Friday, April 01, 2011

Shoot

I was just going to post my French Fridays link to the fabulous garlicky broccoli with breadcrumbs and found that I'm on the wrong week!

Will I ever be able to trust my memory? I guess not ( -:  It was supposed to be quinoa, fruit & nut salad. I just went to the market tonight without knowing this but it sounds like I'll be ok, other than the herbs. Like many of Dorie's recipes, this allows for a lot of flexibility.

I think I'll use the Trader Joe's grain blend I have, since it has Israeli couscous, along with red and green orzo, split dried garbanzo beans, and red quinoa. For the fruit, I think a good combo will be raisins, dried mango (if my daughter will part with it), and dried cherries. Wow, can you believe I actually have those on hand. What a coincidence! And for the nuts, I did happen to buy another bag of pistachios because Alan loved the leftovers from the beggar's pasta so much he requested I get more. I also have almonds. Maybe so this doesn't taste just like the pasta, I'll leave out the raisins and replace with prunes. Yes, that's what I'll do. I think I'd like to put some orange juice in the dressing and cut down on the oil a bit. Since I don't have mint, I'll use cilantro, as others have done. Since I don't have any plain yogurt, I may just steal the top off a fruited one. That sounds good to me!
grain blend + dried mango, dried cherries, prunes + pistachios & almonds + orange juice, walnut oil, fresh ginger, cilantro
Really, how bad could it be? I'll let you all know tomorrow...

So I have something new to add, here's the buttercream I made today. Real Italian Buttercream, made with a sugar syrup that I let caramelize, which was great because it cut down the butter by a whole stick. I also flavored this with dried ginger, cinnamon & salt.
Tomorrow I'll be roasting the apples to go into the cupcakes. I'm working on perfecting a recipe to bring to the cupcake camp in Boston - 5 spice apple cupcakes w/ spiced caramel buttercream.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just post the quinoa recipe next Friday! This actually happened to another person in the group so you're not alone. And you get to read our experiences and see what twists you can give to your salad :)

laurcl said...

That's what I realized after the first week or two I participated - this doesn't have to be a high pressured activity. I tend to be the one pressing myself, as usual!

Cher Rockwell said...

Hey - no worries! You took one for the team and gave us a preview of next week's dish. Next week, you can post your salad & have it perfect the first time :-)

laurcl said...

(-:

Mary said...

That has happened to me too in TWD! I am glad I am not alone in swapping the weeks. You just gave us all a preview!

Anonymous said...

I loved hearing about your process of working out how to make the dish with what you have on hand. I'm looking forward to seeing your results.

The buttercream looks amazing, by the way.