Platt Discovery Cottage

Martha, winter, week 1

January 21st, 2010

So, one of the troubles with being so stubborn about my approach to cookbooks is that sometimes I really don’t like what I’m cooking.  I did start Martha Stewart’s Dinner at Home in the back.  I received this as a Christmas pressie and I didn’t want to wait until spring to start.  Winter, week 1 didn’t exactly thrill me. 

It starts with oyster soup.   I have had the occasional raw oyster.  Occasional.  They are okay.  I don’t look forward to them.  If someone orders them and offers me one, I may have one.  I would never purposly order them.  But, Martha made me cook with them.

Shucked oysters are hard to find.  Whole Foods was happy to shuck them for me, but 3/4 of a pound would be about $50.  Nope. 

The fish monger near my children’s dance studio had them for $10/lb.  I’m not overly convinced this is a good thing.

With a heavy heart I made the soup.

Food made with a heavy heart is destined to be yucky.  To be perfectly honest, there was nothing ‘bad’ about the soup.  It was very easy to make, but it also had nothing going for it.  I served it up.  The kids and I stared at our bowls whilst Colin consumed two bowls.  He really didn’t have to do that…..

Next was a celery root and walnut salad.  It was tasty enough but nothing I would be rushing to make again. 

I think if I accidentally bought celery root I would make this so it didn’t just rot in the veggie drawer.  Tt would look more appetizing had I not failed to buy parsley which was an ingredient.

This salad was accompanied by these super tasty grilled cheese and ham sammies. 

I don’t have a panini maker, so I put them in a cast iron skillet and topped them with another cast iron skillet.  It did the trick.  They were not as flat as if I had actually used a panini maker, but they tasted the same I’m sure.

Finally (and luckily) there was dessert. 

A baked fruit custard.  Those are dried cherries which I reconstituted.  There were pears on the bottom.  Again, super simple and quick.  Both kids liked it so much they asked for it at lunch the next day.  There were no leftovers of this though.  Oyster soup, I had bowls full of leftovers.  Not so much the dessert….

After all was said and done, I tried to clean up the kitchen.  Tried.  My faucet pooped out on me.  All it gave me was a trickle.  Kohler for life - not so much.  I love the faucet to look at, but I wish it would work.  This is the second time I’ve had to had repairs done to it.  Here is the tiny trickle it provides.

See that water in the bottom of the sink?  That took about 20 minutes to get that tiny amount of water.  It really wasn’t a nice night to have this happen.   I would have liked an easier way to have the oyster soup behind me. 

I have to wait 7 - 10 days for the parts to arrive.  ~sigh~

Enjoying the journey,  Amanda

Entry Filed under: This N That