"I'm an excellent cook. Well, in theory. I've done a lot of eating."
This week I've made a bride and groom doll set, two tea cozies, two batches of soup and two batches of gingerbread. I kind of love domestic. Except when I don't. Mostly I like it for impressing people, and having really good food to eat, and making money. I think I might do a food thing some time this year before the holidays are over wherein I show off my extravagant soup making skills. Which are, at present, limited to exactly two kinds of soup, but, you know. I'm learning. Mostly I'm restricted by the cost of ingredients. And by my ignorance. Erm, what, exactly, is a parsnip? I know I should know this but they don't really make the grocery list at Case Del Branwyn on a regular basis. I am curious because I found this soup recipe, and now I really want to try making it. I am a big fan of making nontraditional culinary use of apples. For example, there is currently a pot of butternut squash soup cooling on my stove which was much improved by the last minutes addition of a chopped Gala apple to the stewing vegetables.
(For the benefit of rj_anderson and other people who are made squeamish by the idea of squash, rest assured I too loathe it in solid form, but the soup is another matter entirely.)
Also, In all fairness I should point out that I totally ganked this from someone on LJ, who got it from resmiranda, but I have fiddled with it since then.
Ingredients:
A butternut squash
two medium potatoes
an apple
half a large onion
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp canola oil
3 cups chicken broth (I reckon you could substitute something vegetarian for this, but don't try beef stock.)
salt, pepper, nutmeg, and, if you're feeling crazy and adventurous, lapsang souchang tea leaves.
Directions:
You use all the squash except for its pulpy insides, so peel and chunk it. Try to do this without severing a digit, although I find that a judicious sprinkle of blood over the raw vegetables soothes the gods and makes for flavorful bounty in the kitchen. Scrub, eye, and chop the potatoes, dice the onion half. Core and quarter the apple. Don't peel the potatoes or the apple. Do peel the onion.
Sautee the diced onion bits in the oil and butter till they're brown and soft, then dump in all the chopped produce and the chicken stock. Season a little bit. If you're going to add the lapsang souchang, do it now. And do it sparingly, or the results will resemble a cream tea with added vegetable pulp. Bring to a boil, then simmer till soft. Now you have an option: you can puree till it reaches the consistency of canned baby food, and the result will be rather nice but not very hearty. I made it that way till I lost the rubber thingy that keeps the liquid spilling out from the bottom of my blender and was left with no choice but to mash with a potato masher and crank through a hand turned vegetable chopper. Done that way, the soup definitely has more heft, and unlike the first sort, did not leave my father saying "it tastes good, but you should add beef to it or something so it fills you up." Whatever you choose, return the now less-solid mixture to the pot, then add a cup or so of cream, or whole milk, or half n half---you get the idea. The right ratio of cream-to-vegetable pulp will depend on a case by case basis, so add gradually and taste as you go along. Then do a spot check to be sure you've got enough nutmeg in (trust me, you don't), reheat but don't bring to a boil, then sit in a refrigerator overnight. BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT YOU DO TO SOUP. It's always better the next day.
I made a batch yesterday and by dinner today it was ALL GONE so I made another tonight. Added an extra potato and don't like the result as much---it was better when it was slightly sweet. Still, A+++ delicious. Also tried to make gingerbread muffins yesterday via a recipe I also found on LJ. Those...kind of failed. A lot. But it was for cakey gingerbread, anyway, when as all good Christians know, the only proper kind of gingerbread is flat. So I've got two big honking balls of proper gingerbread dough wrapped up in wax paper in the fridge now, waiting to be smashed flat and cut up. I am utter balls at rolling dough out. Never once in my life have I successfully managed to do this without tearing the dough in half and getting it stuck to the pin (NO MATTER HOW MUCH FREAKING FLOUR I COVER THE PIN IN SO DON'T ASK, THANKS) and anyway I don't have a real rolling pin, just the wooden device from which we hang our paper towel rolls. But, Branwyn's #1 Rule For Baked Goods Is: the fact that it's not pretty doesn't make it a failure. Which is an inexpressible comfort to me, seeing as how with my record I'm much less likely to come out with Gingerbread Men than I am to wind up with something more like Gingerbread Daleks That Have Been Scooped Out Of Their Polycarbide Armor.
Actually, I wonder if I could manage Gingerbread Cybermen? Gingermen? Cybergingers! On second thought, that would no doubt require powers of dough-manipulation unto which I dare not aspire.
While trawling this site for recipes (Welsh rabbit? I THINK SO) I saw a link to a contest whereby you might win gift hampers from Harrods. It is unfortunately a contest restricted to residents of the UK. This is unfortunate because I followed the link to the Harrods website and now I am drooling into my Celestial Seasonings Gingerbread Tea (I have a thing, ok? Don't judge me) because, hummina. Also, gyah. Even this is kind of *meep*.
Unfortunately, nobody loves me enough to buy me something like that except my mother, and she doesn't have that kind of money. Also, she thinks alcohol is of the Devil. The funny thing is, in that one issue of Constantine, she was totally right.
You know what somebody with more energy and organizational skills than I possess ought to do? Organize a quiet little fandom gift basket exchange, whereby we make up little packets of interesting/unusual/unique-to-our-region food and small giftstuffs, up to a certain pre-set financial value, and trade them with people who live in strange, faraway places like New Jersey. That would be kind of awesome. Like, lizbee was telling me somet time maybe last year that in Australia they apparently don't have Celestial Seasonings tea. Which is...not, it's really not a shame, but the boxes are very pretty and occasionally they come with decorative tins.
I must be in a good mood, or something.
(For the benefit of rj_anderson and other people who are made squeamish by the idea of squash, rest assured I too loathe it in solid form, but the soup is another matter entirely.)
Also, In all fairness I should point out that I totally ganked this from someone on LJ, who got it from resmiranda, but I have fiddled with it since then.
Ingredients:
A butternut squash
two medium potatoes
an apple
half a large onion
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp canola oil
3 cups chicken broth (I reckon you could substitute something vegetarian for this, but don't try beef stock.)
salt, pepper, nutmeg, and, if you're feeling crazy and adventurous, lapsang souchang tea leaves.
Directions:
You use all the squash except for its pulpy insides, so peel and chunk it. Try to do this without severing a digit, although I find that a judicious sprinkle of blood over the raw vegetables soothes the gods and makes for flavorful bounty in the kitchen. Scrub, eye, and chop the potatoes, dice the onion half. Core and quarter the apple. Don't peel the potatoes or the apple. Do peel the onion.
Sautee the diced onion bits in the oil and butter till they're brown and soft, then dump in all the chopped produce and the chicken stock. Season a little bit. If you're going to add the lapsang souchang, do it now. And do it sparingly, or the results will resemble a cream tea with added vegetable pulp. Bring to a boil, then simmer till soft. Now you have an option: you can puree till it reaches the consistency of canned baby food, and the result will be rather nice but not very hearty. I made it that way till I lost the rubber thingy that keeps the liquid spilling out from the bottom of my blender and was left with no choice but to mash with a potato masher and crank through a hand turned vegetable chopper. Done that way, the soup definitely has more heft, and unlike the first sort, did not leave my father saying "it tastes good, but you should add beef to it or something so it fills you up." Whatever you choose, return the now less-solid mixture to the pot, then add a cup or so of cream, or whole milk, or half n half---you get the idea. The right ratio of cream-to-vegetable pulp will depend on a case by case basis, so add gradually and taste as you go along. Then do a spot check to be sure you've got enough nutmeg in (trust me, you don't), reheat but don't bring to a boil, then sit in a refrigerator overnight. BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT YOU DO TO SOUP. It's always better the next day.
I made a batch yesterday and by dinner today it was ALL GONE so I made another tonight. Added an extra potato and don't like the result as much---it was better when it was slightly sweet. Still, A+++ delicious. Also tried to make gingerbread muffins yesterday via a recipe I also found on LJ. Those...kind of failed. A lot. But it was for cakey gingerbread, anyway, when as all good Christians know, the only proper kind of gingerbread is flat. So I've got two big honking balls of proper gingerbread dough wrapped up in wax paper in the fridge now, waiting to be smashed flat and cut up. I am utter balls at rolling dough out. Never once in my life have I successfully managed to do this without tearing the dough in half and getting it stuck to the pin (NO MATTER HOW MUCH FREAKING FLOUR I COVER THE PIN IN SO DON'T ASK, THANKS) and anyway I don't have a real rolling pin, just the wooden device from which we hang our paper towel rolls. But, Branwyn's #1 Rule For Baked Goods Is: the fact that it's not pretty doesn't make it a failure. Which is an inexpressible comfort to me, seeing as how with my record I'm much less likely to come out with Gingerbread Men than I am to wind up with something more like Gingerbread Daleks That Have Been Scooped Out Of Their Polycarbide Armor.
Actually, I wonder if I could manage Gingerbread Cybermen? Gingermen? Cybergingers! On second thought, that would no doubt require powers of dough-manipulation unto which I dare not aspire.
While trawling this site for recipes (Welsh rabbit? I THINK SO) I saw a link to a contest whereby you might win gift hampers from Harrods. It is unfortunately a contest restricted to residents of the UK. This is unfortunate because I followed the link to the Harrods website and now I am drooling into my Celestial Seasonings Gingerbread Tea (I have a thing, ok? Don't judge me) because, hummina. Also, gyah. Even this is kind of *meep*.
Unfortunately, nobody loves me enough to buy me something like that except my mother, and she doesn't have that kind of money. Also, she thinks alcohol is of the Devil. The funny thing is, in that one issue of Constantine, she was totally right.
You know what somebody with more energy and organizational skills than I possess ought to do? Organize a quiet little fandom gift basket exchange, whereby we make up little packets of interesting/unusual/unique-to-our-region food and small giftstuffs, up to a certain pre-set financial value, and trade them with people who live in strange, faraway places like New Jersey. That would be kind of awesome. Like, lizbee was telling me somet time maybe last year that in Australia they apparently don't have Celestial Seasonings tea. Which is...not, it's really not a shame, but the boxes are very pretty and occasionally they come with decorative tins.
I must be in a good mood, or something.