redfox

Frittata with onions, piquillo peppers, and frozen asparagus. Spaghetti squash (baked and fluffed first!) with garlic, sauteed in olive oil. Salad. I gave up potato chips for Lent, and I want some already.

A sort of okonomiyaki with braised soft homemade wheat gluten in strips: Then hot chocolate for dessert.

Successful adventures in homemade gluten today! Here's what I did: I mixed together a quarter cup of water, a dash of soy sauce, a drizzle of sesame oil, a splash of rice wine, a little salt, and a little cocoa for color. Then I added a quarter cup of gluten, and mixed quickly with a fork. I kneaded it quite lightly and let it rest a few minutes. Then I dumped it out on the counter and dimpled it all over with my fingertips until it was about half an inch thick. Then, into the frying pan it went. (That's the stage in the picture.) After both sides were browned, I added some water, a clove of garlic, another splash of rice wine, and covered it up for about half an hour or forty minutes of braising. I checked on the water level every ten minutes or so, topping it up when necessary. It absorbed quite a bit of liquid at first, and then settled down. At the end of the braising, I took off the lid and cooked down the liquid to a nice pan sauce. I sliced this into thin little strips and it was very much in the fatty pork genre of substance. We had it in an okonomiyaki, and it was lovely, though the strips I pinched and ate on their own were tastier yet, unobscured by all the other stuff. I think this preparation would really shine in a dish like mu shu. Here's what it looked like near the end of the braising. You can see that it has softened and expanded somewhat. And here are the strips, the final product: (edited to add the photos from later in the process)

I hadn't thought about that angle -- I tend to assume that EU products are produced under much more stringent circumstances as far as that kind of thing goes. But are they? A little Internet research tells me that rbGH is indeed banned in Europe. I don't know about standard practices regarding, say, the regular treatment of dairy cows with antibiotics, though. On the other hand, you might find that going on at even an organic dairy. (Mightn't you? More knowledgable people, chime in!)

Even the fat-free Total is thick, thick, thick. The only difference is that it tastes leaner -- I don't know how else to put it. But all three levels of butterfattiness are thick and delicious.

Exhausted grad students sometimes make less-than-elaborate dinners, and frequently make them less than promptly. Or at least this one does. We will soon, or someday, be eating lentil soup containing both red and french lentils (among other things), with a hearty dose of onion confit to sweeten the pot. Also, bourbon and soda. As a pre-dinner/very late lunch, I scarfed a couple of teeny plates' worth of crackers and dip from Whole Foods at a lecture reception, so hunger is slightly staved off while we wait. But I do hope the soup will be restorative, because I could use some restoring! If I don't get a metric crapload of work done tomorrow, I will rue the day. So simple though it might be, this soup is being called upon to do some serious duty. Also, to provide leftovers in quantity.

Oh dear. I read this so very much the wrong way the first time.

I just wanted to report that I am currently eating a bowl of Total yogurt with crumbled walnuts and a giant dollop of Mackays spiced ginger preserves, and it is about the best thing ever. That is all.

Just today, I bought a pack of the Dancing Deer colors. They are vegetable color extracts suspended in a sugar syrup. The colors in this pack are "rose madder red," from beets; "orange nasturtium," from turmeric and annato; "yellow light," from turmeric; "sage green," from spinach; and "blue violet," from blue carantho, whatever that is. They seem nice, and also a cut above the basic grocery store colors in that the blue and the red will clearly mix to make purple. (The commercial blue is unfortunately on the green side, and what you get when you mix it with red is usually more like grey than like purple.) I'm thinking of trying them out in meringues later this week, maybe. If I do, I'll report back on the experience.

The plastic wrap does not melt at all? I would have been afraid to bake plastic.

Spaghetti squash baked and then sauteed with garlic butter, and a rice + wheatberry salad with cherry tomatoes, red onions, "spring greens" (a mix of small but remarkably tough leaves from the whole food co-op, tamed and wilted by being tossed with the grains while they were still warm), chopped fresh mozzerella, sliced almonds, a little onion confit, and vinaigrette.

In fact... it deserves commemoration in a signature.

I was going to quote that second bacon bar commenter too! There truly is something deeply perfect about "went together easy, but I did not like the taste of the bacon and orange tang together."

I got bit with the bug to try making homemade, so I've put together a batch (seasoned with salt and pepper and a little sesame oil) and will use it in kung pao gluten tonight. It looks a little super-chewy right now, but then it hasn't had its braising yet, only the original simmering, so we'll see how it comes out.

I wouldn't recommend it. Sushi isn't a good make-ahead dish, because refrigerated rice gets unpleasantly hard.

Ooh! That sounds intriguing. Tell us more?

Oh! Well, that is very good to know. Maybe I will stick to my good old "mock duck." I have a sudden urge to stock up!

That sounds like good advice, indeed, mudpuppie. I have used canned wheat gluten (rinsed thoroughly) very successfully to make a saucy sort of Asian-ish dish that is very good over rice: stir-fry onions and other vegetables if you want them, add grated fresh ginger and minced garlic, then the gluten plus broth, a splash of rice wine, a splash of vinegar, dark soy sauce, a bit of cornstarch and a lot of freshly ground black pepper. Add some scallions, cut into 1" pieces, and simmer until the sauce is thick. Not authentic anything, but not mock meat, either, and very tasty. (Hm, maybe it's time I made that again soon.) I like the canned gluten better than the shrink-wrapped seitan in a package I've had. I don't know why that should be. I was thinking of trying to make fresh seitan some time, since I have a jar of vital wheat gluten around for baking purposes. I don't know if it would taste any better than storebought, but it's an appealing idea. I think it's quite easy if you're already starting with the gluten, rather than whole flour.

I certainly wouldn't mind trying that quicker recipe for comparison on my next batch (I forsee many batches in my future...). The plan for cheese and confit was somewhat foiled by the fact that the cheese we bought wound up being not nearly as stinky as I'd have hoped. It failed to stand up to the onions and the flavors were all kind of lost. Maybe if we let it sit around for a while, stinkifying. BUT! Today a couple of spoonsful of confit made a really superb addition to my lunchtime bowl of champ. Mmm.

Count me in as another excited virgin (!). I live far enough away (Takoma Park) that I can't imagine I'll go super often, but as my partner works near Reston, that might make us more likely to make the trek. Certainly I am very much looking forward to the first visit.

Insanely cute! Especially the poached ones.

Ohhh, yes, poached eggs would be fantastic! Imagine with some chewy sourdough toast... heaven.

Operation Onion Confit was a success! As promised, six large white onions yielded just under a quart of confit. I followed pretty much the Fifi model: 6 large onions, quartered and sliced 4 bay leaves a teaspoon or two of dried thyme ground black pepper sauteed in about 3/4 cup, combined, butter and olive oil After that had cooked for about twenty minutes, I stirred in a couple of tablespoons of vegetable demiglace (storebought, I must confess) and simmered (now that all the juices were coming out) about ten minutes more. Then lid on and into the oven at 200 degrees. After about six hours, I decided to uncover it partially. That worked fairly well -- I think next time I would even just leave the lid off the whole time. The onions really do give up a great deal of liquid! The final result, over scrambled eggs this morning: Tonight, we'll be having some more with runny cheese, crackers, and a salad. I could see this becoming a staple. Maybe someday I could be generous enough to make a couple of batches in a row and dole it out in properly canned pint helpings, as gifts for Very Good People. I'm thinking that it would be really good with a crumbly cheese of some sort and PEARS, for some reason. Is this crazy? I haven't had a nice pear in ages, and it's not really the season for them, but my brain is crying out, "Eat this with a pear!" so I may see what I can do.

Thanks for the welcome! My rice cooker is indeed not that giant, so I think I'll go for the oven and my nice big le Crueset pot. I have a couple of spare quart jars around, at least one of which deserves to be filled with delicious onion jam. Will definitely report back.

By a funny coincidence, I just bought a bottle of that bergamot syrup. I'd love to hear more specific details of your cocktail uses of it. Edited to add: I was thinking of trying it drizzled over marscarpone or Greek yogurt, but the citrus + dairy acidity might not go well. Maybe pots de creme would be a nice vehicle, if I were less lazy.