It’s too simple for a recipe. Just good bread processed in a food processor to fine crumbs. Mixed with finely grated parmesan cheese – I use about half as much parmesan as crumbs. Beat an egg or two till frothy. Dip the dry mushrooms in egg, then in the parmesan crumb mix to coat.
OK, so we have cultural drift, and we’re not so connected to the seasons that we feel the affront of pumpkins in spring. But can we do a little bit of reinvention? Dressing up is very Beltane (especially as it tends towards the burlesque), but I can connect Princess Leia or the Incredible Hulk to Beltane easily. Street parties and pool parties and water fights and icecream, parades and costumes…
The Recipe
In the scale of foods that are Popeye worthy, kale is about as dense a source of vitamins and minerals and antioxidants as you can get, including Vitamin K which is important for bone density and for brain health, and Vitamin A which is important for skin and eyes. But more uniquely, it’s also a source of some important anti-cancer phytochemicals.
There’s actually only a small window of the year when rice paper rolls are the perfect thing. Avocados need to be in season, and coriander. You need macadamias and limes for the dipping sauce. Pickled radishes and turnips and ginger are wonderful in them. And it needs to be warm enough for that cool, clean, crispness to be just what you feel like.
This is a real Spring recipe. You need 24 very young and fresh and tender vine leaves.
There’s a little mind shift I’ve found helps in feeling at home cooking eastern Asian style. Most of the time with western dishes, I amble along, starting with what I have, multitasking, substituting, tasting and adjusting as I go, ducking out to the garden for some herbs or garnishes as I think of them, and getting plates out and ready while it cooks.
I had a post about crystallised ginger I wanted to write today. But then I was made party to a terrible crime, and I can’t…
My glut crop this week is ginger. It’s roots and perennials planting days this week, and I think it’s time to divide up and transplant the ginger. It still hasn’t sprouted but it is warming up very fast this year.
This has been a regular regular lately, and will likely stay regular till the macadamia season is over. Macas, besides tasting wonderful, are really good for heart health, – there’s some very good science that just a handful of nuts a day makes a huge difference. But mostly, it’s just because it’s so decadently delicious!