This is not a hedgehog returns

I know it has been a while between my education series titled 'This is not a hedgehog', but it is back in action. Today's example is as follows.


This is a hedgehog (actually this is two and it may have been three but it looks like the large one at a smaller one).



But this.....


















...is not a hedgehog

Gastronomical update

The good news is dinner went well. The risotto was creamy, the vegetables were sultry and the salmon was cooked to perfection (more good luck then good timing).

The corinader seed crust was surprisngly untasty according to the love of my life whereas I personally thought it had a slight hint of south east Asia, the tasty part of course and not the open sewerage sections.

The cream sauce, with its infusion of kaffir lime leaves was okay and this might be from the fact I smoked for many years and haven't done for 12 months now but I think my tastebuds are still waiting for a Jesus-like resurection, which I am hoping will come around Easter.

As far as the buttermilk bread goes, it was a nice touch. Light, fluffy and very white, it was like eating cottonballs, which in itself if probably not the best selling point considering that cottonballs get quite sticky and rigid after dousing in contact with saliva for a prolonged period. Don't ask how I know that, I just do.

Today the kitchen will be a lot quieter as there was left over risotto that I am now going to roll into balls and coat in breadcrubs and make into, well, risotto balls. Still haven't decided on what to serve them with but I may even just nick down to the deli and grab a bunch of cheeses, a kind of hot canape if you will.

We'll see.

There is still half a loaf of bread left so no need to worry about that just yet although I do need to consider what to bake for the mystery duck dish tomorrow night. Bread rolls perhaps? Maybe a crunchy baguette?

Dinner for how many?

This week has started with a bang. Not a literal bang but more of a slow rumble in the background that will explode soon enough in the kitchen. You see, I've been on a cooking bender. It's kind of like an alcohol bender but without the headache. So far this week, and it is Tuesday remind you I have:

MONDAY

Baked a Swedish Caraway Bread: Not exactly sure what makes it necessarily 'Swedish'. There are several things leading me away from any solid conclusions.

• According to Googlebox, caraway in Swedish is actually "kummin" while cumin is "spiskummin", from the Swedish word "spisa".
• It did have orange rind (carefully skinned off the orange to avoid the icky white part that makes the peel taste like battery acid) but again, not all that commonly associated with the Swedes. Having said that, the Swedes do have a thing called the Vortlimpa, which has orange peel and caraway but also fennel and anise so maybe my loaf was a poor cousin to the Vortlimpa, which I think if my geography is right would make me Iceland.
• The bread was dense. Really dense, which is another reason why it can't be Swedish, because as we all know, Swedes are smart nuts.

Also on Monday I hunted around for a duck.

TUESDAY

Baked Buttermilk Bread

• Not sure how it turned out but I did run a loaf of it around to a friend's place and am currently using them as my crash test dummy. Upon delivery in a pretty pink tea towel I departed with the express orders that if it tasted horrible just to chuck it in the bin. Hopefully it doesn't dent the bin.

Marinated Duck

• This is kind of top secret but I'll give you a hint, it's a duck recipe that takes three days to prepare and cook. Today was the first part, the marinade and the de-boning of the duck. Not hard at all really.
  

Slow-Roasted Spice Crust Salmon drizzled with creamy lime dressing served on a bed of roast vegetable risotto

• Yep, like I said, today was a busy day in the kitchen. All the prep work is done for both these dishes except for the crusting (is that an adjective?) of the salmon which I will do just before I launch it fins first into the oven. You want to make sure the freshly ground coriander seeds are at their freshest, which is generally when they come out of the pestle.

I'll let you know how it goes.