Polenta:
* 3/4 cup popcorn kernels milled in coffee grinder
* 2 cups chicken broth (homemade)
* hefty pinch of kosher salt
* admirable nob of butter
* heavy-handed grind of pepper
Bring broth to boil, add ground corn slowly to incorporate without lumping. Turn to low, cover and cook for at least 5 minutes depending on how finely you milled the corn. Test it. Pour into bread pan and press flat. (I used a teflon-coated bread pan and wet a large spoon with tap water so it would slide across the surface. Had to keep dampening the spoon.) Allow to cool, it firms up quickly. In one quick motion invert the bread pan and knock out the stiffened polenta. You might want to say a little prayer first, or perhaps curse the polenta gods if you like living dangerously. Cut into squares. I got eight squares.
Sauce
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1 shallow tablespoon flour
* 1 cup chicken broth
* S/P
* powdered garlic
* powdered curry
* cayenne pepper
Made the usual unspectacular way as a butter/flour roux except with additional powdered seasoning elements. You know you're on the right track as soon as the seasoning hits the hot butter. I'm very careless with adding liquid to the roux. I never take it off the heat or concern myself about hot VS cold broth, I just add it and stir continuously to make sure it doesn't lump, and if it does lump then whisk it to submission, which doesn't happen, and if that would fail, and it never does, then the immersion blender is right there to whirrrrrrrrrrr out the lumps, but I never get to use it for that. The flour thickened sauce doesn't fully thicken until it boils then it thickens further as it cools, same as the polenta, you need to take all that into account if you want a thin sauce.
Shrimp and scallops
* pan fry in butter briefly until they turn opaque, about 2 minutes depending on size. That's all. The worst sin is to overcook them.
Blueberries because I had to move them when I was digging through the freezer for the shrimp and scallops and I thought in that moment, "Why not?" Turns out, they were perfect with the curried-fiercely cayenned chicken broth velouté sauce.
I'm developing this idea, recombining its elements in different ways, working on a style, an éclat if you will. That's right, an éclat. I have my failures worth noting.
* 1 shallow tablespoon flour
* 1 cup chicken broth
* S/P
* powdered garlic
* powdered curry
* cayenne pepper
Made the usual unspectacular way as a butter/flour roux except with additional powdered seasoning elements. You know you're on the right track as soon as the seasoning hits the hot butter. I'm very careless with adding liquid to the roux. I never take it off the heat or concern myself about hot VS cold broth, I just add it and stir continuously to make sure it doesn't lump, and if it does lump then whisk it to submission, which doesn't happen, and if that would fail, and it never does, then the immersion blender is right there to whirrrrrrrrrrr out the lumps, but I never get to use it for that. The flour thickened sauce doesn't fully thicken until it boils then it thickens further as it cools, same as the polenta, you need to take all that into account if you want a thin sauce.
Shrimp and scallops
* pan fry in butter briefly until they turn opaque, about 2 minutes depending on size. That's all. The worst sin is to overcook them.
Blueberries because I had to move them when I was digging through the freezer for the shrimp and scallops and I thought in that moment, "Why not?" Turns out, they were perfect with the curried-fiercely cayenned chicken broth velouté sauce.
I'm developing this idea, recombining its elements in different ways, working on a style, an éclat if you will. That's right, an éclat. I have my failures worth noting.
Rejected photos, éclat fail.  
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