Oh, crazy days. So crazy. Visited the zoo and saw a cute little baby rabbit. After the zoo, the local farmers market was visited, where I spent $8 on peppers, potatoes, okra, hot peppers and banana peppers. So much fresh produce, so cheap. After hitting the market, I hit up my neighbor and we cooked a meal for a mutual friend.
He was concerned that my plan wasn't real, I just wanted to start cooking. Never cooked okra before, so I cooked it up in a way that I consider to be cheating: fried! Definitely made potato hash, in which all of the ingredients were introduced to the pan in the wrong order. Luckily, my neighbor had a little technique to recover. And the potatoes came out perfect. And then he sauteed some chicken, which was the best chicken I've ever had.
Wow, this post is really short, succinct and to the point... today, I'm just not interested in dragging shit out too much. The simple answer is the one that I want. I never had okra before, and I was actually surprised that I liked it. It was a very complex vegetable. The peppers acquired at the market were all rather bitter, except the banana peppers. It was interesting.
The hash, which consisted of potatoes and peppers, was very fresh tasting and perfectly seasoned, thanks to my friend's experience in professional kitchens. Although, I have to think that my frying onions and garlic till they perfumed really helped the hash take on a delicious flavor. The whole meal was made using very few spices. I think the entire night, all we had was butter, salt, pepper, chili powder and garlic. It was interesting to step away from my spices for a change.
Cooking this meal really brought to mind Micheal Ruhlman's book, The Making of a Chef. In the book he describes the concept of "cooking in service of the potato." The meal tonight really brought this to mind due to it's simplicity and beauty. The chicken was salted, peppered and sauteed in butter, but was one of the best pieces of chicken I've ever had. So, in anycase, here's a baby bunny.
No comments:
Post a Comment