I don't have an actual recipe to share this week, though I have had a good food week. Last night I went to my FBM buddy Kelly's house for a girls' night of kvetching and cooking. We had decided to make pretzels and rarebit. Neither of us have ever made pretzels... in fact we both have a slight fear of yeast doughs. But together, we overcame that fear and turned out some darned tasty pretzels. So, I had nothing to do with the mixing of the dough. Due to scheduling, Kelly started the dough before I got there, but she assured me this was a simple task. While we waited for the dough to rise we drank beer, bitched, laughed, and made Chard gratin with some gorgeous chard I had gotten from Yellowtree Farm. I traded a bit of logo design work for food, you see. We also snacked on some Yellowtree radishes sprinkled with salt... a simple but amazing delight.
We used Alton Brown's pretzel recipe. It seemed traditional and well-tested. We also used Alton's recipe for the rarebit. Rarebit, in case you are not familiar, is a beer cheese sace. It is manna from the goddesses, really. Tangy, creamy, salty, cheesy. It's magic lava... put it on toast, fries, burgers, potatoes.... whatever tickles your pickle. Mmmm... pickle.
We made the pretzels half the size that the Alton recipe said to.... because they are cute, and you can eat more of them! :) The pretzels turned out sooo good. They tasted like soft pretzels, but more fresh and more buttery than what you'll find off a rotating sunlamp at the ballpark. Not as buttery as mall pretzels, though. And the rarebit? I mean. I am drooling remembering this dinner. And I am smiling thinking about the laughs we had throughout the evening. Cooking with friends... just do it, people. It will make your soul swell.
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