Cooking with Ina Garten

Tonight I made one of Ina Garten's recipes... with a few changes of course.  I made Zucchini Gratin, only I'm pretty "free form" about following a recipe like this one.  Ina's recipes are always amazing, but sometimes I don't have her ingredients on hand (like gruyere cheese) and I just like playing around with things.

These are the ingredients:  Full recipe with all the instructions 

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for topping
• 1 pound yellow onions, cut in 1/2 and sliced (3 large)
• 2 pounds zucchini, sliced 1/4-inch thick (4 zucchini)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup hot milk
• 3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup grated Gruyere
  
  
  I used 2 zucchini and 2 yellow squash and a red onion rather than yellow ones, all sliced up super fine on the mandolin.  I used a pint of whipping cream instead of the milk and put in a block of Monterey Jack and one of Extra Sharp White Cheddar and topped it with Panco instead of bread crumbs.  Then I remembered that I had some nice crispy bacon in the fridge, so I threw that in.  Mercy... it came out of the oven all hot and bubbly... I knew it was going to be good.  Actually, it ran over in the oven and so the kitchen and family room at my house had a bit of a smokey haze for a while but everything that was still in the baking dish was fine.  And I'm going to replace this range, so I'm not even going to bother to clean the burnt stuff on the bottom of my oven.
  
  
  My neighbor brings me trout, fresh from the stream in West Virginia.  He is quite a fisherman and neither he nor his wife will cook them so he brings them to me.  Six this time, I haven't even finished all of the last 12 he brought, eight of them are dressed and in my freezer.  Tonight I cooked two of them "Trout in Cartoccio" style sort of like this recipe but without the additional veggies.  It's pretty simple, the fish bakes inside a parchment bag with some fresh lemon, a spring onion, thyme, salt and pepper, white wine and olive oil.  I used foil instead, so there wasn't quite the "OOOh AAAAh" kind of presentation that the parchment is... but when poaching/steaming/baking two whole fish with the bones in... well... it's going to need a little attention before serving anyway.  And who do I need to impress?  (nobody.)   
  

  
  When the fish comes out, lift the top skin and gently lift off the top meat.  Then lift out the entire rib cage, believe it or not most of the pin bones will lift right out with the ribs.  Then just lift the rest of the meat from the skin and top it off with some pan juices.  This takes only a few minutes and can be done quickly while the fish is still hot.  I've done it before the creature was cooked and it takes FOREVER to get the critter out of it's skeleton, believe me!  Especially getting those pin bones out!  And it takes a fraction of the time doing it this way. 
  
  I made green beans almondine and baked a few biscuits and hubs stirred together an impromptu version of tarter sauce.  He used good mayo, pickles chopped fine and some garlic and a little Worcestershire.  It was quite good.
  
  We were both too stuffed to even consider dessert.  And I'm not hungry anymore.  I suspect that was the point.  (Though perhaps overdoing it like I did wasn't exactly the point.)
  
  

  

  
   I've made some small quilts today, photos coming.  And I also got word back from the Doc that I am no longer anemic, so that's really good news.  I need to try to take it easy but I'm not doing a very good job at that.  There is much to be done before I take my work to the gallery on Monday for my one woman show May/June.  Time is tick-tocking right on by, but that's OK.  I've got enough glass and dyed scarves for the exhibit, and I'll be finishing up the rest of the textiles this weekend.  I have a ton of details to finish up... it will all come together.  Somehow it always does.
  
  

  Happy Creating

  (and happy cookin!)

  -Carmen Rose

Fishies!

I was outside shoveling snow this morning while the neighbor was loading his car to go fishing.  Fishing in February?  We talked a while and I went inside and he packed his car and headed for West Virginia.  Later that evening I heard my doorbell ringing and there he was with a cooler.  He handed over twelve beautiful fish!  I couldn't believe it!  They'd had so much success pulling fish out of the river that instead of releasing them all he brought some to me.  I've never dressed a fish before, so of course I had to google it to figure out what needed to be done.  Before long I got the hang of it and now they are all dressed and waiting for me to find a sharp enough knife to skin and bone them.  Lunch at my place = fish!  And now I have lemons and butter, all the ingredients for fresh bread and cookies and some produce.  I suppose I'm ready for the snow.

I have decided that fish are beautiful, who wouldn't want to be dressed in their finery?  Shimmering reflective  scales and a body that moves with liquid grace.  Sadly, this one just wasn't very photogenic, you don't get to see all the fancy colors on this one's skin.  But very beautiful in person! 

Though seriously, how many record breaking snows does one need in one winter?  Maybe we could call this one "Injury" and then the storm coming through next Tuesday we could call "Insult."  And the snow hasn't melted from the last storm.  And I LOVE snow.  I suppose I have some cabin fever, I've been cold and feeling cooped up for too long.   I could use a good run on the golf course.  I could use a change of scenery.

The first of my models for the project was by for her fitting today.  She's a tiny little slip of a thing, very beautiful and energetic.  She asked me what I had in mind for her and I quickly gave her the synopsis.  She literally jumped up and down and squealed!  I was so TICKLED by her response!  She went on to tell me how this was perfect for her and gave some examples.  I was a little stunned by all that, but it was what came to me for her and I now know that it's really right for her.  I was going to get started on her costume today but some stuff came up.  And I curled up on the sofa to get some work done and fell right asleep.  I didn't wake up for quite some time and when I did, I felt pretty rough around the edges. 

I finally mustered enough energy to make soup and so I made cream of spinach tofu noodle soup.  Now that may sound a little gross but when I feel sick I go for food that is packed with all kinds of helpful mojo.  The flavors were good and the tofu was pureed into the soup so if you didn't know the tofu was there you'd just think it was a thick creamy soup.

That's when the neighbor showed up with the fish, they were in a cooler packed in snow.  By that time I had kind of passed my second wind and was on to my forth or fifth.  I got all twelve best dressed and tomorrow I'll try my hand at skinning and boning them, I don't have the right knife but hopefully I can find something that will work.  And I'm not sure how I'll cook them yet, but figuring it out will be fun.  Food Network will help me.

Loves and best fishes to you,
-Carmen Rose

Embracing Solitude

I woke up this morning to an awful chirping beside my head that repeated it’s squalling every nine minutes until I whacked it to silence and crawled out of bed just to spite the darn thing. I remember thinking how good it felt to lay there and how I didn’t want to get up. That’s unusual. After a while I began to realize that something was a little “off,” this didn’t feel like a normal morning. Lately I’ve been waking up feeling like I’ve been run over by a cement truck in the night but this morning I stopped for a moment only to realize that for a moment there, nothing hurt. And for a moment longer… still… nothing hurt. I’ve grown accustomed to the habits of my body and notice the exceptions rather than the rule most of the time. And believe me, I’m grateful for this exception! Especially after the last few days.

So on the way home from work I was thinking how nice it would be to spend another morning walking in the woods looking at orchids (the putty root orchids should be out in force this week sometime and I would wear the right shoes to visit them without being eaten by copperheads this time!) Deadlines in the studio kept me from that idea but I decided on the spur of the moment to drop by the park. I rewarded my body with a leisurely walk around the pond at the park. It wasn’t an exercise walk, more of a “mosey.” I fed the fish and considered friends who have come and gone through my life. A sparrow caught my attention, he seemed to be hoping for a morsel. He was a rather bold little fella. “Pardon me Ma’am, could you spare a crumb?” Oh yes I could, so I fed him till he flew away. The ducks ignored me once they realized I had nothing for them so I made a mental note to bring something for the ducks next time. I passed a raven on the lamp post above the garbage cans. He did not fly away though I was very close so I stopped and spoke to him a while. He was unfazed and eyed me quite cooly.

Back in my kitchen I started a bag of scraps for the ducks. Right now it has the last cheesy biscuit and the heel from a loaf of cranberry orange bread I picked up on impulse at the farmer’s market. Lucky ducks. They are NOT getting the last cinnamon roll, that sucker has my name on it unless hubby gets there first.

We had guests over last evening so the house looks the best it has for a while. Hubby and I hung some artwork and mirrors over the weekend, and moved some furniture. It is nice to see progress in the house, there is so much renovation work that I'd like to do. The dog hair has been momentarily banished (until Hope or Misde shake or scratch again) and everything in the kitchen is in its “away place.” I should spend the week making soap or working at art glass but both of those studios are in my kitchen and I am not ready to part with the pristine neatness quite yet. So maybe I’ll spend some quality time with a series of quilts I’m working on. My quilt studio is in the basement I don’t ever really bother with trying to achieve neatness there, organization yes, neatness no. Or maybe I’ll spend a little time at the piano or settle in with the laptop and write a story. I've been thinking of a self portrait drawing, maybe I should give that some consideration. I also have a series of paintings in mind for the children's rooms. Or maybe I’ll stay right here and ease myself even deeper into the quietness. Sometimes I wrestle with the loneliness in the quiet of my life. Today I see the solitude and the silence as something to savor. This is a good day and I am grateful.