Saturday, May 18, 2013

books: Doctor Who Cookbook


This came at a really perfect moment. As all the Whovians were scanning every possible torrent source for the supposedly (and obviously falsely) leaked final episode of season 7 - "The Name of the Doctor" - the searches started returning results with this little gem on top. The Doctor Who Cookbook, a collection of recipes gathered from the whole Doctor Who crew, published in 1985.

There's no point in reviewing this properly - it's key value is nostalgic, especially now that I found a Polish element there. One of the first recipes in the book is Chłodnik - the name and the dish 100% Polish. What is it? See for yourself.

btw, was this episode one of the best yet or what?

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

bugs!


A friend brought us some edible bugs from Mexico - my fiancé is fascinated by the idea and I tried to force it into cultural foresight reports at work (with no success, not my fault).

Once you take a deep breath and explain to yourself that they're not going to start moving as soon as you put them in your mouth, it's really fine. The texture is crispy, that's true, but no more crispy than regular potato chips or something in sugar coating. And they taste really good. For me the flavour is much less weird than any fish or seafood.

The bugs are quite savoury, with a nice, tangy finish. A friend told me not to say they taste like chicken - well, they don't. The flavour is rather unique and much less "transparent", but it may just me the seasoning, about which I know nothing, unfortunately.

Anyway, I'll keep insisting that bugs ARE the future of nutrition, unless we want to kill off half of the population and stick with what we're eating now. I'm trying to think of something more to do with them - tempura seems to be the most obvious answer here, but perhaps I'll go with a salat, if with anything at all.

Monday, May 6, 2013

first time for everything: mussels in white wine


I guess I finally found a reason to have a social life - cooking for more people is quite fun. It's also a good excuse to make things that serve more than two and don't reheat well. Mussels - one of such dishes.

I don't actually eat seafood at all. Apart that one time I made deep fried mussels for someone. But these came out pretty well, I ate a few and did not want to throw up or even follow it with something to kill the taste. They're good for a dinner party, because you can prep everything in advance and just throw everything in a pan when the time comes.

Ingredients:

  • a large knob of butter
  • few cloves of garlic
  • two shallots
  • one chili pepper
  • two celery stalks
  • a handful of parsley
  • a glass of dry white wine
  • 1,5-2 kg cleaned mussels
  • salt, pepper

Chop everything finely (except for the butter, wine and mussels, of course). Start with melting the butter and cooking the challots and celery until translucent. Add the garlic and chili, cook for a moment and add the mussels, parsley and wine, season. Cook under cover for a few minutes, shaking from time to time, so that everything mixes well. If the pot isn't large enough, use a second one - transferring the mussels back and forth once should do the trick. Take the lid off, cook for a few more minutes, discard the mussels that didn't open, serve with fresh baguette, make people happy.