Jil McIntosh: Rude, Lewd & Tattooed

From the kitchen today: tofu!

Well, having a jar of dried soybeans in the pantry, and with the "gotta try that recipe" mentality that I have, I thought I'd tackle tofu. And it turns out I was successful! I have, indeed, produced my first block of tofu, which tastes surprisingly good (at least, for something that has little inherent taste) and gives me quite a feeling of satisfaction.

It will also give my husband something to talk about -- up until now, the "why on earth would you bother to make that" dish for him has been the marshmallows I made a couple of years ago. Hey, I thought they were pretty good.

Anyway, if you should ever find yourself with a bag of soybeans and a burning urge, the best and easiest recipe I've seen is here.

Summer produce: A new role for radishes

Despite a ridiculously cool June, and too much rain followed by too much drought, my vegetable garden is now starting to offer a return for the sore back and scuffed fingers I've put into it. A few days ago I harvested a goodly batch of radishes (they would have been sooner, but I planted late), and last night, I got my first summer squash: yellow, green and pattypan.

I had some mushrooms on hand, and so I threw those into a pan along with the sliced squash. And then I looked at the radishes. I'd cooked them once before, a while ago, when I read a recipe and decided to try it, and they turned out to be quite good. So I cut the radishes in half and then, just before the pan was ready to come off the heat, I quickly tossed them with everything else, so they warmed up but retained their crunch.

You've probably only had radishes as a raw, cold snack, but they're actually very good as a cooked vegetable. The secret is to just get them heated through, but not so much that they're mushy. Their red color fades to light pink, and they add a crunchy blast of peppery flavor to a stir-fry. Highly recommended.

More on cooking is funny ...

I'm still working my way through the Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook, and the hits just keep on coming. If anyone knows what "bread filling" is, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm never going to be able to make Stuffed Ground Beef, where it's an essential ingredient alongside beef, cabbage and tomato juice.

If I don't find out, though, all is not lost; I can still make such treasures as Yum-se-setti, China Dish (I suspect it's the cup of brown rice you add to beef, cream-of-chicken soup, cream-of-mushroom soup, celery, onions, and Worcestershire sauce), BeanTator Tot Casserole, the surprisingly upscale Beef Stew with Shiitake Mushrooms (although you can substitute plain white fungi if necessary), and the appetizingly-named Shipwreck, which combines ground beef, potatoes, kidney beans, tomato soup, and the ubiquitous Velveeta cheese.

I have to admire the thought process of the contributor who named her dish Pigs in Blankets. While I've always known it to be pork sausages rolled in pastry -- hence, a pig wrapped in a blanket -- this one requires that you roll thin slices of beef, and then wrap them with bacon. But I suppose the more accurate Cow in a Pig Blanket doesn't sound quite as appetizing.

And I bow before the taste buds of the originator of Grandma's Chili, which reminds me of the story of the princess who could feel a single dried pea through a dozen mattresses. Grandma fills her slow cooker with a large onion, 2 pounds of ground beef, 28 ounces of stewed tomatoes, 16 ounces of kidney beans, 15 ounces of Hormel chili with beans, 10 ounces of tomato soup, and one teaspoon of K.C. Masterpiece BBQ sauce. Hey, it's those little unexpected extras that truly make the dish.