Gulf Wars food update, and maybe more (long)
I can actually see the light at the end of the cooking tunnel. It's a good thing, because after I finish cooking I have to sew two pieces of garb and do some stuff for my wire weaving entry. And write up *everything*. And pack. IcandoitIcandoitIcandoit.
For A&S: the prep is all but done.
The carrots pickled with mint and tarragon are great. I am very happy with the way they turned out.
Almond brittle is good. I can't really say much else about it -- it's plain almond brittle.
The meat croquettes are fine. Pork with mozzarella, rosemary, parsley, and marjoram. Yum-O. I'll cook them onsite.
Rysshews of fruit will be good, very mincemeat-like. The filling is done, and I'll make the pastry and fry them onsite.
Didn't like the gingerbrede myself, but that doesn't mean other people won't like it.
The Chicken Madhuna kabobs are good. The marinade is a mixture of soy sauce (instead of murri), long pepper, saffron, true cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and lavender. When I made the test batch, which was a large chicken reast cut into six pieces, Dugal, the daughter, and I each got a piece, and the son finished the rest. He loved it.
I'm also pleased with the Parma Tarts. They are way less coplicated that the description, but they're still tasty -- chicken, onion, Prosciutto di Parma, Parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley, saffron, mustard, coriander, and salt. I cheated and bought pie crust instead of making pastry. I feel a teensy bit guilty about that, but I'm not entering these in a competition so I decided to do myself a favor and save myself the time.
Pear tarts -- yum, even if I did have a little setback with these. I had originally intended to make the pear tarts with rose sugar, but I could not find organic roses in a reasonable quantity for a reasonable fee. Since several of the other Welserin pear tarts had raisins, I added raisins and a little rosewater to make up for the rose sugar. They're now something of a Welserin pear tart mish-mash, but they're pretty darn OK. Again, I cheated and used refrigerated pie crust.
All I have left to prep are the vegetable tarts, based on several from Libro per Cuoco -- eggs, spinach, parsley, mushrooms, onions, garlic, Parmesan, and mozzarealla with a little pepper and nutmeg. Should be good. See the previous mentions of purchased pie crusts.
For the Middle Eastern Dance Competition: the prep is almost done.
The sweet pickled pears and plums are fantastic. The pickled cucumbers, garlic, and onions are good. The cucumbers are a bit salty right now, but I'm hoping that will subside a bit as they age. If nothing else, it's a good contrast to the rest of the menu. The onions are pretty good, but a bite or two in and they're HOT. Too much so for my taste, but, again, it will make a nice contrast. Didn't try the garlic.
The drink syrups are good -- date, lemon, and pomegranate. I have a few pears left over, so I may try to make some pear syrup just for the hell of it.
Almond pudding -- I'll make this onsite. I love this almond pudding. After the Kingdom A&S feast last year, Colby and I were noshing the leftovers in the kitchen. I took some home, and I grazed on it for a week. Loveitloveitloveit. I found some documentation for it that included honey, so this version will be a little different. I'm thinking of entering it in this year's Kingdom A&S.
The Chicken Tuffahiya kabobs are good. The marinade is a mixture of apple juice, almond milk, onions, long pepper, ginger, true cinnamon, and coriander. The daughter, who hardly eats anything, ate three pieces from the test batch.
Hais is hais -- you can't really go wrong with date nut balls. I had some issues getting the moisture level right, but they're tasty nonetheless.
Nougat. I did it once, now I never have to do it again. The flavor is fine, but it is a colossal pain in the ass to make. I only made one batch, so I guess it will be part of whatever gifts and prizes are given away by TRM, And for what it's worth, unless I screwed something up, which is entirely possible, real nougat is nothing like candy bar nougat. I was kind of disappointed. =P
The chicken salad was a challenge, strangely. I couldn't get the flavors to balance, and the moisture level was off. I fixed it eventually, but it was annoying. It has black pepper, black olives, honey, Parmesan cheese, nigella seed, cumin, and onion, with a (cooked) aioli-like dressing of roasted garlic, eggs, olive oil, and white wine vinegar. Dee is buying naan to make rolled sandwiches. Yes, they're period.
The garbanzo flatbread I'll make onsite.
I still have to make the venison, chicken, lamb, and feta sausage. Dugal and I will do that tonight.
I also still have to make the taffy. My notion is to make two batches, one rosewater and one orange blossom water, but we'll have to see how it goes. Dugal hates roses (a holdover from long childhood bouts with rose-scented nose spray), so I may have to get the son to help pull that one.
Since I have pared down the sweet menu so much, I'm toying with the idea of making a carrot pudding. Easyeasyeasy. Don't know yet if I'll actually do it, though.
I have lentil and spinach boreks still on the menu, but I just don't know if I can make them. I hate to take them out, because they're vegetarian, but I have lots of other stuff to do and they seem to have become the "most expendable" item in my mental menu.
I have some overripe bananas and the date paste left from making the syrup, so I think I'm going to knock together some mini-muffins to serve at the Meridian Social.
I have to sew a pair of white Persian pants and a black Persian tunic. Do not ding me on my lack of authenticity -- these are quick and dirty so I have something quasi-appropriate to wear for the party. Dee is making me a coat, so focus on that instead. =)
After all that is done, I have to do some serious wire weaving work. This whole A&S Champions competition thing is kind of freaking me out a little. I have some great new research, but not enough time to implement my new ideas. Darnit. I've also found a slew of *other* sources that I will have to investigate after the War.
For A&S: the prep is all but done.
The carrots pickled with mint and tarragon are great. I am very happy with the way they turned out.
Almond brittle is good. I can't really say much else about it -- it's plain almond brittle.
The meat croquettes are fine. Pork with mozzarella, rosemary, parsley, and marjoram. Yum-O. I'll cook them onsite.
Rysshews of fruit will be good, very mincemeat-like. The filling is done, and I'll make the pastry and fry them onsite.
Didn't like the gingerbrede myself, but that doesn't mean other people won't like it.
The Chicken Madhuna kabobs are good. The marinade is a mixture of soy sauce (instead of murri), long pepper, saffron, true cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and lavender. When I made the test batch, which was a large chicken reast cut into six pieces, Dugal, the daughter, and I each got a piece, and the son finished the rest. He loved it.
I'm also pleased with the Parma Tarts. They are way less coplicated that the description, but they're still tasty -- chicken, onion, Prosciutto di Parma, Parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley, saffron, mustard, coriander, and salt. I cheated and bought pie crust instead of making pastry. I feel a teensy bit guilty about that, but I'm not entering these in a competition so I decided to do myself a favor and save myself the time.
Pear tarts -- yum, even if I did have a little setback with these. I had originally intended to make the pear tarts with rose sugar, but I could not find organic roses in a reasonable quantity for a reasonable fee. Since several of the other Welserin pear tarts had raisins, I added raisins and a little rosewater to make up for the rose sugar. They're now something of a Welserin pear tart mish-mash, but they're pretty darn OK. Again, I cheated and used refrigerated pie crust.
All I have left to prep are the vegetable tarts, based on several from Libro per Cuoco -- eggs, spinach, parsley, mushrooms, onions, garlic, Parmesan, and mozzarealla with a little pepper and nutmeg. Should be good. See the previous mentions of purchased pie crusts.
For the Middle Eastern Dance Competition: the prep is almost done.
The sweet pickled pears and plums are fantastic. The pickled cucumbers, garlic, and onions are good. The cucumbers are a bit salty right now, but I'm hoping that will subside a bit as they age. If nothing else, it's a good contrast to the rest of the menu. The onions are pretty good, but a bite or two in and they're HOT. Too much so for my taste, but, again, it will make a nice contrast. Didn't try the garlic.
The drink syrups are good -- date, lemon, and pomegranate. I have a few pears left over, so I may try to make some pear syrup just for the hell of it.
Almond pudding -- I'll make this onsite. I love this almond pudding. After the Kingdom A&S feast last year, Colby and I were noshing the leftovers in the kitchen. I took some home, and I grazed on it for a week. Loveitloveitloveit. I found some documentation for it that included honey, so this version will be a little different. I'm thinking of entering it in this year's Kingdom A&S.
The Chicken Tuffahiya kabobs are good. The marinade is a mixture of apple juice, almond milk, onions, long pepper, ginger, true cinnamon, and coriander. The daughter, who hardly eats anything, ate three pieces from the test batch.
Hais is hais -- you can't really go wrong with date nut balls. I had some issues getting the moisture level right, but they're tasty nonetheless.
Nougat. I did it once, now I never have to do it again. The flavor is fine, but it is a colossal pain in the ass to make. I only made one batch, so I guess it will be part of whatever gifts and prizes are given away by TRM, And for what it's worth, unless I screwed something up, which is entirely possible, real nougat is nothing like candy bar nougat. I was kind of disappointed. =P
The chicken salad was a challenge, strangely. I couldn't get the flavors to balance, and the moisture level was off. I fixed it eventually, but it was annoying. It has black pepper, black olives, honey, Parmesan cheese, nigella seed, cumin, and onion, with a (cooked) aioli-like dressing of roasted garlic, eggs, olive oil, and white wine vinegar. Dee is buying naan to make rolled sandwiches. Yes, they're period.
The garbanzo flatbread I'll make onsite.
I still have to make the venison, chicken, lamb, and feta sausage. Dugal and I will do that tonight.
I also still have to make the taffy. My notion is to make two batches, one rosewater and one orange blossom water, but we'll have to see how it goes. Dugal hates roses (a holdover from long childhood bouts with rose-scented nose spray), so I may have to get the son to help pull that one.
Since I have pared down the sweet menu so much, I'm toying with the idea of making a carrot pudding. Easyeasyeasy. Don't know yet if I'll actually do it, though.
I have lentil and spinach boreks still on the menu, but I just don't know if I can make them. I hate to take them out, because they're vegetarian, but I have lots of other stuff to do and they seem to have become the "most expendable" item in my mental menu.
I have some overripe bananas and the date paste left from making the syrup, so I think I'm going to knock together some mini-muffins to serve at the Meridian Social.
I have to sew a pair of white Persian pants and a black Persian tunic. Do not ding me on my lack of authenticity -- these are quick and dirty so I have something quasi-appropriate to wear for the party. Dee is making me a coat, so focus on that instead. =)
After all that is done, I have to do some serious wire weaving work. This whole A&S Champions competition thing is kind of freaking me out a little. I have some great new research, but not enough time to implement my new ideas. Darnit. I've also found a slew of *other* sources that I will have to investigate after the War.