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Low-Sodium Cookery
Feb. 14th, 2019 02:52 pmMade a helluva mess in the kitchen last night and left it all, pots, pans, baking dishes, etc, standing overnight on the countertops and stove. Which is something I haven't EVER done in this house but since I was, intermittently, in excruciating pain, I gave myself a pass.
So this morning, when the synapses had stopped their erratic firing and the offended nerve endings had finally and thankfully calmed down, I knew I had a sizable cleanup ahead of me. Which is now--also thankfully--done.
The cause of all the mess, besides gross culinary incompetence, was the second or third iteration of a chicken-cheddar-broccoli & wild rice casserole which, like most early iterations of my low-sodium meals, was OK but not great.
As usual, this one started as someone else's recipe and was found lacking for the usual reason: there's not much salt in it and nothing else to, as Emeril would put it, "Kick it up a notch."
There's just enough cheddar to say there's cheese in it, but not enough to give it that distinctive, sharp cheddar flavor. Some of it is in the cheese sauce, duh, so I tried to ramp it up there by adding a quarter cup of nutritional yeast, which helped. Next time, I'll increase it to a half cup and sprinkle some over the top as well, along with the rest of the cheddar.
The other thing that I'm thinking about is maybe adding a cup of Merlot to the cheese sauce--or maybe a half cup, in place of the same amount of milk. Because I have, on the shelf below my sink, a rather large bottle of a rather mediocre Merlot.
I don't enjoy drinking it, due to the semi-tolerable bouquet being followed by an after-taste comparable to cleaning fluid. Which is why it lives under the sink. I want it to feel like it's among friends.
Anyway, that's my plan. I've got two dinners added to my freezer and plans for something better the next time. And my kitchen is sorta-almost-if-you-squint-your-eyes clean.
In this life, who could ask for more...
LPK
Dreamwidth
2.14.2019
So this morning, when the synapses had stopped their erratic firing and the offended nerve endings had finally and thankfully calmed down, I knew I had a sizable cleanup ahead of me. Which is now--also thankfully--done.
The cause of all the mess, besides gross culinary incompetence, was the second or third iteration of a chicken-cheddar-broccoli & wild rice casserole which, like most early iterations of my low-sodium meals, was OK but not great.
As usual, this one started as someone else's recipe and was found lacking for the usual reason: there's not much salt in it and nothing else to, as Emeril would put it, "Kick it up a notch."
There's just enough cheddar to say there's cheese in it, but not enough to give it that distinctive, sharp cheddar flavor. Some of it is in the cheese sauce, duh, so I tried to ramp it up there by adding a quarter cup of nutritional yeast, which helped. Next time, I'll increase it to a half cup and sprinkle some over the top as well, along with the rest of the cheddar.
The other thing that I'm thinking about is maybe adding a cup of Merlot to the cheese sauce--or maybe a half cup, in place of the same amount of milk. Because I have, on the shelf below my sink, a rather large bottle of a rather mediocre Merlot.
I don't enjoy drinking it, due to the semi-tolerable bouquet being followed by an after-taste comparable to cleaning fluid. Which is why it lives under the sink. I want it to feel like it's among friends.
Anyway, that's my plan. I've got two dinners added to my freezer and plans for something better the next time. And my kitchen is sorta-almost-if-you-squint-your-eyes clean.
In this life, who could ask for more...
LPK
Dreamwidth
2.14.2019
