More Recipe Concepts

I am long past bothering with precise cooking instructions. Basic descriptions are sufficient in most cases. Lately I have done a few new dishes and will describe them here.

Party Snacks

I catered for a recent party Lukas and I co-hosted and made three snacks (partly guided by my six food groups). They were...

* Parmesan Chips with Corn Dip: A company mass produces this new product driven by a very old process. Have you ever notice how melted cheese slides off toast in a griller and forms a thin crisp layer? Well they have taken that and turned it into chips made of pure cheese. They are tasty by themselves but I decided to make a dip to complement them. I simply take some pureed corn and add some smokey paprika seasoning to it. The joke is that normally we put corn chips into a cheesy dip and I'm simply reversing the process. Very moreish if the party was anything to go by.

* Crudités with Hummus: So basic but welcome by those wanting some vegetables and legumes in a night of potential over-indulgence. I cut vege-sticks from carrot and celary and served it with a shop-made chickpea dip. The hardest part of this is ensuring an even proportion of sticks to dip.

* Marinated Mushrooms in Shell Pasta: I got some button mushrooms (in olive oil and rosemary) from the deli and then mixed them into a dish of freshly cooked shell pasta. This can be served later cold. The cutest thing with this is that the button mushrooms tend to go hiding within the shells.

Pandemic Snack Pack

This started as something referenced in a short expository fiction of mine. I took frozen potato wedges rather than fat chips (choosing ones in beer batter). Then I cooked some mushrooms - lately I have taken to using a shallow mix of reducing water and dissolved Vegemite then pan grilling them. I also mixed in some chickpeas I had soaked for some days. These ingredients were then mixed with mayonnaise, minced garlic and a hint of chilli and thrown on top of the oven-baked wedges. Finally they were decorated with flaked parsley. I had a tasty meal but it would have been better to share with friends. Maybe another time.

Dan Burger 1.0

Ever since seeing science-fiction depictions of meat substitutes (from The Green Death to Soylent Green) I have found the concept interesting. Finally decided to try and make my own burger patties using beans and fungus - the experimental Dan Burger.

The ingredients that provide protein, fleshy texture and savory flavour are butter beans, button mushrooms, kidney beans and shitake mushrooms. These were finely chopped or mashed and cooked in a small anount of reducing water. Together they comprised four fifths of the ingredients.

This is vegetarian but far from vegan as it includes both egg mayonnaise and butter. The former was mixed with wholemeal crumbs and a dash of chilli sauce. The latter had finely chopped shallot and minced garlic fried in it. With all ingredients sorted it then came time to form them into patties and pan-fry them.

That proved challenging. The mix formed disc-like shapes well but its texture stayed pasty till eventually it turned a tad crumbly. I would have to work on proportions to produce a firm burger texture. However the looked and tasted good so I should return to this one sometime for version 2.0.