Friend's for dinner - the aftermath
Hey! So as the aftermath - I was preparing those dishes because the other visitor said she was going to make a roast for them.
That day, I then find out she's not doing it, and the host is instead, and she's been drinking the whole day. Which makes the day good too, but I was a little wondering about what else they made too.
So they actually had made roast, scalloped potatoes, vegetables, and a cheese platter! We all laughed about me bringing about 5 bags of groceries, including 3 wines.
That being said, spot prawns are the easiest food. You can have them raw or cooked, and you can even deep-fry the heads. So in this case, I steamed them for 2-3 minutes, and at the same time melted some butter, added garlic, sauteed, then added dill, lemon juice and porcini sea salt. Toss the prawns with the butter and you have succulent seafood.
Stinging nettles and daisy buds are also dead easy. For stinging nettles, to answer Jeremy - yes they are edible! You do need to cook them if you're not used to the irritation, though, because the cooking will render the irritant inert. Having the steamer at the ready, I threw them in the steamer basket, and boiled the sea asparagus, which is important because sea asparagus is really green-tasting but also very salty, so it at the least needs to be blanched. Preparing a base of sliced BC heirlooms as well as raw daisy buds (they're quite neat), you throw the other items on top and then throw on some white truffle balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and toss, and well, those two ingredients make anything taste good. When added to these unique veggies, you have a tasty salad.
I had prepared the crepes at home before going out there, and well, those are dead-easy. Flour, milk, eggs, melted butter, a touch of sugar and a touch of salt, whisk, and fry like pancakes. Great with chocolate chips (which I got from Cocoa Nymph, where else?) and some fresh-roasted hazelnuts from the farmer's market.
Because they had scalloped potatoes, I didn't make gnocchi there. I thus took six cooked potatoes home and wondered if they'd be fine to make gnocchi today. And yep, they are. I was experimenting with eggless gnocchi because I want to see if I could make a version that'd be great for vegans and it works! Cook potatoes in water til tender, peel, demolish in a ricer, add flour until the they can aggregate to make a ball of dough. Cover with a moist towel and let sit for 20. Then take sections, flour, and roll out into long cylinders approximately 1/2 an inch in diameter. Cut with a sharp knife to make pillow-shape cylinders, boil until they float, cool in a bowl of water, and toss with whatever you want. Homemade gnocchi is so much better than what's in the supermarkets - so much fluffier and the potato flavor really comes out!
So... I did okay! And to Sandy - I apologize for my snarkiness, I was figuring out how to share 100+ photos on Dropbox (so easy once you figure it out!). Plus, food can take many shapes - both highly involved and highly simple. But it all involves with playing with your food, which I totally embrace as a philosophy!
That day, I then find out she's not doing it, and the host is instead, and she's been drinking the whole day. Which makes the day good too, but I was a little wondering about what else they made too.
So they actually had made roast, scalloped potatoes, vegetables, and a cheese platter! We all laughed about me bringing about 5 bags of groceries, including 3 wines.
That being said, spot prawns are the easiest food. You can have them raw or cooked, and you can even deep-fry the heads. So in this case, I steamed them for 2-3 minutes, and at the same time melted some butter, added garlic, sauteed, then added dill, lemon juice and porcini sea salt. Toss the prawns with the butter and you have succulent seafood.
Stinging nettles and daisy buds are also dead easy. For stinging nettles, to answer Jeremy - yes they are edible! You do need to cook them if you're not used to the irritation, though, because the cooking will render the irritant inert. Having the steamer at the ready, I threw them in the steamer basket, and boiled the sea asparagus, which is important because sea asparagus is really green-tasting but also very salty, so it at the least needs to be blanched. Preparing a base of sliced BC heirlooms as well as raw daisy buds (they're quite neat), you throw the other items on top and then throw on some white truffle balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and toss, and well, those two ingredients make anything taste good. When added to these unique veggies, you have a tasty salad.
I had prepared the crepes at home before going out there, and well, those are dead-easy. Flour, milk, eggs, melted butter, a touch of sugar and a touch of salt, whisk, and fry like pancakes. Great with chocolate chips (which I got from Cocoa Nymph, where else?) and some fresh-roasted hazelnuts from the farmer's market.
Because they had scalloped potatoes, I didn't make gnocchi there. I thus took six cooked potatoes home and wondered if they'd be fine to make gnocchi today. And yep, they are. I was experimenting with eggless gnocchi because I want to see if I could make a version that'd be great for vegans and it works! Cook potatoes in water til tender, peel, demolish in a ricer, add flour until the they can aggregate to make a ball of dough. Cover with a moist towel and let sit for 20. Then take sections, flour, and roll out into long cylinders approximately 1/2 an inch in diameter. Cut with a sharp knife to make pillow-shape cylinders, boil until they float, cool in a bowl of water, and toss with whatever you want. Homemade gnocchi is so much better than what's in the supermarkets - so much fluffier and the potato flavor really comes out!
So... I did okay! And to Sandy - I apologize for my snarkiness, I was figuring out how to share 100+ photos on Dropbox (so easy once you figure it out!). Plus, food can take many shapes - both highly involved and highly simple. But it all involves with playing with your food, which I totally embrace as a philosophy!