Saturday, June 1, 2013

First Responders

Since Heidi has been vegan, I've tried a few, shall we say, questionable, recipes. Well, I guess they are only really questionable in the sense that I would never have considered them before there was a vegan to feed around here.

Oh, sure, a few have been BINGO!s, and those have become some of our staple meals, but that mushroom paprikash was not one of them, neither was the mac and "cheez" (okay, the quotation marks should have been a clue), and those baked donuts were a definite never again.

Some cooks have a rule to strictly adhere to the recipe when at first they try it, and having worked in a commercial kitchen, I know where they're coming from. Most professionals test and tweak a dish as many times as they need to before it makes their menu, but where does that leave the home cook?

When Heidi was a little girl, her grandmother always had the same advice for anyone who didn't like their food: Put a little butter and salt on it and it'll be fine. These days we have a twist on her wisdom. We add tomato sauce and toss a salad if we're unsure.

Tonight I'm cooking a version of Cajun dirty rice that includes eggplant. The recipe seemed pretty good, but when I tasted it as I went along, I became a bit concerned. It's in the oven as I type, and we'll see how it turns out, but you can bet the sauce and salad are standing by.

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