Terms I Can't Bring Myself To Use

Sammie
As much as I like Rachel Ray, I just can't bring myself to say "sammie" in place of "sandwich." I don't call them "sammiches," so it feels wrong. It's a bit too cutesy for me. Rachael Ray has a proclivity for needless frippery in regards to culinary nomenclature. See what I did there? I could have just said she uses cutesy language for her food. Instead I needlessly changed out the language. A sandwich doesn't need a nickname. It needs a side of potato chips and a pickle spear.  Also, I associate the word with something entirely different.

Probably not what Rachael Ray had in mind.

Slider
"Slider" is a very specific term to me. It does not refer to any small sandwich. To me, "slider" refers to a hamburger from White Castle. I feel like my belief system is being challenged when I see any fanciful small sandwich called a slider. Sliders are called such for good reasons. They slide out of the box. They slide down your throat. They slide out of...well, you get the idea. If you have a small hamburger or sandwich and you didn't get it from a White Castle, it's not a slider. It's just a small hamburger or sandwich.

Harold and Kumar enjoying sliders (or slyders), aka White Castle hamburgers.

Spatchcock
The problem here is that, according to my wife, I have the maturity of a 12 year old. So when a recipe calls for spatchcock, or someone tells me that they had some spatchcock last night, I have a hard time not reacting inappropriately.

I'll just keep calling it "butterflied" until I can grow up.

Fondant
 I know fondant is all the rage with cakes and cupcakes and the like. There is no denying the end result of skilled fondant use is truly amazing.

Then you get something like this.

However, fondant does not look appetizing to me in any form. It reminds me of paraffin, which I try to avoid using in my cooking if at all possible.  Nor does it even sound appetizing. Fondant sounds like something you'd use in masonry.

Well, that's enough gentle fun for today. Good times!

Recipe: Pistachio-Basil Pesto (via Rachael Ray)

     You can never go wrong with pesto. It goes with just about anything. I've used it with pasta, chicken, fish and beef. It's just incredibly versatile. I found this particular recipe in my good friend Rachael Ray's magazine. I was drawn to it because it used pistachios instead of pine nuts. I don't normally keep pine nuts in the house. I do, however, keep pistachios by the pound. We also had a huge supply of basil from the garden, so we made a lot of this.
     We did find that this is cannable! We doubled the amount of lemon juice when making the recipe for canning. We then loaded it to about 1/4" shy of the top in a half-pint jar. Process in a boiling water canner for about 15 minutes. We haven't gotten sick from it yet, even using pesto that was about a year old! Granted, if you can it and manage to get sick, obviously I never recommended canning in the first place and you probably did something wrong, so I can't be held responsible.

Pistachio-Basil Pesto
(via Rachael Ray)

Ingredients 

• 2 garlic cloves 
• ½ cup shelled pistachios 
• 2 cups loosely packed basil 
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice 
• ½ teaspoon salt 
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 
• ¼ cup Parmigiano/Romano cheese 

Directions

1. Pulse garlic in food processor until chopped 
2. Add pistachios, basil, lemon juice and salt. Pulse until nuts are finely chopped 
3. Add olive oil gradually through food chute and process until well combined 
4. Add cheese and pulse 2 or 3 times 

Makes about 1 cup.
Per tablespoon: 70 calories, 7g fat

Good times!