Friday, November 20, 2009

Few words about culinary experiments...



Having bought two pumpkins, I figured out that one of them would be transformed into a a lasagne and the other one - into a soup. Since quite a time, I've been dreaming of a combination of pasta, béchamel sauce and smoked cheese... I had a vague idea how to prepare a lasagne - never done it before - yet, I decided to give it a try. Having said that, I ate almost half of it. Still, I wasn't happy... the proportions were off - too little pasta and cheese, too much béchamel sauce, the butternut squash was cut into too big cubes, the carrots were too big as well, there could be more onion, a bit more garlic and I totally forgot about parsley (how could I..!). I used too little spices also. My intuition as to the combination of the ingredients was basically good, still, so many things missing... Thankfully, I still have some of the pasta and butternut squash left, so I'm going to try it out one more time sometime next week and hope to share a recipe with you then. Of course, only if it's good enough :) Perfection is amazing, but as Whitney Otto writes in A Collection of Beauties at the Height of Their Popularity "perfect things are easy to forget"*. I love this quote and it could refer also to my cooking. I'm always aiming at being perfect but most often the result is imperfect and I need to check out the idea a few more times to find the appropriate balance of flavours. Still, even having the right proportions, the dish is different every time depending on the ingredients, especially produce and my mood given day. So the idea of "perfect taste" is changing as I'm changing. To cut the long story about a very imperfect butternut squash lasagne, what I like most about my cooking is the possibility to experiment, explore, and the flexibility: I change proportions again and again until I find the taste closest to perfect :)

The second experiment** - with a soup - was a success, so without hesitation I'm posting the recipe here :)

Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup

1 medium size pumpkin or squash
2 sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
50g of smoked bacon
1 small red onion
3 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon sage
0,5l chicken stock
0,5l vegetarian stock
olive oil, salt and fresh pepper to season to taste

1. Peel and coarsely chop the potatoes and pumpkin. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 230°C (450°F). In a bowl mix together potatoes with pumpkin, drizzle generously with olive oil, , season with salt, pepper and brown sugar. Mix well. Put the vegetables onto a flat baking pan and bake for 40 minutes till they're soft. Put aside.
2.  Cube bacon, slice garlic (very thinly) and dice the onion. Prepare the stocks - if possible, use the ones sold in bio-stores. The difference in quality is huge. Warm up the large stockpan (at medium heat), add the bacon and fry (stirring often) until almost all the fat from bacon is melted. Shouldn't take longer than 2-3 minutes. Lower the heat, add few tablespoons of olive oil, onion, garlic and fry for 5 minutes.
3. Add the roasted vegetables to the pan. Add the stock and the spices - thyme and sage. Mix well. The vegetables should be just covered by stock - if it's not the case, add additional water. Bring to boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 20 - 25 minutes, stirring from time to time.
4. Let the soup cool down then puree the soup with a handheld blender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with garlic toasts*** or simply bread with garlic butter. You can also add a dollop of sour cream to the soup. 

*I read the book in Polish and the original quote is: "Skończone doskonałości zapomina się łatwo". The translation is made by me as to reflect the sense in the book, not direct meaning of the words.
**Inspired by Bea's post on roasting vegetables and making a soup out of them and this post from Chocolate Shaving's blog.
***Chop a roll or 2-3 pieces of toast bread, warm up the frying pan with 3-4 tablespoons of garlic butter in it and then fry them on medium heat till they're golden.

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