Stardew Valley #38: Rice Pudding

Ingredients: Milk, Sugar, Rice

Item Description: It's creamy, sweet, and fun to eat.

I think I tried rice pudding once as a kid, I didn't like it. But that was a long long time ago. Since then i've become a big fan of the worlds staplest grain. Donburi, pilaf, paella, risotto, egg fried rice, rice crackers, mochi... LOVE the stuff! Can't get enough! Is there anything rice can't do? Let's find out.

We got the real deal proper stuff: some british short grain pudding rice, sugar, and then a bay leaf and nutmeg for a subtle flavour.

Now we're cooking it all in milk instead of water! A good bit more milk than how much water i'd normally add, as its supposed to come out all soft and mushy.

Then its gotta check for... lemme ask the internet... TWO HOURS!? Wow. This is a perfect job for my steamer though. We can stir it halfway through since it only goes up to an hour.

2 hours later, stirred it up to check, and that looks right to me? It looks great, all saturated and creamy. Puddingy.

**

It's creamy, sweet, and not much of a treat. I tipped back out about 2/3 of what i portioned for the photo (back into the bowl for leftovers not in the bin!) because i just wanted a light dessert. After just a couple mouthfuls I already feel kind of nauseous. Was my dinner bigger than i realised? Did I do something wrong? (feel free to let me know!) Or is there just something about this combination of overcooked milk and mushy rice... ? Maybe kid me was right... maybe rice pudding... against all odds..  just kind of sucks.

Stardew Valley #37: Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients: Eggplant, Tomato

Item Description: Tangy, cheesy, and wonderful.

Eggplant! Tomato! I think we need more than that actually. I've never made parmesan anything before so I looked it up. Seems like you need flour, egg and breadcrumbs to crumb it up, a tomato based sauce and some kind of cheese combination. Yknow, hence, parmesan.

Chopped the eggplant into nice burger-sized discs. PS its called an aubergine here in the uk. One recipe reccommended to salt it and then let it air dry for a while, but too late I want to make dinner soon so im gonna just pop it in the oven while it preheats for a bit.

Next we coat it in flour. Sorry i took this photo sideways so it looks all weird I don't know why I did that.

Then we dip it in egg and coat it in crumbs! I dont think ill get much to stick to the skin of the eggplant. I don't think that will matter though.

Now we need to fry these up crisp i guess!? Bit of olive oil drizzled on it to help. I've got some flavoured olive oil but do what you want.

Now we can prepare the cheese! I've chosen mozzarella and "parmesan" ok its grana padano, SORRY ITS LIKE £2 CHEAPER AND I LITERALLY DONT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE THEY TASTE THE SAME

Cooked enough!? I decided to transfer these to a casserole dish, which I could have used this whole time but I didn't think very hard. A casserole dish will be better for when we GET SLOPPY

Alright first we have mozzarella slices and then im gonna season it with garlic powder and oregano.

Then tomato sauce. I actually bought a second tomato based pasta sauce in case I was too low on passata, but I think I had plenty so ive just used that, a splash of balsamic vinegar, and PLENTY of grated PARMESAN-LIKE ITALIAN HARD CHEESE. Then we shove it back in the oven and bake it for 15-20mins until the cheese is... well you know..

Ohhhh yeah thats the look. Shes got the look.

*****

Hard to go wrong with a massive pile of cheese and tomato sauce! The mozzarella was soooooo insanely stringy like a cartoon pizza. The flavours were great. I kinda don't really see the point in breading the eggplant though...? Maybe i didn't dry the vegetables enough but the wetness of both the eggplant and the tomato sauce made the breadcrumb coating decidedly un-crispy so you'd barely notice it was there. I feel like we could have just skipped that part and literally just sauced up some vegetables.

It's like a chicago pizza pie crossed with a moussaka.

Stardew Valley #36: Red Plate

Ingredients: Red Cabbage, Radish

Item Description: Full of antioxidants.

Got (hopefully enough) leftover shredded red cabbage in my freezer, plenty of radishes, and a few other things! I thought some pomegranate seeds would add a burst of sweetness with each bite and they're also very red and antioxidant rich.

To differentiate this from all the coleslaws I thought it'd be nice to do something hot and make a sautee'd cabbage dish. I'm also cooking it with butter, I really like how that goes with cruciferous vegetables.

We'll dump in the cabbage and leave that to cook from frozen for a bit, while thats cooking I chop some radishes, eh just as many as I feel like..

Now to add some seasoning! I just picked some herbs based entirely on vibes, so we're adding parsley, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, and a splash of cider vinegar to add some crisp fruity and sour flavour!

In they all go, fry fry fry

At the very tippy end we can dump in pomegranate, maybe it can get a bit seared but we don't really wanna cook it i guess.

****

Really nice! A very sweet and sour salad, but light enough that the herbs really make a difference. Heavily red-themed but still a pleasantly balanced flavour. Would be a great side dish for a roast dinner.

Stardew Valley #35: Tortilla

Ingredients: Corn

Item Description: Can be used as a vessel for food or eaten by itself.

So when they say you need corn for this recipe, what you really need is a big bag of masa harina. And like, i probably could order some from a specialty store...? Or I could just find some corn tortillas in the big tesco which I did.

 

This wont be completely cooking-free, as a good tortilla should really be toasted a lil' bit 

**

Hmm I mean its edible on its own, but its very plain if you ask me. I guess a homemade one might have been better to eat on its own.. BUT IT SAYS I CAN USE IT AS A VESSEL FOR FOOD IN THE DESCRIPTION

SO I actually had it with some leftover homemade doner kebab instead. Better!

Stardew Valley #34: Maki Roll

Ingredients: Any Fish, Seaweed, Rice

Item Description: Fish and rice wrapped in seaweed.

Right off the back of the sashimi recipe, lets get these rolled while the fish is still fresh. I've got some steamed and cooled sushi rice, and i'm gonna season it with a little bit of salt, sugar, rice vinegar and sake. 

then just fluff that up, mixing it a bit.

For the filling we're slicing up half an avocado, the rest of the raw salmon, and some cucumber into matchsticks.

And of course the seaweed! And a handy little bamboo roller that supposedly helps you roll it tightly.

You put the rice on first, and the topping in the middle, I think leaving a bit of a gap for the seaweed to overlap... I dunno I don't make these often enough to have a good feel for it.

One big log. Cutting it can be a bit of a challenge, depending on how sharp your knife is. Making sure the seaweed is damp enough to stick to the rice really helps, and then try to glide the blade diagonally so you are slicing and not crushing, that's my tip I guess. Let's see how well it works out for me.

****

Fresh and delicious! But, having these right after the previous recipe (same meal btw) I feel like the sashimi was just a bit better. I think I could have seasoned the rice a bit more, used a bit more sugar and vinegar, since with the soy sauce it was a little bitter. Very nice and I love sushi, but let's leave it room for improvement.

Stardew Valley #33: Sashimi

Ingredients: Any Fish

Item Description: Raw fish sliced into thin pieces.

First of all, we've gotta do this right. I mean we've GOTTA do this right, I don't want parasites. I ordered some proper sashimi grade salmon, and carefully defrosted it in the fridge for a day.

Simplest recipe yet? I've just gotta take a knife to this thing. We'll use the rest for the next sushi recipe.

Hang on, wait...this needs a little somethn'. Let me just... 

*****

Yeah that's more like it! Yeah im a bit of a japanese food fan. I've got extra fancy soy sauce, sweet pickled ginger and wasabi. Anyway, the sashimi was amazing. So smooth and meaty.

Stardew Valley #32: Spicy Eel

Ingredients: Eel, Hot Pepper

Item Description: It's really spicy! Be careful.

Mackerel again! MackerEel. I had a lot of options for this one, i had some spicy hot pot base or stir fry sauce or ground chillis, but i thought id crack open this jar of crispy chilli oil mix and try that out.

Thats about it really, a very quick and lazy one for a cold busy evening. Bit of coriander to garnish.

***

Its not really that spicy, my bad. Should have used a bit of the hot pot base. I quite like the flavour though, goes well with the mack. I also should have put on the chilli bits nearer the end as the tofu chunks got a bit overdone. Nice, easy thing that would work really well as a rice bowl or salad topper.