Recently I've been doing some of my rather crazy food experiments that I call "Frankencooking". I don't really know why this happens... maybe just because I have a procrastination problem with my still-insane workload, or maybe because I don't like following recipes to the letter... or maybe just because I'm crazy and enjoy spending way too much time on bizarre concoctions that are sometimes surprisingly fabulous and sometimes ultimately disastrous, but always great "escape" in the process.

Usually Frankencooking starts with one ingredient that happens upon me for one reason or another. The most recent madness was kicked off by a large Pattypan squash that Fliss gave me from her prolific Pattypan crop this year. The same event had also brought another dozen fresh eggs from Kyle & Jen's backyard coop. So I started wondering, "what can I do with this very bland squash and those wonderful eggs... and some of the other random stuff I have in the fridge & pantry?". 

Well, all I can tell you is that the adventure began with what seemed like "practical" thinking - using ingredients I like that I already have, and trying to create a somewhat souffle-like creature that would also feature garlic & home-grown banana peppers & shrimp & bits of ham & sour cream & Havarti cheese. Sounded pretty interesting in theory. But then I decided to process up the whole garlic bulb with the banana peppers (which made quite a lot). The original intent was to set aside most of that garlic/pepper blend for other uses. But somewhere between loading the kitchen counter with various ingredients and listening to some get-down Reggae and daydreaming, I forgot that garlic/pepper plan and scooped the entire wad into the already rather strange mush I was creating. 

I processed and tweaked and processed some more - totally winging it - no recipes. When I was finished mashing all this stuff together, I added the chopped shrimp & ham pieces, some homemade basil pesto and I'm not really sure what else. I decided to bake these in small-ish baking dishes (a single person thing), assuming that after about 10-15 minutes, I would peek into the oven and find them exuberantly rising and bursting forth like happy souffle-like creatures. But alas... there was no rising or puffing or exuberance of any kind that I could see. So I let them go a bit  longer before peeking again. Still no exuberance - no fluffing - just awkward-looking goo in baking dishes that, if they could talk, would ask "why?". 

Finally I had to acknowledge that these were not souffle-like at all, but rather hopefully a bread pudding-like texture? After about 40 minutes in the 375° oven, I pulled the little strangelings out and set them on the counter to cool. About 15 minutes later, I decided to have a taste and test the texture. The texture was mush. The taste was certainly flavorful... full of GARLIC!!! Jeez! No vampire could ever survive that - even just my breath could wipe out a whole cave full!

I was somewhat bummed and annoyed at the tremendous waste of time and ingredients that had gone into producing this inedible mush. However, I was still not daunted! I decided that I would throw the cooled mush mass into my groovy little food processor and make a garlic paste of sorts, to be added sparingly to fabulous dishes that require a respectable garlic hit. So I processed again... and it actually worked. I now have a rather amazing batch of a garlic paste that is truly tasty and interesting... complex and robust... garlicey and playful. 

Of course I haven't actually tried adding my new mega-garlicey paste to anything yet, but I printed about 10 recipes from the internets tonight that seem to have potential. No, I won't follow any of these recipes exactly because none of them call for "super-garlicey goo-paste made from al the stuff you happened to have in your fridge that night". 

So, I'll wing it again. If I'm lucky, I will create a likable food monster that won't wreak havoc on the village.