Thursday, November 20, 2008

Damn You, Hedonia!

It's not exactly true that Sean threw off my whole week's menu planning.
We had actually been planning to make another pot of minestrone, with the fading vegetables from the summer garden.
And it so happened that we bought a handful — a couple of handfuls — of beautiful Italian white beans, dried, from Iacoppi last week. Which would go perfectly in the soup.
Of course, we had bread in the house.
Next thing you know, Sean has this post up about fried ribollita. Fried!
OK, well. That doesn't throw things off entirely. It just means we'll be using a skillet, in addition to the soup pot.
It worked.
Oh, by the way, thanks for the cavolo nero suggestion, Sean. That stuff is money.
Sean's attempt to fry his ribollita into cakes met with a little moisture problem. Not that it's a serious problem. But based on his experience, I decided to just scoop out the solids from the soup into the oiled pan. And then, as much liquid as necessary.
I am an accomplished corned beef hash cook; I know that the perfect result depends on an ideal state of wetness (not so very, but occasional additions must be made) and timing. Patience.
And thus it was.
We got soup hash.
Browned. Tasty. Magnificent.
I can't wait to have this again.
Damn you, Hedonia.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Consider me damned!

Anita (Married... with dinner) said...

Well, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. And I am reasonably sure that he do.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Cavolo nero - I'm dying to try it but evil little green bastards have turned all mine into vegetable lace. Ordinary cabbage just isn't the same.

Brittany said...

You used the phrase "summer garden" which fills me with envy that you still have one (fading or not) to speak of.

It was so cold and windy today that the neverending Seattle rain was blowing sideways and managing to work it's way under my umbrella.
I need some damned hash.

pea said...

holy cow. i was just talking about ribollita with a friend last night...but fried? that sounds unreal.

cookiecrumb said...

Sean: Of course, I mean it in a *good* way.

Anita: Oh, I do believe he do.

Morgan: You're growing it? Lace is nice! I hope you can salvage some.

Brittany: It's still summer here, I confess. The zucchini were lingering in the fridge, though; that plant is gone. But I have eggplant growing, and the tomatoes are actually turning ripe!
Sending you warm hugs. :)

Pea: We have half a pot of leftover minestrone, and we're gonna do it again tonight!! I hope you will give it a try.

Anonymous said...

Seems to me you're just warming up for stuffing-eating next Thursday. (That's why we eat turkey, right, to flavor the dressing inside it?) And dang you've been very up on the comfort food lately girl! What's next, mac and cheese? (I am game...)

michael, claudia and sierra said...

ok - now wait here just a minute

i told you first
yes i did

http://www.cookeatfret.com/soup/2008/02/10/ribollita/

remember???
go look at your post....

geeshk - a girl can't get ANY credit around here.

cookiecrumb said...

Claudia: Oh, jeezischrist. You are right. I even left a comment, and then proceeded to promptly forget. Dang. You are brilliant.
Oh, and I even spelled ribollita wrong, because that's just me... wrong, wrong, wrong.
Gracias, lovely! You get full credit (right, Sean?).

El: All this comfort food arises unconsciously. It's not like we're sitting around thinking "What would be comforting?" It just happens. Yay. Totally mac'n'cheese. Comin' up.

michael, claudia and sierra said...

i feel SO MUCH better now.

sean who???

now, if you're doing mac and cheese i will be paying very very close attention to your non-recipe.

cookiecrumb said...

ceF: Pizza flavored mac 'n' cheese. Pepperoni and oregano. You would FLIP.

kudzu said...

Does anyone from the Midwest remember Johnny Marzetti? Not a person, a casserole: macaroni with ground beef and tomato sauce and (if you were lucky or went to the right school where it was served in the cafeteria) some cheese? Now THAT is Amurrican. The mac had to get a wee bit crisp on top (but not enough to appear subversive) and you had to eat it with buttered Eyetalian bread and avoid the "healthy" iceberg lettuce salad with grated carrots and non-existent dressing.

Want--some--now.

cookiecrumb said...

Kudzu: Never heard of it by that name. I'll run it by my parents, who are from St. Louis.
Sounds like a beloved food memory that you can make in your kitchen today!!! Life is good.