Eating Sunday: Whipped Cream and Other Delights

I confess to owning this album, but sadly no one was dressed up in whipped cream for this post…

At various times and for various reasons, I have given up meat, forsaken pork (even bacon), quit coffee, gluten, sugar, soda pop, and chocolate (that one hurt). There was a time when I was so poor in college that I lived for longer than one ought to on primarily rice and peanut butter. But I can’t, won’t, shan’t give up my dairy products. Even while traveling in China, I scrounged for condensed milk for my instant coffee and tracked down one of the very few western restaurants at the time so I could get my hands on a tall glass of cold milk. The perfect food, it is not. But in all its incarnations and for all of its applications, I love dairy.

Tonight’s post is very dairy-centric; healthy, but not really low in fat content. Dieters, don’t try this at home!

The field is really wide open, but where to start? I was tempted to use my mom’s Mandarin Orange Salad (“salad” is used here in its loosest possible 1950’s sense) – cottage cheese, mandarin oranges, orange jello, and whipped cream (or as my mom did it, Cool-Whip). Yeah.

I’ll admit to liking it despite knowing what goes into it, but I’m saving that for a white trash blog post. Instead, let’s go in another direction…

I love mashed potatoes and gravy, but I actually wanted something lighter. I started with sweet potato (okay, garnet yam).

No matter what they say, yams are not a tit-for-tat replacement for the beloved russet, but I can treat them the same way- whipped with butter and Greek yoghurt (this time studded with red chili). The image above is after baking in the oven which has a more vibrant taste than boiling. The color is slightly altered artistically, but there really is a shocking orangy-ness that disappears once you add in the dairy goodness.

Next up, rainbow chard; beautiful and too often the overlooked stepchild on my table, despite how easy it is to prepare, fast to cook, and delicious.

I also threw in some baby bok choy to lighten the taste…

Just a quick sauté in sweet butter until they lose their body and they are done! Even better if you dress them up a little…

I made a white sauce of a butter roux and cream, then blended in homemade balsamic syrup…

I grilled a chubby portobello…

…in a mixture of goat butter (because sheep and cows shouldn’t have all the fun) and rosemary.

Tasty, but what mushrooms really need is a bit of steak perched on top.

One of my favorite ways to serve steak, spiced simply…

…and grilled rare, then dressed with a smudge of gorgonzola.

Then, the classic cheese, nut, and fruit course. It’s a sign of the times that a hundred years ago, this would have been dessert, but is now more of a winter palate cleanser. I will not get all foodie political here, especially since it serves my interest to serve both.

My favorite apple, pecans from my mother’s garden, and the impulse buy at the cheese counter!

Lastly, for dessert, I pull out the cocoa…

Add the milk and cream and salt and sugar…

Suck it Swiss Miss! Homemade almond cocoa with homemade frangipane whipped cream. On the side, a little scoop of coffee chip ice cream to balance the piping hot drink. A good place to be on a winter evening. Moo!