Coconut pudding, soup, and steak

Ever had a bad week? This week had no reason to be bad. I wasn't terribly busy. I didn't have a ton of homework. I did follow people I didn't know into my house Thursday night, but honestly, other than that freshman year flashback, everything was going according to plan.

And still I was exhausted. I was cranky, and I totally slammed my bedroom door to make everyone attending the party at my house know that I was not pro-party when I had to get up the next morning early. To make matters worse it was freezing outside, and inside because our windows were put in, in 1932. Oh and the best part of the entire week was when I emailed the head of maintenance to "remind" him that if he didn't fix the lightswitch for our bathroom and someone fell and hurt themselves, the management company would be held liable. I was just asking for someone to call me a bitch, because when it happened (I was pretty much counting on it happening.) I was going to smile and say, thank you, I work damn hard for that title.

The only cure for such a terrible case of an unexpected bad week is running away. Tembleque and potato soup and steak tonight have done their part as well. Tembleque is a coconut pudding that is served cold. I was never a fan of coconut growing up, it was a texture thing, but as an adult I can't get enough. One of Matt's favorite desserts is coconut cream pie. Any guesses where I run away to when I run away. He just gets me, and appreciates my need to be a bitch sometimes, emphasis on sometimes.

Here's the templeque recipe, trying it is a must!
1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt

Mix salt, sugar, and cornstarch in a saucepan. Add in the coconut milk. Turn the stove on medium. This is the tricky part. You want to bring the mixture to a boil, because it won't thicken till it boils. However if you bring it to a boil too quickly you'll end up with lumps that won't go away. Keep the stove at medium and stir constantly. You will see lumps, but a few are fine, because once the whole pot thickens the lumps will disappear. Keep it boiling until everything is smooth and thick, a pudding consistency. You can pour this into pretty much any mold. Tonight I poured it into a loaf pan. Wet the pan to make sure you'll be able to flip it out. Refrigerate till cool. Once it is cool, flip it out onto a plate and serve it.

While the templeque is amazing, adding a little toasted coconut to the top of it makes it even better. I put about a 1/4 cup of sugar, 2 cups of coconut, and 1 tbsp of butter into a frying pan. Fry till the coconut gets a little color. It's like candy. I was actually surprised at how good it turned out.

The soup, well you'll have to wait till the next post. I need to watch a few episodes of Sons of Anarchy and think about the homework I should be doing. Maybe I'll go grab a little more of that toasted coconut too.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily