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There are things I keep meaning to do. Oh, no easy tasks, in some senses. And, yet, possibly as easy as falling off a log. No, not THAT. I mean indoor herb gardening. I don't really want to mess with those which, when harvested, don't continue to grow. Not to start things. Though if to be used, my guess is that more than one plant might well be needed. Setting them up with enough light is always tricky. Extra light would most likely be required. Keeping the girls out of them would be a consideration. If they don't attack them, they may well attempt to use them as litter boxes. All I am saying is that I am thinking about it.
In the summer, I suppose they could be put out. Or more could be planted. It wouldn't be bad to have various herbs out there, too. Bringing in the better ones, or parts of them, but having fresh outside each spring. I never did get going on asparagus or rhubarb. Yes, well, maybe... just maybe. Now that I am actually cooking, and that the herbs that grow inside are very common to my way of cooking, more emphasis can be put on these things, including the other food items.
I haven't answered an email, a pair of them actually. But one of the thoughts was in preparing asparagus. My two preferred ways are steaming (not boiling, steaming) and grilling. Steaming, of course, is without the vegetable touching liquid water. I have three different sizes of steamers... four if you count that my biggest steamer set has both a larger and smaller stacking steamer basket, both of which can be used at the same time. The also do actually make steamer baskets pretty much just for asparagus. Why don't I have one? It's pretty much a one-trick pony. I generally avoid those. As to grilling, just clean the grill, wipe on olive oil (or butter, ghee, lard, duck fat, tallow... a fatty liquid or what will turn liquid), use some of the said fat on the spears as well, at whatever point you think they are the stickiest, sprinkle a bit of kosher or sea salt (which should only be used when eating, not when cooking) then place the spears. This takes practice, not to burn and yet to finish. Fantastic with variations of an aioli or purer mayo, homemade of course. Hmm... that would go fantastic with a lamb chop lollipop, actually. Yeah, I'll get to it when I'm not so ragged, but there is that.
Well... on to finishing waking, and maybe getting any paper trash out. Then to dishes. Ugh. Later.
The only food I have a tendency to boil are eggs. Otherwise I'm always looking for an alternative method. Especially with vegetables. Broiling sounds good.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny. There really are only just so many foods. There are far fewer cooking methods. Oh, you can stretch a process out, pull it from the heat, let it 'coast cook', then put it back to finish or sear at the same, higher, or lower temp... you can cook with chemicals, such as lemon or lime juice... the various heat levels and moisture levels of the cooking environment... but... Some things can be cooked, and well, just about any way possible. Others seem so picky, that even a little variance from an exacting method can be ruinous.
ReplyDeleteIf you counted all the foods that people do actually eat, it would seem many. But some aren't edible by any but the locals (whale blubber), or might even be poisonous or dangerous (street foods around much of the world, often to any but locals). Even minus that, just getting some foods from where they are accessible to anywhere else is tricky. A lot of the seeming optional foods are... often not even real food, not something you could hunt or buy and put together (frozen burritos made of... soy and homogenized and... stuff, as a prime example). Few foods. Though more and more... almost foods. Cheaper and cheaper. Heck, they are adding wood pulp to many foods now. Probably dirt, because they are allowed x% "other".
Whought? I don't know. /rant(?)