| Simple Food |
[Jul. 20th, 2016|01:40 pm]
e_moon60
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Part of the process of getting healthier after hitting The Wall is trying to eat better. Having been eating on the run and grab-and-go even with foods in the house for too long, this is getting back to my kitchen roots, with some enhancements learned from cooking shows on PBS. I used to be able to throw together whatever was in the fridge to make a satisfying hot meal (with weekly additions to the fridge, of course) with things I called "concoctions" that were never quite the same twice. And I'm working on that model again.
Last night's supper comibined the last of the package of small Polish sausages with various vegetables, a can of Ro-Tel with lime & cilantro, and rice. It went sort of like this:
Dice about half an onion, two ribs of celery, a largeish carrot, about 1 1/3 green Bell pepper. Throw (gently) into saute pan with a couple of tablespoons of bacon fat already good and warm, but not smoking hot. Hot enough to sizzle. While those are sizzling along and becoming tender, start cooking the rice in separate pot. Start slicing the sausages into thin slices. Add sausage to the mix in the saute pan. After a few minutes, add the can of Ro-Tel to the saute pan. Stir around, consider. Dig some veal demi-glace out of its jar and add that. And some Worcestershire sauce. Put the lid on and turn it to low, while waiting for the rice to finish. I knew the sausage had garlic in it, so no additional garlic. Later wished I'd added about a clove, minced and put in to gentle with the rest.
When the rice was done (about 20 minutes) everything was ready. Put rice in bowls, put the mix from the saucepan on top. Needed tiniest touch of salt.
Today's lunch. Summer lunches in brutally hot weather need to be cool lunches. Cottage cheese with diced raw vegetables are always a good bet, but I had been seduced by the summer sausage all too visible in the fridge. Diced a little of that, and celery (two ribs) and mixed them with cottage cheese with some medium grind black pepper and a shake of paprika. Other days I've put in diced carrot and diced celery, or diced carrot and diced Bell pepper, or diced Bell pepper and diced celery. Something crunchy and cold. If there's one slice of some deli meat left, I'll dice that and throw it in too.
Tonight, if there's enough, the leftover rice and sausage, with added sliced black olives. If Someone hasn't eaten them all. If someone has, or has eaten last night's leftovers already, there's the quick chicken soup--defrost a quart of homemade chicken stock, and a package of cubed chicken, and throw in diced (same stuff as above) that's been sauteed or not depending (interesting both ways), some yellow corn and some chopped frozen spinach. And maybe that last bit of pasta from the sack with the bread tie on it.
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