Day Sixty One

I ate cheese yesterday, at a party, and the sin is having gone back several times beyond just tasting. I really didn't need this fall off the no-cheese wagon, and it was excellent -- a crumble mountain of very sharp cheddar -- oh god.  At least it didn't taste like plastic!

Hot pan, cold oil, everybody happy!

I recall a Chinese TV chef saying: "Hot pan, cold oil, everybody happy!" ---- except when you set off the smoke alarms. I imagine these Filippo  Berio Tuscan's dancers on my olive oil can are happy because they know oils smoke at these temperatures :

Hottest: 

• Avocado (520F), 
• safflower (510F), 
• soybean (495F), 
• extra light olive (468F)

Middle hot -- refined oils:

• peanut (450F),
• corn (450F),
• sunflower (450F)

Lower hot:

• canola (400F)

Lowest hot:

• extra virgin olive oil (300F),
• all unrefined oils (225)

Hanky Panky (Homemade Meat) Balls

I chopped up some London Broil in a KitchenAid food processor the other day.  Ten pulses on twenty cubes.  With Italian spices and some anchovies. It tasted just like ground beef except fresher!  Then I added an egg and some pepper, and a little bread, and water, and made meatballs. They were great.

Then I heard Mark Bittman say, in a Lamb Meatball video, "Always grind your own meat!"   Many years ago he had written a whole column about grinding.

The same day, I chopped up some half frozen white bread (after I washed the food processor of course!). Five pulses on twenty chunks. They turned Panko! Just like all the pictures.  I dried them out in a warm oven. I call them Hanky Panky breadcrumbs because they are not really Japanese.

I like grinding my own. I posted the breadcrumbs because ground meat pictures are too gross to post.

Penchalapadu's Poetic Potatoes

Oh its spicy, and fun:

Boil six big old potatoes, till cooked, but not too long.  
Peel and cut and chunk them -- hard to do this wrong.
Now heat your fave  oil in a big whatever pot, 
In go seeds o' black mustard 'n cumin  ... COOK until they pop! 

Chop your onions quickly, two cups or so will do.
Cook them in the oil, till they're soft through and through. 
Turmeric &  garlic & ginger, a teaspoonful of each.
Cook a bit and add potatoes -- yes! the finale's within your reach. 
 
A little red chili and black pepper to excite that yellow pot,
Garam masala, curry powder -- a tad of whatev' you've got.  
Finish with some salt--just enough to make tastes zing, .

Stir it up and cook on low till the bottom fries and sings.
.

-- So sayeth the recipe giver:  Paul Penchalapadu

Rutabagas 'n Turnip Heaven

Rutabagas are those suspiciously huge 'turnips' near the little turnips.
Rutabagas are also called swedes or yellow turnips.
Inside they are pale yellow and hard, while turnips are white and softer.
Rutabaga cook up sweet, and deep orange yellow.

These little turnips were pretty good too.

This year I am going to cook up a Westport turnip which they say is something special. 

Choux Bruxelles Sans Fromage au Tofu

 

"Sans fromage" sounds so much fancier than "no cheese".

Autumn Olive Sorbet

This is how it starts!

To Be Continued.....?

Well, its almost forty days, and I have not resumed cheese. I'd call it a success.

Next sin?  OK.  Confession: 

I have Dollar Menu-itis. Sometimes I plan poorly on road trips. I stop at a  McDonald's for coffee instead of bringing my own. I often have it black, and I like it. Sometimes I  have  a McChicken with no mayo. I like the salt.  On very evil days I succumb to a McDouble --- two greasy cheeseburgers minus the middle bun. I like the drippy fat and salt. I never order anything else, except sometime a cheesy yogurt parfait.