It's All Worth It!

Had another of those moments.  You know the ones, where up until it happens, all the years where I've been slaving away with no recognition, and a dwindling hope of ever seeing any returns to the hours and hours I've spent on a project seem wasted.  And then suddenly, the light breaks through.  Your son spontaneously asks if he can help with dinner.  And the help he gives actually makes dinner prep shorter, instead of longer.

If I'd known it was coming I would have arranged a party.  Instead we got to sit down to dinner at least 15 minutes sooner than I had thought, and got to enjoy a nice leisurely dinner.

Sure, now, it doesn't sound like much.  But I have spent the last 7 years or so cooking around and with my son.  Up until now, involving him has always made things take longer.  He has either needed my help all the way through a process, or needed help completing each step, and guidance on to the next.

The colander was in the sink before I needed it, the Parmesan cheese made it on to the table with out me having to do it, he poured his own milk, and the lettuce was washed and torn into the salad for me.

I have high but realistic hopes.  This won't be a regular feature.  That would make it a job, not an adventure.  But when I need him, he can pitch in, and make the impossible more likely.  And when it is his turn to venture out into the big bad world, he'll already have some practice in the care and feeding of himself.

Good One Kiddo.

Cooking for People with Allergies

Once again... faced with the start of school, and kids (and parents) who can't eat A, B or C.  My solution - switch cultures.  No meat makes no sense when eating middle American Cuisine.  Vegetarians and Texa BBQ just aren't friends.  But cooking non-meat substances over smoke and infusing it with a tangy sauce... Sure just check things out a few time zones over - the Japanese have their own version.  Or Viet Nam, or Thailand.... and then when you get to India the choices are so vast as to be overwhelming!

One of the most surprising best things I ever had was an onion bhaji where the onion had been smoked 1st.  The tamarind based dipping sauce with lots of cumin was the perfect compliment.
(Onion Bhaji is for lack of a better description Indian Tempura.  This is often made with a besan (chick pea) flour batter, along with a few spices in the batter, so works for all sorts of "can't haves.")

Anyway - I always see it as a personal challenge - and start working my way around the globe.  Whatever you can't eat... there is a cuisine that never had it in the first place.  Just strap on you shoes and start walking.

The CSA bag Arrived!

...and no zuchinni, and YES tomatoes!

Sure yellow tomatoes, and peaches and plums and lettuce and....


Anyway, when it was time to make dinner, this was inspiring, but not dinner.

A quick peek in the fridge revealed a hodgepodge:

Pre-cooked quinoa I had vacu-bagged and frozen (and thawed),
left over onion,
bacon drippings
and some left over hot-dog buns (bakery kind),

along with the arugula, cucumbers and tomatoes from the bag

- and throw in some garlic.

So far so good - except my son doesn't like the "smoosh"
of the seedy part of the tomato.  This melon baller to the rescue.

(Before I had a kid... suck it up kiddo.  Now that I'm doing the mom thing, if it'll get you to eat something I really like, I'll meet you half way.)

So instead of just throwing in the little yellow tomatoes whole, I sliced 'em in half, and scooped out the "smoosh."  It helped that the boy helped.

 (Trivia alert:  At one point chef's were trying to pass off this stuff as "tomato caviar"  And yet the French have a specific process for removing this as an undesirable part - along with the skin - concasse. Huh)

Back to dinner:

Saute the onion in a bit of the bacon drippings. Brown edges on the onions says I'm ready for...
About half of that arugula torn up and thrown in the pan, wilt it.

Shrapnel from the smashed bag of frozen broth.
The boy likes to bang them on the counter.

Turn down the heat and pour in the quinoa.
It was pretty dry, so I broke up a ziploc bag of frozen broth and tossed in a few pieces of broth-ice-shrapnel.
Cover with a lid, and let the liquid soak into the grains.

Now all it needs is a fork!

While that is warming away, chop  chop up the cumber into wedges, sprinkle with a little salt and sherry vinegar.

Toss the tomatoes into the warm quinoa & friends, move it to another bowl, because I ended up having to fry the bread in a little more of the bacon drippings.

The salad needed a little vinegar too, along with some pepper.  It needed a little salt, but we went with some parmesan instead because that was more fun.

A useable recipe follows in the next post...

Fire Makes Zucchini Good

And then there are the days when there is just too much zucchini to deal with...

Wouldn't it be nice if you could prep some, cover it up and throw it in the fridge and deal with it later?  Especially if doing so meant it would be really tasty?

Yup found one of those:

Grilled Sesame-Soy Zucchini

Ingredients:

1 medium zucchini - regular or ball
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil

Equipment:

sharp knife
cutting board
metal spoon (optional)
tightly closing container you can leave in the fridge for several days
grill, grill pan or rack you can place over a drip pan in the oven (eventually)
tongs/chop sticks

Cook:


When faced with that last zucchini that you know you have to do something with, but are all out of ideas... rinse it off and trim off the ends.  If it is a ball, cut it in quarters and scoop out the bitter seedy flesh inside.  If a regular long zucchini, cut it in half, and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds.

Either way, you want to be left with the dense flesh beneath the seeds.  Cut your zucchini (both sorts) into crescent moon shapes no wider than your pinky.  Place them in a tupperware or zip-top bag or other water-tight container.

Pour in the soy sauce and sesame oil in with the zucchini, and shake it to combine.  Place it in the refrigerator, turning it when you remember over the next 2 - 5 days.

When you are in need of a vegetable for a meal, take out this zucchini.  Remove it from the marinade.  It will have left a fair bit of liquid behind, and be a little wilted looking.  This is all to the good.

Cook it by either grilling it, cooking it over a stove top on a grill pan or suate'ing it.  In any case you want nice brown cooking marks to show up on it.
Alternately you can put it on a rack over a pan at 425˚F for about 15 minutes until the edges get a little brown and crispy.
What ever you do, I hope you, like I was, are pleasantly surprised at the unexpected deliciousness of zucchini relegated to the back of the fridge for several days.