This is my blogchalk:
United States, North Carolina, Carrboro, English, Paul, Male, 56-60, All Music, All Food.

Subscribe to this blog in Radio:

Friday, September 06, 2002

I got a nice email from "LRJ" with a ratatouille recipe, where she suggested adding the roasted tomatoes, then spooning over "nearly everything: parmesan risotto or a cheesy polenta, penne or fettucine, grilled artisan breads". That sounded tasty to me, even though I had to confess to having never made a ratatouille. A quick search of Arielle's Recipe Archive (bookmark it if you're a foodie!) gave me enough recipes to learn the techniques. I had been thinking of roasting everything all together, stupid me, in a gigantic CorningWare baking dish, but now I know ratatouille is normally made in a large skillet (or microwaved!) on the stove top. Work was slow today, so I figured it was a good time to take a half-day vacation and head for Lowes Foods. Turns out they only show a fraction of their specials in the local store website, and their flyer feature this week is Hereford Beef. Cryovac Boneless Sirloin Tip, "Lowest Price of year" (suggestion for Lowes - start using "Lowest Price", well, then again...), which at $1.18/lb. is the lowest I've seen in a few anywhere. The cuts were enormous, some over 30 pounds, though there were a few smaller ones too. Whole Top Round $1.37/lb., Eye of Round $1.79/lb. and Whole Beef Fillets $7.99/ lb. (Kroger has 'em at $6.99). But I wanted ratatouille fixins. I found yellow squash at 99 cents and Roma tomatoes (that's what I'll roast this time) also at 99 cents. For the remainder of ingredients I picked up an eggplant, a couple of shallots, a pair of Washington onions, zucchini, a head of garlic ("LRJ" advised 8 cloves..."maybe start with 4 for newbies", but a friend brought some pasta casserole to the office buffet last week where he felt he had thrown in too much garlic, but I though it had this wonderful Zing as it cruised the taste buds, so it's hard to overdo it for me), and an orange bell pepper. There wasn't much seeding to do on the Romas, and they're roasting right now. Smallish, they will probably only take a short while. Garlic. I like peeling and smashing it, but if there's a lot (a head or more), this thing can be a big help. Some people don't like it. Some people like to buy big jars of already-smushed garlic and that's okay, but it pleases the inner child to get the kitchen pungent with the stuff and get your hands smelly too! And none of it's work unless you hate cooking. If you love cooking, each procedure is enjoyable. Still, appliance toys can be fun too... So I went ahead and ordered the steam juicer. Maybe it will "bring me closure". Then again maybe it's just indulgent, like a vacation half-day to shop for ratatouille ingredients. 3:06:15 PM    comment []

Food Lion's site is a bit disappointing and their specials sparse. One measly page. The boneless, skinless chicken breast for $1.88/lb. is a good price, I guess, but it sounds so denuded - probably came from a capon, they cut everything else off! And those "Family Packs" are generally unacttractive, a whole buncha meat packed haphazdly in the smallest possible space - and, it seems, they're almost always still partially frozen when you pick them up. Of course, with all the salmonella involved in modern poultry production, it's better to keep the stuff frozen for as long as possible. Still, it's not going to be a salient point. My personal preference is to buy a whole chicken and cut it up myself, then brine it - with buttermilk if company's coming. I have come real close several times, in the past few weeks, to purchasing a Mehu-Liisa Steam Juicer. I first heard about these from my good buddies at rec.food.preserving and for about $120 for the 10 liter model, it's not a bad deal. Clear fruit juice, perfect for jellies or sorbets. I mention this because of the 99-cent/lb. peaches in the Food Lion specials and the 79-cent/lb. plums at Harris Teeter. Stone fruits are in high season, so deals and quality should not be hard to find. When they're cheap, an extractor like the steam juicer make good sense. Maybe I'll order one next week and take it for a test drive the weekend of the 14th. None of my local Food Lions open before 7am, so it's not a stop on the way to work anymore. Lowe's Food has local specials, which is way cool, but not universal enough for me to blather about here. I wish their store was on the way to work, they have first-rate produce and a huge variety. And you can redeem your greenpoints online! 5:29:13 AM    comment []