ok – so i’m into italian food and i can’t stop. and why would i?
tonight’s dinner was an off the cuff throw together in 30 minutes kinda thing. i saw a post on ‘minimally invasive‘ for a roasted fennel dish and i knew that would be my jumping off point. after using fennel tops for my shrimp pasta i now had the two bulbs sitting in my fridge. i used pancetta instead of the prosciutto and added some dry breadcrumbs on top of the grated parmigiano. i also used olive oil instead of butter. after tuesday’s dinner i just couldn’t face any more butter… and usually i rarely touch the stuff. but man, when you’re cooking to impress – it’s everywhere. anthony bourdain mentions this in his book ‘kitchen confidential’ – chefs use it on everything. and in copious amounts. and why? because it tastes so friggin good… anyway, this dish was totally wonderful and i plan on making it again and again.
i bought some black truffle polenta awhile back and decided to break it out. and then i had the audacity to go and use an organic boxed vegetable broth because the guy who sold it to me told me that it works just great.
Mistake
and i really should have known better. really.
i mean, it wasn’t terrible. but it was wrong. when your polenta has black truffles in it – respect them. and next time i will. of this you can be sure.
cary liked dinner. he’s a scallop guy. and a polenta guy. and i thought it was ok. but perhaps the roasted fennel was fighting a bit with the truffles. i’m not exactly sure. the combo wasn’t a do over although i will say that it totally seemed like the thing to do at the time.
live and learn.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Amy // Sep 7, 2007 at 8:09 am
Aw, that’s too bad. It does sound great in theory, though. Sometimes the surprises aren’t always positive, I guess.
2 Lannae // Sep 7, 2007 at 11:44 am
Oh, sorry abou the boxed broth ruining the food. I am glad it was still passable though.
I made a similar mistake. I wanted to make Tom Ka Gai soup, and I was in a rush so I used canned chicken broth instead of my own homemade broth. It was too salty, had that fake chicken fat flavor, and it was not at all passablel.
3 clumsy // Sep 8, 2007 at 9:15 am
Truffles are a hard flavor to pair with… I’ve had a few so-so truffled dishes, too.
I tagged you for a Meme, hope that’s ok! You can see the rules here: http://clumsycook.com/2007/09/08/meme-and-champ/
4 Tom Bohn // Sep 8, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Hey, I like your willingness to take some chances with the recipes you’re trying out. I could use a little of that in my culinary endeavors. I think I’m a pretty good cook but maybe a bit safe at times.
Chow
5 Butta Buns // Sep 9, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Even if it didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to be, that picture of the dish is drop dead gorgeous!
I can commiserate with having a botched dish, the disappointment is crushing. At least the whole meal wasn’t ruined, the scallops and the fennel “hash” look stunning.
6 claudia // Sep 9, 2007 at 4:54 pm
amy – let me make it clear that the fennel dish from YOUR blog was the best thing on the plate!!!
lannae – even the boxed soups kinda suck and are only good for very specific applications but i am a broth making loser… i should make some and freeze – i know i know…
clumsy – and i love them so. i am a truffle fanatic just like i love all those other ultra expensive food items like caviar and lobster and foie gras and morels and prime beef and and and… it’s friggin endless.
tom – lately i am willing to experiment. but next time i ain’t gonna mess with anything truffles. they need to be the star of the show with no competition. truffles deserve that, ya know?
butta – yes – this wasn’t a slash my wrists failure… and we can’t be spot on alla the time, right???
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