How does the saying go? The way to a man's heart is through his stomach? I for one fully agree with this one. Although it might apply to us ladies as well (at least it does to me :).
As you might remember from a post not too long ago, sometimes, when I am trying to convince my husband that the purchase of a certain cooking or serving utensil will be beneficial, I tell him that I will cook something in it that will make him be happy that we got it.
I consider it of out most importance to the ongoing success of our marriage, to always, and as soon as possible, follow up on such promises. As my dad always says "he who pays, rests".
So this past weekend, even though I had a lot of chores to catch up on, and I spent an entire day of potential catching up on responsibilities having fun with friends instead, I decided it was time to pay my culinary dues.
The items in question were purchased together, as the sighting of one brought on the discovery of the other. My husband had to provide some cash help for the purchase, and he didn't get his usual veto right that he gets at thrift shops. These dishes had to be special...Very special.
This was the main reason why I hadn't cooked this meal right away. Although for the bundt pan, I had known what I would bake in it when I bought it (it was one of my arguments but more on this later), for the roasting pan/dutch oven, I had to really think about it.
It had to be something large, something that would keep well for leftovers, and something that my husband would find particularly appealing. That meant one thing: meat. I thought about doing Moussaka. Kokkari's version (a wonderful Greek restaurant in San Francisco) is his favorite thing to eat. For whatever reason, I happen to make it very well :). But for that same reason, I don't enjoy it that much (made it one too many times). So a pan this large filled with that dish would mean that my husband would have plenty of food for the week, but I would be kind of screwed.
A Lasagna would have been good, but he is the Lasagna maker in the family, and I wouldn't want to steal his thunder. A stew would have made sense, but something in my heart told me that the first dish should be something baked.
I looked at a few cookbooks for inspiration, and found it! Pastitsio! As my husband dubbed it, a "cousin to Moussaka" Pastitsio is a Greek dish of pasta, meat sauce and bechamel, baked in layers to a delicious creamy perfection. I love Pastitsio!
So Monday morning, pressed for time and hoping to fit in some actual sitting down before I had to go back to work at 4am on Tuesday, I tackled the task of making these two dishes for our dinner.
I read a few recipes (Kokkari's Cookbook and Falling Cloudberries) to remind myself of the main spices and layering techniques and to make sure I had everything I needed.
Pastitsio is traditionally made with Macaroni Pastitsio, a long tubular pasta. Although I appreciate the beauty of it, this one would be made with our house staple of whole wheat penne.
I had some ground beef and pork from Marine Sun Farms, a cooperative of local Northern California farms that raise pastured animals, and since I had been to my friend C's farm last weekend, I also had a surplus of fresh milk from her sheep.
I cooked the pasta, made the meat sauce, made the bechamel, and assembled the dish in my perfect pan. It looked gorgeous even before I baked it, and so unbelievably appetizing after it had spent an hour in the oven.
As for the cake I had been waiting for it for days now so even though my husband was almost opposed to me making it, as he is always trying to get me to sit down, I started prepping for it in between layers of Pastitsio.
My first cake in this pan would be the orange cake I had read about hours before purchasing it. When I saw the pan, I immediately saw this cake in it. It wasn't actually a bundt cake, but the recipe had captured my undivided attention, from the moment I first spotted the picture in the cookbook until... well it hasn't really stopped yet.
It looked beautiful and delicious, but it was also interesting from a technique and ingredient point of view. Why did it have yeast? Why was the yeast not bloomed before adding to the batter? What would this cake's texture be like? I created an idea in my mind of what these variables would produce, and it was going to be very special. I cannot express how much joy I experienced upon depanning this cake, as well as every time I eat a slice or even walk by it, as my suspicions were confirmed: this cake is fucking awesome!
That evening (if 6pm can be called evening, when you have to be up at 3 am dinner time is earlier than usual) we sat down together to enjoy our meal.
I am happy to report that both items delivered enough deliciousness to make the purchases well worth it.
As we cheered to our meal, I made sure to remind J that this is only their first round, and there will be many more delicious eats prepared or served in these treasures.
I hope that this inspires you to put your own treasures to use. When things are not being used, they are still beautiful in their own way, but when you use them as they were intended to, they come to life.
No comments:
Post a Comment