Friday, January 8, 2010

On the border of crazy good....


...and just plain crazy.  The chicken soup with dumplings from Thomas Keller's "Ad Hoc at Home" Cookbook was absolutely delicious last night but there were a lot of steps involved.  I received the cookbook for Christmas and while it is much more accessible than the French Laundry Cookbook it's still has a few roll your eye steps like "bake a homemade loaf of brioche to make croutons".  That said, there are many great tips and techniques and some really amazing food combinations and recipes.  So far I have prepared the chicken soup(above), the oven roasted tomato sauce( a keeper) and potato pave( loved it, but again I had to start it at 8am to have it ready for dinner).  I think it's important to try a recipe the way it's supposed to be prepared before you start in with any shortcuts and while I'm certain I will make this velvety, rich and soul warming soup again I found a few places to streamline the recipe without changing the yumminess of the end product.  While I'm on the subject of food (and not painting which I will be getting to as soon as I get off the computer....) I also prepared this for dinner this week and it was both delicious and quick.  Have a great weekend, thanks for reading and Bon Appétit!

6 comments:

Janice La Verne said...

wow... wow... wow...
yum, wish i could teleport some of your soup here!

I love listening to super cooks talk about food. We had cable for a while, I never cooked a thing, but couldn't stop watching others construct yummy items.

great post, great photos.
happy painting!

chrissy said...

beth...
you are artistic in your painting AND your cooking.
wow!
i'm always behind the 8 ball so you may already know about this, but your comment on "making a homemade brioche" made me think of it.
i just recently heard about the book...
"ARTISAN BREAD IN 5 MINUTES"
i got the book yesterday and right now there is a perfect ball of dough waiting to be popped in the oven in a few minutes, so i'll let you know how it goes.
thanks for sharing your thoughts on your blog.
i really enjoy reading your blog.
c

tangled sky studio said...

thanks janice!
chrissy: that book will change your life and fill your house with yumminess...good luck on your first loaf!

mummysam said...

how I can smell the food over here!
...and how good some of those day-long cooking adventures can be (and even better when you can find some short-cuts...like our favourite raisin-nut ring from Bon Appetit..a two-day process that has finally been mastered to a perfect one day event that tastes just perfect :))

Leililaloo said...

OOOh my Beth, did i say already that you are an inspiration, also to those of us who's hobby is not cooking...I which i could taste your dumplings so bad!

artslice said...

Holy moly Beth, you have lots o' patience to start something for dinner so early in the day! I admire your commitment to making yummy, fabulous food for you and your family. But, did you get to paint after all that cooking?! :)