Tuesday, January 11, 2011

There is no Rabbit in Rarebit.







Cheese as a main course is a good idea. When one of the best food blogs posted a recipe for Welsh rarebit dinner for Tuesday night was decided. I wont go into great detail about the recipe because you can easily find it through the link. Consider this a review rather than a how to.

The ease of the meal was perfect for a work night where my petite copine had to hurry out the door to book group. It took about an hour from start to finish with minimal clean up. I had most of the ingredients on hand and only needed to pick up the Brussels sprouts. I made the bread from scratch the day before and had the dough ready to go in the fridge so I called ahead and had the my petite copine pull it out and let it begin proofing on my way home from work.

The results were an excellent and simple dinner. The rarebit was sharp and pungent. The fresh from the oven, made from scratch artisan bread provided crunch to accompany the soft slightly bitter flavor from the rarebit. The ability to vary the recipes is one of rarebit's great features. I could easily see me using different Cheddars, spices or beers(cider would offer a sweeter version) to make the dish all of which would alter the flavor.The Brussels sprouts were tender and fresh. The required no more seasoning than some Kosher salt and some of the residual rarebit. The natural flavor of the sprout provided a clean refresher in between the sharp heady flavor of the rarebit, while its normal bitter flavor made it fit with the over all taste of the meal. If time were not an option I might have used olive oil, rather than safflower oil, and roasted the sprouts lower and slower with garlic and/or fennel to provide a more complex side dish.

Over all the meal was filling and incredibly satisfying. It makes for the a perfect work night meal. A simple meal that fulfills winter's need for comfort food.

5 comments:

  1. I bet rabbits would eat rarebit though. Brussel sprouts are gooooood.

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  2. I never had brussel sprouts growing up and only knew them from the jokes and jeers from others on how horrible they were. I grew up under the belief that my mother had spared me from this horrific assault on my palate (although she didn't spare me from truly horrific frozen fish sticks as a regular Friday night meal choice).

    Anyway, I grew up and discovered for myself that brussel sprouts are downright tasty. This sounds like a great meal, and I've seen Alton's take on Welsh Rarebit as well. And I'm putting it on my to do list to introduce brussel sprouts to my kids.

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  3. I think Brussels sprouts are amazing and I loved them as a kid. We have been working them more and more into our diet and serve them to unsuspecting guests who have to eat them or be rude. Most have really enjoyed them once the over come the childhood terror.

    I think there is something kids like about food in miniature. I loved broccoli as a kid because it reminded me of little trees. For the same I reason I liked mini-cabbage.

    I don't know who thought that the word "stick" should ever be used to describe a food (and I use the term loosely), but they need to be tied up and made to listen to Jefferson Starship on a never ending loop.

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  4. Food in miniature is great - although I suspect selling miniature heads of cabbage to a kid doesn't really raise the appeal too much.

    We had exactly 2 evenings of successful broccoli eating with Ella by calling them miniature trees. After that, she's staunchly refused without giving us a reason why. She's just kind of like that.

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