Roger's View of the World, Love and Seafood Gumbo!
Seize the Day! Put no trust in the morrow! — Horace
When my daughter Kristin was home we baked a great many things. Of course there had to be the requisite Baklava for a little get-together. There was a tad left over and Kristin planned to send some to a friend stationed in Iraq. It was all ready to ship, but then the unthinkable happened. It was eaten!
Finally the culprit was caught and forced to bake up more Baklava based on the ancient family recipe… which was torture indeed. Soon it will be off to where it is supposed to be.
There was a time that people had the ability to add and subtract in their head, eye ball a construction project with beautiful results, paint without numbers and create something wonderful. However, everyone can recapture those long lost abilities and cooking skills by simply viewing most things including recipes as ‘guidelines.’
My grandmother was brilliant in the kitchen and she would tell me that cookbooks are ‘useful’ and help to ‘spark an idea’, but were really only ‘guidelines.’ This time in my bread pudding, I used banana nut muffins, croissants, and french bread as the base. This is why a bread pudding can be wonderfully different every time!
I believe all ‘Bread Puddings’ were really only a catch all dessert bound together by eggs, infused with fruit and cream, and covered with a yummy sauce. One nice feature of my bread puddings is that they reconstitute very well. Left over sections can be placed into a container covered with sauce and they microwave back to life beautifully!
So here’s the recipe... make it for someone you love.
One of my favorite meals is to dine on Moussaka! It is a meat and vegetable dish that has a lot of appeal in certain parts of the world, but it is virtually unknown in others. However, not everyone enjoys Moussaka and I think it is not so much because of how it is prepared but because of some , or one , of its ingredients. How one prepares the eggplant either makes or breaks this marvelous dish!
I am finally getting down to making Moussaka today …and I am reminded that slicing and frying the eggplant very thin is key! Personally, I love the addition of zucchini and potatoes also sliced and fried thin. In the sauce, I use a mixture of lamb and pork which produces a soft and delicious meat filling.
When my daughters returned from their conference in Rio de Janeiro they met Laura in another conference in Boston. Kindly, they had brought with them some cookbooks for me… in Portuguese. Now translating cookbooks is relative easy regardless of the language, but Portuguese is a language that English speaking people find possible. Thanks , ladies!
Now, I am busy!
BTW. Greek Festival in San Luis Obispo if you are looking for something fun this weekend!
I have written about the beauty of bread pudding many times because it is certainly one of my favorite desserts! The beauty is that it is different every time you make it, or at least, it should be! The concept of the chefs of old was that you threw everything left over into a bowl which might contain: scraps of cake, muffin, croissants and bread! Personally, I think it is the unintended variety that makes all the difference.
Certainly, adding some dried fruit ( sultanas and blueberries) soaked in Armagnac or brandy for the raisins and rye whiskey for the blueberries is a treat and extracting the natural vanilla flavorings from vanilla beans takes time. By Sunday, my search for all the ingredients will be over and it will be time to bake!
You may ask why I don’t have any leftovers?… well, we are not a big kitchen any more! Now, I have to scour the day old sections of various bakeries.
So what are you making today?
Roger
(click on the picture above for my basic bread pudding recipe)
In California , the weather is starting to normalize and that means eating outside! This is the time when many people — who haven’t done much cooking all year begin to dust off their recipe card files and cookbooks and get ready to make some family favorites. Baking season is known to start in October, but the barbecues and the smokers are already firing up and this is an entirely different kind of cooking!
For us this means making our own corned beef and pastrami, smoking a salmon or two and cooking various cuts of beef over hickory and mesquite. It is a good time.
Preparation means serving either buffet or family style. Personally, I like to have a separate table just for the food, iced down troughs for the beverages and wine on the table. It’s the old keep it simple system. Personally, home baked rolls ( baguettes) and pies help add some diversion too the meal. And what isn’t a barbecue without garlic bread and your favorite recipe for baked beans ( with a secret ingredient or two from the liquor cabinet)!
Here is a few of what I like to prepare!
So, with summer just around the corner… plan a picnic!