Yesterday, while my friends and I got caught up over rounds and rounds of mah jongg, the topic of my dietary restrictions came up a few times. The mah jongg master asked me how well my husband is tolerating my strict rules. She asked whether he's the kind of guy who just eats whatever is put in front of him, or is he complaining about my grain-free kitchen. The man and I chuckled over that question, as we ate tonight's new creation for dinner, and I smiled to myself again when it was all we could do to maintain our grown-up dignity and not lick the plates clean at the end of the meal. (I might have failed just a little on that part.) I'm not having any trouble convincing the man to eat my grain-free cooking, no. It doesn't hurt that I'm really on my game these days, coming up with new recipes. (That, and I promised him that I am not going to be bossy about anything he has outside of the house, as long as I don't have to worry about cross-contamination in my own house. I got into something bad over the last couple days, and I've paid for it all day with headaches and stomachaches to beat the band.)
Growing up, my dad always seemed to have the news playing on the television anytime I wanted to watch some kid- or teen-friendly show. I used to get so worked up, arguing melodramatically that I was missing my favorite show, and I had no good answer when he'd tell me that the news was his favorite show. Darned if I didn't grow up to find out the news was my favorite show for years too. Every night I'm home, I make sure I watch the local news at 6, and the national news that follows. Tonight, as I often do, I walked away with the TV still going, and Wheel of Fortune played in the background while I tried to ignore it. But oddly, as I was preparing dinner, the opening puzzle was the exact thing I was planning to serve, and it was an incredibly uncommon food. It was the strangest coincidence. Here, let me show you what I made and give you the simple instructions, so you can see why this was weird.
I had pork chops, and was planning on making some sort of sauce/chutney with a fresh peach, when I heard some game show contestant say, "caramelized peaches with fresh rosemary." Really? Well, I suppose rosemary would be the right flavor addition, if you say so, Pat Sajak.
I put a fat tablespoon of butter in a small saucepan, and cut up one fresh peach into very small segments (peel left on), and simmered it over low heat, covered, until the peaches softened, about five minutes. I added a tablespoon of brown sugar, a dash of sea salt, a little dried rosemary (all I had), and a sprinkling of dried sweet basil. I stirred it occasionally, continuing to simmer it, covered, on low.
I had a pan that still had a little bacon grease left from this morning's meal, and I used that to saute a couple pork chops, seasoned with salt, pepper, celery seed, ground coriander (of course, my favorite), and basil. Once they were well-browned, I topped them with the caramelized peaches. That easy, and oh, so good. And not a single peep of protest from the man who was dragged into my grain-free domain. Quite the opposite, actually.
No comments:
Post a Comment