Another busy Little Kitchen weekend. First up: Shaved Asparagus Pizza again I guess I have to face the fact that I've become addicted to this stuff. I was pondering trying another pizza and pan roasting the asparagus but before I knew what was happening, there I was shaving asparagus thinking that it might be best to christen the brand spankin' new pizza stone and the "00" pizza dough flour with something tried and true so as to make it easier to gauge any differences with the new technique...and yes, this pizza crust was thinner and crispier. Not too doughy. That's good. My first pizza was much doughier and though it looked and tasted lovely I've discovered that I do prefer the thinner crust. It did seem to have the pizza shop quality to it. Stellar!
Next up: "Not Your Mamas Cole Slaw" from SK via Ina Garten. Well, how can you go wrong with this. It was a triumph in several ways.
I was able to use up most of my home made mayo and a good dose of dijon. Now that I've become a bit of an authority on Dijon I was actually happy to discover that a VERY old jar of Trader Joe's dijon held it's own next to the fancy french label and managed to pack quite a whallop that and the blue cheese well what can I say? This is definitetly party worthy. It looks colorful and I didn't even buy the red cabbage thinking it's hard enough to use up one head of cabbage let alone two so I just made it with the one. It wasn't until I went back and read the full post that I needn't have worried. My happy dance began even before I took my first bite. I mean I knew it would be good so whilst leaf peeling method (the ATK way) I realized that the unused cabbage stays fresher this way. I've always avoided making cole slaw for myself because I'd cut into the head thinking I had to use the whole thing, fine when your making it for crowd not for one. That is until now Back on the post Deb notes that a head of cabbage keeps for a looooooonnnnng time and this makes up really quickly. Next time, very soon, today...I will get that red cabbage and let the party commence!
Alas not all of the days endeavors in the kitchen proved to be so happy. It's inevitable that the occasional HOT MESS occur every now and again to keep me humble.
I was thrilled to find a new posting from 101cookbooks in my mailbox in the morning for Baked Farro. Dang! could I be so lucky as to have another psychic friend or what? Just this morning as I was rearranging my pantry I was wondering what else I could do with all that farro and then this absolutely gorgeous image appears on my screen and it begged to be made immediately...later that very same day...later that evening:
She combines all the ingredients on the stove top and then it's to go into an 8 x 8 baking dish covered with foil which gets pierced. I figured I could use my casserole dish and leave the lid askew.
After baking for the requisite 45 minutes the farro was still really hard. I added more water and secured the lid checking on it every 15 minutes...well, an hour later it was al dente and and begging for mercy. Not a complete failure though. I saw the glimmer of potential and though the texture was chewy, the tomatoey cheezy flavors were begging for a second chance.
Oh! Hold the phone! LIGHTBULB!!!
This was the first use of the bulk farro. I don't recall seeing the words semi-pearled (a process that loosens or breaks down the husk) AND I forgot to rinse it. I think I need to make this again now to correct my mistakes and do right by my new friend Heidi.
I also just realized that I never would have realized this if I hadn't sat down here to write about it. This makes me happy.
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