"We can thank the meal worms"

"It's good talking to you. I'm grinning. A good way to start the day," imailed our sis this morning as we regaled her with tales told out of school our experimental kitchen yesterday. It was all about spinach. She had advised removing the tough stems and breaking it into bite-sized pieces (left), which we did. As she had predicted, it was great getting literally in touch with our ingredients. But the pieces were still too big for the Spinach Squares we had in mind, so we pulsed it in batches in the food processor (right).

We set out to make something along the lines of Spinach Squares, a kind of spinach bread but the meal worms in the Jiffy mix in our larder changed our mind. We went ahead with spinach, parmesan, eggs, oil, onions and garlic and tossed the Jiffy mix into the compost. The result was a delicious side dish with last night's stir-fry supper, but visually it was pretty flat. No photo ops need apply.

Some call it a tired rubber chicken, others the best spinach omelet ever. It's what was for breakfast down Chelsea-by-the-Sea this morning.

Then came Sunday breakfast, where the spinach leftovers made one of the best omelet fillers ever. The photo (above) is marginally suitable for work. Kind of looks like a tired rubber chicken, but it sure didn't taste like a tired rubber chicken. While we were imailing with Sister Sue about the lab results from the experimental kitchen, we had an epiphany. The spinach dish in our mind's eye is similar to the flourless one we made last night serendipitously, but instead of cooking it in an 8 x 8" pan (we halved the recipe), next time we'll dollop it into our cute little miniature ramekin dishes and bake -- half an hour at 350o, of course -- in a pan filled with water to prevent browning of the edges. A glimpse of sausage being made:

We: That way you'd get your height and have a fun way of serving them.
She: AND, a photo op. I just KNOW it! Serendipity. We can thank the meal worms.
We: LOL. Yes. Who woulda thunk it?
She: Meal worms know everything.
We: And they CARE about us and the children.
She: LOL. Would you cook them at 350o ?
We: How can you ask?

'Sounds to us like a candidate for the Cold Turkey Cookbook.

Update: Tuck says "I do like the experimental kitchen thing. I have yet to send anything back."

Update II: Just to be clear, as there seems to have been some confusion, we threw away the Jiffy mix and did NOT incorporate the mealy worms into our Spinach Squares.

Update III: Spinach Cornbread Squares.

Comments

[goomp]

The omelet looks good, but the technical talk is beyond my limited culinary knowledge.

[jameshigham]

Mealworms in the food? Yuk.

[Sissy Willis]

Heavens, no, James. I threw out the wormy Jiffy mix and made the recipe without the mix and without the worms!