My friends Tim & Gina graciously loaned me their cabin for a weekend again, and my friends Steph and Megan joined me for paddling, hiking, birdwatching, etc. We spotted some sandhill cranes, and I found some Alpine Waxy Cap mushrooms, which we didn’t eat because the squirrels had gotten to them first. No problem: I had a menu of experimental recipes ready for the weekend, and here’s how it went:
- Instant Pot Fiasco Beans from 101 Cookbooks. As with all of Heidi’s recipes, this was a solid one, and it cooked while I got the fire going the first night (I had to pre soak the beans in the morning so they’d be ready to cook). It went nicely with an apple coleslaw and the Favorite Cornbread recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction, a title I endorse. Dessert was Bess Truman’s Ozark Pudding, which did not work AT ALL. I think there was a scaling issue, as can happen with 80-year-old recipes; however, the flavors were good enough, and it was easy enough to throw together, that I’ll try it again, doubling everything, once my Gravensteins are ripe.
- I never blame Maurizio Leo for the fact that I can’t get his recipes to puff up enough—I blame myself for not following directions. The Sourdough Pain de Mie recipe was still good, if a bit dense, and it made nice Denver Sandwiches for breakfast.
- Dinner the second night was Hank Shaw’s Fish Puttanesca, which turned out great, and a bagged salad. For dessert I brought Meyer Lemon & Rosemary Crème Brûlées (recipe sadly 404’d, but you could pretty much just make any crème brûlée and steep Meyer lemon zest and fresh rosemary in the hot milk first and you’d be in business) that I had cooked the night before I left, and they were fantastic.
- Breakfast the final morning wasn’t an experiment: it was these tried-and-true (and fantastic) King Arthur sourdough pancakes with the rest of the sourdough starter I needed to use up. Just sharing the recipe because, like the cornbread, if you don’t know this one, you should!
The Rookery 