When I first started this blog I wanted it to a be a place where I could share cooking inspiration. I’d planned to post pictures and write about the ingredients I used and perhaps share some history about the dish. It quickly became apparent to me that that wouldn’t fly, so I scrapped the idea and I busted out the measuring cups and started fastidiously documenting everything I made.
At first I worried it might stifle my creativity, but to be honest it’s actually been a pretty good exercise for me. Probably the biggest benefit is that I’m actually able to reproduce successes with some consistency. I also have a horrible memory, so documenting stuff here has ensured I can make something I liked again even if months have passed since the last time I made it.
Still, work and life have kept me busy and accurately measuring out and writing down ingredients and a reproducible process takes time. When time is scarce, I tend to throw together whatever is in the fridge, sometimes recycling left-overs 3-4 times, turning them into a new dish every night. That’s not something I could write a recipe for even if I tried, so until now these frankencreations have gone unshared. Well, you asked for them, so I’ll be posting a weeklyish roundup of all the stuff I made that I didn’t have time to document with a step-by step recipe.
Here’s the No Recipes roundup for this week:
I went and saw Body of Lies today after going to the Japanese market and this is the result. Scallop sashimi with smoked salt and yuzu with a dusting of middle eastern spices including cumin, corriander, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper.
L made a 4 cheese pasta earlier this week and as a result we had a ton of random cheeses sitting in the fridge. I also had half a butternut squash sitting in the fridge and a lone apple that was nearing the end of it’s edible life, so these two pizzas were born. I used Jim Lahey’s no-knead dough and topped it with olive oil, ricotta insalata, butternut squash, pecorino romano and salt and pepper. I’m not a huge fan of ricotta, but ricotta insalata is a dryer saltier version that works very well with the sweet butternut squash. Ideally I would have topped this with sage, but basil is what we had in the fridge, so it got a scattering of torn basil once it came out of the oven.
This one’s a bit more unusual as far as pizza’s go, but the flavours should be familiar… I call it the “cheese plate” because it’s got all the stuff you’d find on a cheese plate at a restaurant. The sweetness from the honeycrisp apples juxtaposes the salty Ewe’s Blue cheese while the nutty walnuts compliment both. The fontina adds some creaminess and a drizzle of honey as it comes out of the oven finishes it off.
I haven’t been to enough Filipino restaurants to be able to say this is at all authentic, but it’s got vinegar in the braising liquid which tenderizes the meat and gives it a pleasant tang. Other ingredients include soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic and scallions.
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