Stuck in bed or on the couch for
a week with a really nasty migratory cold, head, chest, head again. I have become EXTREMELY antsy. So yesterday I got up and went to my
favorite place, the kitchen, and worked all day. The kitchen is definitely my “happy place”. It was a productive day. Nigel had brought 3 boxes worth of
produce last week and there was much to get through, particularly as I haven’t
been cooking or eating that much for a week now. I won’t be in the big kitchen to make sodas until sometime
next week, so I went a little hog wild.
PERSIMMON BUNDT CAKE
Discovered several bags of Persimmons. I don’t really like Persimmons but I
was determined to find something do with them that would change my
opinion. Did a quick search on
line and found a fantastic Persimmon Bundt Cake recipe that actually called for
the harder Fuyu. Great! It was the last thing I made yesterday,
whipped it up last night actually, and it was GREAT. I have included the recipe down below. I highly recommend it, and it was
delicious warm too. Here is a link
to the recipe: http://www.recipezaar.com/member/382071
THAI RED CURRY
The rest of the day was spent
working on what to do with copious amounts of lemon grass, spinach, bok choy
and butternut squash. When I
looked at them altogether a Thai Red Curry was the immediate and obvious
solution. A very simple dish,
particularly if you already have coconut milk and red curry paste at home. You can leave it as a basic vege dish
or add tofu or chicken. Sautee
some onions, garlic, then add finely chopped fresh lemon grass; throw in a good
shot of fish sauce, or a little soy sauce if you prefer vegetarian fare. Add red curry paste, how much you add
depends on how spicy you like it, then a can or two of coconut milk. Make sure the curry paste is
blended into the sauce and not hiding in a clump somewhere, then add spinach
and bok choy. Once they have had a
chance to cook down you can throw in cubed precooked butternut squash and
basically you are done. You don’t
have to precook the squash, I do because I don’t like cutting them when they
are hard, but if you don’t precook, cube it up and put it in the pot to cook
for a while in the sauce before you add the greens. If you like, a spoonful or two of peanut butter adds another
dimension of flavor to the mix, and a little more protein.
STUFFED BELL PEPPERS
I had some leftover vegetarian
stuffing. The stuffing was made
with old sourdough, onions, garlic, shitake mushrooms, apples, walnuts, sage,
and butternut squash. Thought it
would make a good filling for the peppers, plus I needed to use it up. I put a little yogurt cheese in the
bottom of the peppers, spooned stuffing to overfill the peppers. The peppers were a little on the small
side so I decided to put them into cupcake liners with a dollop of tomato sauce
on the bottom. Threw them in the
oven and baked till they looked done.
DRINKWELL SODAS for
Saturday December 5, 2009
We will once again have delicious Cherry Soda made using
organic cherry juice from Lagier Ranches.
Two flavors of cherry, Cherry Straight Up and Cherry with a little
Eatwell Rose Geranium. Once again
we will have Lemon Grass made from Eatwell Farm Lemon Grass and probably my
Root Beer. Hope I can taste the
sodas