The diet was a success yesterday: a LOT of work. But I can see where it’ll get less as I get used to the style of cooking. The unexpected success was the salad/cold veggie. That involves a big cucumber and three radishes and a bell pepper, sliced paper thin, tossed and allowed to marinate for 30 minutes in a dressing made of 1 tbs virgin olive oil and 1 TSP balsamic vinegar, with salt and pepper. The thinness of the veggies means they sop up the flavor in the dressing, and they’re crunchy and cold, contrasted with the meat dish. Serves 2.
The salty little stuffed mushrooms were a winner, too. Pop the stems out of a couple of mushrooms, and in a small skillet, add the diced stems, a spoonful of olive oil, salt, and a couple of spoonfuls of frozen spinach. Heat same. Put the mushroom caps in, stuff them with the mix, and keep them on Low Heat with a lid for a bit while you fix other things. They make a warm salty bite or two.
And the potato substitute: you won’t believe this one:—microwave half a cauliflower, add it and powdered buttermilk, salt, pepper, and a little water to a blender set on ‘mash’. It actually tastes mostly like mashed potatoes, and not enough like cauliflower to offend anybody who really hates cauliflower. Quite a transformation.
The dessert: lime ricotta cream is, for one person, half a cup of ricotta cheese, add a packet of Splenda, and half a teaspoon of vanilla, then 1/4-1/2 tsp of the zest (scraped skin) of a lime. Stir, place in cup, set in fridge all day. I put these into the freezer during dinner, and they came out very nice. A little granular, like a snowcone: ricotta is; but the predominant taste is lime and dairy.
Anyway, tonight is salmon baked on a bed of fresh dill, with another veggie salad, and maybe more ‘potato’. I haven’t checked. But I give the menu so you can see how this works—how it IS work, but gets easier once you know the drill.
The one thing I am treating myself to is a Cuisinart to do fine slicing. I had a nasty accident with a mandolin (sliding slicer) that I don’t want to repeat, and while my hand slicing is pretty good for mushrooms, it gets risky with something like a radish that needs to go paper-thin.
So that is on the agenda for today.
This: http://www.instawares.com/safety-glove-cut-resistant.86104fr.0.7.htm?LID=IWAMZ&ci_src=23393768&ci_sku=86104FR
There are a number of these items, ranging from damn near chain mail (oyster-shucking) to mildly resistent. I ordered one. Apparently they’re also a good idea when using a zester.
When I got my finger with the mandolin, I got the top of the second-finger first joint, really nearly a half-inch of not-scar-tissue, and it took a while growing back, not to mention the bandage was a pita. Not doing that again, nope, nope, nope. I’d tried to grip a last little bit, and the rocking of the cheap mandolin lowered my knuckle to the level of the blade. Owie, owie, owie.
I will have to try the cauliflower mash because I live with someone who adamantly does not like the taste of vegetables. I suspect that “because they are vegetables” is the reasoning behind it. If I disguise them enough they are rendered “acceptable”.
There’s a new-ish product, powdered buttermilk, easy to store, easy to use. I think it does particularly well in that recipe, about a tablespoon per half cauliflower.
Try slathering real butter on it. We can’t, but many people would eat anything if it was buttered.