Too Old for Ramen

Sometimes having a pantry raid can result in a wonderful treat. I haven’t been able to go to the store so I am pretty much stuck with what I have in the refrigerator and the pantry. Luckily, apple wood smoked bacon and ancient carrots can be transformed into a delicious meal. Thus I invented Savory Carrot and Bacon Rice. It is tasty, filling and fairly inexpensive. I took pictures as I made it so that I could share it. I also made a recipe graphic to make it easier to share or save.

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This is a close up of my Savory Carrot and Bacon Rice. It can be served as a side or a decent lunch. I used things I had in the fridge and pantry to make it. Recipe follows this post. Enjoy!

I wish I could tell you that I invented Fonds d’Artichauts au Gratin, but I can’t.  This is a recipe I adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck, & Julia Child.  It is heaven.   I have always avoided Mastering the Art of French Cooking because I found the thought of it intimidating.  How wrong I was!  It is really easy to use and the recipes, for the most part, are pretty relatable and accessible.  Who knew! 

I used half a Portabella mushroom cap in this recipe and it was quite enough,  the lightly sautéed  mushroom pieces were chopped up very thinly and provided a lot of flavor to the gruyere gratin filling (feel free to use regular swiss,please).  

I could see using the same filling in other applications very easily, in fact I have some left over AND another mushroom cap and a half just begging to be filled and baked to gooey perfection.   

The artichoke bottoms were a bit tricky to locate.  I wanted to use fresh and cook them in a fond (water and flour) as suggested by the book, but the fresh ones were very expensive.  I hunted for frozen ones to no avail.  I settled for canned artichoke heart BOTTOMS in water.  I almost bought the whole canned hearts but they would have been wrong for this because they were sliced down the center.  The can I selected had six bottoms in water and was around four dollars.  They were precooked so I just used them as is. 

This is probably the best thing I have ever cooked, or certainly MY favorite thing I have cooked.  I am very pleased to present this to you all and I hope you come to love it as much as I do.  Please let me know what you think!

Up close and personal photo of my Pamplemousse Carottes Perrier. Recipe vertical follows this post)

• This is my take on Vichy Carrots, Pamlemousse Carottes Perrier!  It is a little old school, I remember having something similar at a French restaurant when I was a kid.  I hope you enjoy them, I think you will.  

Another vertical for easy sharing:

Here is a variation (added paprika) of the Bloody Mary Tomatoes.  

Here in Southeastern Louisiana we are lucky enough to be getting in some amazingly flavorful and juicy farm-stand tomatoes (we call them “Creole Tomatoes” round these parts).  I have some beauts that a family friend gave us ripening in the window and a pint of these spectacular grape tomatoes I got at the local market.  I wanted to do something special with them for the Fourth of July so I decided that Bloody Mary Tomatoes was just the thing.  It’s a roasted tomato salad that is tossed in Bloody Mary fixin’s, vodka included (but not necessary).  

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