Tasty dinner
When I give you a recipe that I made up, I hope you realize that the whole thing is very ad hoc: what goes in, and how it is prepped and cooked, depends on what’s on hand and what comes to mind. Sometimes I think of alternatives after the fact, thus the options. So when I cut the apple into small julienne, it’s because I now have the Swissmar V-Slicer and so that’s the easiest way to take care of the apple. If I didn’t have the V-Slicer, I would have just chopped the apple.
Kumquats appear in the recipe because I had them one hand, left over from something else, but I really do like them: cooked slowly for a long time with meat or poultry, they melt into a tart, sticky, citrus sweetness.
Tonight’s dinner was, as almost always, totally ad hoc.
Serves one:
2 tsp of a local olive oil infused with cayenne, basil, and garlic. Regular olive oil would do.
Heat oil in 2-qt sauté pan. Add:
1/2 sweet onion, sliced thinly (V-Slicer or by hand)
Let the onion sauté until it turns golden and begins to caramelize. Add a small shake, depending on taste, of:
ground allspice
ground cardamom
ground cumin
ground sumac berries
(I wanted to add a little cinnamon, but couldn’t find my supply. Later I thought of juniper berries as a possibility instead of the spices.)
Add:
4 oz center-cut boneless pork chop, trimmed of fat and sliced as for stir-fry
1/4 head Savoy cabbage, chopped small
6 kumquats, each sliced crossways 3-4 times
1/2 Brae Burn apple, cut into small julienne
1/4 c cooked wheat berries (in this case, spelt, but could use other grain)
Splash of brown rice vinegar
Cover and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes.
I thought up this recipe, BTW, by first focusing on the skeleton: protein, starch, and veg, then method and condiments.
I had the pork, and that made me think instantly of onion and apple as the veg (and fruit—an extra fruit serving is fine), plus I had the 1/4 head of cabbage to use up. I was already cooking some spelt, so that would be the starch. Protein, starch, and veg—then I just start cooking and adding things as I think of them.
UPDATE: I suddenly realized that my cooking method, as above, cooks a one-serving meal: I eat everything I cook. Obviously, there are exceptions: I hard-boil a dozen eggs at a time, but eat them one by one; I cook up a whole bunch of greens (or two, as now: a bunch of kale and a bunch of red chard that will be chopped and cooked together) but eat them one cup at a time.
Still, many meals are like the above: I measure out a single serving of protein, starch, and veggies and cook them together in some way, and eat the whole thing. And I figured out why I drifted in this direction: no leftovers, so no “bites” after the meal is over. I ate it, there ain’t no more.
Another observation: I got very nice center-cut boneless pork chops, and I noticed that each one was exactly 8 oz: two servings. That’s one reason I got obese: I was eating two (or more) servings of everything on the plate. Now when I use such pork chops, each 8-oz pork chop is cut in two and I get two meals from it.
