I have an obsession. I love buying cookbooks. And not just the easy-to-make weeknight recipe books but super hard and complicated cookbooks produced by amazing chefs that have some of the best restaurants in the nation (some of them ~ the world). When I buy these cookbooks I read through them with post-it notes flagging countless recipes I want to cook. But I rarely cook them. I’m not even a very good cook. I also have run out of space for them on my bookshelf. So before the cookbooks take over my house I think I should use them… cook with them.
So here’s my project: to cook every recipe in my fancy-smancy cookbooks. And to document them here, as I hope my blog obsession will force me to actually cook these recipes so that I can blog about them.
December 7, 2010
-
After several weeks of mainly eating out I’m on a cooking binge – and since this happens so rarely I tend to go all out when it does, perusing my countless cookbooks by crush-worthy chefs that just seem to keep accumulating. Thus, I decided it was time to dust off the virtual cobwebs surrounding this here cooking blog and get to work.
First up: Frozen Lettuce by Morimoto.
You start by quartering 1 head of lettuce and wrapping each piece in saran wrap.
Then throw the quarters of lettuce (along with two plates) in the freezer for 1-2 hours.
To get the salad dressing going, boil 3 garlic cloves to get them nice and tender and then drain and mince the garlic.
You’ll also need 1 egg yolk, beaten,
fresh lemon juice,
and lemon zest.
These ingredients get mixed in with vegetable oil, mayonnaise, rice vinegar Worcestershire sauce, white miso (cannot believe I actually found this at ShopRite amongst the premade sushi), grated onion, parmesan cheese, anchovy paste, and yellow mustard.
Once that’s all mixed together, place the frozen lettuce quarters on the chilled plates.
Top with the dressing and some small croutons and voila, one of the tastiest salads I’ve ever tasted. And I’m pretty picky when it comes to salads.
