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Weird Combos That Work(ed) Out Just Right

weinoo

By weinoo
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weinoo

weinoo

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Last night, Significant Eater and I were vacillating. Actually, I was the vacillator, as she just wanted to stay home and I couldn't decide whether I wanted to go out, order in, or, gasp, make dinner (which of course means I have to cook and clean up). There was barely anything in the apartment; well, barely anything I wanted to cook (and then clean).

Since Saturday night is probably our least favorite night of the week to go out for a meal, I decided to tough it out and cobble together a meal from our larder. I always have a couple of pecorinos and a wedge or two of Paremsan, so spaghetti cacio e pepe was going to be the main.

But what to serve with it? I basically had celery and avocados in the vegetable drawer of my trusty Amana. And a bag of frozen peas in the freezer, peas being one of two vegetables I might buy frozen; they're quite reliable. Anyway, I cut open an avo (I was thinking celery and avocado salad) and it was bad - and thrown away. Then I decided to slice a few stalks on the diagonal (and save the leaves) while a bit of olive oil and a clove of garlic were heating up in a frying pan. In went the celery, salt and pepper and about a minute before I turned off the heat, I threw in a handful of frozen peas and the celery leaves.

You know what? It worked. The celery was nice and crunchy and juicy, the leaves added the right amount celery-oomph and the peas were perfectly cooked and earthy. We were pleasantly happy.

So - have you come up with any not-so-usual combos recently? And, how'd they work out for you?

Edited by weinoo (log)

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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dcarch

dcarch

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"Surf & Turf", an unusual combo which works for everyone, never worked for me. Conceptually wrong, and non-compatible taste combination, IMHO. (please don't lecture me. Just my subjective taste)

Back on topic:

EVOO + fish sauce + pinch of pepper on heirloom tomato salad for me is amazing.

Salad dressing's sweet and tart flavor compete or hide the inherent quality of tomatoes.

dcarch

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gfweb

gfweb

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"Surf & Turf", an unusual combo which works for everyone, never worked for me. Conceptually wrong, and non-compatible taste combination, IMHO. (please don't lecture me. Just my subjective taste)

I agree re surf and turf. It lives-on because of the catchy name and the illusion of opulence.

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weinoo

weinoo

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Fig Newtons, warmed in the microwave, accompanied by a peaty, smokey Scotch.

The whole is mysteriously far, far greater than the sum of its parts.

This I might have to try, even though I'm not a Scotch drinker.

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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quiet1

quiet1

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Many years ago my husband suggested a raspberry-lime combination for a sauce, and I thought it sounded quite weird (they just wouldn't go together as flavors in my head) but I tried it anyway and it turned out to be exceptionally tasty. Somehow the lime makes the raspberry flavor richer and gives a buttery edge to the flavor. I don't know if that's so much a surprising flavor combination as it was just surprising to me, but it definitely reminded me of the value of experimenting outside your personal comfort zone.

(My husband was disabled so he couldn't cook himself, but he had quite a good head for the creative elements of cooking.)

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Panaderia Canadiense

Panaderia Canadiense

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I've recently started to add a bit of finely chopped celery to my pizzas; it adds a really interesting crunch without detracting from the other flavours that are going on there.

Elizabeth Campbell, baking 10,000 feet up at 1° South latitude.

My eG Food Blog (2011) ⋆ My eG Foodblog (2012)

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pastameshugana

pastameshugana

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Fig Newtons, warmed in the microwave, accompanied by a peaty, smokey Scotch.

The whole is mysteriously far, far greater than the sum of its parts.

For some reason I originally read this as 'smokey cheese' instead of scotch, and it sounded wonderful. I'm not a drinker, but I bet the right cheese would get along quite well with FN.

Any cheese suggestions?

PastaMeshugana

"The roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd."

"What's hunger got to do with anything?" - My Father

My first Novella: The Curse of Forgetting

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Panaderia Canadiense

Panaderia Canadiense

Posted
Posted

Fig Newtons, warmed in the microwave, accompanied by a peaty, smokey Scotch.

The whole is mysteriously far, far greater than the sum of its parts.

For some reason I originally read this as 'smokey cheese' instead of scotch, and it sounded wonderful. I'm not a drinker, but I bet the right cheese would get along quite well with FN.

Any cheese suggestions?

If you can find it, full-aged (black rind) Amalattea would go beautifully. So would Manchego, I think, and possibly also Angochagua.

Elizabeth Campbell, baking 10,000 feet up at 1° South latitude.

My eG Food Blog (2011) ⋆ My eG Foodblog (2012)

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Dave Hatfield

Dave Hatfield

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Peanut butter &

Dill pickles

or

American mustard

Go figure!

AKA Yank,
http://www.frenchfoodfocus.com/

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/104472-egfoodblog-dave-hatfield/

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/143664-eg-foodblog-dave-hatfield-la-france-profonde/

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/145926-eg-foodblog-dave-hatfield-a-food-adventure/

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lesliec

lesliec

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Posted

A cup of tea, with a few black olives on the side.

Can't remember how we came to try it, but they go really well!

Leslie Craven, aka "lesliec"
Host, eG Forums - lcraven@egstaff.org

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives ~ Oscar Wilde

My eG Foodblog

eGullet Ethics Code signatory

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Smithy

Smithy

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Port and Snickers bars.

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
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"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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Smithy

Smithy

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The dining hall at my mother's residence offers citrus fish with an avocado-strawberry salsa. Citrus on fish I like, but I'd never thought of pairing avocado with strawberries, much less atop a mild-flavored fish. Once I tried it, I was hooked.

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Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
Host, eG Forums - nsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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Alex

Alex

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Posted

The dining hall at my mother's residence offers citrus fish with an avocado-strawberry salsa. Citrus on fish I like, but I'd never thought of pairing avocado with strawberries, much less atop a mild-flavored fish. Once I tried it, I was hooked.

Fish. Hooked. :laugh:

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

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Alex

Alex

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I've recently started to add a bit of finely chopped celery to my pizzas; it adds a really interesting crunch without detracting from the other flavours that are going on there.

Interesting. This provoked a memory of a chili cook-off I entered about 30 years ago, in the Detroit area. The winning entry, like your pizza, had some chopped celery. Heresy, so it seemed, but the judges said they really liked the texture contrast.

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

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Lisa Shock

Lisa Shock

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Chocolate ice cream topped with Malt-o-Meal brand Golden Puffs -like Sugar Smacks, only has more caramel/molasses flavor, IMO. I was eating the cereal one day and just blurted out, 'I bet this would taste really good on chocolate ice cream' didn't get a chance to test it for several months, but, when I did it was really pretty good.

Have you read eGullet's Kitchen Scale manifesto?

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nibor

nibor

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Fig Newtons, warmed in the microwave, accompanied by a peaty, smokey Scotch.

The whole is mysteriously far, far greater than the sum of its parts.

Well now I'm wondering how you came to that combination. Did you drink some Scotch first by itself? :wink:

Good question....can't remember... :blink:

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Baselerd

Baselerd

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I've been adding miso paste to a lot of stuff recently. I wouldn't say any of the combos are unexpected, but I have yet to find a vegetable it doesn't go well with. I've even eaten miso in a dessert with chocolate and sweet potato - which was great.

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