Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Well I thought that I would give this a try even though I am a paper chef virgin. I have to admit this one was particulary hard since I don’t like ground corriander, bit I do love corn and pine nuts. It was also hard because of the wild card. I chose Dominion Day. When I was younger my mother never bothered much with Dominion Day because it falls the day before my birthday. She was always busy planning parties for it and making cupcakes and such. So she liked to make us soup because she could fix it and forget about it. We never had corn soup I must admit, we usually had Navy Bean or Split Pea…something that could sit around awhile. This was quite an interesting adventure and I think it turned out lovely…but I am biased.

Corn and Walla Walla Onion Soup with Corriander Pesto Crouton

2 cups corn, off the cob
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup Walla Walla Onions
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 quart chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp ground corriander
3/4 cup white wine
Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, heat unsalted butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute without letting it brown. Add the onions and cook for another 1 minute or until translucent, then add the corn and sauté without browning for about 2 minutes.

Deglaze the pan with white wine. Let the wine reduce by half and then add chicken stockand ground corriander. Bring to a simmer and let cook for about 15 minutes or until the corn is soft and cooked in the center. Mix thoroughly in a food processor or blender and then pass through a sieve. Reheat, add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer, let cook for another 5 minutes. Season to taste and reserve hot until ready to be served.

Corriander Pesto
1 large bunch of fresh coriander
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 TBL pine nuts
2 ½ fl oz. Olive oil
1 oz. Grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
1. Put the coriander leaves in a food processor fitted with a steel blade with the garlic, pine nuts, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the grated cheese. With the blade of the food processor turning, slowly pour in the remaining olive oil in a thin, steady stream. Continue working the ingredients in the machine until the pesto thickens and emulsifies. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To assemble the soup: Spread pesto on a baguette slice and place under broiler untl bubbly. Laddle soup into bowl and place the pesto crouton in the middle of the soup.

I have always been a hater of 4th of July. My birthday is the 2nd of July and every year all my friends would leave for the 4th of July weekend…which my birthday is always attached to. This year was no exception as almost everyone had something to do. I still had a lovely birthday none the less.
Every year when I was younger my mom would try to throw a party and alas the turn out was never very good. As I got older my “adult” friends would try to throw something together only to find out what I already knew.
But since I had some blueberries, raspberries and blackberries around I thought that I would make Red, White and Blueberry Muffins just to be festive….since for this “holiday” I never am.
I just used the standard sour cream muffin recipe that I have and use for pretty much any muffin I want to create. I added frozen blueberries, raspberries and blackberries for the color.

Red, White and Blueberry Muffins

2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
1 and ¼ cup sour cream
2 cups mixture of frozen blueberries, raspberries and blackberries
2 and ¼ cups all purpose flour

1.Cream the butter and sugar until soft about 3 to 5 minutes. Add in the vanilla. Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until each is incorporated.
2.In a separate, mix together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
3.Add the flour mixture and the sour cream alternately to the egg-butter mixture in the additions. Start with the flour and end with the flour. Scrape the bowl occasionally.
4.Fold the berries into the batter. Portion the muffin batter into greased tins(I use an ice cream scoop). Depending on the size of your tins, you should get about 12 to 14 muffins. Bake them for approx. 20 minutes(mine took 25 because my berries were super juicy) until they are golden brown.

So another year has come and passed and I am once again 29 years old(for the 5th time). And once again I made my husband trek to the Melting Pot for my anual birthday dinner there. When I was younger we lived across a family where the dad was somewhat of a gourmet cook(couldn’t bake to save his life but he could cook). One night we were all invited over for dinner. He served fondue. It was my first experience with fondue and I was instantly enamoured with it and have been ever since. Luckily the beloved 70’s trend has found it’s way back and I just hope that it stays around this time.
Traditional Swiss Fondue

California Salad…though I’m not sure what is so Californian about it???

Surf and Turf…lobster, filet minon and portabello mushrooms

Milk Chocolate Fondue with Bailey’s Irish Cream