I Am Not Dead · 19 September 2007
I am only crazy.
I am going on vacation.
I am going on vacation in the middle of a semester in which I am taking a full load of classes and working full time.
I have started thinking in bullet-point lists titled, "Assignments Due," "Things to Pack," "Bills to Pay Before Leaving" and taken to reading in brief moments guiltily stolen while doing other things that shouldn't be paired with reading (like sleeping).
I have taken to eating crunchy green peas as comfort food because I can't sit still when I have so much to do and they are "active food."
Nothing so unnaturally green can possible be great for you, but I figure it's better than pigging out on potato chips.
I will probably not post much of substance until I return from my trip.
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Science Fiction Party Food · 25 June 2007
When last seen, I was promising new and exciting insight into the world of pasta and gelatin based products. (I was also whining a bit, but I’m better now, thank you very much).
What could motivate such a seemingly unrelated (and not very tasty sounding) combination? A blogging event of course! Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness has come up with an event that I couldn’t ignore, a Sci-Fi Party.
So much of what I make here on Honeyed Words is motivated by my reading of science fiction and/or fantasy, but the food is usually very down-to-earth. I try to explore the different themes of the books I read and draw relevance to them through food that is exciting, but accessible.
The Sci-Fi Party has as its premise a completely different spin. Stephanie has challenged the food blogging community to come up with cocktail appetizers and drinks that are visibly “science- fictionesque.” Instead of doing what I normally do here, trying to convince everyone that science fiction is meaningful, and not scary, I’m going to succumb to the stereotype, creepy aliens!
I had a lot of fun thinking up food that looked like it didn’t belong on Earth. Food is all in how we think about it, after. Things that are “alien” to one culture are perfectly commonplace in another. I tried my best to come up with ideas that didn't betray a North American slant and would seem unusual to any culture. Of course, I was limited to earthly ingredients, but modern food science has helped turn even our home-grown ingredient into a few truly unusual products.
In order to get that “real alien feel,” I brainstormed a few tried and true alien features to attempt to incorporate into the food. Here was my shortlist of characteristics that would define “alien food.”
- Slimy
- Gooey
- Includes tentacles and/or other strange protuberances
- Squishes in your mouth
- Brightly colored
When it comes down to it, do I think that aliens would actually eat the dishes I concocted? No. I think the Jell-O® treats are most likely to be served at a kid’s birthday party (you all remember green and purple ketchup right?) and that if there is carbon-based life on other planets, they’re probably eating something that is not too different from what we eat.
And do I think that I’m selling my mission down the river? No way. I hold that it’s a good rule of thumb not to take yourself too seriously. And though I do want people to stop pigeonholing science fiction and fantasy into some second-tier genre, I want them to do it because they find the genre fun and thought provoking, not just academic. So, get into the kitchen, and have some fun with these alien inspired dishes.
Stuffed Squash:
Oozing Flying Saucers and Tentacle Creatures
The alien version of stuffed quail, an animate flying saucer with its large brain oozing out of the top. Accompanied by a seafaring tentacle creature. (No actual aliens harmed in the making of this dish.)
- 1 oz uncooked rice noodles
- Red and yellow food coloring
- 2 small pattypan squash (for Flying Saucers)
- 2 small globe squash (for Tentacle Creatures)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2/3 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 Tbsp dry bread crumbs
- 2 Tbsp fresh minced basil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Fill a small saucepan with sufficient water to generously cover the rice noodles. Place rice noodles into the water, completely submerging them. Add approximately 8 drops red food coloring and 6 drops yellow food coloring (adjust as desired for a more red or more yellow color). Let noodles sit at least 30 minutes at room temperature.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Slice the tops off the squash. On the pattypans, remove the entire area on the top, above the “ridges” of the squash. On the globe squash, remove approximately the top 1/3 of the squash.
Scoop out the squash seeds, being careful not to pierce the outer rind. Discard the seeds.
Dab a bit of olive oil on the bottom of the squash, then place the squash, bottom-side down in a 9” x 9” baking pan. If necessary, cut off a bit of the bottom of the squash to provide a flat bottom surface.
In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, and sauté until tender. Add basil and cook for 1 additional minute.
Remove onions, garlic, and basil from heat. Transfer to a small bowl. Stir in ricotta, Parmesan, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper until blended.
Spoon mixture into the prepared squash shells. The mixture should be “bulging” out of the top of the pattypan squash. After spooning the mixture into the globe squash, level it off with a knife so that the mixture is flush with the squash top.
Bake 25 minutes, until sides are tender; then broil 3 minutes, until tops of the squash are golden.
While squash are baking, bring the water with the rice noodles to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for approximately 6 minutes or until noodles are tender, then drain.
When square are baked, arrange noodles as “tentacles” on top of the globe squash. Serve hot.
Jell-O® Blob Monsters
What better way to represent gooey alien delicacies than with Jell-O®? The stuff hardly looks like it belongs on earth, with its unnatural colors and jiggly texture. I jazzed up the already alien looking concoction with some fun textured candy to suggest the idea of a slimy, bumpy, alien invertebrate.
- 1 package Jell-O®
- Several small molds
- Brightly colored candy (watermelon licorice used here)
Prepare Jell-O® according to package directions.
Pour into small molds.
Place in refrigerator and set timer 1 hour. After 1 hour, stir in chopped up candy pieces.
Replace in refrigerator until finished setting.
Important note: Jell-O® is not vegetarian. The vegetarian tag on this article refers to the squash.
Alien Food,
Blobs From Outer Space,
Blogging Event,
Flying Saucers,
Jell-O®,
Parmesan Cheese,
Ricotta Cheese,
Summer Squash,
Vegetarian,
Tentacles
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How Did the Arthurian Era Peoples Avoid the Saffron Sticker Shock? · 1 June 2007
I spent a good chunk of time typing up what was supposed to be tonight’s post, mostly organizing and summarizing the research I’ve been doing this week on Arthurian period food. Of course now that I’ve left the flash drive with the saved post on it at my office, that time does me no good. I hate to try to recreate my work only to produce lower quality stuff, so instead of posting what I originally intended to, I’ve assembled a hodgepodge of things I did this week that didn’t fit neatly into the other post and split the two Arthurian recipes into two separate posts instead of the single post as I was planning.
You’ll just have to trust me for now that I’ve done my homework and this Fennell recipe is as Arthurian as I could make it.
I selected the fennel recipe from a number of contenders in part because I’ve never cooked with saffron. At first, I figured it was one of those spices that used to be popular and isn’t anymore. I should have known better. A quick perusal of the spice aisle of my local market led me to the saffron bottles, wedged in between their less flashy brethren, Rosemary and Sage. When I took the first bottle off the shelf, I thought I had picked a dud; it looked empty. Closer inspection proved that it was not in fact empty, but contained .01 oz of saffron strands, suspended in the bottle and hidden behind the label.
A direct quote from the manufacturer, California Based The Spice Hunter. I guess they must have realized that it looked a little ridiculous to be paying $7.99 for an empty bottle too.
Saffron is the most expensive spice on earth, it takes more than 75,000 hand-picked blossoms, each of which has 3 saffron strands, to make a pound of saffron. Each strand must be hand-picked from the flower, so there are approximately 225,000 hand-picked strands per pound. An acre of crocus stativus produces only 2 ½ pounds of saffron.
This of course made me realize, yet again, how much of my food budget is taken up by herbs and spices. And unfortunately, it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting much relief from my budding herb garden in the near future. Here’s a picture of the plants taken earlier this week. If they continue to grow at this rate, I may have the equivalent of 3 full sized leaves by the end of summer.
I did find one way to save money this week though. There is a surprising wealth of Arthurian literature online and free via Project Gutenburg. My long neglected Le Mort d’Arthur by Thomas Malory is available as are: Four Arthurian Romances by 12th cent. de Troyes Chrétien (Translated); Stories from Le Morte D'Arthur and the Mabinogion by Beatrice Clay; Arthur - A Short Sketch of His Life and History in English Verse of the First Half of the Fifteenth Century; The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by Sir James Knowles; Arthurian Chronicles: Roman de Brut by Wace; and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain.
And just in case you’re wondering if the saffron was worth it; it wasn’t, at least for me. It provided the dish with a beautiful and striking yellow color (which was an amazing transformation considering it started out as deep red strings like the ones pictured at right) but I think I would have been equally as impressed on a per dollar basis with the lower cost substitutes safflower or tumeric. The dish itself was a great side, easy to make and awesome with the whole grain bread I paired it with. I just think I’ll save myself the $7.99 next time and deal with the historical inaccuracy.
'Fenkel in Soppes' or Braised Fennel with Ginger
From The British Museum Cookbook via the Carnegie Mellon Online Recipe Collection
- 750g (1 1/2 lb) trimmed, fresh fennel root; cleaned and cut into matchsticks
- 225g (8 oz) onions, thickly sliced
- 1 heaped tsp of ground ginger
- 1 level tsp of powdered saffron (I was unable to find powdered saffron and substituted finely chopped saffron threads.)
- ½ tsp of salt
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 150mL (5 fl oz) each dry white wine and water
- 6 thick slices of coarse whole wheat or whole meal bread (optional)
Method:
Put the fennel and the onions in a saucepan.
Sprinkle the spices and salt over the top, then add the oil, and finally pour the liquids in.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the fennel is cooked without being mushy.
If desired, serve over a slice of bread.
Anglo-Saxon Food,
Arthurian Era Food,
Fennell,
Herbs,
English Food,
Onions,
Saffron,
Vegan,
Vegetarian
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