Friday, November 19, 2010

Fermented black beans | Mutant bread



We just watched one episode of 30 Rock and two episodes of Glee and I was going to go read (cookbooks, of course), but I'm feeling bad about not doing a mofo post today. I know some bloggers blog every day all the time, and here I am going nuts after a mere three weeks. This isn't the post I had planned, but this is what I've got.



Here's a quick little stir-fry made with broccolini, carrots, celery, tofu, brown rice, Chinese red pepper and salted black beans. I got the beans (sometimes called fermented black beans) in an Asian market, and have been experimenting with them.



They add a wonderful flavor to traditional Chinese dishes — or quick stir-fries. It only takes a very small amount to flavor a dish. The red pepper looks just like cayenne but is milder and sweeter. It adds a nice, slightly spicy piquant taste to food.



And here, is a mutant bread. It looked perfectly normal as it was rising, but took on an artsy free-form shape of its own choice as it baked today. I admire its independence.

Have a nice weekend. We have a free pass to Costco tomorrow evening so we're going to see what kinds of food bargains we can find, just in time for Thanksgiving.