To paraphrase a bit…“the mind works in mysterious ways…” and it seems that is almost always true when I’m figuring out dinner…
I am always reading and collecting recipes. If I never collected another, I probably have enough to get well into the next decade – cooking each one once.
Thing is, though – I rarely actually cook a recipe as written. They’re concepts. Ideas. Visual aides to get the creative juices flowing.
Last night’s dinner is a perfect case in point.
I get a daily email from La Cucina Italiana – in Italian. Conde Nast discontinued the English version of the magazine years ago – I’m still pissed at them – but I also still read that email every day.
The other day they had a recipe for Tortino di patate con uovo e tartufo bianco d’Alba – Potato Cake with Egg and Alba White Truffle. The picture looked pretty good.
I mean… put an egg on anything… I’m there!
Alas, our local WinCo was all out of Alba White Truffles – in fact, they didn’t have any truffles in stock. Still, poached eggs and potatoes… the concept intrigued me…
The potato recipe was a bit of a spin on Potatoes Dauphinoise – thin-sliced, par-cooked in milk, layered with cream, baked in the oven. Milk and cream are two things I generally don’t have in the house because when I do, I make Ice Cream – what can I say?!? One of many guilty pleasures…
But I do have a way of cooking thin-sliced potatoes in a small skillet with butter – covered and over lowish heat and flipped so they’re crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. I figured they would work – who needs truffles, anyway?!?
And I thought a chicken cutlet would be the perfect accompaniment – breaded with panko and parmigiano reggiano.
Dinner is Served.
Well… almost… I got the potatoes and chicken on the plate and was just about to put the egg atop the potatoes when I thought it would actually work better on the chicken! And in this instance, I was right. It was the perfect addition to the crispy cutlet – and the potatoes were just fine without it.
I seem to do a lot of mid-cooking/last-minute switch-ups and changes in the kitchen.
If only I were as flexible in body as I am in mind…