Granules
- rosemary
- May 12
- 4 min read
"granule - a small piece like a grain of something" Cambridge English Dictionary
"a small particle; especially : one of numerous particles forming a larger unit." Merriam-Webster
a small compact particle of a substance" Oxford Languages
I'm not sure any of those definitions actually really describes food granules - like the garlic granules above, instant coffee, lecithin, onion ... They're not flakes, because I suspect that generally speaking a granule has had some kind of drying process going on. But they are indeed small, and 'forming part of a larger unit.' 'Compact'? I don't think it's really possible for me to be compact. I have tendency to roam, to ramble, indeed to waffle. Anyway - here goes with a bits and pieces thing, because it's late in the afternoon.
"Peas and chopsticks are an accident waiting to happen." says Nigel, having pointed out that "I don't add them to a stir-fry. They like a bit more moisture to cook in than such a recipe has to offer." I smiled when I read that, because I couldn't even manage eating them with a fork when I was a child. With chopsticks would be a nightmare, and when I first looked for pictures, I just found a lot of Chinese stir-fries of sugar snap or snow peas, but not a single pea to be seen. Today, however I found this picture accompanied by this quote on reddit:
"Frozen peas eaten with chopsticks, it’s kinda like a game trying to pick up the peas with my shaky ass hands" ShittyRestrictionFood/reddit
To which one commenter responded "You ate them frozen?". There's a whole other world out there people - and where do they dream up their reddit names?
Beloved kitchen objects
This topic deserves a series of posts - and indeed I have written the occasional post on the subject. Here, however, I am just recommending an article in The Guardian by Bee Wilson about how much certain kitchen objects mean to us. It's fairly long, but, a moving read - at least I thought so and I highly recommend it - well if you like reading about emotion. It's called Death, divorce and the magic of kitchen objects: how to find hope in loss.
I will occasionally explore this more.
The rest of this post is various recipes that caught my eye - mostly in the supermarket magazines. You can see I am bereft of ideas today!
In a section called express soups I thought this looked rather nice - if you can get over the whole fraught salmon issue. King salmon from NZ seems to be an OK thing, but I have no idea where you can find it. Just five ingredients - salmon, fish stock, leeks, dill and cream.
I'm including this one because of the title. Four words - each one so very much today. Every one of those words represents a very common ingredient in the everyday cooking of most people these days. It's a supermarket magazine - not a glossy cookbook from a Michelin starred chef, and yet, there it is - so very everyday, even ordinary, and yet unimaginable in my youth. Miso, pesto? I don't think I even knew about broccoli and pasta was not a common thing. Isn't progress wonderful?
Pies - well tarts really - of cauliflower cheese
I think I once dedicated a whole post to this amazing Ottolenghi dish - Curried cauliflower cheese tart - It's a taste sensation and not terribly difficult. Well I don't know whether it's because of this but the latest edition of the Coles Magazine has Cauliflower and cheese filo pie and it's not quite as sophisticated, but its not far off, and you'd have to say there's an influence there. Just no curry powder - but there's mustard instead, and the construction is a bit simpler. And when I went looking for pictures I also found, and I vaguely remember this one too - Cheesy cauliflower and leek tart - also from Coles. From high profile chef to the common woman and don't they both look super professional?
I'm guessing that bagel lovers would cringe at this one. I confess I don't know much about bagels, so perhaps I should take this as a hint to write about them some day. I'm also guessing that the real thing is made with yeast, but these are made with self-raising flour and a Coles home brand Everything bagel seasoning mix. So yes, a cheat. But if you like bagels maybe they would do.
Well marinated feta is all the rage, so why not do the same to bocconcini - another common ingredient, unheard of in last century Britain. They've chosen garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and thyme here, but of course you could do whatever takes your fancy. Bocconcini are pretty bland so they might benefit from it.
Mushrooms and Woolworths
According to Woolworths it's mushroom season and they did have a couple of quite interesting recipes if you like mushrooms and/or are vegetarian. Filo again for their Mushroom and bacon stroganoff pie and Baked polenta with balsamic mushrooms - dare I say - polenta, balsamic vinegar ...
From Ottolenghi
Well I can't do one of this oddments posts without an Ottolenghi recipe - and here we are back to broccoli - in an even more trendy guise - the steak - Maple-chilli broccoli steaks. For the vegetarians amongst you. From his newsletter. Also note the base of some kind of mash on which you place your vegetable, and on top of that a drizzle or a sprinkle. The base in this case is a torn burrata - which is a new kind of base. Could be very tasty. The sprinkle is flavoured panko breadcrumbs and the drizzle is the remains from cooking the broccoli. It's pretty simple.
YEARS GONE BY
May 12
2024 - The pickles in my fridge
2023 - Kitchen satisfactions
2022 - Pasta con le sarde
2020 - Deleted
2019 - Foreign food
2018 - Nothing
2017 - Pink
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