while garlic watched...

we need to have a talk about my latest culinary obsession. not sure what you are supposed to be looking at? well, allow me to explain. and, worry not... we will get back to these ridiculously tasty scallops in a bit. 

i am struggling to find the right words to describe black garlic to the uninitiated. despite the name, it delivers a culinary influence that is, frankly, something else. tastewise, it is like prunes had sex with fermented black beans ... while garlic watched. that is something else, right?

i am using a single-bulb variety here, but the principle and process is the same for regular (multi-bulb) garlic. in short, there is a whole lot of sugar in garlic, which is usually masked by all the sharp, peppery flavor. when cured at a controlled temperature and humidity, all that sugar is transformed into sticky, gooey goodness. no additives necessary! the process also significantly reduces the sharp, peppery smell and taste, resulting in something with barely a trace of garlic. the end product tastes like a smoothie of extra-dark molasses and miso... at low tide. i did mention that i am struggling to describe this stuff, right?

out of the peel, the cured garlic look like mini dried figs. the root ends reminds me of a black-eyed Susan or a sunflower. 

we had mussels the previous day, and i saved some of the (unapologetically unstrained) jus for this non-special occasion. what occasion you ask? just some random day, when i felt like eating a truly delicious meal. i may have also purchased a tennis-ball-canister full of black garlic, so now it needs to be used.

the scallops were left to drain in the fridge, on a plate lined with paper towels. excess moisture gets in the way of forming a nice toasty sear in the pan, so this is an important step. 

i began by preheating the pan on medium heat. the entire cooking process took about five or six minutes, so it is important to start with the pan ready to go.  i removed the scallops from the fridge, and sprinkled them with Kosher salt, freshly-ground pepper, and a bit of (also freshly-ground) coriander. it is best to season scallops at the last minute, or you risk ruining the texture for all Eternity.  

into the hot pan went a splash of olive oil, and a bit of unsalted butter, swirling to thoroughly coat the bottom. i waited briefly for the distinct smell of toasty, browned butter, before quickly arranging the scallops—seasoned side down—in the pan. then... i just let them sizzle away for about two minutes, occasionally tilting the pan, to encourage even cooking. mostly, i made sure not to disturb that precious bit of real estate below each scallop. 

i get mocked for saying these things, but you can actually hear when that lovely bit of crust has formed. the "sizzle" sounds... different. 

i seasoned the second side right before giving them a flip, carefully and quickly. again, i did  nothing, except continuing to give the pan a few more tilts, and maybe a 'rotate' or two to keep the heat distribution even. 

once it got  to the "sizzle" stage on that second side, in went a dollop of crushed black garlic...

along with the reserved mussel sauce.  

i also turned up the heat to nearly-full-blast. the objective was to reduce the sauce in about a minute or so. i carried on swirling the pan, using the back of the spoon to thoroughly incorporate the crushed garlic into the sauce, and continuously spooning the mixture over the top of the scallops. it was a very busy 'minute or so'.

finally, i removed the pan from the heat, and added a pat of butter to the reduced sauce, swirling and spooning as i went, until it was thoroughly melted. the bits of green are chopped leeks and herbs that were part of the mussel sauce.

not gonna lie... i used to think that chefs on tv were a bit over the top when the added extra butter after stuff was done cooking. but, now... i understand. it really does make for a tastier sauce. 

et voilà... a special (i hope) meal for any ordinary day!

i am absolutely loving all the je ne sais quoi this magic ingredient brings to everything. it is umami on steroids! the following day, i added some to a vegetable and oxtail stew that may have changed my life. there may also be a plan to use it in a 'Singapore black pepper style' snow crab adventure i will be undertaking in a few days. 

oh, yeh... it is snow crab season in Canada! 

and, speaking of seasons... i had my very first butterfly sighting of the season when i got out of bed (technically, yesterday, as it is almost two in the morning). it was a Mourning Cloak, because i know you love these pointless details. i may have squealed with delight for a whole minute. yes... you should be embarrassed for me. that kind of joyful display could ruin my whole brand. 

now, pardon me while i get back to dreaming up more delicious things to make with black garlic. 

modest midweek meal...

i love seafood. seafood does not always feel the same. as a result, the list of 'sea things that hate me' seems to get a bit longer with each new year. i can still enjoy fish, but shrimp and prawns are now 'eat at your own risk'. that discovery process might have involved a visit to  the Emergency Room. the details are still a bit fuzzy.

so, what is one to do?

you make mussels, of course!

mussels are awesome! they can be farmed in open waters with minimum impact. in fact, they have been known to improve the surrounding habitat in many places, largely by promoting a healthier local ecosystem where other species can thrive. so, there is that.

but, most of all, they are delicious... and cheap! a significant proportion of all the mussels imported to the US is farmed in Eastern Canada, including in Quebec. as a result, they are available fresh and (relatively) local all year... and they are an incredibly affordable seafood treat. 

so, i present to you, a modest midweek meal in Montreal.

[full disclosure: my kitchen is tiny, and the lighting sucks, so i had to drag out a light stand, which got in the way. this meant constantly tripping over stuff. so, a meal that should have taken less than ten minutes, ended up taking twice as long. did i mention that i really love this place?]

this is very bare bones, in terms of flavor. i used what was at hand, including (pre)chopped leeks, chopped green onions, a bit of roughly chopped jalapeño, and lime juice to taste.

grab the kitchen staples of butter and olive oil.

add a glug of oil and a pat of butter to a pan on medium heat. 

in go the leek, onion, and jalapeño.

add two pounds (one mesh bag) of mussels, washed and clean.

i added a generous sprinkling of kosher salt, along with my special pepper mix. this is a multi-colored pepper blend, with the addition of some coriander seeds from last Summer's balcony garden project. yes, i freshly grind my pepper and coriander... because, of course i do. and, no, i do not own a pepper grinder, mainly because i do not want one. i should also note that any (wholly unwanted) pepper grinders that are gifted to me will end up in the Salvation Army. yes, mom... i am talking to you. 

i am not really into white wine, not unless it is sparkling, but i do love a good hard cider! this one is from a cider house just outside of Montreal. in goes about half the can. 

i love that mussels open right up once the steam rises. you just need to throw the cover on the pan for a couple minutes, while you finish off the rest of that cider.

remove the cover and turn off the heat. this is where the extra-special magic comes it. first, an extra pat of butter near the side of the pan...

and some freshly squeezed lime juice over everything. then, give the pan a few gentle swirls to ensure that every bit of the jus will be extra delicious.

you will need an extra tasty sauce. where else are you gonna dip your chunks of baguette?

here comes the crazy bit though... i still had to take an antihistamine before eating this meal. i am still allergic to wheat, just not nearly as bad as with prawns and shrimp. the wheat allergy remains, thankfully, non-life-threatening. so, i can risk a touch of hives for the occasional delicious meal. this one certainly was. 

best part is, the whole meal (including the half a cider i drank, and other half of the baguette he had for breakfast the next day) cost about the same as a sandwich and a drink at a coffee shop. not bad for the middle of the week, no?

betrayal of the corny variety...

after eighteen(ish) Summers of watching me lose my mind over the arrival of fresh corn season, my favorite animator recently confided in me that he is not a fan of the stuff. he only ate it because i cooked it. i contemplated walking out on him right then and there. however, i remembered that i still have the rest of the week of being solely responsible for litter-scooping and kitty-feeding on account of that bet i lost Saturday. so, i am still here... for now. but i am struggling to figure out how i will live with this betrayal of the corny variety. 

on the plus side, i no longer have to take him into consideration when deciding how to indulge in the best thing to come from this steamy, sweaty, allergy-assaulting time of the year. a short while later, i was trying to figure out how to make a meal from some leftover barbecued things on skewers... when inspiration struck!

this meal took all of five minutes to come together, and it may just be my new favorite way to enjoy fresh corn. it began with a quick search in the container of random sauce packets. one mini envelope of spicy instant ramen broth later, and i had the start of something amazing. i added that to boiling water and tossed in some sliced bits of previously-cooked kebab and an ear of fresh corn cut into neat rounds. 

while that simmered for a few minutes, i boiled rice noodles briefly in a separate pan, then rinsed them in cold water to stop them from getting soggy once combined with the broth. the noodles went into a bowl, topped by the contents of the broth pot, plus a few strands of cilantro and red onion slices. then i remembered all the nasturtiums in this year's balcony garden project, so i added a handful of freshly-harvested, locally-grown, organically-nurtured, sustainably-farmed, ethically-sourced, free-range nasturtium leaves to the bowl. just doing my part to save the planet.

then i sat down to eat. it was amazing! i especially enjoyed the bites with a bit of noodles, meat, and a nasturtium leaf. nasturtium leaves have a sharp, peppery bite similar to a spicy radish, but they also have the unmistakable earthy, borderline-bitter flavor of fresh dark greens. trust me... this combination was sheer culinary perfection. 

the absolute best bits, however, were those rounds of fresh, sweet corn cooked briefly in that delicious broth infused with the smoky, meaty flavors from the leftover kebabs. 

i sat there, completely enraptured by the slight pop of each plump, sweet kernel being bitten away from the cob, and in that moment, i could only feel pity for the animator whose life will never know such joy. sad. 

since eleven half-posts ago....

if you are wondering just how many times during the past few months i started to compose a post, only to abandon it halfway through the process, the answer to that question is eleven. hopefully this one will not end up being not-quite-lucky number twelve. i may eventually get around to finishing one (or more) of those drafts, but for now they will continue to exist as what my people in the knitting world refer to as WIPs, because what i clearly need right now is even more works-in-progress to ignore. speaking of which...

it was my intention to have that stupid-bright-green sweater from last time completed when i got around to composing my next post, but i have barely touched that thing since eleven half-posts ago. my interest/attention was drawn elsewhere, and i decided to go with that flow. my crafting energy has been (mostly) focused on spinning and dyeing yarn, because the thirty storage cubes full of yarn i already have is clearly not enough to get me through the apocalypse. makes perfect sense, no?

we have also been eating lots of super-yummy food, which is always a wonderful and scary thing. i lost my zeal for cooking earlier in the year, so this has been something of a reunion with a long-lost friend. 

i had lunch today followed by a mid-afternoon scoop of rum & raisin ice cream... which i made completely from scratch! feel free to applaud. i totally deserve it. 

i should point out that rum is a major commodity in the economy of most of the Caribbean, and wherever the diaspora may take us, we always regard our rum as a near-sacred ingredient... which is my attempt at justifying what may be the booziest rum & raisin ice cream in recorded history. 

no exaggeration, i soaked the raisins in rum for about three days before getting started, then i tossed in an extra glug—for good measure—before adding the raisins to the contents of the ice cream maker.

the chief danger with using a large amount of alcohol in ice cream is that it lowers the freezing point (meaning that it requires more coldness for the ice cream to become solid). use too much booze, and you can easily end up with a mixture that insists on acting like a milk shake. 

my rum & raisin ice cream, however, is well-behaved. it has a lovely, silky texture that borders on sheer perfection. if you squint a bit you can see tiny specks of ground cinnamon in the mix. so ridiculously tasty!

the animator was less excited about the end product. as i have probably noted (countless times) in the past, he is not a fan of the taste of most forms of alcohol, and this stuff is definitely not shy about its alcohol content. he enjoys boozy eggnog between December and January, then he spends the rest of the year making faces if i offer him anything that contains a noticeable amount of alcohol... like when i asked him to taste the ice cream for a second time.  

me: you want to try it again?
him: i don't know. it was pretty strong the first time. 
me: it's been sitting in the freezer for a couple days now, so the rum has had a chance to equalize and mellow a bit. those pockets of raisins should taste less intensely boozy than when you tried it right out of the ice cream maker.

so he took another taste... and he made a face that i know all too well. 

him: it tastes very good, but it's still way too strong for me. use a lot less rum next time, then i can have some.

then i just looked at him with as much pity as i could muster on such short notice. 

me: you poor thing!

i should note that this sudden urge to make ice cream came about after i went digging around in the fridge one day, looking for some random thing at the back of a shelf, when i discovered that we had three cartons of eggs... in a household of two people who only occasionally eat eggs. so, i did the breakfast-for-dinner thing a couple-few times before deciding that i never want to see another egg (i was too lazy to get myself a larger plate from the cupboard). 

i used up the last of my precious reserved duck fat in what has to be my tastiest attempt to date at making a French classic, cassoulet... which is just a posh-sounding term for a stew of white beans and whatever bits of meat you happen to have hanging around. 

purists would probably insist that a proper cassoulet absolutely must contain duck confit. i keep promising myself to make a truly authentic cassoulet one of these days. however, i was not about to venture out mid-pandemic in search of a duck (which you can also find already-confited in most supermarkets around here), so i had to make do with the last of the fat from a duck we roasted a few months before. if you have never eaten food cooked in duck fat, you have not lived. and, yes... i have officially been living among the French for way too long. 

in addition to the duck fat, this cassoulet also contained a few sausages, whole cherry tomatoes, chunks of butternut squash, and speck (which is a prosciutto-like smoked pork belly that shows up a lot in the Croatian food the animator has introduced me to). the combination of the starch from the beans and the gelatin from the speck gives a rich, velvety texture to the sauce in this stew. this was a seriously enjoyable meal. 

there was also a bit of culinary disaster involving a dish of chicken and potatoes in what was supposed to be a rich, herby cream sauce. it tasted great, but the texture of the sauce was all wrong. 

this is a dish that he usually makes, but i decided to give it a try this time around. turns out, he forgot to tell me one critical step, which he remembered after i had just finished screwing it up... for the second time... that week.

him: i can go to the store and get more stuff if you want to make it again soon. you know what went wrong, so it'll be perfect next time. 
me: i already stopped caring, because i am never making this dish ever again. 

i used a couple eggs from our surplus in the production of this wonderous thing. 

the was the latest variation of my go-to upside-down cake. the fruit changes with the season, and the sponge cake is very forgiving, making for an ideal template for improvisation. 

this cake is especially easy if you use an ovenproof skillet. it begins with brown sugar melted with butter, this will become the sticky topping on the cake.

i had some bananas hanging around, so i decided to use that as the fruit.  

next came the batter, which i put together in a separate bowl while waiting for the sugar to melt. i use about half of the sugar that was called for in the original recipe, as there is plenty of sweetness in the gooey fruit topping. i included a bit of freshly grated ginger and lemon zest in the batter this time around, and i poured it right over the banana pieces. 

then into the oven it went...

i used a darker brown sugar this time around (because that is what i had, because... pandemic) , and i was nervous that it might be burnt on account of how dark the caramelized sugar was around the edges. [random aside: that bit of red is an oven mitt slipped over the handle of the super-hot skillet while it sat for a bit after coming out of the oven, because i do not want to lose the skin from the middle of my palm by accidentally grabbing a hot pan handle... again. true story.]

ten minutes later, and it was time to flip if out of the pan. tada!

it may look a bit overdone, but it was perfect. 

the fruit keeps the sponge layer moist, and the ginger and lemon zest is a delicious counterpoint to the caramelized banana. and, it happens to be totally wheat-free, so i can eat as much as i want without resorting to a week of taking antihistamines. best of all, that is two less eggs cluttering up my refrigerator. 

a dish with an impressive pedigree...

we joke a lot about recipes that require you to have previously cooked a whole different meal in order to obtain one (or more) ingredient for whatever dish you happen to be making at present. something like...

me: the first step of this recipe says to heat duck fat in a skillet over medium heat. 

him: is there a step zero-point-five telling you to cook a duck and save the fat?

me: that would have been helpful.

pretty much.

that being said, it is not uncommon to find us making a meal that includes parts of an earlier meal. not because we like to make life complicated, but because we try our best to avoid waste. beyond that, there is a world of flavor in previously-cooked foods. a bone from a roast or the carcass of a chicken can be the start of a phenomenal pot of soup (like our fridge-cleaning soup from last Winter). if there is flavor to be had, we put it to good use.

then there are times when things get taken a bit too far, as was the case with the delicious salmon i had for lunch.

said dish began earlier in the week, when the animator removed a piece of pork shoulder from the freezer and announced that he would be making char siu. now, i can hear you wondering what pork shoulder has to do with salmon. that is the point. it is a story about how something that should be relatively simple becomes completely absurd. 

char siu pork is one of those magical foods that we would enjoy once in a while, usually when it is prepared by someone who we assumed had to undergo many years of special training to produce the elusive combination of flavor that defines the dish. turns out you can get the same results at home (thank you, Google!), and it is laughable how ridiculously simple it is to make. so now, this once-special dish is part of the effortless lineup we like to refer to as "Wednesday food". 

so, he made char siu pork, and it was amazing (as always). he skipped roasting the meat on the metal rack this time around, and just dumped it (and all the marinade) into the baking pan, turning the meat frequently during the cooking time. the resulting dish had all the flavor of char siu, but a thicker, stickier surface that was closer to classic American bbq, it was sooooooo good. 

this is when the crazy began. 

we were putting away the leftovers, and i was lamenting getting rid of all the super-sticky sauce clinging to the bottom and sides of the pan. so, i added a splash of hot water to deglaze it, let that liquid cool back to room temperature, then dumped it over some (frozen) pieces of chicken and left them in the fridge to defrost/marinate for a day.... or two, as they were still half-frozen the next day. then we proceeded to have an amazing meal that featured char-siu-pork-flavored roasted chicken.

and, as we were cleaning up from that meal, i joked that there was still enough sauce clinging to the roasting pan to use as a marinade for some other thing.

him: it's like a turducken. you can add another animal and make it pork-flavored-chicken-flavored. 

he was too busy laughing to realize that i had removed the two pieces of salmon that were lurking somewhere in the back of the freezer. i did the same thing as before: deglazed, cooled, then poured the marinade over the (frozen) fish.

thus was born char-siu-pork-flavored-roasted-chicken-flavored salmon... a dish that (literally) requires that you first prepare two other meals. talk about a dish with an impressive pedigree! and—absurdity aside—it was incredibly delicious. 

the flavor of salmon can be a bit... well... assertive (a fact which is off-putting to a certain animator). however, this... uhm.... strength of character is what makes it a perfect canvas for such a powerful marinade. [random aside: my maternal grandfather owned a fishing vessel, so everyone on that side of the family was more or less raised on a steady diet of things from the sea. the phrase "it tastes too fishy" is incompatible with my DNA.]

i cooked the salmon at 375°F for about five minutes, then switched the oven to broil for another couple minutes, brushing the last bits of that precious sauce over the top to encourage a lovely, toasty surface. 

naturally, i served it up with some rice that was left over from last night's dinner.

best part is, he hates salmon... which means i have that second piece left over for yet another meal.  

and, yes... i am officially declaring the thrice-previously-used marinade (finally) done! 

Jultember in a single word...

to be perfectly honest... i briefly considered doing a post-a-day during Jultember. however, as i have been genuinely struggling to find the will to get out of bed some days, said effort was doomed to failure before it even started. so, i took the occasional photo of the random nonsense i got up to over the course of a month that began in one season and ended in another.

this year's balcony garden project has been a literal oasis. beyond being lovely to look at, living like we do in an apartment in the middle of the city, it is especially nice to occasionally harvest something just moments before it ends up on the dinner table.

the inclusion of more flowers in this year's garden meant that there were even more colorful creatures stopping by for a visit. i was (pleasantly) shocked to see a ruby-throated hummingbird zipping around one afternoon (the visit was too brief to get a photo). one almost forgets that there is (non-squirrel) wildlife in the city, and we will definitely be planting even more welcoming flowers in next Summer's garden.

i did have to rescue a visiting cicada from potential death-by-adorable-cat. i formed a human shield between the two, until the cicada eventually climbed back through the netting and  flew away... then i spent the rest of the day threatening to climb a tree to strangle a cicada (perhaps it was the same one) whose noisy antics was driving me up a wall.

the animator was most amused.

him: if you hate that noise so much, why didn't you just let the cat kill it?
me: that would be cruel. they're annoying, but they're cute.

i found myself in need of a quick pick-me-up one random afternoon, so i made some candles. this was my first time using wooden wicks. i am hooked!

the light is stronger than with the cotton wicks, but the candle burns so slowly that it feels like it will last forever. i burned this one for close to twelve hours, and the jar was still near-full. i approve.

i have been neglecting my knitting projects, partly because it was too hot to be bothered, but mostly because i just stopped caring. this top was intended to be part of my Summer wardrobe. maybe next year.

that is some of my own hand-dyed yarn. i will talk more about the genius/lunacy involved in getting this effect on a cotton-based yarn if/when i finish the top.

 

i did manage to (finally) complete another pair of socks (more about that some other day) for the animator, which i started back in April. i also finished spinning the charcoal-grey yarn that i talked about in that same post. there is enough of this to make a whole garment, so now i just have to find a pattern that is worthy of this special yarn.

it is hard to maintain consistency across such a large spin, but i am satisfied with the end result. this is begging to be turned into a comfy cardigan.

i added some new yarns to my stash. i got a sweater's quantity of each color. they knit up into such a beautiful fabric. the fiber is a cotton-acrylic blend that will make for some comfy allergy-free sweaters for me.

i usually avoid wearing browns, but this warm gold was created to be worn next to my skin. this just screams AUTUMN!!!

we consumed a ridiculous amount of iced tea earlier in the month. there was a stretch of a couple-few weeks were the temperature in the middle of the city was hovering around 40°C (104°F), with the "feels like" temperature a few degrees above that. it was... brutal.

this was a particularly hot, dry Summer, so it was a great relief when the rain finally came about halfway through the month. which brings me to the point of this pointless thing...

if i had to summarize this past Jultember in a single word, it would be "tomato".

we got a large box of veggies from his parents' garden, including about twenty-five pounds of tomatoes... because his father is that lunatic. i roasted half of them (like i did last Summer), and the rest were turned into many tomato salads. [random aside: that plate with the chip is older than both of us.]

that particular salad was served along with a heaping plate of Greek-style lemon chicken and potatoes (made by the animator). said dish was flavored with fresh oregano and thyme from our little garden. the leftovers were equally amazing the next day.

we sent a photo of the salad to his dad, who was impressed by my neat arrangement of the slices... then he immediately began amassing another box of tomatoes. you know, in case we were in danger of running out of the stuff.

meanwhile, every now and then, one of us would step out onto the balcony, and return with a handful of freshly-harvested tomatoes. there is presently a large container of fresh tomatoes occupying half a shelf in the fridge, along with three containers of garlic-roasted tomatoes, all waiting to be used up. it is at the point where we are putting tomatoes into just about everything we consume.

the veggie haul from his parents' backyard also included several heads of celery. i chopped a few stalks at a time, and stored them in the freezer for the coming soup season.

we transplanted a couple of the smaller celery plants to the balcony garden project...

and i placed the bottom of one of the chopped up heads of celery into a pot of soil, where it promptly started to grow new leaves.

then, without warning, Jultember was through... and with it went Summer.

now we are racing toward the part of the year that i love most of all. i ventured halfway across town this past weekend to get my first taste of this year's harvest of concord grapes. i actually bought three containers of the stuff, but the first one disappeared within minutes of getting them home.

but the best bit came when the animator was checking the weather forecast earlier today.

him: apparently there is a typhoon forming somewhere in Asia that is going to bring an early Fall to Canada.
me: that must be one powerful typhoon.
him: it's the butterfly effect.
me: yeh, but with like every butterfly on the planet flapping extra hard. 
him: the last three words of this article should make you smile. you ready for this?
me: go ahead.
him: "definitely sweater weather."

yep. still smiling.