8 Degrees and Falling

It is 8 am. I want to cook but I do not want to go out to the store. So I rummage through the fridge and freezer. Not a whole lot to work with but there is ALWAYS something. This, I believe is my forte. Many years ago there was a show called "Door Knock Dinner" with chef Gordon Elliot. This early Food Network show inspired me more than any other. He'd show up at someone's door, camera crew in tow, and ask if he could prepare a meal just using the ingredients in their home. Some of the dishes really were quite unappealing but when all you have is processed food to work with, you can only do so much.

I admit to using Google to bolster my creativity. You just type in a few ingredients and numerous recipes appear. I never follow any of them but they provide fodder for thought and action. So I open up the freezer and see two 12 oz. unopened bags of cranberries.  I decide to make cranberry sauce.  For this I need no help. I find a orange in the bottom of the fruit bin. Cut it in half- juice one side, section the other. I dump one bag of the berries in a pot, add a little water, the juice and about a 1/4 c of sugar. I cook the mixture on medium heat. I hit the Penzey's drawers and root around. I decide to use cayenne, my expensive Vietnamese cinnamon, ginger and some whole nutmeg, which I will grate directly into the mixture. I wait to add the spices til almost all the berries burst. I cook it about 5 minutes more, add the orange segments and then let it cool. It turned out spicy and freakin' delicious.

Maybe you want me to tell you how much spice to put in. I just can't. I will say that all of these spices are very potent and too much could be a disaster. Too much ginger tastes acrid, too much cayenne and the other flavors fade away. That said, recipes that call for 1/8 teaspoon of something, are just being silly. Unless we are dealing with some atomic pepper you will never taste 1/8 teaspoon of anything. I generally double the suggested spice and herb measurements whenever I am using a recipe. In this case I could season and taste. I just added a little at a time and adjusted until I got it right. I can taste each spice and I can feel a little heat. I am done.

Cranberry sauce does not a meal make. What next? I have some cooked basmati rice in the fridge as well. I decide to make a vegetable fried rice. You might be thinking, "Fried rice and cranberry sauce?". Why not? I think they will work well together. I find aging broccoli, a few brussel sprouts, celery, carrots, onion and some frozen peas. I have hit the Mother Lode. I will not prepare this dish until it is dinnertime. It needs to be eaten hot right as it emerges from a scalding wok. I will prep my veggies now, cutting them into bite size pieces. I might beat an egg and cook it in a small frying pan like an omelet.  Once set, I will cut the round patty of eggs into strips. 

This evening, I will stir-fry the veggies in veggie oil, maybe add some garlic and freshly grated ginger (or you could used ginger and garlic from a jar). I will add the rice a little before the veggies are done. The frozen peas will be added last. I don't want them cold but I do want them to taste fresh, not mealy. At that point I will add some soy sauce and a little toasted sesame oil. These are also very potent ingredients. I always use San-J reduced sodium tamari (soy sauce). Everything else is just too salty for me. Go easy and taste. Too much sesame oil is impossible to rectify. In my ancient wok, I will stir my yummy concoction but not too much. I love when there are little crispy spots of browned rice, like you find in bimbibop (my favorite Koren dish). I like the textural contrast. I think the sweet/spicy cranberry sauce will complement the umami flavors of the soy/sesame infused rice. I just don't think I can go wrong.

In the time it took me to write this blog entry, the temperature dropped to 4 degrees. Now I will buckle down and finish "The Art of Fielding" and watch the last episode of House of Cards. What a lucky girl am I. I never forget that.