Today I got some good cooking in for lunch! I realized I didn't soak the bean and lentil mix I wanted to use for soup today, so I decided to leave it for next weekend. I froze some of the celery and carrot I was going to use for the soup too, but left half of each out, and made a basic mirepoix soup with a little soy sauce, seasoning, and some onion I had. It turned out pretty good, especially with the swiss cheese toasties I made to go with (just on white bread, since the loaf I'm making today was still rising), and the chantarelle mushrooms that the bear and I picked up at the market yesterday. Chantarelle mushrooms are delicious, but too expensive. The ones at market were going for $29 a pound, which is exorbitant, so we just got a few. I fried them in a half thumb of good salted butter with a sixth of an onion, and deglazed with a little leftover Zinfandel that was still nice. At the market they also had elephant heart plums, which are delcious, and a pomegranate that is nice if a bit too sour.
I think we're doing tacos with chicken and beans for dinner, with the bear planning on cooking it, so it's nice to not have two bean meals in one day. I'm getting better at vegetarian meals, I should get some vegetable bouillon though. The soup was a little thin, it might be good to try to add bouillon and do a slurry for better mouthfeel as well. I made some anchovy pasta with breadcrumbs last night, which was good, I might have oversalted it a little. I added both lemon juice and lemon zest, which wasn't bad, but would have been better had I added a little tomato paste to enhance the acidity without making it so citrusy. I could maybe add a little cream into it too, if the lemon juice wouldn't curdle it.
I eyeballed some AP flour, water, active dry yeast, and sugar into a small, slightly-sweet loaf that's rising under the oven at the moment. I haven't baked in a little while, so I'm hopeful it turns out decent. Next weekend I want to try making cherry danishes. I found a recipe for danishes, and I already have a can of cherry filling, so it seems like a nice idea to try. Recipe here I have basically all the ingredients already, apart from sufficient butter. It uses quite a bit of butter and sugar, but I figure it's supposed to yield 18 danishes, so per piece it's not much. I thought we could probably offer some to the neighbors since I don't think my bear and his siblings are going to be able to finish that many, but between everyone, there's a nonzero chance it would come to that. Maybe I could bring some over to my grandparents?
I'm also planning on starting a batch of fermented pickles later today, dill since my Nana favors that and I found some at the market, a reasonable size baby dill bunch for $1.29. I found some very cute gherkins, not quite cornichon size, but not too much bigger. I'll ice bath them, and use some kosher salt, the dill, and a half dozen garlic cloves. My first batch came out a little too garlicky and salty, so I'm trying to balance that.
If anyone is curious about fermentation, I got my starter kit at Preserved in Oakland for a reasonable $22, and it includes a small zine that offers some useful tips to start. If you're local to the Bay Area or travelling, it's worth a trip. The staff are also very knowledgeable and enthusiastic.