Down in the treme

I don’t know why I didn’t take something out for dinner in the morning.

Maybe my hearty dinner at Caplansky’s for our book club meeting the night before made me want to put off choosing some meat.  After all, I had the Cabbage Borscht to start, following by the biggest knish I’ve ever seen, complete with smoked meat sauce and then their big salad to finish.

I had brought home a Caplansky burger for my fella – 20 % smoked meat, 80% ground beef – but told myself that one person can only have so much smoked meat in a day, so I didn’t even have a bite.  Maybe secretly I want as many excuses to go back there as possible!

So I winged it up until the last minute last night. Not my usual style, but planning too much can be a bad thing, so I thought, “Okay Dickison, what are you going to come up with? Is it going to be your usual boring standards of roast chicken, meatloaf or pork tenderloin?”

I left it up to:

- what I found at the grocery store and

- what I could remember I had on hand at home.

Here’s what I turned out:

Baked Tilapia with Southern Crust (breadcrumbs seasoned with Cajun All-Purpose Seasoning, brought back from Louisiana by our good friends Jill & Rob)

Coconut Ginger Rice

Fresh Farmer’s Peas topped with Horseradish Butter

Chickpea Salad with Roasted Red Peppers, Black Olives and Fresh Basil Leaves in an Olive Oil Vinaigrette

Broccoli Coleslaw with Onion Dressing

Not one of those things are a part of my repertoire, so I think I did okay. Plus my fella made “mmm” sounds all throughout dinner.  Our amazing neighbour John came in the door fresh off his tour with the popular band Holy F***,  and ate a heaping plateful and gave it a 9 out of 10 (Because giving it a 10 would seem insincere, he said. I told you he is amazing).

Because I am so easily influenced (see my previous post I Totally Fell For It), I was trying to think of where I got my idea for all of it.

I’d like to think it is because I love the Treme (HBO) character Kim Dickens is playing – she’s this amazing chef just trying to make exquisite New Orleans food after Katrina and she’s having a helluva time staying afloat.

Of course it could simply be that the tilapia was cheap and cheerful and everything else was just what I bought and had in the pantry.

But there’s no romance in that version. I think I’ll stick withthis, my simple ode to the Bayou.

Hell’s kitchen – part 3

By the time Saturday arrived, I was dying to cook something incredibly involved and time intensive.  The weather however, was so lovely and hot that all thoughts and plans of doing anything in the oven had to be postponed.

Instead, I broiled steaks, marinated in a rich blend of herbs and spices, grillled olive oil drizzled asparagus spears and thick slices of orange pepper, and served some fresh grape tomatoes, Bibb lettuce, tabouli bought at the farmer’s market in the morning and some leftover bean salad.

While this concoction drew raves from my fella, I was disappointed.  I wanted to get right in there and create something wonderful and complex.

The following night I couldn’t do anything too extravagant as I was prepping for an interview with an author, so I not only had to finish the book, but prep the questions for the early morning meeting.  I threw together a turkey stir-fry with cashews and jasmine rice.

I know this might sound elitist, but I’ve always thought of stir-fry’s as meals that you make because:

1.you don’t know how to cook or

2. you’re too tired to make anything else.

I just wanted something healthy to sustain us while my fella and I worked into the night.  I have to say that it was absolutely delicious, thanks to fresh veg from the farmer’s market, juicy turkey strips and a little drizzled sesame oil, fresh ground five spice and topped with cashews atop of perfectly cooked rice.

But I still felt like a lazy bastard for doing a stir-fry.

Food, glorious food

I finally made it back to the stove.

After a long day of walking the city, I came back to my hood to do a big grocery shop.

Ahh, so nice to have fresh goodies in the house!  But before putting them away, I cleaned out the fridge – ooh, there’s that lovely chicken chili I made last week and the pesto pasta that I thought we finished…

Then I put everything away.  With one small cupboard and one small fridge, this always means that I have to take out the majority of the items before I can make room for everything.

Really, it’s a whole thing.

Two hours after I had come through the door, everything is finally put away and the kitchen looks pristine.

It’s now time to make dinner.  I pull everything out and start the assembly.

My menu for tonight is:

- Roast skinless, boneless chicken breasts stuffed with wild leeks, fresh basil and lemons.

- Boiled new potatoes with olive oil and fresh dill

- Organic kale with garlic and horseradish

- Chopped salad of romaine, yellow peppers, endive and radish

I was tempted to do a big soup as well, but all that chopping and cooking took another hour or so, and I had started on a dessert (yes, I’m trying to learn to bake) that is going to take a couple of days, because you have to let things cool in the fridge in various stages. So despite how tired I was from the whole process, I was very close to just cooking all night.

However, I remembered that there is still tomorrow and Monday is a holiday here, so I may take a couple of hours in the afternoon to do something slow-cooked.

It is so good to be home, cooking again.  I am like an actor who just found out she got the part.

Tonight’s audition: finish the 3-part dessert (it’s a surprise), homemade soup (I think something minestrone-esque) and something from the new Jamie’s America cookbook.

The follow up

The lamb the other night?  Amazing.

Broiled with olive oil, real lemon juice, fresh rosemary, chopped garlic, salt and pepper, it was soft and moist, with a crusty, charred top.  Oh my.

I served it with baked organic sweet potatoes (the brightest orange I’ve ever seen) and chopped collard greens with lemon and garlic.

So, it’s going to be hard to top tonight, I’m afraid.  I mean, how do you follow something like that?  With something that was so simple and yet so good?  It’s like a comedian who has to follow Jerry Seinfeld – good luck!

Well, I’m going to damn well try.

Tonight I’m making a beef curry.  Indian curry with pakoras to start, jasmine rice and assorted veg on the side, and parathas to sop up the sauce.

And if it’s not perfect, that’s okay.  There’s always next time.

It’s only noon, but already I’m swooning at just the mere thought of it.

Uh oh, I think I just drooled on my keyboard.

A night of endless pulsing

A good friend of mine was telling me she wishes she used her food processor more, but it’s downstairs in a cupboard.  Going and getting it and then setting it up is quite a hassle, so she doesn’t use it.

And with our lack of space, there’s nowhere for me to put one.  I’ve been using this mini chopper my Mom got me about a decade ago to chop, dice and mince my way through.

A couple of weeks ago, a farmer my Dad and I visit suggested I try making kale pesto with the fresh bunch I’d just bought from him.

It only took 6 batches with my tiny little whipper snapper of a machine to do the whole thing.  First I steamed the kale, then chopped it and added it in minuscule increments along with fresh lemon juice, olive oil, sunflower seeds, fresh garlic and salt.

Yes, it was fantastic, but damn exhausting.  It took about 45 minutes.

One day I’m going to have room for every appliance I’ve ever wanted.  And one of those big restaurant stock pots that are too damn big to keep in any cupboard.