I love trying out new recipes. Unfortunately, sometimes recipes call for ingredients not readily available in our little supermarket. To solve this problem I either substitute for or omit the problematic food, depending on the recipe. To Nick’s dismay, I often substitute ingredients even when I don’t have to. When something I made tastes funny to Nick, his first suspicion is always that I did not follow the recipe, and a lot of times he is correct.
I cannot blame him for being suspicious. Early on in our relationship, I baked him a birthday cake. It was a chocolate cake, and at some point I decided that it would taste a hundred times better if I added some cherries to the dough. While happily eating the cake, Nick did not mention the cherries. So I asked him if he noticed anything unusual about the cake. After some coercion, he admitted that he thought the cake had uncooked lumps of dough in it. These were the cherries. Nick also thought that the cake was not sweet. I had to admit that because cherries were sweet, I also decreased the amount of sugar I used for the cake.
After the cake and cherries incident, I still substitute ingredients all the time. As long as I avoid any drastic deviations, the results are usually quite palatable. A few months ago I found an interesting recipe for stuffed poblano peppers. I have never had poblano peppers before, so the prospect of cooking this exotic vegetable was exciting. Sadly the poblanos were just as much of a novelty item for me, as they were for our grocery store. So I made a substitution, and that evening Nick and I enjoyed a tasty meal of stuffed green peppers instead.
I did not give up, and a few days ago I decided to try another stuffed poblano peppers recipe. To my delight, this time the grocery store carried poblanos. Surprisingly the dinner turned out to be a complete disaster even though I did not make any substitutions. The recipe took a long time to prepare. When 2 hours later, the stuffed poblanos finally made it into the oven, I realized that the peppers were too spicy for Nick and me to enjoy them. More over, my hand felt as if it was on fire, because I seeded the poblano peppers with my bare hands greatly underestimating their potency.
The following day I vowed never to cook exotic food again. We comforted ourselves by eating pasta and meat sauce for a few days afterwards. Now I am back to searching for new recipes, and I have to admit that my decision to avoid the exotic will probably not last. Tonight we had broiled salmon with spinach risotto. Let’s see what next week brings.
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7 comments:
Helen, you make me smile. I still have a can of cherries you bought the last time you were in London. Jon and I are saving it for your return. :-)
What's exotic about spinach risotto?
We've been growing poblanos in our garden this summer. I consulted with Andy and he's guessing that you didn't cut the ribs out of the inside when you removed the seeds? There's a lot of heat in the ribs too.
Something to try if you end up braving poblanos again.
RE: American In London
I bought a can of cherries? I have no memory of doing so... What was I going to do with it
Nope, nothing is exotic about spinach risotto. But who knows what I'll venture to cook up next:)
RE: JCN
Andy is correct--I did not cut the ribs out. In fact the whole seeding was sort of last minute, because the recipe expected me to remove the seeds through one slit in the pepper with stems intact? I don't know how anyone can accomplish that...
Another consult with Andy and he suggests using a grapefruit spoon, melon baller, or maybe even a teaspoon.
I don't know how he does it, honestly. He's always the one who deals with them. But they aren't that hot at all when he's done.
Does he remove the seeds and ribs before cooking the poblanos? See, I roasted them whole, and then seeded them. I wonder if the spicy juices then penetrated the entire pepper. Oooh, the mysterious poblanos...
Yeah, he does it before he cooks them. He thinks that is probably the best way if you're trying to reduce the spiciness.
i love risotto, thanks for the link, i'll try it sometime!
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