Food Thread: When Good Ideas Go Bad (CBD)

We Politely Request That All Off-Topic or Political Comments Be Directed to the Thread Directly Below This One, Which Will Serve Officially as the Current "Active Conversation" Thread for All Discussions Not Related To This Topic.

It was a very good idea -- chocolate chip cookie shot glasses.

But it wasn't mine, and I had no idea how it was done.

And I still don't.

My next attempt will be a rectangle of cookie dough rolled thin and baked just until firm. I'll try to form it around the shot glass mold and add a circle of dough for the base. Then back into the oven to crisp a bit. Hopefully the dough will be malleable enough that it sticks to itself so it seals reasonably well.

Casu Marzu is an acquired taste, And one that most people look forward never to acquire.

Eating insects and other odd foods is nothing new, But it's rolled out every few years as the next new thing. I lived in a student Co-Op at U.C. Berkeley in the early 1980s, and one of the other residents was an entomology grad student named Doug Whitman who organized something he called "Bug Snack." It was great fun to watch people eat "foods" that they would normally swat away or rinse down the sink.

This interesting graphic came from a progressive website called TakePart," so click at your peril. The never-ending drive for environmental purity has them tied in knots, pursuing fair-trade, locally sourced, small-farmer, bio-dynamically grown, organically processed, humanely slaughtered arugula for their vegan banquets. The nine gallons of fossil fuel they burn to gather this cornucopia is not in the equation, because they have a SUBARU/VOLVO/PRIUS.

Here is a recipe from the NY Times Dining And Wine section. I am normally quite skeptical of their recipes, mostly because they seem not to be tested very well, and they are also aggressively hip. But this is a straightforward chicken dish that looks great and makes cooking sense.

•8 chicken thighs
•2 tablespoons flour
•1 tablespoon kosher salt
•1 tablespoon ground black pepper
•2 tablespoons unsalted butter
•12 to 15 whole medium shallots, peeled
•2 cups white wine
•2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
•2 sprigs tarragon
•2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half.

Rinse chicken thighs in water, and pat them very dry with paper towels. Sprinkle over them the flour, salt and pepper.

Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or skillet set over medium-high heat. When the butter foams, cook the chicken, in batches if necessary, until well browned and crisp on all sides. Set aside.

Add the shallots to the pot and sauté them in the butter and chicken fat until they begin to soften and caramelize, approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Add the wine to deglaze the pot, stir with a large spoon, then add the mustard and tarragon, then the chicken thighs. Cover the pot, turn the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid, and allow the sauce to reduce and thicken, 15 to 20 minutes.

Add the cherry tomatoes to the pot, stir lightly to combine and serve immediately.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:00 PM

| Access Comments