Congratulations! It's a blog!
I've always considered blogging, but I felt like I needed some kind of topic to filter out all the mundane aspects of life. I didn't want to make a blog and have it end up being an extension of my Facebook status updates. Tonight, however, I realized some things:
1) Drinking a little on a Friday can really help one to come to some good conclusions. Some bad ones, too. 2) I love messing around in the kitchen. Not in a gross way, though.
3) Why not make cooking my blog topic? Eureka!
I realize there is a glut in the cooking blog community. I assure you I have no formal training in the cooking arts, I rarely have a clue what Alton Brown is talking about on Good Eats, but I do have a passion for experimentation, and I know what tastes good. And, I have a wealth of "test subjects" who can attest to my cooking ability. Much more on those guys and gals later.
Point being, my goal here is to make a record of my madness in the kitchen for myself and anyone else who wants to join in the fun. I promise it will be fun!
I'll wrap up this first post with some new techniques I learned this week:
--Curry paste is one of the most versatile ingredients ever. This doesn't really apply if you dislike the taste of curry (hard to believe, I know), but for those of us who want to curry up all our food it's fantastic. I prefer curry paste to the powdered curry you can find in the spice aisle because I find that it blends a lot better, probably owing to the fact that it has a little bit of oil to hold it all together. More often than not I end up stirring it into coconut milk as a sauce, but this week I discovered that it mixes well into cold items too. I made a dipping sauce by just stirring the curry paste into some plain yogurt. It's really great on potatoes, even better if you've got some fresh herbs like cilantro or parsley.
--Mushrooms. Up until very recently, I thought I hated mushrooms. Gradually I stopped picking them out of my penne rosa at Noodles and now I can actually look forward to a good mushroom and swiss hamburger. But because this was such a recent development for me, I've been a little apprehensive about bringing mushrooms home and cooking them up myself. I worried: would they taste as good? Do I have to do anything special to them? The answers I discovered were "yes" and "not really". Basically all you have to do is rinse the dirt off and chop them up. I suppose if the stems are a little tough you could trim them back, but there really isn't anything to the preparation. I feel a little silly now for thinking it would be difficult!
Now for the cooking, I learned something: sauteed mushrooms aren't just cooked in olive oil. Well, to some people they might be, but when I talk about sauteed mushrooms I'm talking about those really great ones you get on a steak or burger at a restaurant. They have this really deep, complex flavor that I love, and after a quick google i found to my surprise that that taste isn't just the cooked mushroom. There's something else. Ready for it?
It's balsamic vinegar.
Whoa! Now your mind is blown! It's true: that tangy stuff you get on salads turns into a really great flavor enhancer for sauteed mushrooms. And the best part is you don't even have to do anything but pour a little on the mushrooms while they cook down in the olive oil (or butter, if you're so inclined). I think I heard once that a little wine is good on mushrooms too, but I'm pretty taken with the balsamic flavor. I ended up just eating them as a side dish, but give it a shot and throw some on a burger, or even a salad with some parmesan or blue cheese.
Ok, that's it for now. I'll have some more stuff later.
