experiments

late weekday nights and sunday afternoons are probably my favorite time to cook - no one's waiting on the result. i'm usually alone and feel free to try a new, complicated ice cream recipe just because i have the ingredients on hand. or, on sunday afternoons, there's time to stretch out your day's timeline to being around to punch down and shape dough 2, 3, or more times. sometimes cooking seems like a chore, to be sure, but when you have the time and inclination it's a special pleasure. when you have a cocktail and music and fresh ingredients, even an epic failure (barring personal injury and burning the house down) is a nice way to spend an evening. tonight, i'm making a quiche with a scratch dough for the first time i can remember. maybe i should have followed a recipe, but instead i googled around and triangulated a kind of recipe that includes whole wheat flour, white pastry flour, and vegetable shortening. at first, things did not go well. my food processor couldn't handle the volume. my rolling skills are underdeveloped. it starting puffing up and emitting moisture in the oven. oh, geez. i poked some holes and let it cook. upon removal, i picked off a piece that didn't look like it was structurally necessary and took a bite. "wow, i'm good," i thought for a moment. and then, i realized that i'd forgotten to add salt. whoops! ah, well, it's still edible, i hope. we'll see how it all comes out in the end. i blanched and sauteed some mixed greens (mustard, kale, chard) with garlic and cooked some potatoes in the oil that was left. with plenty of cheddar cheese, it ought to be fine. wish me luck. i'm ordering the pie for thanksgiving from bloomingfoods. don't worry. and don't be afraid to experiment. p.s. - speaking of mixing alcohol and pastry... (via notmartha) p.p.s. - deb over at smitten kitchen blogged about a quiche crust nightmare tonight. she's working at a much higher level than me for sure, so her failure might be my nearly-resounding success. i mean, i was picking unsalted crust bits out of the pan 10 minutes ago. come on.