No new posts until July

We're on an family trip for a few weeks where we'll be enjoying the gastronomy of Croatia and Serbia. We're doing our best to document the food and drink experience on the way so we'll have lots of interesting ideas to share when we return.
Until then!

Random ingredient recipe (and low-carb idea): Cauliflower straciatella soup

Last night our fridge was empty, save a few random items. We had several heads of cauliflower, a half dozen eggs and a variety of cheeses including a Pecorino-Romano. In the freezer we had an open one litre container of chicken stock. For reasons I cannot explain, when confronted with a random assortment of ingredients like this, I've been known to dream up some peculiar recipe ideas. Behold my Cauliflower Straciatella Soup! (Please scroll down to see my approximate preparation instructions)

What you'll need:

• 1 medium-sized head of cauliflower, crumbled (see note below)
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 3 cups of water
• nutmeg to taste
• 4 eggs, beaten
• dried parsley flakes or fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, to taste
• about 3/4 cup of loosely-packed shredded pecorino-romano cheese, or to taste
• salt and pepper

Note about crumbled cauliflower: Crumble the cauliflower with your hands as best you can until it resemble a very coarsely crumbled feta (very small chunks). Because we're going for the coarse crumbled texture of the florets, set aside any excess stalk or stems as you do this (save them for a veggie stock or for steaming as a side if you like).

Put the stock, water, cauliflower and nutmeg in a large stock pot and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, pour in the beaten eggs and use a fork to quickly stir the egg mixture up in the pot and spread it evenly throughout the soup. Add the parsley. Lower the heat slightly to a brisk simmer (medium-high heat) and continue to cook for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, until the cauliflower become soft but not mushy. Remove from heat. Sprinkle or shred in the pecorino romano and season with salt and pepper to taste.

With this recipe I discovered that cauliflower, nutmeg and sharp cheese happen to complement each other quite nicely, based on a suggestion from one of my new favourite books, The Food Thesaurus. With that said, I will admit that judged solely based on it aroma, most people would likely pass over this soup. Cauliflower and sharp cheese are both rather strong smelling ingredients, but when it comes to flavour, there's something about this mixture of ingredients that just seems to work.

Personally, I love it; Nat has yet to try it.

Boiling Corn

One thing Matt and I can both agree on is corn. Sweet, sweet corn. It's so tasty and we have both been known to eat an entire can of corn in one sitting (well, maybe that's just me).

Corn for dinner

We even agree on the best method to cook corn - boiling water on the stove. This will be a rare occasion folks, our agreement. So in celebration of that, we've decided to indulge a bit tonight and are having us some corn with dinner!

Apparently there is quite a debate on how long corn needs to be boiled. Some say that you should put the corn in at the beginning, allow the water to boil then cook the corn for a few minutes. Others prefer to boil the water first, throw in the corn and cook for up to 7 minutes. We've decided on the former and will let the corn come to boil and then we'll watch it for a couple of minutes.

Needless to say, I'm very excited. Neither of us had corn in a long time and this is actually the first time that either of us have cooked it without a parent (Matt's Dad cooked their corn and my Mom cooked our corn in the family).

We even learned a new method to butter your corn! You can butter a piece of bread and then roll the ear of corn across the buttered slice and voila! Perfectly buttered corn without the hassle!

What we will learn on the internet next?!

Nat

The curiously misshapen tomato

The envy of all other tomatoes

Nat and I were recently at a local Sobey's when we came across this most curious tomato. Now if a tomato could have a machismo complex, this tomato would have it bad. Rather than leave it to waste away in the grocery store, we bought it, fully intent on eating it. In fact, it tasted perfectly normal and made a great addition to our lunch time sandwiches. We decided to not document the tomato's disassembly and dismemberment, nor did we eat the growth, in part because it had grown moldy by the time we sliced it.

For the record, neither the tomato nor the picture was modified by us in any way. This tomato was exactly how we found it, in all its glory and exactly as nature intended it. As well, for those who may have wondered, the tomato was definitely not an heirloom tomato (but I would assume GMO?). And no, your eyes are not deceiving you, the growth is in fact shriveling, something that increased as time wore on.

What to expect

I'm Matt, the other half of A Matt or Nat of Taste (AMNOT--appropriate acronym?). Throughout AMNOT we will talk at lengths about food and drink. Occasionally we may digress and discuss other things, but we will strive to keep it food and drink focused. To do this, we will share our ideas and opinions--with pictures and recipes/ preparation instructions wherever possible--about the things we love, like or hate to eat.

Our food ideas will range from simple to complex and conventional to peculiar. Typically, these ideas will be my own, with Nat providing her own commentary. At times we will agree, but more often than not we will disagree.

Just a few ideas for posts we have in mind include:

• Cold/frozen chocolate
• Ripened and seasoned pineapple
• Raw broccoli
• Misshapen tomatoes (that aren't heirloom)
• Beer cocktails

More than anything, our goal is to chronicle our food adventures and have fun along the way. We hope you enjoy it and encourage you to rate our ideas and provide comments and ideas of your own.