Staking a Claim: Cooking
Well, I am somewhat back amongst the living, or at least the pain-free. My back is much better today and I am beyond blessed to have a boss that texted me yesterday morning to say, "please stay home if you are still hurting." Lord...I was so relieved that I cried.
Today, after an hour or so of adjusting to the day, I am doing pretty good. My guys all took good care of me and the boys even remembered to occasionally ask how I was feeling! Despite sort of a lost week we did manage a couple of good meals. After posting about a meal recently my friend forsythia commented, You're probably the only person I know who (1) cooks when she's that tired (2) ends up with something that looks like a page in Bon Appetit. Well, my food hardly looks as good as magazine food but she's right...I do like to cook when I'm tired or not feeling well. It somehow seems a way to fight back, to save the evening in my memory. I can't quite explain it. Now, yes, when I'm really down I end up eating popcorn but somehow I often feel that if I cook a good dinner then I at the very least am making my mark on the day. I'm not sure it that makes any sense....maybe someone else can articulate it better.
So the night my stomach was still feeling tender I made arroz con pollo and damn, why don't I do that more often? I just browned cut up chicken pieces, took them out of the pan and dumped in a bunch of arborio rice (because that's what I had) and browned it slightly. Then I added a bunch of cut up green onions, a few chopped garlic cloves, some oregano, some saffron, some salt and pepper and a few red pepper flakes. I stirred everything until it was all wilted then mixed in a can of chopped tomatoes (well, a can of whole tomatoes that I chopped up by sticking a pair of scissors in the can and slicing madly), chopped roasted red peppers I found in a jar in the refrigerator and some frozen bell peppers I found buried in the freezer. I set the chicken back in the pan on top of it all and cooked it covered about 45 minutes at a low heat. It was heavenly chickeny goodness.
The next night Ernie and Owen made pizza. Owen had cheese and sausage, Ernie and I had broccoli, onion and sausage. That night I was really hurting so they did all the cooking and the thinking which, as we all know, is the hardest part of cooking.
Last night I was doing a bit better so we again pulled some chicken out of the freezer---because there wasn't much else to choose from. I just threw salt and pepper and smoked paprika on it and tossed in a pan to roast at 450 degrees. While it was cooking I took a bunch of young celery and pureed it with nothing but vegetable oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper.
During the winter our favorite farmers' market guy Greg delivers vegetables every couple of weeks. He has these bunches of celery that I adore. It's young, with not all that much of a stalk, but it's more than just leaves. It is so crisp and bright and sweet I can't tell you. I just cut off the very ends and threw it all into my ancient blender. The boys refuse to let me use a newer blender because their Grandmother (Ernie's mom) gave it to us to make milkshakes in....and suffice to say....it is sacred. Anyway, the celery turned into this luscious sauce that tastes of utter crispness and brightness and winter and spring all put together. We put it over the roast chicken and it was delicious although Owen, my little carnivore, wants to try it on steak. We just may have to do that!
Now.....what do I do with those little baby red cabbages that you can see in the above picture???