The cook's dirty lil' buddy.

This evening I cooked a three-course meal for B and my friend Y, who was bringing over her new paramour -- and if she felt strong enough to introduce him, well, it could be something. For appetizer, I simply took my leftover butternut squash risotto, balled it up, dipped in flour, then egg wash, then panko crumbs and deep fried them in peanut oil. Once out on a plate lined with paper, a shake of grated cheese and your good.

I cooked off one of two containers of risotto, about 15 balls. Even though they came out pretty crisp and ungreasy, they ALL went. I guess my guests liked them! Deep-fry, the cook's dirty lil' buddy.

For the main course, I was inspired by a food podcast interview I heard while riding my bike out to Coney Island this morning. A woman was describing her food memories of escargot while growing up in France. She recently started eating them again and was surprised how crappy they were compared to the memory. According to experts she consulted, escargots are always kind of chewy and flavorless -- the reason it's such a classic dish is the butter it's served in, which has parsley and garlic in it.

So I took a cup of parsley and a clove of garlic and processed it to a fine dice. Added a cup of soft butter and let it go till it was a nice light green paste. then added salt to taste. Not a fan of snails, I cleaned and deveined a pound of fresh shrimp, brined it a little, then rubbed the parsley butter on it to rest in the fridge.

I didn't use a recipe, just went by taste. I used elephant garlic, which is milder than normal garlic -- so if you use too much, it's garlicky but not unpleasant. The parsley was a nice flavor enlivened by all the butter, but I goofed. In addition to salting the sauce to an appropriate amount, I over-salted the cooking water. The whole dish was about a half-step into overseasoned. Not a salt-trap, but definitely tasted salty. Upon first bite while tasting for doneness out of the water, I also noticed it was weirdly tough. I went into the fridge and -- ah! I used bread flour by mistake, instead of AP. I would of rolled the pasta less if I knew. Still, the guests ate up their plates, so it wasn't so bad. And the shrimp -- despite the brining, weren't too salty and cooked to a nice tender place.

Whipped out a portion of plain linguine, boiled it while sauteing the shrimp in olive oil and a little parsley butter, then put the pasta and more parsley butter in the pan to cook together for a while. Plated, finished with grated cheese and a few sprigs of parsley. Chef Al would of yelled at me if I didn't add that damn garnish.

Desert was some chocolate chip cookies I whipped up from the extra semi sweet chocolate I had on hand from making the ice cream, a nice sandwich o' sweets, very simple and direct, to end a slightly frou-frou meal. Ice cream was pleasantly undersweet, cookies crisp and fresh.

ADDENDA:
Holy crap, the camera on my phone sucks. I swear the plate looked more appetizing than that!

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, organic cornflakes with organic (but not good) milk, .5 bowl

AM RIDE DRINK: 10am-1pm, quart of WF-brand organic sports drink

LUNCH: 1:30pm, mac n' cheese casserole, black cherry soda, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM TASTING: 7pm, spoonful of chocolate ice cream
Very rich, but on the edge of not being sweet enough. Weird, unsweet is not a flavor you expect out of ice cream.

DINNER: 8pm, 3 arancini, linguine in parsley butter with shrimp, chocolate chip cookies and chocolate ice cream, 1 beer, seltzer, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5