Why Cook Everything? - 2/18/09

When I decided to do my month of Gourmet experiment, I knew that I needed to make every recipe in the magazine for me to truly learn something from the experience. Tonight was a night where I made something I never would have made without the commitment to make every recipe in the magazine in one month. There are several reasons that the recipe for Cheesy Polenta Lasagna with Mushrooms and Seitan on page 60 was at the top of my least likely recipes list. I don't like white sauces like bechamel, and I particularly don't like them as replacements in good traditional foods like lasagna. I live in Georgia and just the thought of white gravy makes me shudder. I have eaten seitan before and find it has a striking resemblance to cat food. That being said, it may surprise you that I really was pretty impressed with tonight's dish. I don't think I'll be making it on a regular basis but if I had a friend who was a die-hard vegetarian coming for dinner, this would be a good dish to serve. The description in the magazine was that the flavors were earthy. That's accurate but it was also smooth. The flavors worked well together and the cheeses brought out the mushrooms taste without being overpowering. The polenta worked well as a noodle, it soaked the sauce and added depth. This was probably the strongest vegetarian dish yet from this month's Gourmet... and Richard asked if he could take the leftovers to work!
I also made the Parmesan Pull-Aparts on page 86. I had really high hopes for these rolls as they looked beautiful in the photographs. Mine were not so beautiful. We gave blood this afternoon and were a bit late getting home so they rose for almost 3 hours instead of an hour and a half. You can probably see in the picture my roll looks a bit like a puzzle piece instead of a nice rounded roll. They rose until they became one mass and though they still pulled apart in sections, they did not have round tops. They were good rolls, the lightest of the bunch, but the cheese in them was a little strong. They tasted so much like Parmesan that I really couldn't eat more than one without feeling like I was sucking on cheese rind.

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