Recipe Reduction Regimen

You know those people. Maybe you are one. Maybe you secretly are one and in denial. I am--and it's about time I admitted it.

I'm a clipper. Or a bookmarker, saver, cut-and-paste’er, highlighter, page-turner-downer.  I obsessively save copies of things  that I'm going to use some day...some day which never comes.  Or sometimes some day comes but never stays around long enough to make a dent in the pile. So the pile grows.

Used to be you could spot a clipper easily by the heaps of magazines, newspapers, or recipe cards that filled their drawers and spilled out into piles on their desks, bookshelves and eventually floors. But not me--I'm sneaky.  I hide my collection in a web browser with a 20-gigabyte bookmark tab.  Does Spinach Artichoke Tofu Quiche look yummy? Click. Spicy Mango and Goat Cheese Salsa? Click. Saved for all eternity…or until my next laptop upgrade.

My poison of choice is recipes, and they're stored in a bunch of little text files in a folder named To-Try.  But--as of today--I am changed. I’m going to do the unthinkable and attempt the impossible------

    actually cook the recipes.

Over the last five years I’m accumulated a To-Try folder of about 6.8 megabytes, or 650 recipes.  Removing the few that I've actually used, and aggressively culling out those that I added in acts of insanity (would I ever seriously want to prepare Baked Brocolli Rabe Stuffed Shells with Aged Goat Cheese?), I’ve reduced my To-Try list to 199.  Over the course of the next 350 days, I am going to prepare 199 recipes.

That will teach me a lesson.

To those who survived the Julie and Julia blog, 199 recipes sounds easy. But I’m not going to let it interfere with my other ‘essential’ activities like jogging, gardening, traveling, and cutting down trees. (No, I’m not a lumberjack but I'm okay. I just have a lot of young trees in the fence rows.) And I’m NOT going to write a world-famous blog. I’m just going to play the game.

Rules of engagement
1. I have to write about each one, humorously--unless it's just too sad. That happens sometimes. Cooking can turn ugly.
2. I'm allowed to cull a recipe if it turns out to be very similar to another one that I tried.
3. I reserve the right to change a recipe slightly, such as reduce the amount of oil, provided I don’t bad-mouth the author when my result turns out dry and insipid.
4. No black pepper unless it truly belongs. For an explanation of this issue see:  https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/stop-cooking-with-black-pepper-article http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/04/when-to-use-black-pepper-seasoning-spices.html  http://chefpepe.com/ask-mr-italy-black-pepper/   http://gothamist.com/2007/08/10/anne_burrell_ch.php  and many more.
5. No bellyaching.

Here goes!

Recipe Reduction Regimen, Results #198-9

Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut, Miso and Lime
from Vegetable Literacy

The appearance and smell are delightful and the first bite makes my tapeworm sing.
After that, not so much. Something is missing...ginger? Cardamom? toasted sesame oil? more lime? Or were my pepper flakes too mild? What?!?

if I knew the answer, could I quit my day job?




Beans and Greens from the Rancho Gordo blog

This could more accurately be named Beans and Kale With Anchovies, Rosemary and Parmesan Cheese Rind, but that sounds gross.  The taste was very interesting...and not in the way that a doctor looks at your chart and says, "very interesting."  The little bit of anchovy and Parmesan gave it a flavor reminiscent of pork, say bacon grease, or lard.  A richness, one might say.

I'm not sure I want to make it again, but it did cure my fear of anchovies. They're a little fishy tasting but no more so than any other canned fish. Not icky at all.