multipurposegoddess

Custard Update

Thu, 07 Nov 2013 02:05:36 GMT

Quick and Dirty Chawanmushi: can of shrimp divided between 4 jars, teaspoon of soy sauce and a 1/8 t ginger in each jar. Let that marinate while I mix up a cup and half of Easy Miso, and beat 3 eggs into that. Pour egg mixture over the shrimp. Steam for 20 minutes or so, until the custard is pretty much set.

Ate the first jar hot from the steamer. Yum! A llittle on the salty side: I didn't think to rinse of the shrimp. Kind of contrasted nicely with the not so salty custard, though. Could use some water chestnuts or something.

I got a leek in my produce box, I'd better pull a hen out of the freezer so I can make soup. Huh, and I am actually out of chicken stock. Good timing!

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Custard Update

Sun, 27 Oct 2013 18:13:50 GMT

Yesterday I layered roasted beets (and carrots because why not?) and broiled steak into mason jars and covered that in a beef stock based custard to make Borscht Chawanmushi. I haven't actually tasted it yet (although I sampled all the components and they were good) but it sure looks pretty, sort of a ruby red ombre effect.

And this morning I made "muffins" featuring bacon, blue cheese, and bloody mary mix. Yum, although I need to tweak the oven temperature/cooking time a tiny bit. The tops browned up great but the bottoms could be drier which I think a little longer cooking at a little lower temperature might accomplish.

I have a full week's worth of meals in my fridge! Unfortunately, I also have the equivalent amount of pots and pans needing to be washed up. That's mostly a matter of loading the dishwasher several times, though, so still a net win.

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Another Custard-y Post

Thu, 24 Oct 2013 02:49:44 GMT

Not that I have made more custards, but I bought a bunch of ingredients. I think the next thing up is...you know, that will take more explanation.

I don't think I mentioned that in addition to the chawanmushi, I came across something called "Egg Muffins" in a low carb cookbook which is practically the same ingredients, basically the same assembly, but instead of steaming or baking in a bain-marie as is usual with a custard, it's baked in a hot oven till it puffs up a little and browns a bit and somewhat resembles a muffin. Pretty tasty, and doesn't necessarily require a fork.

So anyway, next up is a batch of those made with ham and cheese. I just need to decide between sharp cheddar and gruyere. It's a tough call. I bought the gruyere because it sounded good with ham, but the cheddar might be calling more to me. Hm.

Well, not gonna make any tonight, so I can sleep on it.

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Custard Update: Faux Pho

Mon, 21 Oct 2013 23:46:50 GMT

I've been feeling like never grocery shopping again, for whatever reason, so yesterday I scrounged up all the stewed chicken meat off the carcasses that had been turned into stock (about 4 oz) and steeped appropriate spices in a quart of that very stock and assembled four jars of Pho Flavored Chawanmushi. I didn't consult my notes while cooking and I think I got the ratio of stock to egg a little off, but it tasted fine both hot out of the steamer and cold today for lunch. Maybe better cold? The spices seemed more pronounced. Definitely lacking lime and cilantro and bean sprouts, and would only be improved by the addition of noodles, I think, but not bad for what I had lying around. Will make again, probably with more actual ingredients.

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Custard!

Tue, 08 Oct 2013 01:23:29 GMT

I have found a food obsession to temporarily and partially fill the void in my kitchen that eating low carb has created by disallowing dumplings. Chawanmushi! I've already been toying with making custards out of soup stock and found it delightful, and now that I know there is an actual culinary tradition out in the world that has been refining this idea I am all over it.

So far I have not come close to making anything authentic, just steamed some miso custard in tea cups (why don't my lidded tea cups fit in my bamboo steamer? WHY?!) and that is freaking delicious. I don't know if I'll get quite as far as hunting down gingko nuts or, you know, following actual recipes but I am all kinds of excited to marry my long standing love of soup with my newly discovered appreciation of custard's texture and already have a list of 31 combinations of flavors to try...I am halfway serious about eating custard for every meal for a while. It would be pretty easy, although a dozen eggs would not get me through two weeks anymore...

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