Tonight: Soup based on an Alton Brown recipe from one of those Food Network-force-our-hosts-to-cook-and-eat-together specials. It was basically kielbasa (sliced up and browned), garlic, kidney beans, potatoes, chicken broth, greens (AB used kale; I used water cress) and, not from the original recipe, a splash of red wine and some chanterelle mushrooms. Then you splash it with some vinegar- AB says red wine, I used balsamic, both would be good.
Yesterday I had rare roast beef cooked with a lot of garlic and such, baked broccoflower with garlic, cheese, and bread crumbs*, spring mix salad (with my aunt’s homemade very acidic dressing- vinegar, lemon juice, pepper, salt, honey, and a little bit of olive oil), challah, smashed red potatoes- with skins- and parsley and I think maybe sour cream? Plus mixed berry pie for dessert. The challah was from a bakery and the salad from a box in the produce section, also the berries bought frozen, but I made the pie crust from scratch, the beef was raised by the family, and the parsley might have been from my aunt’s garden. One of my cousins was visiting from California so we had fancy dinner.
Saturday: Chicken and dumplings! Onion and celery chopped up and cooked in chicken broth. More than half of a left-over Costco chicken, deboned, is then tossed with flour and black pepper and goes into the broth. When it gets boily and thick, fresh sage goes in, and the whole thing is covered with dumplings made of Bisquick, an egg, and milk. Then it goes in the microwave for five minutes. The rest of it can be made on the stove top, but it’s easier to do the dumplings in the microwave. If Trader Joe’s had had parsley, we’d have used that instead of celery, because my brother was home that night and he’s, if not allergic, definitely unfriendly with celery. I would have felt this was blasphemy, so the universe helpfully arranged TJ’s to not have parsley in stock.**
If you count cherry fruit gummy chews and Gardetto’s snack mix as a meal, that was Friday’s dinner. I didn’t want to ask the station attendant to watch my carry-ons so I could go get real food down the street from the station, and hadn’t brought anything else with me.
*This recipe is better with romanesco, but none was to be had when we went shopping.
**I don’t actually think the universe answers my only whims, but I definitely was thinking some very “Don’t have parsley I want this traditional!” thoughts towards the produce section.
