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badseed1980I love cookbooks and cooking blogs. I read them as avidly as I read novels. I love reading both stories and recipes. That said, I don't often use recipes in my cooking. Even when I do, I usually will find something I want to alter in them.
For example, take the maple cupcakes with milk chocolate ganache and candied bacon I made last week for a work bake-off. First of all, that turned out to be NOT such a good recipe. A friend made them and followed the instructions precisely (and said friend is an excellent cook). He told me the cupcakes themselves turned out dense and dry, so I decided to substitute cake flour for the AP in the recipe, and to add a little extra butter as well. Well, they STILL turned out dense and dry, but probably not as bad as they would have otherwise.
Usually, though, I find that when I change a recipe, it's often to make it healthier. Healthier for me, that is: my body feels best when I eat a lot of vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and lean protein, and not too much fat from animal sources. This can sometimes be a pretty serious alteration that requires additional adjustments. So, when I saw a recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog for Stuck-Pot Rice with Lentils and Yogurt, I was delighted to see that between the recipe notes and the comments on the post, there was a good bit of information on how to substitute brown rice for the white in the recipe. I decided I NEEDED to make it.
I'm a big fan of the Middle Eastern dish called mujaddara, a pilaf of either rice or bulgur with lentils, and have posted about it in this series before. The stuck-pot rice is very similar, but it involves cooking the rice and lentils for a while with very little liquid in a tightly covered pot or skillet until a crust develops on the bottom. This reminded me of Korean dolsot bibimbap, where the rice is pressed into a sizzling hot stone bowl before being topped with meat, veggies, and egg. I love that crunchy rice-crust.
Reading the comments people made on the post made me realize that substituting brown rice for the white would require a much longer par-cooking time, so I simmered my rice for over 25 minutes before adding the lentils and simmering for another 5-10. Since I knew I'd have a lot more cooking time on the rice and lentils, I decided to caramelize the onions for the dish at the same time that the rice was cooking, instead of doing it before. More comments indicated that nonstick cookware would make it easier to slide the finished dish out, and that a skillet instead of a pot might provide a better crusted-to-fluffy ratio. So, I caramelized my onions in a nonstick skillet while the rice and lentils cooked in their pot.
I combined everything in the pot when the rice and lentils were cooked, oiled up my skillet, and slapped the mixture in, pressing it in nice and tight. I covered the skillet (hooray for my sister, who got me the nonstick skillet with lid for my bridal shower!), and set it on low to cook. The recipe called for half an hour of cooking at this stage, but when I checked it at that point, it wasn't yet crunchy or brown on the bottom. Well, that's what you get for using nonstick. Still, I knew browning was possible in the skillet--hadn't I just caramelized my onions beautifully in it? So, I cranked up the heat to medium, and let it go for ten more minutes. I checked it again--success! I put a huge plate on top of the skillet, and flipped the whole thing over. The rice and lentils inverted beautifully onto the plate. I ate one serving that night with lemon juice and chopped fresh parsley. The next, I used a drizzle of pomegranate molasses instead of the lemon juice, and that was superb. I am having more tonight.
The lessons here, folks, are as follows:
1) Even a creative, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants cook can use recipes once in a while.
2) Even if you're using a recipe, it's OK to change things around to suit your needs and desires.
3) If you're going to do that (and even if you're not), it pays to check out the experiences that other people have had with that recipe and variations on it.
For example, take the maple cupcakes with milk chocolate ganache and candied bacon I made last week for a work bake-off. First of all, that turned out to be NOT such a good recipe. A friend made them and followed the instructions precisely (and said friend is an excellent cook). He told me the cupcakes themselves turned out dense and dry, so I decided to substitute cake flour for the AP in the recipe, and to add a little extra butter as well. Well, they STILL turned out dense and dry, but probably not as bad as they would have otherwise.
Usually, though, I find that when I change a recipe, it's often to make it healthier. Healthier for me, that is: my body feels best when I eat a lot of vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and lean protein, and not too much fat from animal sources. This can sometimes be a pretty serious alteration that requires additional adjustments. So, when I saw a recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog for Stuck-Pot Rice with Lentils and Yogurt, I was delighted to see that between the recipe notes and the comments on the post, there was a good bit of information on how to substitute brown rice for the white in the recipe. I decided I NEEDED to make it.
I'm a big fan of the Middle Eastern dish called mujaddara, a pilaf of either rice or bulgur with lentils, and have posted about it in this series before. The stuck-pot rice is very similar, but it involves cooking the rice and lentils for a while with very little liquid in a tightly covered pot or skillet until a crust develops on the bottom. This reminded me of Korean dolsot bibimbap, where the rice is pressed into a sizzling hot stone bowl before being topped with meat, veggies, and egg. I love that crunchy rice-crust.
Reading the comments people made on the post made me realize that substituting brown rice for the white would require a much longer par-cooking time, so I simmered my rice for over 25 minutes before adding the lentils and simmering for another 5-10. Since I knew I'd have a lot more cooking time on the rice and lentils, I decided to caramelize the onions for the dish at the same time that the rice was cooking, instead of doing it before. More comments indicated that nonstick cookware would make it easier to slide the finished dish out, and that a skillet instead of a pot might provide a better crusted-to-fluffy ratio. So, I caramelized my onions in a nonstick skillet while the rice and lentils cooked in their pot.
I combined everything in the pot when the rice and lentils were cooked, oiled up my skillet, and slapped the mixture in, pressing it in nice and tight. I covered the skillet (hooray for my sister, who got me the nonstick skillet with lid for my bridal shower!), and set it on low to cook. The recipe called for half an hour of cooking at this stage, but when I checked it at that point, it wasn't yet crunchy or brown on the bottom. Well, that's what you get for using nonstick. Still, I knew browning was possible in the skillet--hadn't I just caramelized my onions beautifully in it? So, I cranked up the heat to medium, and let it go for ten more minutes. I checked it again--success! I put a huge plate on top of the skillet, and flipped the whole thing over. The rice and lentils inverted beautifully onto the plate. I ate one serving that night with lemon juice and chopped fresh parsley. The next, I used a drizzle of pomegranate molasses instead of the lemon juice, and that was superb. I am having more tonight.
The lessons here, folks, are as follows:
1) Even a creative, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants cook can use recipes once in a while.
2) Even if you're using a recipe, it's OK to change things around to suit your needs and desires.
3) If you're going to do that (and even if you're not), it pays to check out the experiences that other people have had with that recipe and variations on it.
