Text 5692, 85 rader
Skriven 2011-01-11 11:15:10 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
   Kommentar till text 5676 av Dave Drum (49335.cooking)
Ärende: Spuds
=============
Hi Dave!

>> cuisines. It's hard to imagine Italian cuisine without tomatoes, or many
>> oriental dishes (especially Indian and Thai) without chilies.

>> Heh.. if you're northern Italian, you'd be more interested in cream
>> sauces... But it's true, it's hard to imagine both those ideas. I seem
>> to remember reading that originally the tomato was considered
>> poisonous.. I think that was pretty early on though.. like in the
>> 1700's in this country.  I'll have to check that out..

> Other than Alfredo sauce - most of what most in America think of as "Italian"
> cooking is tomato based sauces.

Very true.  It's a good thing too, given my dairy allergies (grin)


> The tomato is part of the nightshade family
>which includes potatoes, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, tomatillos
>tamarios, pepinos, pimentos, etc.> There are over 2,800 species of plants,
> with very different properties and constituents. The group also includes
> tobacco and belladonna (deadly nightshade) which can be poisonous ...
>and is probably where the legend of tomatoes being poisonous arose. Potatoes

Now that is just plain funny that tobacco is from that group.. :)  But as you
say, that's probably where the poisonous stories came from.

> poisonous or evil, were believed to cause leprosy and syphilis and were even
> regarded as a dangerous aphrodisiac. In order to get the people to eat them
> Germany's King Frederick William ordered peasants to plant and eat potatoes -
> or have their noses sliced off!

Oh that's a bit much!

>> Ah.. we mostly eat at home :) But then again, I enjoy cooking quite a
>> bit.. and figuring out the recipes of food we've had "out"..

>When you live alone as I do it is a *lot* easier and *much* less time consumin
>to eat where someone else does the prep and clean up ...

Yes, very true.. And as far as cleanup goes, I can make what some would think
is such a mess when I cook big meals haha.. It surely seems like every square
inch of that large center island gets covered sometimes when I cook :)

>and about the same hi
> on the budget. I enjoy cooking - but, mostly if I have someone to share it
> ith.

Understand :)

I see Nancy is planning the next picnic.. I wish we could go.. but we've had so
many hard hits with finances lately, we really can't swing it.. bummer. I'm
trying to dig up some work in the meantime, who knows, maybe I'll get lucky
(g).

===Rainbow Spaghetti Asparagus, Salmon and Cream Sauce====
12-14 oz.  Ronzoni Rainbow (multi-vegatable) spaghetti  (other types can be
           used, but you may not get the flavors..)
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 cup (richer than normal) 2% milk from Horizon Farms 6 ounces left-over
salmon, or a fresh salmon steak sauteed in virgin olive oil 1 bunch asparagus,
tough ends removed and cut into 1" pieces 2 tablespoons Extra-Virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesean cheese

Heat about 4-5 quarts of water to boiling, and add the salt.  Add the asparus
and cook just until barely tender.  Scoop out the asparagus with a slotted
spoon and set aside.  Bring the water to a boil again, and add the spaghetti.
After about 5-7 minutes, remove about 1 cup of the cooking water and set aside.
While the spaghetti is cooking, melt the butter in the olive oil in a large
skillet (about 10 inches minimumm).  Add the flour and stir to mix.. Slowly add
the reserved 1 cup water and the milk and stir until mixed. Add the parmesean
cheese and stir over very low heat to combine.  Add the drained asparagus and
salmon lower the heat to just simmering.  Season to taste with garlic salt,
pepper and perhaps some red pepper flakes.  Add the cooked spaghetti to the
sauce and toss.

===

Take care,
Janis

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Dada-1
 * Origin: Prism bbs (1:261/38)