It's George Birthington's Washday.....

[poltr1]

....which is what one of my former co-workers called it.

I signed up for my church's first annual "Men Who Cook" night. I'm making three batches of lentil soup, enough to serve 40-50 people (in small servings). Batch #1 is in the slow cooker right now. I'm using Alton Brown's recipe, omitting the step where I sauté the onions and celery in olive oil. (Plus I couldn't find grains of paradise.) Batch #2 will be made tonight, and batch #3 will be made tomorrow morning. The batches will be put into Ziploc bags and (hopefully) hermetically sealed for later consumption.

We got nastybad weather here in these parts today. I thought I'd be slip-sliding away on I-675, but the ODOT crews did a decent job of grooming the road. These are the days I wish I had the capability to work at home. (To do that would require a more powerful computer and high-speed internet, neither of which I can afford right now.)

Comments

[zorya-thinks.livejournal.com]

I think you can use black pepper in p;ace of grains of paradise. The flavor won't be as complex, though.

I wonder if Trader Joe's or Jungle Jim's would have grains of paradise? You can get it online if you want to use it in the future: http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/grains-of-paradise

[poltr1]

I'll find out on my next trips there. In the meantime, I'll omit it, since I had to provide an ingredient list to the committee. (They're trying to stave off any potential food allergies.)

BTW, I found this page on Wikipedia, which lists it under its "generic" name, Aframomum melegueta.

I think I need a cooking icon.

[yourmommma.livejournal.com]

I love lentil soup...wish I could come by there for a nice hot bowl of it. Yum!