baking entrees

[snugglekitty]

I have an uncertain relationship with baking. I'm not that good at it, despite help from sunspiral. However, twice in the last week I have found myself baking food (although not bread or pastries) so I thought I'd write about it.



Last week on Thursday I made a baked fish dish for the first time. Usually I poach fish. I used filet of sole, leeks, mushrooms, and artichoke hearts. I bound it together with cream I had mixed with cornstarch, because there was no butter in the house to make a roux. I seasoned the cream with port, thyme, black pepper, and mustard. I topped it with cheese and bread crumbs.

I cooked the mushrooms in advance, but forgot to do that with the leeks, so they were pretty crunchy. I baked it at 350 for about half an hour. It came out pretty well. I had been unsure as to whether to include potatos. I ended up boiling them on the side, but they were mixed with the casserole on people's plates which everyone agreed was delicious, so next time I would just parbroil them and put them in the casserole. (The casserole came out a little wet, and the potatos would have helped with that, too.) Anyway, it was very good.

Today I made polenta for lunch for myself and ceelove. The polenta came seasoned a bit and with some dried tomatos and things in it. Next time, I would just use one that was plain, and do all the seasoning myself. I did put in some lentils, mushrooms, and sauteed onions, though. It came out fine, and I'm looking forward to the part where you sautee the leftover bits. I am sorry that I didn't use any cheese, and next time, I would use more lentils. Mmm, lentils.
We had the polenta with a mixed green salad with beets, goat cheese, walnuts, apricots, and a sesame dressing.



ETA: While we were eating, ceelove was mentioning an experiment with squash lasagna. I think I'm going to have to try that myself, possibly with lamb sausage. Doesn't that sound good?

Comments

[sunspiral.livejournal.com]

Yum! Sounds like you're baking things just fine. Now there's a corner of my brain that's working on dishes incorporating lamb sausage. Just what I need, another project!