I have a pah. It's spelled 'pie' but I like to say 'pah'. So anyway I have one.
I have a pah because I bought the wrong kind of yogurt. I went to buy plain whole milk unpasteurized Guernsey yogurt but I got vanilla instead. Both yogurt containers have a picture of a cow on them and I only looked as far as the cow picture.
I wanted to make Greek yogurt. I used to make this waaaay back when the same product was called 'yogurt cheese' and only hippies made it. I used to use it in place of mayonnaise. I used to make my own yogurt too. This is because I don't watch a lot of television and I don't play a lot of video games and I'm beginning to think I should start.
So I made the Greek yogurt, only when I went to drink off the whey (which I like; plus, if you fart a lot this will totally cure it. Someone please buy me a Gameboy.) it was totally sweet plus it tasted like vanilla. I drank it anyway and it was good. But that still left me with a pound sized lump of sweet vanilla flavored Greek yogurt about the size of a grapefruit. I had no idea what the fuck I was going to do with that. It sat in my refrigerator. I thought about it.
Two days later it was still there so I decided to make pah.
A yogurt pah.
When it was done I made a little heart on top of it with some Hershey's chocolate syrup but the top of the pah was still warm so it spread out. Now it looks like the floor of a tavern where loggers hang out; plus there is a bug on it.
It is a a fruit fly. It is 41 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Why are fruit flies dying on my pah?
YOGURT PAH
All ingredients at room temperature:
1 pound of whole milk Greek yogurt made out of vanilla yogurt, well drained and firm
1 package of plain cream cheese
1 tbl vanilla extract
1/3 cup of honey
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
4 eggs
Whup all these together until they are completely shiny and smooth.
-1 graham cracker crust in the aluminum pan like how you buy at the grocery store in the freezer case
Bake the crust for 15 minutes on 350. Cool to room temp.
Dump the filling into the crust.
Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.
Make a heart design on top with some Hershey's chocolate syrup using your ass.
Pick off dead bug. Or just sink it and smooth over the place with a wet spoon.
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GREEK YOGURT
I have no idea why this is Greek or whats supposed to be so Greek about it. It looks nothing like any Greeks of my acquaintance.
Utensils you will need:
One fine mesh strainer or some cheesecloth doubled over which you will have left over from making laudanum
One bowl to catch the whey
-Dump the yogurt from its container into the a. cheesecloth and hang this in a bundle over the bowl overnight. b. strainer, put this over the bowl and leave it overnight.
-Drink off the whey to keep you from farting so much.
What is left in the a. cheesecloth b. strainer is Greek yogurt. If you leave it go longer in the a. cheesecloth b. strainer, you will have yogurt cheese. It's good to cook with. I really don't care what you use it for.
If you don't ever fart and you're standing there looking at the bowlful of whey going 'ew there's no way in hell I'm going to drink that shit' you could make Kimchee instead.
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KIMCHEE (makes about 16 oz)
One head of NAPA cabbage. Has to be Napa cabbage. You will think 'Holy crap this is a lot of cabbage' but have faith.
One bunch scallions (about five or six scallions)
brine (very salty water which you make yourself using KOSHER salt and water. Add enough salt to the water until it tastes oceany. That being said, do not use sea salt or worse yet, sal gris that some old broad in France scraped off the beach and is full of seagull crap and dried shrimp buttholes; use PLAIN KOSHER SALT. It's simply a better, cleaner product.)
flavoring-
Garlic
fish sauce, sparingly...its salty and rather assertively flavored
Mild chili powder
toasted sesame oil
fresh ginger
1/3 cup whey off live culture yogurt, plain
-Wash your vegetables very, very thoroughly. Core and cut up the Napa cabbage into bite sized pieces. Take the root end off the scallions and pitch, rough chop the rest. Put the chopped veggies in enough brine to cover them. Wash them around in the brine with a spoon and then put a plate on top of it to keep the veggies submerged.
-Leave overnight.
-Drain the veggies and pat them dry with a towel, or put them in a salad spinner. Reserve about a cup of the brine. Taste it for saltiness; you might want to add a little plain water to make it palatable.
In a blender or Cuisinart, mix together the spice ingredients. I used about 1/3 cup chili powder, half a head of garlic, about three tbls of ginger (peeled and grated) and then the fish sauce and sesame oil to taste. You know I also used hot chili powder but I went into this assuming you were kind of a weenie so I neglected to mention that in the ingredient list.
With a spoon or your hands, blend the vegetables, the whey and the spice mix, coating every surface. It will smell SO DELICIOUS!
Put the whole shebang into a very clean glass jar or crock. Tap it on the counter to get it to settle and bring the air bubbles out of it. Now, top up with the brine. Fasten the lid on but not too tightly. Now place this into a plastic bag and fasten that shut. What's going to happen is that this whole mixture will begin to ferment, which is exactly what you want, and it will need to be able to spill out a bit. The bag is to prevent a mess.
Store this in a cool, dark place. Check it every day, morning and evening. In about two or three days it will begin to ferment and you'll have a mess, but the bag will have caught it. Clean up the jar, tip out some of the juice if you need to, then fasten the lid down but don't reef on it. Now put it into another clean bag, fasten the top and put it in the refrigerator.
Keep on checking it. If you need to, change the bag and clean up the jar. This is all perfectly fine; it doesn't mean the kimchee is spoiled. But yeah, since this is fermenting, it might leak again. Then again, it might not. I don't know. That's the fun of cooking. Sometimes everything goes according to plan, and sometimes things explode and you end up with a bagfull of broken glass and cabbage and crap in your refrigerator.
This will keep for about 30 years. You can dip out a little whenever you want and eat it on rice, or your dog, or even put it on a hamburger. It is supposed to be one of the top five healthiest things you can eat. No kidding.
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You'll still have a lot of whey left. My advice to you is to drink it because you really do fart a lot more than you think you do.
Monday, November 08, 2010
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Its called greek yoghurt becuase thats how they eat it in Greece , for breakfast with honey. I never knew how they got it so thick ...so now I know.
ReplyDeleteI will not be drinking the whey as farting is the only pleasure I have left , and what would I do at parties when left alone with a box of matches...eh! did you think of that.
However I digress.I am rarely squeamish with food but KIMCHEE!!!.
WHY!
Why would you do that to a cabbage.
I wouldnt be the man I am today If I ate everything that festered and exploded in my fridge.
***sprinkles seagull crap and dried shrimp buttholes on dinner***
Greetings, fellow pronouncer of "pah". I blame Andie McDowell in possibly one of the scariest moments in the movies ('Michael') when, sat in a diner she trills "pah, pah, mee-o-maahh". I didn't look away in time and now pie will always be pah to me.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have to eat this kimchee before it explodes - or do I have to scrap the glassstained glop out of the fridge as delicatesse? At least the apparatus might get cleaned one a decennium ...
ReplyDeleteGreek yougurth contains around here garlic, onions, Gurke and maybe even rings of pepperoni, salt, pepper, spoonful (huach!) of oil (extra vergine the good one!). You can have half of yougurth and Quark. Ad some white bread and drink cold retsina. Trousers explode, it's called Greek Fire and fruit flyes go as little black vanilla dots.
if you fart a lot this will totally cure it
ReplyDeleteBut maybe I enjoy farting a lot.
Did you think of THAT?
*joins Beast under the stinky duvet*
Oh my, Mago, what a big Gurke you have!
Beast says
ReplyDelete"Ooooooooh MJ"
***PARP***
"Oooooooh Beast" gasps MJ
***GUFF***
***TRUMP***
We shall draw a discreet veil over the proceedings at this point but you get the picture
If you click here and then direct the hand to the Pillsbury Doughboy (Beast’s stand-in), you’ll be treated the sounds as they are heard live from under the stinky duvet.
ReplyDelete*wafts blanket in Ms. Nations' general direction*
ReplyDeleteGreasy when peeled!
ReplyDeleteI'm pissed my comment didn't post! grrr....(gonna copy this just in case!)
ReplyDeleteFirst Nations, you are one funny broad! I too use Greek yogurt along with a bit of mayo to lighten up salads and also in place of sour cream!
Secondly, I really was moved by your previous post on bullying. I'm so glad you wrote it and you are very brave to do so. I'm glad you didn't succumb to the shit life threw at you but over came in the end. Truly only the strong survive. Thanks for sharing such a poignant and personal part of yourself.
Favorite pie is Pumpkin associated with memories of fighting with younger brother for last piece, I won but not until the pie plate had been knocked to the kitchen floor. Retro
ReplyDeleteBeast: Those crafty Greeks. Thats one of my favorite snacks, Gk.yog with honey. Did you know, room temp live-culture yogurt will cure everything? It will. I have cured many a barfing baby and many a grownup stricken with the dreaded 'screen door blues' with room temp yogurt sweetened with a little honey? I have. It works.
ReplyDeleteAs for cabbage, this is NAPA cabbage I'm talking about. Not german. Napa cabbage is a whole 'nother kole, sweet Beast. The flavors mix so delectably. You are obviously a victim of bad kimchee. This stuff is AMBROSIA.
Arabella: Michael? Would that happen to be the movie about the vampire who was turned as a teenager back in the 1700's and stuck that way, only now he lives in the midwest and he has senile dementia and calls in to this radio station at night all the time, and everyone thinks he's a retarded kid? I don't remember the 'pah' scene. Gimme a linkie.
Mago: That very dish is called 'Tzatziki' here and it's used as a dip for vegetables. Quark cheese is made here not ten miles from where I live! Try not to eat broken glass. It's not good for you.
MJ: Everyting goes back to sex and indiscreet bodily noises with you.
Beast: see above. Good gravy Marie.
MJ: THATS ENTIRELY ENOUGH. *flings Beano northward*
Mago: I always leave the peeling on before I grease mine. The little thorny things too. I like my vegetables louche.
La Diva: welcome to you! The older I get the less I like the super greasy mouth feel of Mago's gur I mean mayonnaise. When I can be arsed I make my own mayo too, with lime a la mexicaine. And thank you for the comment about the last post. Took me 50 years to feel safe enough to write that.
Retro: The only way I like pumpkin is the nice smell when you carve it for a Jack-o-lantern. *grapples with Retro for pumpkin* I wanna make a face in it! C'mon let me just stick this knife in it! Don't waste-dammit, gimme the punkin!
Sorry I have only tried making a pah with REAL pumpkin once, as a lonely 14 year old who combined TWO pah recipes and wound up with a very tough crust, stringy pumpkin and over spiced because I used DOUBLE the amount of spices, Hoo boy! Have I learnt my lesson.
ReplyDeleteI prefer canned pumpkin thanks, the cans make rather more permanent jack-o-lanterns which strictly speaking began as large turnips and I wonder what turnip pah would taste like? Retro
Retro: Ass.
ReplyDeleteOh your 'Michael' film sounds a whole lot better than the Andi McDowell trilling one. That has John Travolta playing an angel, with actual wings. There is a cute dog though. You will need to be veh drunk to enjoy it. Whatever happens don't blame me.
ReplyDeleteGreek yogurt is good, but it is no SKYRR. That is fatty, thick, not icky sweet, creamy lusciousness from Iceland. I could eat that every day for the rest of my life and be happy, and I fucking hate eating yogurt on its own.
ReplyDeleteThe pah was gooooooooooood, I can see why Dad had a hissy fit when you tried to give me ALL of the rest. It was ahhhhhhhhh-maze-inn.