#LockdownKüche: Cream of Grinch Soup & Co

When I saw Goodfellas for the first time last month during Lockdown Light, this scene felt so familiar! I haven’t tried shaving the garlic yet, but with Total Lockdown dragging on, it’s only a matter of time. (There is a recipe for Goodfellas Prison Sauce. It looks expensive.)

We had all the traditional holiday foods: Raclette with Mr Radish’s parents for Christmas Eve, Pickle Roll-Ups for Christmas Day, and a meat fondue on 2. Weihnachten with a beef boullion seasoned with garlic, ginger, and soy sauce instead of hot oil.

This was followed by the traditional “what the hell am I supposed to do with these leftover zucchini chunks/shrimps/meatballs/mushrooms” panic.

Grinchcremesuppe

The quilter who submitted this recipe to the 1990s “quick meals from quilters” cookbook I bought in a bookstore in an indoor shopping mall(!) called this “Cream of Zucchini” but around here it is Grinch Soup, and I served it with Jingtinglers for #MeatballMonday. Somebody please get the reference and laugh. Please.

Selbstgemachte Fettucini mit Shrimps

Mr Radish bought a pasta machine last month, because apparently we have not been eating enough processed carbohydrates. It’s brought a whole new dimension to my Pinterest browsing; you click on one pin from that woman in Seattle who wrote a cookbook about making noodles that look like the ones you made as a kid and suddenly there’s nothing but crazy-dyed food in your home feed. Sigh.

The maiden voyage was a very simple fettucine, with leftover shrimp, and a “easy melt butter with cream in a pan then add your noodles and handfuls of grated cheese” sauce that I will never make again because all my beautiful Grana Padano stuck to the bottom of the pan.

I have Pasta Goals now. Watch this space.

Blechpizza

Your Blech is your baking sheet. This is the homemade thick-bread-dough crust from your 1980s school pizza, but with leftover mushrooms and olives instead of leftover Sloppy Joes and some sort of Edamer-Tilsiter-Cheddar-Mozzarella mix instead of government surplus.

But that’s kind of a long name, so…Blechpizza.

Vampir-Abwehrmittel mit Hähnchen

We had a cheese fondue on Silvester (New Year’s Eve) and there was some white wine leftover. I paired it with some carrots that had to be used up, chicken, rice, and a whole head of Spanish garlic, chopped instead of shaved. Maybe next time. I won’t call it Risotto, but the consistence is not dissimilar.