I started cooking a lot a couple of months ago and I love it. I love trying out new recipes, making unhealthy foods healthier by switching out ingredients, figuring out how to use the odd new ingredients(fennel anyone?) Sean and I are eating healthier(though we still take far too many trips to what Sean lovingly calls, "Old McDonald's Farm") and I am teaching him that food doesn't always come out of a box.
However, along the way there have been some missteps. Mostly due to the fact that I was unwillingly to follow a recipe until my late twenties and I rarely let my mom or dad teach me how to cook anything. Here are some of the recipes and substitutions that did not work out:
 |
AWESOME BEER,
AWFUL SHRIMP MARINADE |
Porter Boiled Shrimp - My friend's husband is a fisherman and at one of their parties his mom told me a nice recipe for shrimp. Boil it in beer until it turns pink and season it with old bay. I tried this twice before my disaster; 1) once with a nice citrus beer and once with a cheap pale ale. The shrimp were wild caught US gulf prawns and they were amazing. The next time I got shrimp at the store, I came home to find that the only beer available was a mocha porter. You know, the dark, coffee-ish beer.
And that is what my concoction tasted like: shrimp boiled in coffee.
Boiled lettuce - I subscribe to a CSA, they bring me absolutely amazing in-season fruits and vegetables every week and I love almost every bite. The problem is that the greens spoil quickly. During the winter, I would take the Kale, Chard and Collard greens and boiled them in vinegar, wine, or broth. It was tasty and made the vegetables last longer. The thing about the above greens is that they are bitter, and continue to retain their texture after boiling. I did not get that lettuce would not do the same thing. It was limp and the wine I boiled it in made it taste vinegary, but not in a good way.
And according to my co-workers, boiled lettuce does not have a pleasing look or aroma.
Convenient Salmon Lunch - I usually do salmon well. I buy a fillet from the guy at the farmer's market. I brush it with olive oil and squirt a little lemon on top. I bake it until it is flaky and it tastes amazing. Then, I use the leftovers to make salmon caesar salad. This particular salmon had three problems: 1) I bought it sight unseen from a large online grocery outlet, it said it was wild-caught sockeye, but who knows, 2) I waited to bake it until one day before the "freeze by" date and 3) I didn't bring it for lunch until three days after I baked it. I guess I am lucky that my sense of smell is poor because I microwaved my salmon the same day that one of my co-workers cleaned all of the old food out from the fridge and my salmon was apparently ten times worse.
Needless to say, I am not allowed to bring salmon to work anymore.
Oh.....and I also suggest that you do not freeze shrimp and then saute it directly from frozen.....ewww
Porter Boiled Shrimp - My friend's husband is a fisherman and at one of their parties his mom told me a nice recipe for shrimp. Boil it in beer until it turns pink and season it with old bay. I tried this twice before my disaster; 1) once with a nice citrus beer and once with a cheap pale ale. The shrimp were wild caught US gulf prawns and they were amazing. The next time I got shrimp at the store, I came home to find that the only beer available was a mocha porter. You know, the dark, coffee-ish beer. And that is what my concoction tasted like: shrimp boiled in coffee. 
No comments:
Post a Comment