Not to be outdone by Travis, I too have been doing some cooking today. Granted, I doubt if it’s nearly as complicated as his are, but I’m trying to find something to bring for Thanksgiving. I guess I’m at that age where I can actually participate and bring a side or dessert or something.
Much like Aaron, I too have been watching the Good Eats episodes. Now, when I actually had cable (that went above channel 20), I was a FoodTV addict, and Good Eats was watched whenever it was on. If you haven’t watched a Good Eats episode, please, do it, especially if are slightly of the science/engineering type. This show was designed for us. Well, I watching his show on apples, and being that it’s apple season and that I already dry them, I found a killer recipe for baked apples with a crumb topping. Now, my Mom makes a killer Cobbler (doesn’t matter the type), but it’s such a pain, and as Alton Brown points out, the topping is like glue on a pan. So, he instead makes the apple the pan. It’s pure genious, and I must confess that they definitely “Good Eats.” I halved the ingredients list (well, as best I could, more on this later), and made two. I still have enough crumb topping to do more than two more. Next time, I’ll definitely cut out more apple than I did this time, to shove even more topping in. Because, let’s be honest, the topping is the best part!
Now, halving the ingredients was quite funny, because as I mentioned, I don’t have a complete kitchen. The fact I have no measuring spoons, am missing all my thirds cups, just makes it more fun. That’s why I really like cooking, because it’s totally an experiment whenever I’m doing it. Yes, I attempted to use Alton’s recipe, but talk about loose guidlines. Another example would be the other day when I wanted tacos. Now, I didn’t have any ground beef, but I did have pinto beans and refried beans. In the pot when the drained beans (I hate the “juice” that comes with pinto beans) with garlic and enough water to cover them. Let them simmer until the vast majority of the water was gone and the beans were tender. Then, in went the refried beans along with chili powder and tabasco to taste. For those of you who’ve had a bean burrito at Taco Bell know exactly the consistency that beans ended up being.
Now, I’m not claiming to be an expert chef by any means, especially with the ease of the stuff that I’ve been making, but that’s what makes it fun. Ever since I started getting Everyday Food and watching Good Eats, I’ve been on this cooking binge. Hopefully it’ll stick around because it is most definitely fun. It’s unfortunate that the way I’ve scheduled my evenings that I can really only cook on weekends. Oh well, save all the fun for the weekends I suppose.
Now if those darn apples would hurry up in the drier…