Weblog Entry - 01/28/2002: "improvisational cooking monologue"

01/28/2002 Entry: improvisational cooking monologue

So, in order to encourage myself to cook more, and especially in order to encourage myself to try cooking new things, I've signed up for organic vegetable delivery -- a whole box of fruits and vegetables delivered to my door, twice a month. One one hand, it's working; I'd never cooked with beets before tonight. On the other hand, those beets weren't in my box -- they were in a friend's who gets her delivery the weeks I don't! She doesn't like beets, so I volunteered (out of the goodness of my heart, reeeeally) to take them off her hands. They even still had the greens attached!

I wish I had a video camera in my kitchen, or something. I improvise so much that oftentimes it's hard to reconstruct what I did. It helps if I write it down sooner, instead of later, so:

Tonight, I glazed carrots and beets in butter and white balsamic vinegar. I microwaved the (three, smallish) beets according to _How to Cook Everything_ because I failed to plan ahead far enough to roast them. Then I peeled them, cut the (about eight, mostly not thicker than my finger) carrots into 1-inch pieces, and sauteed them in melted butter for five minutes (like, a third of a stick. I could probably have done fine with half of that). Then I added white balsamic vinegar -- about the same amount as I had of butter -- and simmered, covered, for ten minutes. The thicker carrots that I'd cut in half turned out best -- the cut-sides set on the bottom of the pan, and they turned a nice even hot-pink. Next time, I'll give them *all* a flat side.

The beet-greens I cooked fairly simply: chopped the stems and boiled them for about ten minutes (that may have been too long, but I *really* didn't want tough greens). Then I added the greens, chopped, and simmered for five minutes more. Drained, added a pat of butter (unneccesary, in retrospect) and a half-teaspoon of hickory-smoke-flavoring (it claims to be all-natural. I haven't yet figured out what's in it, but it's a great vegetarian substitute for dishes where I'd normally want to use something like bacon).

About ten minutes before it was time to serve, I decided that I wanted more starch in the meal. I keep instant mashed potatoes on-hand for just this sort of panic (too bad I hadn't thought ahead; we *have* potatoes). I made them with crushed garlic (a tablespoon per serving) and fresh basil (ditto).

The meal was *quite* yummy. It wasn't until I was nearly done that I recalled just how tasty smoky bitter greens were when they were in the same bite as something sweet -- if I do this again, I will serve the glazed vegetables on *top* of the greens, instead of next to them. I could probably work harder on presentation, too (the matte black plates we have are difficult to make food pretty on. Next kitchen, the Sort Of Dressy White Plates with beige and black and grey accents get demoted to everyday use & I buy something prettier for special-occasion use. In the meantime, I will continue to try to make food pretty enough to look yummy even on matte black plates).

Posted by sev @ 11:06 PM PST |

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