Tuesday 12 October 2021

Some Tasty Tidbits

 

The Pipistrellos know how to keep occupied
Ravi Zupa screen print, Thrilling, 2020

Dear Reader, it has been utterly remiss of me to neglect the something-to-eat creed of this blog, so you must be positively starving by now! These neglectful tendencies do come from being thoroughly distracted by the cardboard box we've been stuffing ourselves in during these days of No Fun Allowed, for Thrills can always be found around the casa. Anyway, all that is officially behind us (again) as from today, so after a trip to the shoppes for some ingredients, I can now supply some tasty tidbits. 

Behold, dinner tonight:

Chilli con Carne
nota bene: Artist's Impression

As ever, the finished result lacks the vibrant colouring of the suggested photographic rendering in the recipe book but experience informs us that we've made this many times and it's always delicious, so allowances must be made for what inevitably ends up on the plate. Unlike over at Dear Brother's place, we've not the Master Chef flourishes around here.

It was Mr. P's idea for chilli con carne. I'd had in mind a batch of  Romanesque fagioli, and had been soaking some borlotti and cannellini beans for this purpose when Mr. P declared he wished otherwise. For added vits & mins, I tossed in some English spinach, and was able to use the leftover stock and dripping from some oxtail I'd slow-cooked in a bottle of red wine for an, ahem, beefed up macaroni & cheese last week. Also delicious!



Macaroni & cheese with oxtail is not the only variation on the nursery norm found around here, for it also occasionally gets made with crab meat when I want to get super fancy. (You can see where on the beast the oxtail purports to come from, in the illustration above.)

In other one-dish delights, the season for Brussels sprouts spaghetti carbonara is now over, for it is Spring in this neck o' the woods. Bucatini carbonara is another legacy recipe from Ol' Boyfriend Marco, but as the humble Brussels sprout is a brassica close to my heart, I/we adore this variation with sautéed shredded sprouts alongside the requisite cured porky bit* that is found kicking around the bottom of the fridge. 

The Humble Sprout, a.k.a. Pipistrello's Favourite Vegetable
Christine Stephenson watercolour

While this adored winter vegetable is over for this year, I did chance upon a couple of bunches of something unmarked but green and healthy-looking a few weeks ago at our local weekend growers' market and tossed them into the basket without even enquiring into their bona fides. Imagine my surprise and delight when, upon cooking, the mystery green proved to be broccoletti! 

Quelle surprise! Broccoletti!

This divine bitter green from the brassica family was a seasonal staple in my in-law's vegetable patch, the seeds for which were originally smuggled over from Italy decades earlier in someone's luggage**. We never see it in our local greengrocery, so in Normal Circumstances, it necessitates a journey by aeroplane to visit Brother-In-Law, who diligently grows it.

For why do I buy unlabelled greenery? I've been on & off making weekly batches of what I call Covid-Greens these past two years, as partly of my housewifely prophylactic ministrations, and which variously come in the shape of dandelion, milk thistle, kale in its variations, or any other unidentifiable weedy greens that can be found. They get some decent wilting then get sautéed with the usual suspects: aglio/olio/peperoncino and sometimes some anchovy because I can't help myself, and make a delicious (and sometimes rather obvious) bit of veg on the side. Well, delicious in the world of Pipistrello.

So what else is on the plate at the moment? I can tell you oysters are pretty divine right now, and navel oranges and grapefruit are a gift from the gods (and there are some Seville oranges also kicking around in the fridge awaiting my marmalading them, for I have promised that after last year's slothful approach to home preserving, I cannot pass another year without home-made marmalade), and mandarins are pulling out all stops with the fancy Dekapons and Afourers now becoming commonplace.

But in the one-a-day department, the newest and tastiest apple on the block is the diminutive Rockit. Not much bigger than a crab apple, and crisp and delicious, and so adorable. Just look at them:

Tiny little Rockits


Cuter than a cat in a cardboard box!



* I no longer pretend my home curing of a bit of pork belly is going to be bacon, for it always finishes up as a dead ringer for pancetta, which is more versatile in my book, anyway, and lasts an age if you forget it's there.

** Most likely hidden in socks or knickers, if the apocryphal tales are to be believed.


Image credits: 1: RaviZupa.com; 2, 6: Flying With Hands; 3: via Pinterest; 4: PaintingsOfPlants.com; 5: AllThingsSicilianAndMore.com



20 comments:

  1. A lot of people stacked on the weight since Feb 2020, so I have been particularly careful about sweets. No ice cream, chocolate, cake or biscuits *sorry sigh*.

    The fresh fruits you mentioned are delicious this autumn, so we have enjoyed a LOT of apples, mandarins, strawberries, oranges, passionfruit etc. But I really do miss the cheesecake and sour cream.

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    1. Dear Hels, there is much chatter about the average weight gain over the duration of the Great Lying About, but my long-held theory about the finite amount fat in the world still holds for there has been a positive fury of physical activity by the Other Half to counter this, as well as a staying of the hand by the likes of your good self, so I fancy it's been a zero-sum gain all up.

      I've more of a savoury palate so there hasn't been much change in the eating, except that it has become rather more old-fashioned than before, viz. the macaroni & cheese. Sour cream is a bit of a staple here, but lately I've had a hankering for baked potatoes with said delight, too. I haven't had cheesecake in ages, however, and now that's playing on my mind! And haven't the strawberries been fabulous this year?

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  2. Ah! Blessed be Mr Ur-Spo Esq.'s whip!
    And oh! Late autumn in Seanhenge. Rosenkohl-time.

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    1. Dear Sean, I must say it didn't take much persuading to get me to change tack with the menu, and I'm usually pretty open to suggestions anyway :) Rosenkohl is a lovely term for the humble sprout. And you'll be just about ready to greet yours warmly, I fancy!

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  3. Oh Pip …. I could eat all of it …. everything sounds delicious. One of my favourite programmes is Australian Masterchef …. I like it more than our one….. there are quite a few ingredients that I’ve never heard of but that makes it all the more appealing !!!! Oysters I absolutely adore but, they don’t seem to like me !!! I think it’s something to do with them being live! .. … and, navel oranges are the best. XXXX

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    1. Dear Jackie, I'm surprised you get the Australian version of Masterchef! I always imagine it's one-way traffic in the televisual cultural department ... with the dreaded Neighbours being the sole exception. I confess I've never watched an episode! Brother furnishes me with slow-mo videos of his "food porn" and before and after shots of his creations, so I've not had to watch anything else :)

      Such a pity about the oysters!! I'm a late convert and it took a trip to Scotland in my 20s to drag me to the table and I've never looked back! xx

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  4. Dear Pipistrello - such an elaborate choice of greens and words! I really love your style.

    Sprouts are called Rosenkohl here ( I see it mentioned by Sean) - and usually we wait till winter and cook it after they got a bit frost (yesterday we had the first!) - and sprouts with a little nutmeg added are delicious.
    Oysters: yummy! And those little rosy-cheeked apples are very alluring.

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    1. Thank you, Dear Britta. I've not had nutmeg on sprouts, so it shall have to be tried next season. Roasting them has become quite the fashion here but I still have a divine memory of a dinner in Brussels once - venison with Brussels sprouts/Rosenkohl, bacon and chestnuts. So traditional and as devotee of them, I just had to have them in Brussels!

      The apples are as cute as a button and pleasingly delicious!

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  5. Despite being a total non-meat eater for over 40 years, I did enjoy your presentation of these dishes dear Ms. Pip.
    Amazing watercolor of the Brussels sprouts - being raised on them in England I love 'em of course and am happy they've now become popular over here. All greens are fine with me though. . . . . also would love to get some of those tiny apples - raw or cooked, which do you prefer?
    Homemade marmalade I crave but never can find the right oranges - but at least I can get Scottish (Keiller) which is 500% better than any over-sweetened American so-called marmalade. If only they knew!!!!!

    Lovely to visit with you here and to know freedom has arrived and you are no longer tied to your apron strings, lol!
    I'm sending hubby for a pizza tonight, I need a break from my own apron!
    Hugs, Mary

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    1. Dear Mary, I did wonder if I should have prefaced the post with a hazard warning about Meatstuffs Ahead, haha! Thank you for averting your gaze :) The diminutive apples are super-delicious raw, and you've reminded me that I had hoped to make some baked apples during the winter while I was on my old-fashioned cooking spree and forgot all about it! In the city, Ye Olde Granny Smith is probably the only suitable candidate, but porridge was on high rotation and it often had some red apple variety cooked with it.

      The Seville oranges for my marmalade have a very short season in the shoppes, and if I miss it/get lazy about it, like last year, I confess I go without. I seldom buy it but would make an exception for Rose's Lime Marmalade, which was the only marmalade I would eat as a kid, probably because it was light on the peel that I so loathed back in those foolish days. Limes can be so expensive and would no doubt be a fiddle to prepare, so I haven't given it a go myself.

      Pizza for dinner sounds like an excellent idea! I'm getting rather tired of my own cooking, too, and I daresay there'll be something planned in the coming days, now that the rules have been relaxed. xx

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  6. It definitely wouldn't be Christmas here without a bowl of sprouts to accompany our festive lunch, and similarly to you I shred and sautée them in butter adding some lovely chopped/roasted chestnuts.

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    1. Dear Rosemary, your festive sprouts sound super-delicious! There is usually some remote part of this country that is chilly enough to be growing them for our Xmas - or possibly have kept them in cold store all those months - but I've not had a traditional Xmas in Australia with all the trimmings since when my grandparents would host. Even then they were just boiled to near-pulp, but I still adored them!

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  7. Chili is delicious and now under the power of suggestion I will make some tomorrow. You eat well and balance healthy ingredients into your cooking. I love greens and seasoning them makes them even more tasty. Your apples look delicious and I wish our fruit always tasted as good as it looks. A nice glass of wine with my chili will be great for tomorrow.

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    1. Dear Susan, oh, I can be terribly suggestible when it comes to food, too. I've never been much one for pre-prepared food nor am I/we fussy eaters so we do tend to eat quite a variety of stuffs. Although I don't feel the urge to go all out with elaborate feasts any more and can get quite lazy by cooking up a curry or something and then it can last a few days as it, ahem, matures. Enjoy your dinner and wine!

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  8. I too occasionally cure my own 'bacon', which is often eaten uncooked like any dry-cured Ham. So simple and so good!

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    1. Dear Cro, some of these things are so shockingly simple to do that they barely deserve to be called recipes! And very satisfying, too. The entomological wildlife in this city necessitates all curing to be done in the fridge, otherwise I'd festoon things from the ceiling of the kitchen. I've not tried eating my 'bacon' uncooked, as a snack I guess?, for it's usually earmarked for things in pots and pans.

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  9. people get awfully queer and fussy about what goes into chili.
    Someone has a fuss if there is beans in it.
    Pishposh I say; I haven't met a chili I really disliked.

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    1. Dear Ur-spo, I hadn't realised I'd wandered into controversy corner! I had to consult Mr. Wiki just now to see wherein the fuss lays, for I had always presumed (such a dangerous practice) there are to be beans for that is what the instructions say in my (Australian) recipe book, and the Con Carne bit signified the beef bit as the booster shot. For shame!

      Without beans, it, or something like it, would be called Savoury Mince with a Bit of Chilli in it around here, and destined to be eaten on toast or in a jaffle. Also a delicious thing.

      The news also greeted me that this is a Tex-Mex dish, and there are competitions to make it and stern judges preside! Someone is in grave company. As ever, I too say tra la to all that and frolic in the kitchen with nary a care for trampling traditions ... (except I should never put cream in spaghetti carbonara for that is a Crime)

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    2. Chili is the dish that gets the most inquires of what kind/what's in it. Not for dietary reasons but judgmental matters. When asked this sort of question, I reply and add "do you approve? is it a proper chili?" if not they tell me.

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    3. Proper chilli or no, Miss Manners reminds us we should not curl a lip when being fed by friends and family and keep the Masterchef judgements to ourselves!

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