The Rat's Nest

Rattus is back in the kitchen where he belongs! The third episode of Rats Can Cook! is up on YouTube for the first time in glorious HD and soon on Vimeo.

( Behind the cut so as not to overwhelm your Friends page )

Grateful hugs go out to higgs_raccoon for making this possible. And thanks to pistolpup for loaning his penthouse and his time, helping to give this episode that extra touch of class (well, as much as you can expect with a rat in the kitchen), and to ristin for being a Production Assistant.

You don't have to take notes; I have the recipe for Eggplant fettucine with pine nuts and basil online.

Although it seems to offend some furries, ristin and I enjoy vegetarian meals a few times a week. Also, I have a great love of American cooking, which is where a book like Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson comes in handy. This is very much an American cookbook and should have been marketed as such here; most of the recipes involve ingredients that are unheard of here and all of the measurements are in Imperial. Nonetheless, I've done my best to adapt the recipes for Australian conditions, and one that came out particularly well is Marko's Jambalaya. (It was originally called Veggie Jambalaya but any jambalaya worth its salt has to have chorizo sausage in it.) But I can't leave you this recipe without making a few observations about its ingredients:

Black-eyed peas: Other than a band, what are black-eyed peas? I've never seen them in the shops but I haven't yet given up hope of finding them in Australia. I replaced them with chickpeas and was very satisfied with the result.

Filé powder: I searched for this extensively online and came to the conclusion that the only way I can get this in Australia is by begging a friend to mail it to me (but see below under Old Bay Seasoning). It is only through the kindness of guma_kawauso and rally_fox that I have any hope of including this, but I know jambalaya isn't authentic without it.

Old Bay Seasoning: This actually is illegal in Australia. Not content to let market forces keep American ingredients out of this country, my nanny state had to go to the trouble of outlawing it. Not wanting to break the law, my only hope was to find a substitute: Bay Seasoning. (In looking this up, I found Gourmet Shopper also stocks filé powder, which I had missed in my searches earlier. Clearly what I said above was incorrect, but my gratitude to Guma and Rally still stands.) EDIT: It seems my information about quarantine may be out of date and you can actually get this by mail order here now.

Vegetarian sausage links: The original recipe called for vegetarian sausage links, but I couldn't insult a jambalaya like that. I'm a great fan of vegetarian cooking, but this kind of ingredient gives it a bad name, affirming the stereotype that you need meat substitutes to have a satisfying meal. In this case though, you can't have a jambalaya without Spanish chorizo sausages. Rats are proudly omnivorous!

Yes, it's true! The long-awaited sequel to Rats Can Cook! is here.

But I'll be honest with you: The ratings on the first episode tanked and it was a real struggle to get funding for a second episode. As it is, the producers (higgs_raccoon and I) had to make do with a lower budget: No location shoots, fewer characters and a much less impressive kitchen. But it's still a great recipe, and something any furry living on their own can make with a few basic kitchen utensils.



And you can find the recipe here.

It's a little known fact that your rat is a competent, but not skilled, cook. It's a useful survival strategy when the predators are feeling hungry. ;) So, for your amusement, I have put up a selection of my favourite recipes. I actually cooked Tuna Rice Bake (my favourite recipe) while I was in America, and it was well received. ^_^ (Thank you scottish_neko and kendermouse!)