My night: Sitting on the sofa, eating pudding, watching red carpet coverage.
Of course, it’s not just any pudding, but coconut chocolate pudding from 101 Cookbooks.
Yes, it’s just as good as it looks. Get the recipe here.
I’ve been in the breakfast doldrums lately. My daily dose of yogurt holds little appeal, and oatmeal and eggs aren’t doing much for me, either. Still, a girl has to eat, so I whipped up a quinoa porridge which fortified me for a long, cold walk with the doggies. The texture’s closer to steel cut oats than to rolled or instant, and it has a wonderful nutty flavor even when cooked with milk. I made it with one part quinoa to 2 1/2 parts liquid (milk & water), but will distort the proportions even more next time to see if I can get it to a rice pudding consistency. I topped it with a little extra milk, cinnamon and a drizzle of honey, and it really hit the spot.
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Remember the roasted pears with amaretto mascarpone from last weekend? Well, I repurposed the leftover cream into semifreddo and it might be even better now. So easy to do — just lightly oil a loaf pan, line it with plastic wrap, spoon the cream into the pan and smooth it down, then fold the excess plastic wrap over the top. Freeze until you’re ready for dessert! We had it with some of the leftover pears, chilled and sliced.
Lots of emotion went into this dish.
Anger (This weather is pissing me right off.)
Hope (Something comfort food-y would give The Finger to this snow!)
Dejection (But said snow has made it impossible to drive to the store.)
Acceptance (Maybe I’m stuck, but there must be odds and ends around here that’ll do.)
That’s really the four-stage story behind this cassoulet — the product of snow and laziness.
Looking around the general kitchen area, I spied with my little eye:
lamb shoulder cubes
1 beef shin bone
Rancho Gordo flageolet beans
World Spice Merchants‘ Herbes de Provence (with lavender)
…and enough tomatoes, onions, garlic and beef stock to fill in the blanks
And that was it. I called it cassoulet, though I make no claims to authenticity.
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Hard to believe that in just a few months we’ll go from this…
to this…
Spring can’t get here fast enough. I’ll even leave behind my precious cassoulet for it.
recipe after the jump
