The Good Plate

Archive for the ‘Reconstructed’ Category

Dressed Lobster and Rose Salad

Recipes in this Post

• Lobster Rose Salad
• Lemon Butter Dressing

When I was a little girl, my mother used to go on about how she loved going to her grandmother’s house when she would serve Lobster and Rose salad. I was always hoping that my mother would recreate the recipe, but she never did.

When my great-grandmother was making this salad, lobster was a lot less expensive. I decided that for my birthday, despite to cost, I would recreate Christine Jorgensen’s recipe myself.

I went to the market and bought a small lobster tail. I broiled it and put it on the table to cool before putting it in the refrigerator. All of a sudden, I heard a ker-plunk, looked up, and there was our Maine Coon cat, Miss Rolo Louise Knocker-Offer Boswell, looking guilty, with the end of the hot lobster tail in her mouth, trying to run off with it. I ran up to her and said “Hey, you can’t have that. That’s MY dinner!” I grabbed it, and washed it off. I don’t think she had gotten a chance to eat any of it.

Spane and I had the lobster and rose salad for my birthday dinner. When I tasted it, I could understand why my mother had gone on about how good it was. The combination of buttery lobster and astringently sweet rose was an incredible treat for my mouth. It was truly amazing!

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On rainy days, the first thing some people think of is a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. I thought of that, too, but since The Good Plate is all about reconstructing packaged foods, I decided to make tomato soup from scratch.

You will find that it is just as easy to make as opening the can. You probably have all the ingredients already on hand, and it’s very economical, too.

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I had a dream, yes I had a dream. I dreamed of cupcakes with blue butter cream frosting.

I’m not much of a cupcake person, but they are nice if you’ve got a lot of kids. They are easy because you don’t really need a plate, and you don’t need a knife, and you don’t have to worry about someone saying their piece of cake is too small or too big. All the cupcakes are the same size.

Usually, I make a butter cake, similar to a 1234 cake, but it makes a three layer cake, and that was just too much for cupcakes. I know that a regular box of cake mix makes enough for cupcakes, but I don’t like things that come in a box. So I made my own box cake with fresh ingredients.

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Recipes in this Post

• Marzipan Pixies

From Other Posts

• Pixie Wings

Double Header!

Well, today you get a double header. There is a craft project and a great dinner you can try. Originally, I had the recipes for the Chicken Kabobs with Rice Pilaf and Yogurt Sauce in this post, but I decided they needed to shine on their own, and the marzipan pixies needed a page by themselves.

As some of you know, I was making stuff for Noelle’s birthday and had at that point only made the pixie wings from hard candy. Now, I have completed the the pixies themselves out of marzipan.

What is marzipan? Marzipan is mostly crushed almonds mixed with sugar. It differs from almond paste in that it is more firm, and more suitable for creating figurines. When I was growing up in Germany, there was a wonderful bakery that for Christmas, made the Nativity scene with gingerbread, and all the figurines were made of marzipan. It took up the entire window, and everything was edible!

I want to thank Tom Fox for his inspiration, lending me the marble to make the wings, and for taking the final photos of the girls! Thanks, Tom.

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According to my web site statistics, some of you have been searching for the recipe for the Salmon Corn Cakes from A Taste of History. Apparently, there is only the video and the book, but no transcribed recipe on the Internet. I was curious so I watched the video, and I’m going to make these, and I thought it was a good idea to write everything down before I make them. I don’t have a picture yet, but when I do make them, there will be a picture, or maybe even a video!

One of the things I really liked about the recipe was that the salmon was fresh, poached in white wine. You could probably use canned salmon, but the flavor would be way off.

The other thing was the use of roasted corn. I saw that the chef roasted the corn with the husks on and did not let the kernels get roasted at all. I would let the kernels get a little roasted, just to add flavor.

The whole dish could be prepared on a Weber, or in a hearth if you want to stick with the 18th century. Of course, it could also be prepared on a regular stove, but we’re trying to be a little authentic here, right? We’re going to do this on The Weber.
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Spinach Salad with Bacon Dressing, Grapefruit and Candied Pecans, an interesting way to have this famous salad. The grapefruit, blue cheese and candied pecans make a party in your mouth! Read the rest of this entry »