Thoughts on Stretching and Buttercream

and a new podcast episode

First things first - there’s a new episode of The Food Podcast out this week - An Idea to a Story. You can listen and find show notes over here!

Thanks for listening,

x Lindsay

thefoodpodcast

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My husband James and I went to pilates together for the first time this week. It’s been three days since that first class and my left gluteus max and min are still angry. James says he’s too sore everywhere to isolate exactly when the pain began. It might have been the fire hydrant pose, when we began in table-top then lifted a bent leg up and down repeatedly, or maybe it was when we drew circles with our legs, then had to do it again, in reverse?

So here I am standing at the kitchen counter with my knee bent beside the stand mixer, trying to release some tightness while casually dropping cubes of butter into glossy egg whites. I’m making a Swiss meringue buttercream, which is a lesson in patience. If you add the butter too quickly, the mixture will curdle. If the butter is too cold, it the mixture will curdle. If it’s too warm, it will melt the glossy egg whites, and curdle. If the glossy egg whites are too warm, they’ll melt the butter, and curdle. If you leave the kitchen window open beside the stand mixer because the birds are singing, the spring breeze will curdle the mixture too. But I did get a stretch in. 

Stretch has been the word of the week. 

I let Dottie out of her crate in the early morning. She wiggles with delight then leans into a downward dog for a big, long stretch. 

My parents, sister and family and my kids and a girlfriend stay for dinner on Monday night. The sheet pan of chicken and fennel looked measly, so I add wedges of cabbage and cook a few cups of rice to stretch the meal.

My friend needed nourishment delivered to the hospital where she’ll be staying with her son for the week. I simmer farro in a pot on the stove and add it to a quick salad to make it stretch. 

I roast fat wedges of carrots and toss them in a capers, garlic and herbs¹ for Easter dinner. The next day I make them again, they were that good, but this time with big handfuls of spinach. I want them to stretch.

The tulips on the mantle are about to go. I take a picture and post it; I want to see the before and after. People chime in with the penny trick - drop one in the water, and watch the tulips perk up. It will stretch their lives, they say.

Too much stretching isn’t always advisable. I took care of my calves while making Swiss meringue buttercream. I stretched my quads, my glutes and my shoulders too. I didn’t notice the woody hydrangeas blowing outside. The wind had picked up, the temperature dropped, and the window was still open. The Swiss meringue buttercream curdled.² 

I nestled the bowl of the stand mixer in a shallow pan of simmering water and stirred, carefully, until the mixture softened. Then with tense shoulders I whisked it again slowly, then faster. There was 454g of butter in this bowl, four egg whites, sugar, vanilla and a carefully simmered and sieved blackberry purée. I am a stretcher, a kitchen economizer, a use what you have kind of person. I was going to make this work. 

Breath helps, it soothes the stretch. So I breathed through it, and eventually, the buttercream came back together again. 

That’s what our pilates teacher said would happen. Find your breath, and you won’t fall apart. 

1. This is an excellent roasted carrot recipe. Even for the non carrot lovers

2. How to rescue a curdled Swiss Meringue Buttercream