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Dec. 18th, 2007 10:32 pmSo it's been a while since I've been home for dinner -- a lot of nights of microwaved food, pizza from talks, stuff I brought from home after Thanksgiving, and many boxes of Trader Joe's Indian curries, but not much actual cooking. Having to do laundry, I came home for dinner tonight. I felt like something simple, especially after last night's post-Carols dinner party at Peter Gomes's residence, Sparks House. So I just made my usual brown rice, steamed a slightly thinned beaten egg with some dried shrimp for flavoring (when done right, this Cantonese classic has a custard-like, silky smooth texture, although I overcooked mine tonight) and some of the veggie dumplings I made over the summer. Nothing too exciting there, but then for some reason the mood hit me for dessert.
There was about a fifth of an abandoned bottle of Trader Joe's cabernet sauvignon in my fridge, which had flavored the coq au vin I made for a dinner party over the summer, served to deglaze a hamburger steak with mushrooms, and occasionally but not recently been drunken in small amounts when dining at home. There was also an ancient apple, which while not spoiled had started to dry out from the outside and was not very appetizing. Combined, however... delicious. I cut away the outer somewhat shriveled part of the apple, sliced the rest, and simmered the slices in a saucepan with the wine, adding some cinnamon, nutmeg, and a generous spoonful of brown sugar. While I was initially dubious, and while cooking the dish at times smelled acrid (no doubt due to ethanol fumes coming off), the end result was marvelous. The apples were tender and full of flavor, sweet but not too much. The cooking liquid was also delicious. I will have to try this again sometime.
Over the weekend I also made brownies for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
katertoticus's birthday. I used a rather rich recipe and layered the brownies with raspberry jam. Perhaps next semester, I'll try to bake for UChoir pre-rehearsal teatime on occasion. The scones pastwatcher and I made for teatime back in October were quite well received, and I can think of at least a couple of other yummy things that are fairly straightforward to whip up.
There was about a fifth of an abandoned bottle of Trader Joe's cabernet sauvignon in my fridge, which had flavored the coq au vin I made for a dinner party over the summer, served to deglaze a hamburger steak with mushrooms, and occasionally but not recently been drunken in small amounts when dining at home. There was also an ancient apple, which while not spoiled had started to dry out from the outside and was not very appetizing. Combined, however... delicious. I cut away the outer somewhat shriveled part of the apple, sliced the rest, and simmered the slices in a saucepan with the wine, adding some cinnamon, nutmeg, and a generous spoonful of brown sugar. While I was initially dubious, and while cooking the dish at times smelled acrid (no doubt due to ethanol fumes coming off), the end result was marvelous. The apples were tender and full of flavor, sweet but not too much. The cooking liquid was also delicious. I will have to try this again sometime.
Over the weekend I also made brownies for
katertoticus's birthday. I used a rather rich recipe and layered the brownies with raspberry jam. Perhaps next semester, I'll try to bake for UChoir pre-rehearsal teatime on occasion. The scones pastwatcher and I made for teatime back in October were quite well received, and I can think of at least a couple of other yummy things that are fairly straightforward to whip up.
