Gumbo… America’s Dish
As July 4th hit at the end of a long weekend, the urge to grill can be understandable. After all, that’s what Americans do on long weekends right? We grill burgers, corn, hot dogs, ribs and so on. If there’s any a holiday made for grilling, it’s Independence Day.
So what better time to make gumbo? In my opinion, there is no more dish more American than gumbo. It’s the ultimate melting pot of ingredients, technique and flavor that reflects the diverse makeup of this country. Far more so than burgers or apple pie (neither of which are uniquely American either, but that’s another story.)
Penne w/ Shrimp and Freshly Shelled Peas
Finally got around to harvesting the peas this weekend. Might have waited about a week too long, but they still turned out crunchy and sweet.
I actually bought shelling pea seeds by mistake. I had wanted regular snap peas, or peas you cook and eat while still in the pod. Shelling peas need to be, well, shelled because the pod casing is tougher. Shelling peas have something called “vellum” which is a paper-like lining inside the pod that causes it to be stringy. Snap peas, English peas and others don’t have the gene that produces vellum, so they’re more edible. They’re also a shitload easier to harvest because you just need to pick and use. Shelling peas, again, require shelling, which can be a major pain in the ass.
But, what I found, was that the extra work is worth it. Shelling peas have a wonderfully sweet flavor, bright color, and crunch that you just can’t get from frozen peas, which can easily get mushy, grey, and tasteless.
Fucking Rabbits
Beware. If profanity in any way offends you, stop reading this post. In fact, stop reading this blog altogether and go somewhere else. Not that I’m going out of my way to curse, but today’s topic demands it.
Fucking rabbits are eating my garden. Last year, the first real year of my gardening effort, I didn’t have a fucking rabbit problem. I don’t think the fucking rabbits in my area knew about the Country Buffet I’d just built next to the house. This year, however, they’ve figured it out.
Mixed Greens (and dressing)
After herbs, lettuce is perhaps the easiest thing to start growing in a home garden. I planted all mine from seed for the last two years and invariably have far more than I can use. Lettuce is incredibly cold-weather tolerant, so you can start the seed in early March, even here in Colorado. And you can continue growing it pretty much year round, through the winter, with a decent cold frame, which is awesome for home cooks who want some kind of fresh vegetables in the cold months, snow be damned.
Its use in the kitchen is pretty obvious. Pretty much any meal can be enhanced with a simple side of mixed greens. And when the tomatoes come in later in August, you can pick both the greens and the cherry tomatoes at the same time, 5 minutes before your meal. I generally focus on lettuce as an accompaniment for pastas, pizzas, and meat dishes, right there on the plate. Whoever started the habit here in the states of serving salad BEFORE the meal did this country a great disservice. Salad is a palate cleanser, not an appetizer.
Thumbs Up for New ‘MyPlate’ System
So most infographic-type initiatives the government creates are usually a massive waste of time and taxpayer money, not to mention just plain uninformative (see the Homeland Security Alert System). But this new MyPlate guide that replaces the old pyramid system is a great step.
The pyramid guide just tried to do too much. Too many images of too many different types of food, all stacked in confusing layers that didn’t really tell me what I was supposed to be eating. The goal of course was to lay out the ratios of nutritional intake for a given day. But who plans out every meal of their day like that?
