Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Cookbook update

I've tried a few more recipes from my new cookbooks. First and foremost, the Bon Appetit cookbook had a delicious and simple pork cutlet recipe with a sauce made of figs, balsamic vinegar, shallots and cream. If you're trying to cut back, you can leave out the cream and it would still be delicious. Don't worry about finding fresh figs, the dried ones worked just fine. You can find the recipe here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pork-Cutlets-with-Figs-and-Balsamic-Vinegar-15604

Also from the BA cookbook, I tried to make a cornmeal crusted trout recipe. However, when I looked for cornmeal in the grocery store, all I could find was a five pound bag. I refuse to make that many corn muffins or cornmeal crusted meats. Since I had a bag of panko (Japanese bread crumbs) at home, I decided to make a panko crusted trout. Then I added a few spices to the coating, like red chili pepper and garam masala. Finally, the recipe called for a bed of watercress, which was also impossible to find in a grocery store not going by the name Whole Foods. So I ate my trout with rice. You can find the original recipe here, but my adjustments were quite tasty. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Crispy-Trout-with-Wilted-Watercress-107920

I tried a couple of recipes from the Giada cookbook but didn't quite follow directions properly. Never mind that the pasta with shrimp and lemon oil recipe said to drizzle the oil on at the end and I just went ahead and cooked the shrimp in it. It was infused with lemony flavor! And for the broiled zucchini with parmesan, I had to skip the broiling step after sauteing the zucchini. I was getting hungry!

New cookbooks are fun.

2 comments:

  1. Boy your making me hungry! I just wanted to add that they do sell smaller portions of cornmeal, so you might want to check another grocery store. If you do buy a bigger bag you could also make lemon cornmeal cookies, which are delicious!

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  2. I did find a more reasonable container of cornmeal today, and I definitely plan to try the lemon cornmeal cookies!

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