Sicilian Sardines a la Squire, Squire, Hackham, and Dudley

I've done it again! My crazy mix of organizing recipes via Google Reader, an email folder, a web browser folder of bookmarks, and scattered among a few dozen cookbooks and a scrap recipe book-- the system has produced a completely new recipe!
Or at least a recipe that I didn't get from someone else. I used Mark Bittman's broiled sardines as an inspiration (SARDINES! APOCALYPSE!) and looked to an old favorite from Pink of Perfection: Sweet and Spicy Cauliflower Penne, which turned out to have anchovies, not sardines. And Bittman's had fresh sardines, not canned ones like I had in the pantry. So on to Bittman number two: Sardines with Bread Crumbs and Parsley. But I don't kep parsley around and my window plant is not healthy enough for a harvest. Are we seeing a pattern here?
Anyway. Sardines. Mark says that his Bread Crumbs and Parsley dish is Sicilian. I think I will call everything I make with sardines "Sicilian." Sounds better, right? Squire, Squire, 'Ackham, and 'old on!
And, wonder of wonders, I made a pasta dish without garlic- incredible, I know, but TRUE.
Here's my list of of what went in, in the order it went in:
olive oil, sourdough bread crumbs
olive oil, onion, salt n pepa, white wine, lemon zest, canned tomatoes, mustarded sardines (from World Market)
macaroni noodles

Now for a special challenge, try to make it from there! :-)

Catch-up and Mustard

No, I still haven't tried that down-home, down-east (Maine) recipe for ketchup. But I do have a new round of experiments to share on food. Lots of Firsts!

The first First in the lineup was artichokes. Never having grown them, cooked them, or dissected them, I figured it should be a part of my education to at least get up close with them to see their possibilities beyond the Cholesterol-Odyssey-2001 appetizer that is the normal starter here.
I whipped out the old recipe for aioli (via Pink of Perfection), and got to steaming (which took FOR-EV-ER!). Then came the dissection, which was quite the Discovery Channel moment; the line from Shrek where he talks about Ogres being like Onions, not Parfaits, came to mind. And then the fuzzy little choke, which looked like a dandelion or sunflower. And it was quite tasty too.

Next up were these Rhubard Custards. Sarah (again of PoP) was doing these as part of a long wandering quest to go through the Grand Diplome course books she acquired, but I was just looking for something more interesting to do with rhubarb than the butterscotch sauce I usually make as a sweet topping.

Consider the quest complete! It did involve a little bit of fussiness in the equipment arena (see photo with parchment, foil, and baking sheet), but it was well worth it. I'm not sure if I hit the mark on texture, as I am not an expert on custards. It set up kind of like creamy, frozen-not-floppy, scrambled eggs, if that helps at all. See bottom picture for deliciousness: not too sweet, and a variety of nutrients to boot!

Green stuff! -another belated August post

A recent night called for cold soup, and I had the perfect foil, from Pink of Perfection:

Avocado-Cucumber Soup
First the nice presentation, with a lovely crumbly cornbread, from In Praise of Leftovers (also a wonderful blog!):

And then the more interesting leaders-up to the final product: Preparation, or Green Stuff,

and The Moment Before the Blitz.

It was very tasty, very soothing, and hit the spot on a hotter than hot day (August 27th, to be exact).

Second Round!

First is a cool perspective from my last trip to NYC: the view of Manhattan from Brooklyn Heights.
 

Chocolate Cacao Nib with Lime cookies, by Elise from Simply Recipes
Then the Red Meal for Kim!

And finally, my first yeast-containing experiment: overnight cinnamon rolls from Sarah at Pink of Perfection :-)

Daube-y-, daube-y, dau... da da da da da...

Yes, that was an attempt to turn the recipe I just made- a beef "daube"- into a rendition of Strangers in the Night. When I am unfamiliar with a term, this is what I do to it- call me a murderer if you will.
Anyway, although my timing wasn't great, I think I came up with a wonderful riff on Sarah McColl's "Garlicky Beef Daube" recipe, which was in turn adapted from the Mark Bittman version (from his book How To Cook Everything, which I got from my sister for the birthday this year-yay!).
I didn't do much different- happened to have another ounce or two of wine in the bottle, so glugged it in. Didn't read the directions clearly enough, so put all 8 garlic cloves in at the beginning (but who can ever have too much garlic, enh?). And by the time I got back home from work and errands, I got this party started at around 815 PM, so I had already sated the hunger and this creation was clearly destined for another day. Consequently, it had about 12 hours of marinating, then got cooked (I'm a morning person- or at least a person who likes the smell of red wine and garlic simmering in the morning), left pretty liquidy, then cooled and squished back into the fridge for more flavor-swapping. And I won't even enjoy it tonight either! Because we are going out for a happy hour to send off a colleague who is leaving. Ah well, it shall be scrumptious tomorrow for dinner. Will add photos later...

And yes, I will also add photos from my try at the asparagus and morel recipe- pretty dern good!