlic, peas, basil and seasonings. Not bad for a desperate attempt, but I always believe that fresh is better (who doesn't believe that?). I don't believe in real butter sauces because they're too fatty, so I cut down the butter with olive oil. I reheated it the next day and served it with salmon (I know, double the fish) and served it to my dad, who was fairly impressed. All in all, it's a good dish in a pinch. Not too intensive and ready to make with pantry items!

Now to look at the rotini and rigatoni...

Working the kinks out

Sorry for the great lapse in posts: life has been a bit hectic and high levels of stress have made thinking about food and eating in general rather difficult. Hopefully May is the month to get things back on track, however. So, let’s talk about food.

The other day I was still particularly stressed. My mother asked me if I could have dinner ready for her when she got back from a birthday party. I was rather upset that she would guilt me into cooking in her unclean kitchen when I was already stressed out. Suffice to say, I was not inspired at all. She had taken out salmon and pork chops. I put the pork chops back – lately I’ve been bombing with pork, I don’t know why – and focused on the fish. It was a struggle. For a kitchen that is packed with food, it’s always sort of an adventure trying to find ingredients to make a decent meal. Personally I prefer kitchens where you don’t have to play the “is this still edible” game.

So there I was, unenthused and uninspired, staring at a fillet of salmon and wishing I had decided to go home and clean that day. After a few quick glances in the cupboards and the fridge, I decided to throw the salmon in a skillet with stewed tomatoes and corn and call it a day. I seasoned it quickly, put it to sauté with butter, covered it and walked away. When my mom came home I told her that the fish was on the stove and there were plenty of leftovers in the fridge to compliment it. And I warned her that it might not be that great.

Well, she said it wasn’t bad. And when I tried it, it actually reminded me of a dish I loved to order at a Vietnamese restaurant in Brooklyn Heights (that no longer exists). They made an amazing fish stew there, and, though my version was nothing near having a Vietnamese flavor, its soul was very similar. I’d love to tweak this impromptu recipe and make it sing. I think keeping with an Italian theme is good; I think I want it a bit soupier, maybe with kale (I have a thing for kale in stews) and bolder seasonings. This was a salt-free dish, as per my mother’s nutritional needs, but it defiantly needed salt.

Salmon gives off such a deep, rich flavor when added to a stew, especially when it’s mated with tomato. This weekend I think I’ll try this dish again, and this time, instead of canned tomatoes I’m going to stew my own, to better control the flavors that are in the dish. Add some onions and lots of garlic, and I can see this being a really good dish. I can also see this dish going in a jambalaya direction, with okra and other seafood and having that Cajun flavor. It’s funny that, in a state of apathy I fell upon a fairly solid foundation for a number of different kind of dishes.