COOKING BACK: A FOOD RUN
A BISQUE MEAL
"A dish belongs in a meal, and the cook has to plan the meal so that what goes with what makes gastronomic sense." (the Ms. Julia Child)
Gigandes beans long marinated in vinaigrette (and already cooked through tender; from Whole Foods) plus shaved raw brussels sprouts are the two main ingredients of the dish to make this Sunday (and thanks to another cook who'd mailed me some of her fantastic homemade vegan and gluten-free table crackers using sunflower and flax seeds) with this to enhance the ensemble food I was already thinking about makes total sense together and deliberately - a harmony of flavors given the base stock I have of tomato-broccoli (overcooked and liquefied and pressed down with a masher to tidbits chunks) - the key is thickness and smooth in texture of the soup that will be instantly rich (the beans will be mashed too in the process) leaving only the tendrils of the cabbage to delight you like strings.
I am a soup guy (I have written about it frequently here); there is something about the thermo-healing chest effect it does to my heart and health that's perfectly slurp-able hot straight from the edge of the bowl (oriental-style) that really makes me grateful to the universe I have this to eat (with my bisque, though, I will have it a little more formal with a silver spoon), and savor slow and dipping the crackers genteel. (This is a collaborative meal, and the invite to my table is vicarious in manner.)
My view of gastronomy is akin to the quantum concept of super-partner particles of matter paired up to create vibrational resonance (indulge me here, folks, a stretch, this reference is attributable to the current book I'm reading - Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe - I am steeped in its descriptive science, it helps the way I think by complement, as is with Ms. Child's. In other words, if a devout cook is to understand (or already had got it through his long practitionership in culinary) why things are the way they are, or why ingredients taste the way there are - in the most fundamental level - then his food will be beautiful and balanced, and presciently verified, as poetry is also his trade, so he will unify his food story and please the palette.
HER TAKE AND EAT IT TOO
Photo by T.M., from her kitchen in CA. |
It's beyond delight a follower of my blog created her version of fruits and greens salad using my recipe and sending me a photo message excited how it turned out - and here it is! I think it looks amazing and delicious, the combination of ingredients so colorful, the faithfulness to the use of my dates and edamame but with a twist of strawberries is great, T.M. said that the dressing was key and that the balance I had guided her to be sensitive about in incorporating everything was the harmony in the eating-to-taste satisfaction, and a food job well done. Kudos T.M.! May our sharing be inspiration to others as well through your initiative: transforming my writing into reality at your table. I feel so honored. Much thanks to you. Enjoy your fruits of labor.
"Some of the best cooking is done with virtually no tools" (Irma S. Rombauer, from the The Joy of Cooking). Gardening to grow your own food is fundamental to that artisanal kitchen. I remember this reader of mine sharing a story about her vegetable patch in the backyard prolific with sweet potato leaf-vines and harvesting them as salad greens to blanch lightly and juice with lime or lemon only, a little salt, and bowl it up with steaming rice laced with sesame oil and chili flakes and spoon away the uncontrollable umami - what a rustic take on a beautiful, simple meal connected intimately to your home, straight to your heart's health! There are other nutritious greens from roots vegetables you can use with this quick blanching technique other than all varieties of potatoes, so please eat beets leaves, parsnips, yuccas, yams. And don't forget the rice (bowl) presentation. Eat the flowers, too, if they have them after you decorate your plate. Above all love what you do in your kitchen while cooking - because your garden just outside will be happy. I can see it.
A TAGINE OF DATES AND NUTS
GROWING PEAS
My favorite vegetables in the universe (in food form) are pea tendrils cooked classic Chinese-style (Cantonese tradition) of simply emboldening the ingredients with not much to it but a few confit of garlic, rice vinegar water to liquify and a dab of oyster sauce to braise quick. I could eat a platter of it by myself at any given restaurant that serves it, and if I'm really hungry (which is always due to the chronic exacerbations of stomach pangs because of my plants-only diet) while the rest of my group merry away at their dim sum baskets on Canal St. in NYC, I remember when still living there, I would order another plate of pea vines and chopsticks away to my heart's content. Speaking of restaurants not found on island serving authentic dim sum, that's the very reason I'm growing my own produce (hence in photo the success of seed to fruit) and just in a matter of few months of tending and caring, not to mention the exceptional growing climate here all year round, I have them peas growing. My vegetable garden has a variety of green edibles intentionally intermixed in the ground to create a natural environment of biodiversity mimicking a grazing meadow's multi-flora biome that left undisturbed would allow ecosystem services to take its own course (think of a rainforest creating its own bloomings and provisions, a climate of renewal food). I will leave the peas on the vine until full maturity (say a couple more weeks outside the sun) and flourish plenty to take; the tendrils grow aggressively in harmony to support the hanging pea pods and these green outburst-tendrils are gold to me when harvested. I can't wait to cook them and feast!
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