Cooking Days

Yesterday was catch-up cookday. I had already simmered a batch of plums from our tree. The tree on the side of the yard was just loaded with the little cherry plums and I'd picked two huge bagfuls. The simmered batch was in the frig, waiting for me to have some time to finish processing it.

I poured them into pot and added a couple of cups of sugar and let it boil. I added another cup of sugar later and tons of cornstarch. But I've learned something about plums. They are nothing but juice once they're cooked. I was hoping to use this batch to make a couple of pies, but nothing I did got it thick enough. The meat of the plum completely disintegrates. Eventually, I poured it through a strainer to separate out the juice. I think what's left will make a decent pie. But what do I do with all that juice? It's got cornstarch in it, so it can't be used for syrup or a liqueur. I have in mind making a few batches of plum sauce, the kind that's used in Chinese food.

I used my new kitchenaid for the first time and made some dough for pie shells. I haven't tried to roll them out yet. Maybe I'll do that today. But I don't expect to make the pies, right now. I'm waiting until next week when Francisco and Cahlil are here. They can help us eat it. I'll have to make some ice cream, too.

I also used up the two batches of mint that I had. I minced them up and combined it with mustard and yogurt to make a sauce. It will be good on sandwiches and maybe with some meat. I still have lamb chops in the freezer. I'll do the best I can with it - mint is so hard to use.

Then I shredded a batch of carrots and made soup, which we used for dinner. So good. I could eat bowls and bowls of that stuff. The batch of purple carrots I steamed whole and put in the freezer. I'll use them with dinner next week.

I think that's all I cooked yesterday. On Friday, I made a batch of pesto with all that basil from the CSA. I was going to coat the halibut with it and broil it for dinner, but we ended with Naomi and John over, so instead I made it into a cream sauce with pasta and poached the halibut in the sauce. It went further that way and it was really good.