Improv cooking

[magid]

I wasn't sure what I'd make for dinner last night until I got the farm veggies. Given all the green leafy stuff in there, I knew I had to make something rather green. A salad, for sure, to start on the mounds of lettuce (I've never found anything to do with lettuce other than salad; anyone have an alternative?). So, some red leaf, some green leaf, and some Boston lettuce in the salad bowl, then I added some minced hard-boiled egg, and three nasturtium flowers ripped up (a yellow one, an orange one, and a variegated red-and-yellow one). I liked how the colors worked.

For something more substantial, I sauteed onions and slices of carrot, then added the chopped-up bunch of collards. It took a while to cook down, then I added a pound of firm tofu, cubed and marinated in ponzu sauce. I supplemented that with a bit more soy sauce. I haven't made tofu in far too long; it tasted very good to me.

Tonight, I again wasn't sure what to make for dinner. I wasn't so interested in salad, having had that for lunch (though I could've made a different kind, with tomatoes, basil, and mango). Hrm. I thought about the huge bunch of spinach, and suddenly decided what to do (I love figuring things out while driving, and in time to stop for the last ingredient or two...).
I sauteed onions, then added ground turkey, and some nutmeg and black pepper. I washed and ripped up the whole bunch of spinach (a pound? more? I have no idea) and let that all get happy together. In the meantime, I made a pot of rice. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough jasmine, so I added some brown rice to supplement. I cooked that with a handful of pine nuts and half of a preserved lemon, minced. Once that was done, I added it to the meat, and tasted. Hrm. I hadn't paid attention to the brown rice needing more time than the jasmine; it was a bit too crunchy. Feh. I added water to the pot, and started it boiling. In the end, it's pretty good. The extra water has become a lemon-scented sauce. The lemon itself seems to have melted, leaving a wonderful lemony taste, but no bits particularly identifiable as lemon.

Of course, I seem to have yet again cooked to the size of my (big soup) pot... Leftovers for the next couple of days...

Comments

[cellio]

If you have relatively large leaves of lettuce, you can treat them as wrappers for stir-fried stuff chopped small -- think mooshoo, but with lettuce where the pancakes would go. It's tasty.

Of course, you can also just dump your stir-fry right onto a bed of lettuce, but that's not as much fun. :-)

[magid.livejournal.com]

I think I saw lettuce used this way in one of the Chinese restaurants, but I'd totally forgotten about it. Thanks.

Of course, this means I'd have to mince things a heck of a lot smaller than I usually do. (And find some guests, since this definitely sounds like food for a group to have fun with :-).

[cellio]

That's where I got the idea, actually. We have a local restuarant that I think is part of a chain (PF Chang) and they have this on their menu.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Completely unrelated comment, but since I don't think you'd see regular email, but will see this, right? :)

Can you call me (on my mobile or at work) when you get a chance regarding tonight? While weather reports don't look as bad as they did yesterday, we're still going to try for an indoor location just in case. I think it'd be easiest to meet up at my place and go from there and am also working on getting the afternoon at home, so I may be there well before 5.