Postby Harriet » Sat Jul 29, 2017 8:15 pm
Summertime and the livin' is casual. Recently I have been enjoying simple (but full!) plates that might be called "poor" suppers (poor boy or poor man's supper). As if we ordered from the "sides" page of a family-style restaurant menu. I will just arrange beans, rice, slaw in a kind of classic summer meal my parents might have had. Those 3 are my "go-to"s, but a potato or sweet potato is a great sub for rice. Tomatoes or cucumbers sliced on the side make it a pretty summer plate. Half cobs of corn. All kinds of greens might take the place of the slaw, it's just that slaw is tailor-made for hot days. It can be "buffet" and we can carry our plates elsewhere easily if we are enjoying the pretty weather or view.
It has been fun to mix and match rices when I can't find a ready-blended mix. I've found about one-quarter wild rice of whatever color is pleasant in a mix. Brown and wild can be cooked together, but I may add in some white rice I've cooked separately - even Arborio. The white may take about half the time to cook. The interest it brings to the plate to have unexpected color contrast is enjoyable, and when you make a lot and have leftovers, it's effortless.
Continuing our tofu thoughts, I want to try kala namak, which is an Indian spice/salt. blessed, have you ever heard of it? Sometimes called "black salt" because of the dark colored spices in it. It has a base of Himalayan Pink Salt, but Indian spices are added to it to give it a distinctly Indian or Pakistani flavor. Because of the reddish, dark spices, when it's put into a recipe with tofu substituted for eggs, it gives the yellow look and the aroma/taste of eggs. Just a little will do it. I have pretty much neglected any dishes that are traditionally based on egg, but maybe a breakfast casserole type thing would be worth a try using RunKitty's freezer tip and kala namak.