Delicious & Dragons

Every day we stray further from the light. Curiosity got the better of me and I had to test this idea out that was floating in the collective and twisted creative consciousness of the party. Instant noodles cooked and fried to a slight crisp, dressed with demi-glace and kewpie mayo, sprinkled with the powder from the instant soup packet. I tried to be fancy and put a sesame jalapeno cabbage salad and a fried egg underneath, and some bonito flakes on top – like some fever dream future reconstruction of Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki – but the result was middling. I’m afraid to say the part that worked shockingly well was just the noodles with the sauce (because honestly the demi-glace is crazy good). Charles Dixon you fucking madman, you’re on to something.

This time in the form of vegan demi-glace. Take a baking tray full of veggie scraps that otherwise would have ended up in the bin, roast until golden brown, deglaze with water and cook for over 3 hours to make a stock, season and reduce the bejeezus out of it until it concentrates into a thick, super flavorful sauce. Then wonder what to do with it. No, I will not put them on instant noodles. Maybe.

Hear me out, this one’s a bit different. Kinda like Katmer or Paratha, a much drier dough that is stretched as thin as possible, then folded into a nice pocket with an egg and cheese filling before frying. The thin dough is what makes it really nice, even if my stretching technique is inversely bad.

With leftover dough and the intention to only be harf as messy (*glug*) I gave it another go. Shaping went much better, especially with letting the dough relax before the final roll, the results were still sublime. Some egg yolk from fried eggs is just the cherry on top.

Rolling those out was a glorious mess, but what do you expect when you’re trying to spread a mix of sheep’s cheese, scallions and oil between the thinnest possible dough layers? The result was worth it though.

1. Am I entering a focaccia phase? Maybe.
2. Is it authentic focaccia? Dunno.
3. Is it tasty? Oh yes.

The difference in water content. One’s a somewhat shapeable dough, the other is essentially a big wet blob that you coax into a baking tray with a generous amount of olive oil and wonder how it won’t turn into a casserole in the oven.

One would think that hobbitses would be smarter than to pack boring Lembas to go. See those cookies? Way tastier, and so calorie dense, one of those would feed you for a day just as well.

I butchered a whole one but didn’t really plan what to do with it, so this came out kind of on a whim because I had ingredients lying around. First is a Chorizo Cordon Bleu and second is a deboned chicken thigh confit served on a salad of fried beans, cucumber and radishes. The confit combined with the beans was great, way better than I expected. It’s rare these days that I manage to cook something that surprises me.

Playing the classics, but also refining technique. I still haven’t decided what kind of toppings I like the most.