"I already have a blog," I tell him.
"I know," he says. "You should have a food blog."
He's probably right. For a long time I've had this fantasy that I would have a cooking show. I think I'd be really good at that. And it would be fun. Sometimes when I'm cooking, I role play the cooking show I would have.
I'm not sure that I want to create another blog. One blog feels like enough, especially when I am writing daily. But I could think about it. And maybe dream it a little. One day I might decide to do it. That's usually how new things begin.
So today I decided to try a new recipe. It was a real departure from my usual fare. Not that I'm not adventurous when it comes to cooking. I am. But these days I've been eating very simply. Very clean. I've been concerned about what I put in and on my body with the toxic load we seem to be carrying these days.
But a friend sent a photo of a recipe she loves and it intrigued me. So I spent a lot of money on ingredients I did not have in my pantry. Like coconut butter. And preserved lemons. I had not known there was coconut butter. It tastes like other nut butters. I need Nigella Lawson's vocabulary to describe the flavor and texture. I need it also to describe the taste of preserved lemons. I had actually watched Martha Stewart make them on her PBS television show a few months ago. What an interesting synchronicity that they should come up in a recipe I want to make. I remember thinking, "This is interesting, but I can't imagine actually using this in a recipe."
Never say never.
What I remember most about making this recipe is the mystery of watching the dish unfold. It sounds like a strange way to describe a cooking experience. Pastured chicken browning in coconut oil. Removing the chicken and browning sliced onions. Adding fragrant spices one at a time and watching the color and fragrance change with each new element. Ground turmeric. Ground ginger. Ground coriander. Saffron strings. Adding the chicken back in with some stock and putting all that in the oven, covered. The experience of handling preserved lemons and tasting them for the first time. Trying to get them out of the jar. Noticing the not-quite-acrid flavor and wondering how that could possibly taste good in the recipe. Worrying I'd spoil the sauce if I added them.
I uncovered the pot when it came out of the oven and I was stunned by the beauty of the sauce. Adding the coconut butter and thin strips of the preserved lemon made it exquisite. I served it over quinoa with some sliced almonds, ate slowly and savored every bite. The flavors are complex, delicious, and so surprising.
It's become one of my favorite recipes. One of my most cherished culinary adventures. One of my most beloved gastronomic landscapes.
I divided the recipe in half to make it and have half left over. It will be interesting to see whether it is better the second day. Some recipes are.
I love adventure, and some of my favorite adventures are in the kitchen. I have a tiny kitchen, very low tech, and am often stunned by what I am able to produce there.
The Great Summer Writing Retreat of 2019 begins. One hundred days of writing unedited ideas and following a prompt to its sometimes illogical conclusion.
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