Here’s a cooking…

Here's a cooking challenge to any journalling-cooks reading this journal. Choose at least three of the following seven ingredients selected from what I actually have in the fridge and pantry at the moment) and prepare a meal (or rather, the recipes for a meal, though you're encouraged to actually cook it as well and tell us how it comes out.) It should be enough food to feed four for lunch. Post the recipes in your journal by noon Chicago time tomorrow, Friday 6/13/03. Send me a note when you've posted them; I'll post an entry linking to all the journal recipes I get. (If you don't have a journal yourself, but want to play, please wait until I post the entry linking to all the journals, and then add your recipes to the comments for that entry. Thanks!)

You should feel free to use any typical staples you might normally possess, including milk, coconut milk, flour, eggs, rice, spices, oil, butter, onions, scallions, garlic, canned tomatoes, salt, pepper, flavoring agents, nuts, raisins. (If you're not sure if something you use counts as a staple for the purposes of this game, drop me a note and ask.) I'm mostly interested in seeing how different the menus turn out -- I know that when I have certain ingredients in the house, my thoughts tend to go in particular ruts, and it'd be nice to see what others might do with the same ingredients, so that next time, I might try something different.

Detailed commentary on the dishes is encouraged. :-) Bonus points for using at least five ingredients. Bonus points for making at least four dishes using only three ingredients from the following list.

Ingredients (choose 3 or more out of 7):

  • 1 lb. green beans
  • 1 lb. mushrooms
  • 3 poblano peppers
  • 6 large baking potatoes
  • 1 can artichoke hearts
  • 1 can bamboo shoots
  • 2 cans mackerel packed in oil
Have fun!

13 thoughts on “Here’s a cooking…”

  1. The rellies are coming, so I can’t actually go through making this today. But the potato casserole knows all, sees all. Although I’ve never had canned mackerel, and its existence inspires me to internal weirdness. Aaaaanyway. I’d slice up the mushrooms, green beans, and artichoke hearts. Slice the potatoes and brown them. Make a bechamel sauce. Layer in potatoes, bechamel, and veggies, topping with a little more cheese, then bake at 350 until everything is all warm together and the top cheese is melty. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

  2. Good recipe, but bad M’ris for not waiting to post it! I think if people can mull for a day without seeing what other people will do, they’ll be more likely to come up with different possibilities. Maybe not, but that’s what I want to try, so please, anyone else playing, keep it to yourself for a day, okay? Make notes somewhere or something.

    M’ris, if you get to actually write this out in more formal recipe form, ideally with a link to a recipe for bechamel sauce (is the salt/pepper in the sauce, or do you not add any to the casserole?), that would be great. But post it tomorrow! Relatives be damned! 🙂

  3. Oops! Sorry! I’m in a hurry this morning and went, “Oh, hey, I can do that!” without reading as closely as I should.

  4. Is cheese a staple? Because M’ris used cheese.

    What kinds of cheese would you consider “staple” cheeses?

    (I am suspecting my fridge contents are not representative in the cheese department…)

  5. I consider cheese a borderline staple. I mean, I usually have at least a block of parmesan reggiano and then some other kind of cheese in my fridge, but what that other kind may be will vary wildly, and sometimes I have four or five, and sometimes I won’t have any at all (usually because Kevin has been having late night cheese-craving attacks). Feel free to use it, with my blessing, but if you use an insanely exotic cheese, I may snicker. 🙂

  6. Staple cheeses include cheddar, mozzarella, Jack, and Parmesan at the very least. Havarti is borderline but can be a staple in my book (not that they seem to know that out here). Edam and gorgonzola are probably pushing it.

  7. Heh. We *always* have a good block of parmegianno, a wedge of some blue (usually point reyes blue), and a cheddar or jack or something simple. The soft-ripened cheeses and parrano show often, but not often enough to be a “staple”.

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