Throwing Caution Out the Window
Lentil soup used to rank among the less favored meals in this household. I grew up being served lentil soup and so did Joe, so there really wasn’t a question that it would be served, there was only a question about the frequency. Every time it was served there would be groans, and protests, and complaints. But they lessened with time. Hey, lentils are a fact of life, and I guess they realized there was no point in fighting against them.
And then yesterday I did the unthinkable. I added chopped mushrooms to the soup, following a recipe instead of making my usual lentil soup. Not that there’s anything wrong with my lentil soup, But this one looked so good and it put me in the mood for mushrooms. I love mushrooms. The girls don’t.
But I put them in anyway.
Predictable response from Louisa when she saw that not only was it lentil soup, but there were mushrooms in it. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said. Nope, kiddo. Try it, you’ll like it. Joe and I sure did. The mushrooms made the soup even more savory and the texture was kind of meaty. Not that I was trying to simulate meat because, with a meal like this, you can easily forget about meat.
Annie ate it without plucking out the mushrooms. So did Louisa. In fact, Louisa agreed to take it to lunch today.
Persistence pays off. So does a really good recipe.
Dinner Before and After
This is dinner before. You see a pork shop with roasted carrots, onions and fennel. It probably sounds better than it was. Pan sauteed pork chops never turn out tender enough. Why do people cook them this way? I should know better. Pork chops really need to be braised, then they fall apart on your plate. But this was a recipe from “Everyday Food” and the concept behind this two part dinner was intriguing. You cook the more time consuming dinner first and you put aside ingredients for the next day’s easy meal. I like easy, don’t you? So I followed the directions, even though I should have known better. I really should begin to listen to that little chef in my head (no, my “little chef” doesn’t look like the rat in Ratatouille).
Here is the dinner after. On the second night you chop up the reserved pork and vegetables, mix in grated Monterrey jack and chopped pickled peppers. Stuff into a tortilla and grill. I usually don’t like recycled ingredients – they always seem old. If you’re going to eat leftovers, just eat leftovers. But, surprisingly, the after dinner was better than the before. The after recipe had more flavor and the chopping improved the texture of the first night’s dinner. Maybe the next time I’ll simply braise some pork chops, shred them, and toss them directly into the quesadillas on the same night, with none of this before and after nonsense.
Photo of the Week – October 26, 2011 – Banana Vanilla Chip Muffins
Because we all know that muffins aren’t a health food anyway.