Friday, May 23, 2003

Whenever aspic rears its ugly head, I sink irrevocably into this trudging, “Time to make the donuts” sort of malaise.  I bought a piece of beef for the Boeuf Mode en Gelee on Sunday; it sat in the fridge until Thursday morning.  By that point I knew I could ignore it no more, and I made up the marinade – slice onions and carrots, halved garlic clove, bay leaf, thyme, salt, pepper, whole clove, red wine, olive oil, brandy.  I stuck the meat in it and stuck it in the fridge, and given how late it was when I finally managed to make up my mind to do it, just that chore was enough to make me late for work.  Now it’s been sitting in it 24 hours, and will continue to sit for another 12, because last night, on the pretext that I had no veal knuckles and didn’t want to boil half a pound of bacon, I neglected to braise the meat as I had planned to.  At this rate, we’ll be eating our nice cool aspic luncheon for Labor Day. What I made instead was Petits Pois Frais a la Francaise – Peas Braised with Lettuce and Onions.  Julia says “this dish is considered the glory of pea cookery.”  Ooh la la, as they say.  I planned on making it was a first course, since she says “it should really served as a separate course and eaten with a spoon.”  Then I’d finish off the evening with some asparagus and bacon sandwiches – aah, asparagus and bacon sandwiches the dinner of kings! – smeared with a dab of leftover aioli.  Only thing is, Petits Pois Frais a la Francaise takes a little longer than you’d think.  You gotta shell the peas, and boil the little baby white onions.  You have to start watching “Mostly Martha,” because, after all you’re all alone on a Thursday night eating peas and asparagus sandwiches, you need something to cheer you up.  You have to quarter a head of boston lettuce, carefully so it doesn’t fall apart, and tie each piece up in white string.  You have to set a bit of water to boil with three tablespoons of butter, some sugar, salt and pepper.  You have to toss in the peas, and four parsley stems that you’ve tied up with more string.  You have to lay your little lettuce bundles on top of the peas, and the boiled onions on top of that.  You have to cover the sauce pan with a soup plate that you’ve filled with ice, so that the steam in the pan condenses and falls back. You have to realize that putting a ceramic soup plate full of ice on top of a simmer pan is not a very good idea before the ceramic soup plate breaks in half.  Actually, that’s not strictly necessary, it’s just that you won’t have your water nearly evaporated the way it ought to be, what with all the ice that’s in the pan now.  But that’s okay – you can spoon them out of the water, and toss them with more butter, and eat them. Only problem is, by that time, you really don’t much want asparagus and bacon sandwiches anymore.  The peas, while perhaps not a glory of anything, were certainly enough of a dinner to eat while sitting on the couch watching the first half of “Mostly Martha”, which is an excellent example of the Anti-Social Women with Mad Knife Skills genre.  I love that genre. So I’m having a weirdo pomo reflexive moment here.  As I write this morning, I am being photographed for this news article that’s coming out soon (I’ll tell you when I know more.)  Seems the editor wanted a writing shot.  So I’m being photographed while writing about being photographed for an article about how I write for a blog about cooking.  I keep having to look at the open MtAoFC, even when I’m writing about German movies. It’s a wacky world.   8:08:06 AM    comment []