Adventure Awaits!

So you've stumbled across my blog and were taken in by the title or graphics or both.  Good.  Now the adventure can begin.

What, you may ask, is a recipe pirate?  The idea came to me from a cartoon my children were watching at one time.  (They have since stopped watching because the series began to get increasingly inappropriate.)  Anyhow, the show was based on a chef and his apprentice.  In one of the episodes, the chef has to go back to school to get recertified so he can keep his catering business open.  Being the creative soul he is, he deviates from the recipe with dire consequences from the teacher.  By the end, he does not receive his recertification because he is dubbed as a "recipe pirate," or someone who does not always follow the exact recipe.  That, my friends, is where I come in.

I love cooking.  I can spend hours walking through the farmer's market or grocery store just thinking of all the culinary possibilities awaiting my kitchen.  I swoon over cooking shows and recipe books.  I also love kitchen gadgets. It's gotten to the point that my family will leave me in the kitchen section of a store and come back for me later, much like you do when you leave your children in the ball pit at IKEA and come back when you are finished shopping (or their time  is up).  They just check in on me to make sure I haven't wandered off or anything.  Truth be told, they pretty much find me where they left me, even if they've been shopping a while.  Sort of sad, really.  But I do it in the name of culinary exploration.

I can say a plus side to my fascination is the fact that it's rubbing off on my children, who have also begun their own culinary journeys.  My oldest has finished home economics class in school and isn't shy about stepping into the kitchen to make simple recipes.  My youngest has dubbed himself my honorary sous chef and helps out quite a bit.  We try out new recipes and critique them according to our tastes.  Everyone gets involved.

My latest critique was of homemade granola, tried out last week.  I found a recipe on Food Network and decided to give it a try.  Once tasted, my palette and my mind automatically went into overdrive thinking of ways to improve it for next time.  (And I confess, I didn't exactly follow the recipe then.  I didn't add any of the dried fruit, I added one cup of sliced almonds instead of the cashews, and I put in some crispy rice cereal.  It was good.)  I think I will add in some golden raisins, a touch of cinnamon, and possibly some flax and/or wheat germ the next time I make it.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

All of my recipes are like this.  I start with one thing, then I tweak and adjust until it's my own.  Check out what I mean:



This was in a magazine I used to get from Kraft Food and Family.  The original recipe wasn't bad, but I needed a bit more.  The final result was delicious.  My kids even ate it! And yes, I am aware that I spelled "zucchini" wrong in the recipe.





Quite a few of my recipe books are like this.  Some aren't marked at all; I just keep the changes in my head and add them as I make the recipe.  I keep thinking I need to write them in so someone else can make the recipe but I haven't done it yet.  Honestly, it might not get done at all.

Now this doesn't mean that all of my recipes are like this.  Sometimes I just need a starting point for what I'm thinking of making.  I take the basics and adjust them, much like many others have done with the basic cake or cookie recipe.  Sometimes I have a flavor profile in mind and create recipes to reflect those flavors.  Other times I feel a bit more adventurous and challenge myself to create a meal out of whatever I find in my pantry and fridge, sort of like a mad scientist.  All part of the creative process.

I've got some recipes I plan to try in the next week or so.  One for zucchini pancakes looks heavenly.  And I just bought some zucchini at the farmer's market, so the test run may be sooner than later. 

Stay tuned.