Tapioca, So Versatile?

A couple nights ago, I found myself in Harris Teeter with a couple extra bucks and the taste for custard (what a glamorous word!) in my mind. So naturally, I bought the two things that I THOUGHT were most associated with that taste: tapioca and a cherimoya.

I hadn't had tapioca pudding in years, and I never even really liked it much. Often I cook things for the novelty of cooking them, not cause I'm super enamored with the result...so this was one of those instances. Instead of finding just the tapioca pearls, I stumbled upon Kraft Minute Tapioca, which contains soy lecithin as a thickener...and the tapioca pearls are teeny-tiny. Long story short, I followed the pudding recipe on the side of the box, and seeing as I had a can of coconut milk randomly in my pantry, I halved the milk and replaced the other half with said coconut milk. Worked pretty well, and as I topped the cold pudding with some leftover chocolate mousse frosting from my dad's birthday cake, the pudding/chocolate combo was pretty much like eating a Mounds bar.

On another note, I found a site that has scans from the old Kraft Minute Tapioca cookbook dating back to 1923. Things like Tapioca Tomato Bisque and Tapioca Creamed Salmon look curious to say the least. I think I'll try making something of out this...just for the novelty...as usual.

And as for the cherimoya...it's a South American fruit (related in family to the North American Pawpaw) that is also called a "custard apple." I had never tasted one before, so I wanted to see if it lived up to its name. The selection at HT was pretty dismal, but I found one in the back that yielded a little to touch and didn't seem overripe like the rest. Suffice it to say that the cherimoya was... interesting? Maybe it was just the one that I found, but the flesh seemed to jump between tart at times to more fruity and tropical at others. Word on the street is that it's a mix of mango, pineapple, and strawberry. I say that if you need so many other tastes to describe a flavor, it's probably not a good indicator of what the taste will be (and indeed, it didn't taste anything like a strawberry in my book, and even the pineapple/mango is kind of vague...it really is just more of a tropical taste. Leave it at that!). However, the whole custard part was pretty much lost on me...the texture was more pear-like, so maybe I didn't get one ripe enough? The black seeds probably interested me the most...they contrasted so nicely with the whitish flesh. They're also surprisingly plasticky--they seem like a good candidate for making bead necklaces or something.

So I didn't feel like cooking today. In fact, I didn't really even eat much of anything, but I did learn that lemon angel food cake works pretty well as dinner. Instead, I leafed through Martha Stewart's Desserts cookbook and determined which cake I'd make for my dad's birthday: devil's food cake. He's a chocolate fiend, and this seems to be one of the more approachable recipes in the book...the only other recipe I've made was the fig tart, seeing as I was given a ton of figs at Monticello last semester. It was pretty labor intensive. Martha's devil's food is a layer cake, and all I have is still the ol springform pan, so hopefully it'll work out. Ironically enough, my dad gave me this cookbook for my birthday in 1999 (he wrote in it, I don't remember THAT well).

I DID, however, notice that my herb seeds are sprouting, which is very exciting. Also, I found these little 99 cent seed/peat pot "kits" that were marketed to kids at Kmart. Of course they appealed to ME too. I resisted getting all of them and only purchased the pole bean and the giant sunflower cups. So, the beans are taking off...to say the least.

Friend Discovers Potato Leek Soup Not From a Can; Surprising Results Ensue

So I'm continuing with this whole Vegetarian Soup Week idea, and tonight's winner was Potato Leek. Never having cooked with leeks before, I wasn't sure how things would turn out, but easy was the name of the game. My friend Adrienne came over to sample, and she asked how such a soup was made--apparently she asked her mom once to make it, and she refused cause it seemed difficult. NOT SO, MRS. ANTONUCCI!

1) Cut up leeks and new potatoes.

2) Saute leeks in butter with some salt until soft. Don't be afraid if you aren't moving the leeks at every waking moment...the brown residue on the bottom of the pan contributes FLAVOR!


3) Add potatoes and vegetable stock; let simmer for about 45 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked throughout.


4) Turn off the heat, add cream and some buttermilk, and season to taste.

I used Alton Brown's recipe, and I would definitely suggest reducing the buttermilk to 3/4 cup at most (unlike the 1 cup recipe measure). I wound up throwing in some more cream and stock at the end to circumvent the sour cream taste I was picking up on. If anything, I'd probably rework the proportion to 1 1/2 cups cream to 1/2 cup buttermilk.

The end result?

Harris Teeter also made a wise move and packaged four lemons and four limes together for $1.00, so I jammed on that and made lemon angel food cake and limeade. The cake was a total "I don't know how this'll turn out," seeing as I don't bake with as much regularity as I cook. I'm a sucker for sauces, and with an extra lemon left, I made this one. I should have just gone ahead and made lemon curd, as I had grandiose dreams of making a layer cake. However, the genius that I am, I totally forgot to give the cake a once-around with a knife before I unlatched the springform pan, so of course the cake began to rip as I freed it. At any rate, it wouldn't have worked anyway, for the sauce was much too runny and I ended up putting a little in a separate bowl with some cornstarch and throwing that back into the saucepan to thicken it further. I don't find the whole "add the cornstarch from the get-go" process so be that successful. And the butter isn't necessary in the sauce--at least for the cake I made. But the sauce was especially tasty when soaked into the cake for a bit...reminded me of tres leches cake. I should try making THAT some time...

Highlights:

Kitchen-Aid white beater.

Mixing the whites into the batter:

As Martin Short's character would say in Father of the Bride, "CAAAAAAAAAAK"

And the limeade.

Now I'm used to cooking for (and eating the results by) myself, so I'm not going to lie, it's a bit hard to take compliments for what I do. I don't really see what I do as anything out of the ordinary since I enjoy the process of making. Adrienne was surprised to hear that had she not been there, I would have still prepared the same things. Also, I find that I experience some sort of weird out of body sensation/"feeling that it doesn't taste the same as why I've tried in restaurants" when I taste the final result. I see it as some sort of placebo effect, seeing as I know that I've made it and I'm free to nitpick the final product. If I were served it in a restaurant, I'm sure I'd think it was fine, but since I MADE IT, surely there's something I could improve for the next round? God this sounds like I'm taking a trip to perfectionist city.

And word to the wise, if you ever eat something I've made, don't bullshit me with IT'S DELICIOUS! If it's not, I probably wouldn't serve it to you in the first place, but don't lie to me, you scoundrels! (This didn't happen to me tonight, just a tangent).

I've become one of them...A BLOGGER. That sounds so vile? I guess I just need to get on the internet boat; in many ways, I'm waaaaay behind my more networking peers.

BUT THAT IS UNIMPORTANT! What IS important, however, is the fact that I want/am going to TRY (being the operative here) to document my COOKING ADVENTURES! And no kidding, I'm pretty explorational. The prospect of making something completely from scratch (as best as possible, seeing as I live in an apartment and not on a farm) sends sparks flying. As the by-product of two working (and tired at 7 PM!) parents, I've done my share of eating at restaurants out the yin yang--definitely a boon in terms of exposure to a variety of cuisines. That, coupled with a) those parents who didn't fancy a messy kitchen, so the idea of yours truly going to town with bowls galore wasn't so much of an option and b) a semi type-A personality, equals one girl who likes to (and is finally able!) to make, as my mom used to describe it, a "batchy-botchy" for herself. And c), I'm pretty wordy, so that makes for interestingly over-detailed posts. And stories galore. And I tell a ton of awful stories with no climax.

Enough justification, in time for a related thought:

So I'm in this plant identification class, and I'm pretty jazzed to make good on using some of the native/locally grown plants in unusual cooking contexts...i.e. sumac (Rhus typhina) lemonade, linden (Tilia cordata) blossom tea, and serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis) pie. If I ever start smoking money cigars (aka the seed pods off Catalpa speciosa) though, weee doggies.

[A lot of the things I'll end up writing will, I'm sure, really be more like notes to myself rather than things you'd want to read...fyi]

So, in the words of Young Jeezy, what you can expect from this:

"Pattycake, pattycake, microwave."

Whatever that means?