Yesterday when my sister called she asked what I was cooking. I said it was complicated to explain, well, just please read the blog. I was exhausted from my workout and wanted to put the food in my body and nourish it fast. I couldn't even say it was a "rice" bowl: using rye berries as substitute for the grains and sea asparagus dashi as the cooking liquid; and while that was simmering slivered almonds were toasting in the bread oven to add to the rye "pasta" for flavor depth a few minutes before al dente. And you guessed it: alfalfas on top to serve. Yes, I could've said simply rice bowl because it was like "that," and I suppose it's a veritable trade. But it wasn't at all - for lack of a thick sauce, grilling the ingredients, and the requisite egg commonly assembled for that namesake, and normally could be had at food trucks everywhere they're parked, or get the famous Korean bibimbap. If you have read my blog before (perhaps follow it; much thanks to that), how I season food is pretty spare (oil, salt, spice, acidity) - and I let my ingredients (mostly vegetables, fruits and legumes) speak for themselves. And I'm never disappointed. The Jewish deli flavor to this bowl of rye, seeds, the dill quality of the asparagus is complimented with the raw freshness and very cleansing effect on the palate from the sprouts. If you happen to have Bulgarian feta, add crumbles around the bowl and swirl a little olive oil for added decadence. You see, my eldest sibling wouldn't have time to listen to all that jazz, yet she always gives me the blessing to write.
Notice the germinating seedbed at background to the bowl photo, no, they're not the alfalfas but future micro super greens and kale growing on my "garden" table, and the kit I got on Market St. In about ten days I will have food grown home and literally inside my kitchen. When sis calls again next time, weekends is routine to catch up, I will proudly and happily tell her, I'm eating leaves. PS. She actually has a great garden of her own (a real one backyard) with prolific fruit trees (peaches, grapes, pears) growing the California way and easy-to-grow vegetables like eggplants, bell peppers and okras, which are quite versatile ingredients for stews and soup dishes. She has an amazing green thumb and, news to everyone: a much better cook than yours truly. She got it from our late Mom, always acing home food; the classics I could never replicate but she could (and I would eat with abandon when I visit her and feel always nostalgically like a child). It's music to my ears when it's my turn to ask what she's cooking, and every time sis tells me what, I feel that "She's" really there... for us.
Post a Comment