Where to begin?

Today's menu was all about the Bechamel sauces. I'm not sure what prompted it exactly, I think it might have been the rice with bacon gravy I made the other day.

So for my first meal of the day, I decided to go with rice and cheese sauce. I grated up some sharp yellow cheddar, and made a typical cheese sauce, but with one extra twist: I sauteed about a tablespoon of chili garlic paste in the butter, before adding the flour to the roux. It came out delicious. The texture and thickness was dead right for once, and strangely stable. I guess I just got the amount of milk plus roux plus cheese just right, as it just hit a point where the thickness just wasn't gonna change. Usually I have a problem with my Bechamel sauces, in that they don't stay the same texture for very long, but this was dead perfect. And something about the whole combination actually made the chili sauces' contribution more mild and almost sweet, as opposed to the heat I would normally expect from what was actually a bit more than I use for, say, my spicier ramen soups.

For dinner, I went with a mock Alfredo with tuna and spaghetti. I say mock, because, lacking heavy cream, I instead made do with a Bechamel base. A more traditional Alfredo derives it's sole thickness from the heaviness of the cream and the melting cheese, as well as the starch given off by the pasta, and this is generally how I prefer to make it these days. But, in a pinch, if you're sure to cook the roux just right, it works well enough to fool most anyone, and probably bears more resemblance to that jarred stuff in the store that most Americans are familiar with than the authentic recipe does.

-------

My most recent big experiment was crepes jambalaya. I'd been feeling the urge to try a more savory crepe dish, after the semi-success of my previous experiment with sweet crepes had gone relatively well.

I'm not sure what my big interest is in crepes exactly. Ever since I saw the crepe episode of Good Eats, they've sort of nagged at me, always begging me to try them, yet until recently, despite repeated recitations of the old standby, "I should really try that sometime", I hadn't yet had the courage to try them.

I think perhaps because they do have a reputation as a notoriously challenging dish to make, and in something of a surprise, Alton's presentation of the subject actually did much to reinforce that image in my mind. Perhaps this image fed into a conception of their crafting as a sort of right of passage for a cook. That by mastering the crepe, I would somehow be proving my worth as a cook.

In practice, they certainly did prove to be quite a thorough pain in the ass and, in all honesty, I'm not really convinced the effort is actually worth it. The sweet crepes I made during my first attempt were reasonably tasty, but the more neutral crepes I made for the crepes jambalaya just had an odd flavor that I'm not sure I cared for, and certainly didn't wow the way I would normally demand from a dish that took so much craft and effort.

The jambalaya itself on the other hand, has spiraled into a recipe all it's own, one which I'm actually quite proud of. For the crepe filling, it was really a simplification of the stuff. I chopped some bacon and got that rendering in a small saucepan, then added half a diced onion. While that sauteed I whipped up a quick broth/seasoning combination, using dashi for the base stock, and adding black pepper, a healthy dose of chili paste and even some sriracha, and oddest of all, Montreal steak seasoning.

The resulting flavor combination was superb, and rolled up with a tiny bit of grated cheese, really carried the whole dish.

I've since attempted a more complete version of the dish, made in a larger batch with a full compliment of vegetables, while still keeping the same base ingredients, and the recipe is excellent. The main thing it lacks is meat, I've yet to have the opportunity to try it with a decent compliment of meats. Perhaps soon I'll try adding some chicken to the mix, and it occurs to me I missed the boat on using some of the Italian sausage that we had bought in massive bulk from Costco, as all of it has since been consumed.

I basically ate nothing but jambalaya for a whole week, between the crepes, and the second, larger batch, which as well as eating on their own, I also rolled up into some tortillas with a bit of sour cream, sriracha, and grated cheese.