Using Every Last Drop…Again
A couple of months ago, I wrote about a common issue that many culinarians face: not knowing what to do with leftover buttermilk. Often, we home cooks purchase that sour dairy for a specific recipe, and rarely do we use the entire quart in which it comes; and, just as often, that buttermilk ends up with an ample mossy film after months of neglect on the shelves of our refrigerators.
Last week, as I conducted a little summer cleaning, I discovered half of a half-gallon of forgotten green market-purchased buttermilk and found myself wondering what the heck to do with it. Though the container was stamped with a date that had past weeks before I found it, the product was still good. So, I went into my living room and pulled out some of my favorite cook books and began researching recipes for something new and interesting to make. I came across biscuits, scones, cake, and fried chicken, but since it was over 90 degrees outside and surely over 100 degrees in my kitchen, there was absolutely no way I was going to turn on my oven or use the stove for a significant amount of time. I abandoned my library of printed recipes, and went to the Internet. There, I immediately came upon my experiment of choice: buttermilk ice cream. Continue reading Using Every Last Drop…Again
By Erin Patinkin on August 28, 2009 | 1
A Simple Answer to a Cake Conundrum
I am a chocolate lover who enjoys that black gold in all forms save one: cake. For years, I would dutifully eat the slices of fluffy, wheaty pastries set in front of me at birthdays, weddings, and holiday celebrations simply for the sugar rush that would follow; rarely, however, did I enjoy what was on my plate, and at some point I abandoned the pastry all together. Continue reading A Simple Answer to a Cake Conundrum
By Erin Patinkin on August 13, 2009 | 0
Seasonal Salsa
Some of my favorite foods are now available at farmers markets: spicy garlic scapes, burning hot peppers, juicy apricots, succulent greens. I have been so excited about the beautiful and colorful flora now available that I often find that the produce I bring home is a mishmash of vegetables and fruits that don’t necessarily compliment one another; I tend to buy what looks beautiful without a thought to the dishes that I can create with my purchases. Continue reading Seasonal Salsa
By Erin Patinkin on July 30, 2009 | 0
Using Every Last Drop
The other day, I was commissioned to make a friend his birthday cake. I settled on red velvet, my old standby, but after baking I had at least a cup of buttermilk leftover in the quart-sized container I had purchased. Somehow, it is impossible to find buttermilk in pint-sized containers, so whenever I purchase it for a certain recipe, I find that about 95% of the time, the stuff that’s left ends up rotting in my fridge (and let me tell you, buttermilk that has gone bad is not something fun to dispose of).
This time, however, I vowed that I would not let my buttermilk go to waste. So, I looked in my refrigerator and pantry to see what could be made with my leftover dairy.
Cornmeal. Check.
Flour. Check.
Eggs. Check.
Agave nectar. Check.
An almost-bad jalapeno. Check.
These ingredients could only mean one thing: cornbread. After reading through cookbooks and after an online search, I decided to experiment by combining several recipes that I had found and altering them to use what my pantry provided.
Often, I find that cornbread is overly dry and, after consumption, leaves me yearning for a large glass of milk or water so that I don’t feel like I have cement forming in my gullet. This cornbread, however, is dense, moist, and light. Slightly sweet with a spicy kick, it makes for a perfect accompaniment to chili, Mexican baked beans, or on its own as a snack. Best of all, it takes only a few minutes to prepare. Continue reading Using Every Last Drop
By Erin Patinkin on June 24, 2009 | 0
A Meal for Pennies
When I was an undergraduate, I would often come home to a house full of hungry roommates waiting for me to arrive to make them food. Being college kids on budgets, our larder was often low; so, after awhile, I became adept at digging up dinner out of whatever remnants of food, cans of beans, packaged goods, and other seemingly disparate ingredients I could find.
The other night, that thrifty spirit once again seized me when I discovered that there was almost nothing to eat in my house. My initial reaction was to pick up the phone to call my favorite local Indian joint, but I decided that I wanted to save my pennies and so I reopened my cabinet and refrigerator to see what I could conjure into a supper. (Now I’m assuming that the readers of this blog not only fit the description of thrifty, but also of gourmet. As such, I am going to assume that, like me, you always have certain staples in your cabinet. If you don’t, then I recommend checking out this article by Mark Bittman from the NYTimes – do as he says, and you’ll always have something hanging around out of which to make a meal.) Continue reading A Meal for Pennies
By Erin Patinkin on June 15, 2009 | 0
