food, and other musings

Homemade Butter

I'm doing a piece on butter right now, so I decided to make my own. Couldn't have been easier! Just throw a pint of heavy cream (preferably organic, and not ultra-pasteurized) into a food processor with a plastic blade, and hit the switch. In about 15 minutes you'll have butter and butter milk, so you drain it, add ice cold water a few times until it rinses clear, then drain it really good and fold it into a crock. Voila! It tastes really sweet, very pure, very creamy. If you want salted butter, just add a pinch before you start. I highly recommend it just because it's so fun to watch the chemistry in action.

Broccoli rabe, rape, rapini, friarielli, whatever

Lately my favorite vegetable is broccoli rabe. I prefer this name because I like to think of it as Broccoli Rob, an everyday vegetable kinda guy, who performs on kiddie shows during the day and relaxes with a Coors Light during his off hours. The thought of him reclining in his plaid LaZBoy amuses me while I tear off the leaves (yes, I admit it, I throw most of them away), chop off the bottom third of the stalks, and then cut up the remains into bite-sized pieces. Steamed briefly, then sauteed in olive oil with a few cloves of smashed garlic and some crushed red pepper, nothing is better. In a carb-crazy mood, I throw it over buttery pasta, but when Dr. Atkins-induced guilt visits, I serve it alongside a piece of roasted chicken. Either way, it warms the cockles on a wintry day. (Hmmm. What is a cockle?)