Random on a Saturday

[siercia]

Work is still insane. Will likely be for the foreseeable future.

First corn of the season from the farmshare this week! When I soaked it to put it on the grill, Wiley says "You don't really think we're going to eat all six of those do you?" "Well, I know *I* want two" (and unsaid, and I'm not going to listen to whining if Widget decided she does too, so yeah, six it is). I'm displeased with the meat CSA this month - between last week's "we swear we sent out an e-mail" rescheduling and this week's weak assortment of meat, I'm not a happy camper.

But! In happier news, I bought a cheesemaking book and some starter culture to make Fromage Blanc at the beer store today. I ordered a thermometer and the muslin I think I need online when we got home and I can't wait to start. I think I may need to wait to start for it to get a *little* cooler, since I'm thinking 90+ degrees is NOT the room temperature they mean when they say to let the cheese drain. prunesnprisms, do you think you want to come over for this - I suspect it's going to be very anti-climactic (heat milk, add culture, hang in muslin to drain for 24 hours).

Also going to make zucchini bread this week, use up some of the damn things in a form even Widget will eat. Anyone got a favorite recipe, preferably one with chocolate chips? Am ordering spices from Penzey's to make pickles too, since we got the first small batch of pickling cukes in the share this week. Yum! Reading random blog, and suddenly struck with a desire to try and make pretzels, too. Or perhaps I should pace myself.

Indigo Girls on Wednesday were great. Widget had a blast, and is still recovering from the crazy late night. (Random thought, it always amuses me when you tell someone you went to a concert and they respond with "Wow, are they still around?" Ummmm, yeeeeesssss, since I just told you I went and SAW them play...? "Oh I didn't know they were still around" seems like a much more reasonable response, doesn't it?)

Had kind of had plans to go see Mamma Mia this week with some friends, but I don't think the day we'd picked out is going to work for me this week. Bummer, but it is what it is, I guess.

Comments

[xinef.livejournal.com]

My elder son hates ABBA with a passion. So has been a running joke around our household for years. I, on the other hand, want to see Mamma Mia. Not sure Andrew will go with me, so may have to talk one of my other friends into going!

[slymongoose.livejournal.com]

Chocolate zucchini bread or cake is WONDERFUL stuff and chocolate chips are great in it. You could sneak some fine grated carrot in there, too, I imagine. It really makes the bread/cake super moist! I think Penzy's has a recipe for the bread. For the cake, I'd use the same base and just frost the suckka, but I am not a baker, really. I'd rather EAT it. You can't taste the zucchini in this (possible BONUS?) but it's just so moist and yummy.

If you ever get the chance to try squash blossoms fried up like chiles rellenos, DO! They take a just opening flower of the zucchini plant, stuff it with cheese, roll around the outside in flour, dip in egg batter and fry up. This treat should keep the zucchini population in check, nicely.

I want to try Marcia (on TIMmush)'s zucchini fritters, too. Here's that recipe:

They
are not exact measurements, as it's that kind of a rustic recipe.

1 lb of zucchini
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp flour (oat or whole wheat is also good)
3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
2 scallions
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

Grate zucchini (see notes) and toss with salt. Let the shreds sit in a
colander
for 5-10 minutes to draw out some of the water. Rinse the zucchini and press
firmly against the colander to remove as much water as you can. Really press
hard until you don't see any more water coming out and you're sure it's dry.

Now take a double layer of paper towels (or a clean tea towel if you're the
sort that has that kind of thing lying about and you don't mind it being
stained permanently green), put the zucchini shreds in it, and squeeze.
Hard.
See how much more water comes out? Pretend it's your boss' neck if you must,
but keep squeezing until you get as much water as possible out.

Beat the two eggs in a bowl, since beating them on the countertop can be
messy. Add the flour, parmesan, scallions, and garlic. Mix well. Add the
dry
zucchini shreds, making sure to remove the pieces of paper towels, and mix
until thoroughly combined. Salt and pepper to taste.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add about 2 tbsp of oil. Add the
zucchini mixture by scant quarter cupfuls and smoosh flat to make pancakes.

Fry over medium heat until the underside is good and brown. Carefully
flip the
fritters - they're delicate - and fry on the other side until it's also
brown.
Drain on racks or paper towels. Continue to fry up all the mixture until
it's
all gone.

Notes:

1 lb of zucchini is roughly 3 really small, 2 small, or 1 large zucchini.

This recipe is a good way to use those zucchini that grow from the size
of your
pinky to the size of your forearm overnight. Just make sure to scoop out and
throw away the seedy, pulpy center and shred only the outside.

You can add herbs or other flavorings to this recipe, like mint or thyme or
dill or something, but I like it just the way it is. I like the flavor of
zucchini.

Don't be tempted to fry over higher heat. It takes some time to make
sure the
zucchini is cooked all the way through the pancake. Trust me, your patience
will be rewarded.

Marcia.

[siercia]

oooh, those fritters sounds awfully good!

I' love to try stuffing blossoms, but since these aren't my plants, I'm not likely to get any =)

[smurfbrother.livejournal.com]

When you do corn, you could try taking it out of the husk, removing the silk, and putting it directly on the grill, about 6 minutes per side on low/med heat. I find that the heat and the bit of char really add something to the corn.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Should be easy enough for us to reschedule MM--no big deal.

When do you want to do the cheese thing? Today doesn't work so well for me, but other days are at least theoretically doable.

[siercia]

well, I'm waiting for the thermometer and the muslin bag to arrive, which will be later this week. And I do think we want to wait for it to not be 90 degrees out so it doesn't go all weird.

CHEESE ME

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

So what kind of cheese will this cheese be?

and they respond with "Wow, are they still around?"

Heh. The astonished rhetorical question. Next tim you should say, "No, really, it turned out they were just zombies."

Re: CHEESE ME

[siercia]

Fromage Blanc is a basic soft spreadable white cheese, tasty and hard to mess up.

I love your response. zombies. Hee.

Re: CHEESE ME

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

What book are you using?

Re: CHEESE ME

[siercia]

This one http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/p/2-Home-Cheese-Making.html

[bigmeanie.livejournal.com]

I saw a recipe for zucchini cakes (think crab cakes, but with zucchini as the star) on a blog today. I think I might try it, and here's the link to the recipe, in case you want to try it too:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/07/cooking-with-ryan-zucchini-cakes/

[siercia]

I saw that come across my reader this morning and thought they looked DELICIOUS.

[trilobits.livejournal.com]

i miss them a lot. had a listen after w told me you'd gone.

did they explain what the wood song was about yet?