Menus June 26, 2013

Sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness...

Galway Kennell

Early this week, within one twenty four hour period, Facebook delivered to my newsfeed both a link to the sublime little Galway Kennell poem "St. Francis and the Sow" and a link to a study examining the capacity of fruits and vegetables to stay alive long after harvesting. 

 The study made me wonder about the contents of my vegetable bin:  That common carrot? That grocery store tomato? That suspiciously brain shaped cauliflower... Could they be.... 

 Yep. Probably zombies.

The poem made me wonder at the wild, overlooked beauty that lies deep in all creatures, great and small.
Even the unattractive, common creatures that wind up at the grocery store.
And it  made me wonder if perhaps Saint Francis, after his encounter with the sow, stood up and walked away from the pig sty pondering the same dilemma that I faced after pondering the poem:

Not sure whether I want
to become a full-time vegetarian
or make myself a double bacon cheeseburger

So I reread the study, and thought more about vegetables, and reread the poem, and wished for that burger, and thought about how I hoped St. Francis (who is not known to have been a vegetarian) would've advised me in my predicament:

(And don't worry too much
about whether the lettuce
 and tomatoes are sentient.)

It occurred to me then that grocery aisles are filled with stories of lowly foods that have received a sort of glamour makeover. Once upon a time, bacon was bacon and sausage was either Jimmy Dean or little smokies- those days, happily for those of us who love all things bacon and sausage, seem to have vanished in a puff of applewood peppered smoke. Kale, jicama, cilantro- these and most of what's next to them on the produce shelves would've once been viewed as suspicious, though they're really just the exotic cousins of plain old parsley, cabbage, and potatoes. My mind spinning with thoughts of poetry, pigs, the forgotten loveliness of ordinary things and whether or not vegetables have feelings, I was left with no choice but to corral them all up for dinner.

Wednesday: Grilled chicken breast and Kale Caesar Salad

Here's plain, ordinary chicken breast, made moist and tender with my favorite salt and honey brine, and a spin on Caesar salad that reminds us all of how beautiful a cabbage can be when it curls it's edges and dresses in dark green. I'm going to get the smallest possible tin of either anchovies or anchovy paste- there are two other salads that will use this type of dressing this week, so it won't be wasted.


Thursday: Bacon Wrapped Tuna Steaks and Sriracha spiked slaw
Here's that bacon I've been craving, making even a nice tuna steak taste nicer, and sriracha, a darling of the young and cool and food loving. Sriracha is, in essence, hot sauce- with a little more of a sweet sour Asian thing goin' on than Tabasco. I was surprised to learn that the bottle of Rooster Sauce in our fridge, which I've always called just "Rooster Sauce" is in fact a brand of sriracha. You can learn more about the sauce, different brands, and the results of a brand taste test  here.
 I'll be making at least one extra piece of tuna for tomorrow night's salad.

 Friday:Tuna Salad Nicoise

The Caesar dressing may come back to play here, and I'll be boiling enough eggs and potatoes for the potato salad that's planned for Sunday. If the only tuna salad you can remember starts with a can of tuna and ends with a jar of mayo, try this and let healthful, meaty tuna show you just how lovely it can be.

 Saturday: Grilled Stuffed Avocados and Corn and Black Bean Salad
Avocados grew in abundance in the home audience's South American backyard- such
abundance that they became a nuisance. To me, beautiful creamy avocados are and forever will be a treat, even when they're priced (as they are this week at Aldi) at a humble 35 cents each. Any leftover chicken will work it's way into the filling of the avocados, and if there's no chicken left, I may throw in some shrimp.
(Grilling + avocados= yay! I'm very excited about this!)

Sunday: Black Olive Burgers and Creamy Potato Salad 

Here's my burger at last! Yum!

This potato salad recipe was almost passed over as I hunted for the chunky style of salad I'm more familiar with. But this week is all about rediscovering the ordinary and appreciating those ever undead veggies, so I'm going to try something new. 

Really, it's not as if I'm any good at making the type of potato salad I'm used to, so what have I got to lose?

 Potato salad and the right way to do it.  Now there we could start a small battle of opinions, couldn't we? 

And we'd be opinionating about how to cook a cheap, ordinary, ugly little wad of starch that grows in the dirt.

Except not really.

Because there are things that must be retaught their loveliness, and things whose loveliness we ourselves must be retaught.

It's so easy, as we move through our days

to feel like all we do is one tedious, pointless, unlovely thing after another

until we wonder if it's we who have become tedious, pointless and unlovely.

but I hope this week that you relearn the truth of your own loveliness.

And the beauty of the ordinary people and things that fill your days.

I hope you relearn the beauty of what you do

when you nurture the people around you.

Even when you do that everyday extraordinary thing called making dinner.

Which is sometimes just dinner.

and sometimes is love

on a plate.