Cooking shortCuts-9/18/09

I'm sure they teach all kinds of cool tricks to save time and effort in culinary school but I never went to culinary school. Some days I feel like a kindergartner in the kitchen. I don't know what to do half the time and I make a huge mess. But some days are like today. I think of simple things to make making dinner easier. They may seem pretty obvious but two things I did this afternoon were a bit of a revelation to me. The melon baller worked great to take the seeds out of the cucumber in seconds. I cut the corn off the cob in the middle of my cast iron skillet and didn't have to chase corn kernels all over the counter. But perhaps the best thing I did was make most of dinner ahead of time and just reheated the creamed corn right before dinner. Eyrleigh napped the whole time I cooked and I didn't have a small child hanging on my leg while cooking. It was wonderful. I try to do this most days but either because of recipes or time, it rarely works as well as it did today.

Tonight I made the Constant Craving menu, based on foods beginning with the letter C. This menu began with Cold Cucumber and Cubanelle Soup with Cashews and Chives. Richard probably summed this soup up best. "I liked it a lot more than I thought I would." Neither of us are huge fans of cold soups, and Richard has rarely finished more than a few sips when I've made other cold soups for this project. He finished his bowl and I was too full to finish mine. This was a very good cold soup. I must admit that the little chunks of cashew looked a bit weird and added a somewhat lumpy look.

The main dish, Caramelized Chipotle Chicken, was also very good. I made the sauce ahead of time and just coated the chicken and baked it right before dinner. The sauce was pretty spicy but not overwhelming. It was very sticky so it adhered well to the chicken. The chicken was moist and the skin crispy. My only difficulty was that the sauce blackened a bit too much on the top. The Cheesy Creamed Corn with Cilantro was an excellent side dish for this chicken. It was creamy and cut the heat of the chicken but it had some strong flavors of its own. The proportion of creamy blended corn to whole kernels was perfect. I added feta instead of queso fresco because I like the stronger cheese flavor.
The Carrot Cabbage Slaw with Cumin Vinaigrette was a pretty traditional carrot and cabbage slaw. It replaced the celery seeds usually used in slaw with cumin, a switch that brought out a flavor that would resurface in dessert. I liked the slaw but again, pretty normal flavors.
The first component of dessert, the Cantaloupe and Cream Sherry Granita, I found the most disappointing dish in this menu. It was quite watery and though the sherry added a smooth note, I didn't think the granita had a real stand out flavor. I almost found it a bit bitter, though I can't decide what made this so.
The Curry Coriander Shorties were surprisingly delicious. I saw the coriander but curry in cookies was a new one for me. It was really good and once I stopped thinking chicken when I smelled the curry, I really liked them. I only got 2 dozen cookies, not 3 like the recipe said. I cooked them the maximum thinking that since they were bigger, they would need the longer cooking time. They were a little overcooked so I'd stick to the 20 minutes over 25 next time.


Cold Cucumber and Cubanelle Soup with Cashews and Chives-B+
Caramelized Chipotle Chicken-B+
Cheesy Creamed Corn with Cilantro-A
Carrot Cabbage Slaw with Cumin Vinaigrette-B
Cantaloupe and Cream Sherry Granita-D
Curry Coriander Shorties-B

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