A Repertoire
Real home cooks have a collection of recipes that work for them, that they know by heart and can adjust according to what they have in their kitchens. I feel like I won't be a real cook until I have one. So every time I make something new, Todd gets 20 questions: What do you think? Would you want this again? Do you like it more than what I made last night? Do you like it more than the other [insert chicken, pasta, steak, etc. here] dish I made last week?
He's been spared the 20 questions lately, though, because I've either made things that are becoming regulars in our home, or I've made things that I wasn't really that happy with.
I have a recipe for fantastic and rich coconut macaroons that I made this weekend, then dipped in either Scharffen Berger bittersweet or Key Food semisweet (I do like the deep, musky bittersweet flavor better that the semisweet, but didn't necessarily prefer the texture of one more than the other). Anyway, after making these cookies twice I've decided they deserve a place in my canon.
I've also included a couscous dish with sausage and chicken. You cook onion and then add chicken, kielbasa, broth, tomato paste, a cut-up turnip, a carrot, turmeric (last time I substituted cumin), hot pepper flakes, a cinnamon stick and bay leaf and simmer for a while, then you take out part of the liquid to make the couscous. The couscous comes out great.
My oven finally died so it's going to be the microwave, electric skillet, waffle iron and slow-cooker for us for a while. It'll be an interesting challenge.
Tickled minds want to know : would you share your fantastic and rich coconut macaroon recipe, pretty please?
and i have a reipe for mulligatawny that deserves some kind of niche in the stretch called posterity: would you like it?
Clotide - It's a recipe I got from Epicurious.com (chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons; http://food.epicurious.com/run/recipe/view?id=11607). The first time I made them I was looking for something special to dip in chocolate fondue, so I made the basic macaroons. I use a little less sugar than the recipe calls for, 1 cup instead of 1 1/3, and I bake them on a silpat. Awesome and chewy, especially when they're dripping with warm, melted chocolate.
I like your site. You reminded me that the Chocolate Show in New York is coming up. Maybe it'd be fun to go.
Lynn - I've never made mulligatawny, but I'd love to try your recipe. Do you have other recipes you tend to return to again and again? I have a chocolate pudding from, believe it or not, the Cooking Thin cookbook, and a really easy bread pudding that I frequently make when I need to use up stale bread. Buttermilk pancakes from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, biscuits (my husband's specialty), a dough for pizza, some snack cake recipes, but nothing dinner-y. A spinach, chickpea, garlic and pasta combo that I made for dinner tonight. Seriously, I need to start repeating some recipes.
Kim - Thanks for pointing me to the recipe! It's *very* tempting!
I'm glad you like my blog. By all means, do go to the NY Chocolate Show, and tell us all about it! It might alleviate the grief over the oven, too... :)