Brian's Night: House de Mouse II: Or how none of us should do math

Our official menu tonight:



Jollof Rice A Rissotto-ish rice and beans from West Africa

Corn Pudding A spinach & corn pudding from East Africa
Honey Cake with a honey brittle center

Jollof Rice

Boma - Flavors of Africa

Animal Kingdom Lodge

Yield: 16 servings
Ingredients:
16 ounces Chickpeas/Garbanzo Beans. wash off brine
16 ounces Kidney Beans, wash off brine
2 quarts Coconut Milk
2 quarts Water
2 pounds Onions, diced chunky
Canola Oil
2 ounces Ground Turmeric, toasted
2 ounces Ground Coriander, toasted
2 each Cinnamon Sticks
4 quarts White Rice/Jasmine/Basmati, washed
8 ounces Sugar
1 ounce Chopped Cilantro
To taste Salt and Pepper
Method of Preparation:
1. Prepare the chickpeas and/or Garbanzo beans according to the directions on the package. Set aside. 2. Heat oil and sauté onions. Add turmeric, coriander, and cinnamon

sticks.
3. Add rice, coconut milk, and water.
4. Add sugar, salt and pepper.
5. Continue stirring, and add more water as needed until rice is cooked.
6. Add in chickpeas/beans at the end. Cook long enough to heat the beans through. Serve.


The Disney recipe serves 16, which is even too much for Hungry Deb, so we cut it down to 4. Math isn't our strong suit (we're studiously ignoring the fact that Alex math's for a living.) How If we are supposed to use 1/4 of an ounce, how many teaspoons is that? My head hurts! I'm glad I get to sit here and snark and not have to cook!

Corn Pudding

Sweet Corn and Spinach Pudding
Boma, Animal Kingdom Lodge

Ingredients:
½ cup Onions (diced)
1 tablespoon Butter
½ teaspoon Thyme (fresh picked then chopped fine)
2 cups Fresh corn kernels cut from the cobb
½ gallon Milk
1 quart Half & Half
1 quart Water
1 pound Polenta (ROLAND, raw but par cooked)
¼ cup Yellow Corn Flour
2 tablespoons Salt
2 tablespoons Sugar
½ cup Parmesan Cheese
SPINACH (ADD AS DESIRED)


Method of Preparation:
Saute onions with butter in a heavy bottom pot. Add corn kernels and Saute a few minutes. Add milk, water, and half & half. Mix the polenta and corn flour together dry and set aside. Bring just to a boil and whisk in cheese, salt, pepper, sugar, then the polenta/corn flour mixture in a steady stream. Keep whisking to ensure a smooth mixture. Turn stove off and whip a little longer to keep smooth as it thickens. Taste to ensure flavors are balanced, and enjoy!!

Honey Cake

I don't seem to have the recipe, but honestly, the cake was just ok. The ends where it got nice and crisp were pretty good, but the rest of the cake was a little tough. The Honey/Tea Whipped Cream was just AWESOME. I would not have thought adding tea to a whip cream would be a good idea, but it was. I'm betting the left over whip cream was super duper A1 in Bri's morning coffee.

I'll try to get the recipe and update it later.










For those of you wondering what happened to our first excursion to deepest darkest Africa (well, Disney's version of Africa) the embarrassing answer is I'm still working on it. I'm a bad blogger and Bri deserves a better chronicle of his nights . Hopefully soon.



Alex and I arrived at Bri&Deb's bearing gifts. Diet Coke and a TV. Well, the DC was really for me, but why can't I have nice things? The TV was left in the lobby of my building and we grabbed it for them. Their TV had volume issues and this one worked so we snagged it. Should I mention that we almost got arrested putting it in the truck? I think I'll let you stew on that and wonder if it's dramatic license or not.

Things were a little tense tonight at times for a number of reasons. Deb was having a bad week with her juice fast, We were forced to alter pretty much every recipe and Deb & Bri believe that people make recipes to be followed. Alex and I were attempting "to be good" and not make total pigs of ourselves. The biggest reason was probably because we're all bad at math. [We're studiously ignoring the fact that mathification is a central part of Alex's job] Some of it was forgivable (how many tbls in an ounce, etc.), but really, we should be able to cut a recipe in half. We're all really smart people. Allegedly.

Quotable Quotes:

-- Should we make 4 servings or 8 of the the rice? [Thank little baby cheeses we had a appetizers that we only made 4] See below for why.
--Oh, hungry Deb, it's so good to see you again. [Believe it or not, Hungry Deb stayed through the entire evening.]
At least I didn't wash my hands over the soup.
-- Will the pudding curse come back to haunt us [It did not!]
-- you better not be taking a picture of my crotch.
-- I am, but only because it's near the honey brittle.

For those paying attention, Bri and Deb share custody of the Greendale Community College hoodie. Apparently it's Bri's week. And this is the cutest picture ever. Apparently Honey tea Whipped Cream brings out the schmoopie.














All in all, we had one really good thing (corn pudding), one perfectly fine thing (the cake) and one awful wretched terrifically evil thing (the Jollof rice). Combine that with some plot development in Farscape, and I'll count the night a qualified success. ~Jim

	Alex	Brian	Deb	Jim
Jollof Rice	Not Good. F	It was, believe it or not, a D. It was as pleasant as any other dish we've made with beans and chick peas. D	I didn't even finish it and that says enough - Hungry Deb	Like Rice Pudding with Kidney beans and Tumeric. How could you go wrong? Many, many ways and we found all of them.
Sweet Corn & Spinach Pudding	B- I thought that there were some flavor notes missing. I compare every corn pudding to the one in the Veganomicon. It was good though.	A It was a gamble but it paid off. I liked it, even with the spinach.	A- It was really good.	A it was nummy and Alex is far too harsh a grader.
Honey Cake	B- I thought the honey flavor was really good and the addition of the tea was unusual and enjoyable but it could have used some tartness.	B The honey whipped cream is something that I'll have to revisit, but the cake needs a little work	B If I met this at a party, I'd think, "hey this is a pretty good cake." A servicable cake	B I think the honey whipped cream was awesome. The cake needs a little work

Farscape: There was actual plot development. 'Nuff said.