It's time to get back on the vegetable train. Sometimes I get on these kicks where I just really want to make certain dishes. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint) last week the great majority of recipes I was itching to make had meat in them. For example beef noodle soup, a pear and pancetta tart, and a burger, among other things. I'm hoping that this colorful salad has set me back on track.
Spicy Garlic Scape Spaghetti
For one short week last year, we received two garlic scapes in our CSA box. When I first plucked the long, curly, green, and tender vegetable out of the box, I was perplexed. To the internet I went to do some research! I decided to make garlic scape buttermilk biscuits and they were fan-freaking-tastic. I was hoping for more scapes the rest of the season but they never came (the farm had absolutely no shortage of cucumbers, I had cucumbers coming out of my ears all summer long, if only they could have replaced some of those with garlic scapes).
Seared Scallops with Pea Purée
If there is one dish that I always order at a restaurant, given it's on the menu, it is scallops. Without fail. Every. Single. Time. They're so sweet, succulent, pretty, and easy to prepare. They also don't need very much embellishment to make them delicious.
Cinnamon Sugar Challah
There are two things that terrify me in the kitchen. Not just regular terrify, but more like throw-a-temper-tantrum-like-a-little-girl-then-have-nightmares-about-it terrified.
The first is cheese sauce, as in mac & cheese cheese sauce. Depending on what cheese I buy, how I grate it, the time of day, and the alignment of the planets, I have a 75/25 chance that the sauce will separate into a curdly mess. Those are not good odds. I've tried bechamel based sauces, custard sauces, they have all broken. And sometimes, I make a wildly successful, silky smooth cheese sauce only for it to break while baking in the oven. Persnickety cheese, you are my worst enemy.
The second is any type of yeasted bread. I'm just not good at making them. Though unlike cheese sauce, with bread I am getting better. I can see where I'm going wrong at times. After loaf upon loaf of dense bricks that never rose correctly, I can tell when the water is too hot and will kill the yeast, I can tell when there's too much flour, and I think I'm realizing now that I should store yeast in the freezer. It still terrifies me though. We have a fickle relationship.