Sunday, November 24, 2002

One of the fun time-wasting things to do when you have a blog is to look at the routes by which people come to the site.  For instance, you can look at all the google searches that people have done.  Today, someone found my site after searching for "Nigella Lawson ass". You're one sick bastard, buddy.... 12:37:05 PM    comment []

Saturday night dinner was Fricassee de Poulet a l’Estragon.  This is once again pretty much identical to the master fricassee recipe (you'll have to scroll down on this link), the only difference being that I stirred in some good quality dried tarragon in with the wine and stock at the beginning of the chicken’s long simmer.  I grew up disliking tarragon, a taste I inherited from my mother.  And I’m still not overly fond of the smell of it cooking.  But I’m coming around to the grassy taste of it.  It makes the dish taste relatively light despite the stick of butter, egg yolks and cream. I also made Risotto, which in JC’s world just means braised rice.  This is a much saner approach than her steamed rice, and similar to a lot of Mexican recipes I’ve used in the past.  All you do is sauté some minced onions in butter, then add some rice and let that sauté a bit, then pour in some kind of stock – I used the cooking liquid from the mushrooms I stewed for the fricassee – and an herb bouquet, and set in the oven for 17 minutes or so.  It tastes good, less sticky and fluffy than the steamed rice, and far less persnickety. Not all that exciting, I’ll be the first to admit, but a satisfying meal.  Besides, I’ve got Thanksgiving coming up – roast goose stuff with prunes and foie gras, braised red cabbage with chestnuts, creamed onions, Brussels sprouts with cheese sauce, not to mention those goddamned eggs in aspic at long last.  So give me a break.  A bit of worrisome news – the book has undergone a mishap, involving an ill-timed bathroom break during menu-planning.  It’s okay, don’t worry.  She’s a tough old girl.  I am notoriously cruel to my cookbooks – my kitchen shelves are filled with walking wounded -- and this is the first bit of damage she’s suffered in three months of daily use.  It’s a sobering event, though.  I’m going to have to be more careful. 12:16:04 PM    comment []