Author: the hussy

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

1 large head of cauliflower, about 1-1/2 pounds, separated into florets and stem peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, white and light green parts only, chopped
1 large potato, around 1 pound, peeled and chopped
2 stalk of celery, chopped
4-5 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup milk, boiling

A piece of cheesecloth tied with twine containing the following:
4 sprigs parsley
4 sprigs thyme
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns

Suggested garnishes:
Extra virgin olive oil or butter
Freshly grated nutmeg
Freshly chopped parsley
Tabasco

Heat oven to 450. Toss the cauliflower with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring every ten minutes.

Meanwhile, place a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, leek, potato, celery, one cup of stock, and a teaspoon or so of salt. Cover. Turn the burner down to low once a boil is reached and simmer until the cauliflower is done.

Add the roasted cauliflower to the pot along with the rest of the stock and the herb/spice packet. Simmer for another half hour, or until the potatoes are tender. Puree with a blender, food processor, or immersion blender. Stir in the boiling milk. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve with a garnish or two.

Thanks a lot, Lydia. Apart from submitting resumes, all I have done is knit and listen to Stephen Fry read the first Harry Potter book. Well, that’s sort of a lie. Before I went to bed last night, I started reading the fourth volume of Hot Gimmick. And then I wasn’t able to go to bed for another hour or two, tearing through the next three books. Man, that is a crack series. So addictive!

(Huh, according to IMDb, Stephen Fry is going to be playing The Book in the new screen adaptation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. That’s pretty excellent.)

I made cookies on Saturday night. I tried the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies. I wanted to see if they were better than the Alton Brown recipe. They were not. And they were more complicated- well, a little. I had to separate an egg and steal some of Ryan’s corn syrup.

Rob sent me this link earlier today. I cannot believe this person has made $14,000 by threatening to kill and eat a bunny. Actually, I’m really more annoyed that I didn’t think of it first. I’d like that money. Rob and I were talking about what could trump the bunny. Of animals we eat, we think a baby deer might work. Now I just need to find a fawn.

I need to learn to leave my parents’ computer alone. I always try to do something to it to make it work better and it ends up being a Problem for people. Like today, I was over at their house doing laundry and turned on the monitor to check my email. There was an error message from the defragmenter saying it couldn’t do its thing. So I tried starting it again- same message. I decide that it’d be a good thing to restart the computer in safe mode. Now I’ve screwed things up for my mom because the print server’s not working with the PC offline. I run the defragmenter again. It tells me there’s a bad section of the disk and I need to run the ScanDisk in “Thorough” mode, which takes FOREVER. Then the defragmenter will be running another FOREVER. But in the end, things should be better! I think! I hope! I’m sorry, Dad. I won’t mess with your computer again. I only meant the best.

Argh, I can’t seem to get this to look right! Why isn’t there a space between my text and the link/comments line?

Ah, zucchini bread. Thank you, Mike, for sending me that recipe. It turned out very well. I halved the recipe just in case the baking gods were hating on me again, which worked for everything but the eggs. Since all I had were extra-large eggs, I used just one. I don’t know if that changed anything. Also, I took the pizza stone out of the oven before heating it. I know the added mass will regulate heat more evenly, but the truth is that a lot of recipes are built for inconsistent ovens. I find that sometimes when I have a pizza stone in the oven, things get too brown on the outside before the inside is done. I guess the solution to that would be to reduce the oven temperature. When I’m baking, though, changing anything freaks me out.

Thanks again, Mike!

Mike’s Zucchini Nut Bread

3 eggs

2 cups zucchini, grated

1 cup salad oil

2 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp mace

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a 3-quart mixing bowl, beat eggs well. Add oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla. Mix well. Sift and measure flour, add soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Add to batter and mix until well blended. Stir in nuts. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans. Pour in batter. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until done.

I’m not one to give up on a challenge… well, maybe I am, I still haven’t found the perfect hummus recipe yet, after about a billion recipes… or maybe just four… two of which (the last two) were very bad… anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. The zucchini bread failure yesterday. Our neighbor in Massachusetts, Mike, used to make an excellent zucchini bread. She sent me the recipe and it’s in the oven. Here’s hoping.

If anyone has a good recipe for zucchini bread, please send it my way. I made some today that was really disappointing. I’m sad now. Don’t trust this recipe. It was so bad I had to throw it out. Me! I’ll eat anything, but this was way gross. Mom, I remember that Mike always made excellent zucchini bread, but I’m not sure she reads this blog. Could you drop her a line and ask for me?

I’ve been eating out rather a lot lately. On Friday, the family all got together and went to Left Bank for a very nice meal (read my mom’s review). I am really quite fond of that restaurant. On Saturday, I went out with Rob and Jer to Sue’s Indian Cuisine in Mountain View. On Sunday, I went over to the East Bay to hang out with Lydia. We watched a bunch of Yakitate!!, bought fabric for our Katamari costumes (and Lydia is the sweetest and best person ever because she’s making my dress and gloves for me- can you feel the love?), and ate cheesesteaks of random quality and sushi of better quality. I tried umeboshi for the first time. That’s some very salty stuff. But tasty.

Monday was the traditional Mountain View weekly dinner. Ryan came along with us for the first time, yay! We went to an Italian restaurant called Zucca (and bravo, you have the most annoying Flash intro EVER). I really liked my dinner (hangar steak with mashed potatoes, a red wine reduction, and fried onion strings), but Ryan chose a pizza which, in her words, “sucked.” Also, it’s kind of on the pricey side, so you have to be careful what you choose. Based on that, I’m not sure I actually recommend it, even though my meal was quite good.

The bar at Zucca had some interesting drinks, including an entire menu of “martinis.” And now a time for me to rant on the term “martini.” I’m not a fan of martinis. Gin’s really not my thing. However, nomenclature is my thing. It pisses me off when people attach the word “martini” or the suffix “-tini” for a drink that has no relation to a martini. A martini made with vodka instead of gin? Is NOT a martini. I mean, if the mere act of using an onion instead of an olive changes the name to a Gibson, then changing the other ingredients should also change the name completely. Just because you put it in a martini glass does NOT make it a martini. It’s… some other drink… served in a martini glass.

Argh! Nothing like your stats to tell you that someone’s found your site by searching “browing ground beef in a microwave.” And then searching for “browing” yourself and finding you’ve written it twice. That’s pretty terrible. I need to go edit some posts now.