SOLTuesday: Making Up Food

            Years ago I wrote a piece for a little magazine about how I wanted to feel free enough to look in the refrigerator and make dinner with what was there, without having a recipe to guide me. Now that I’m old, I’ve finally managed to do it.

            Tonight I did a mashup of Chinese and Italian cooking, making sort of fried rice, but with farro instead of rice.

            I’d made the farro yesterday with the possibility of subbing the farro for rice in something. Today, I sliced up half an onion, a clove of garlic, half a somewhat dried out jalapen (removing the seeds), 3 ounces of shiitake mushrooms, 5 bok choy stems and leaves, 2 carrots, and 2 slices of deli Virginia ham. In a small pan, I poured in a scrambled egg, tossing in a pinch of dried thyme, and let it set, then flipped it, slid it onto a plate, and sliced it as well.

            In a large skillet, I melted a small pat of butter and a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Added

the onion, sauteed for about a minute, then added the bok choy stems and carrots. Sauteed for another minute or so. Next the mushrooms went in, sauteed until they got a bit brown. Some more dried thyme stirred in a bit here. Added the garlic and jalapeno and stirred around. When the pan seemed to get too dry, I’d add a dollop of white wine. Then the bok choy leaves and a cup of the cooked farro. Lastly,  the ham, the egg, and I almost forgot, a couple of handfuls of sprouts I got at the farmers’ market a few days ago, radish sprouts and some other kind, I forget which. Stirred to heat through.

            I ate half the pot, and there’s another batch for lunch maybe in a couple of days. Easy, and tasty, and I made it up all myself. 

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Poem a Day, #4 (vegetable)

The Garden

The garden starts as a rocky plot.

I sit on my haunches and toss rocks to the side,

filter dirt through my fingers and toss pebbles to the side.

The earth smells clammy, hiding something unwanted.

The seeds drop into tiny hillocks, searching for something reclusive.

Weeding requires attention.

What is a pea sprout? What is fiddleneck?

What is chickweed? What is dandelion?

If its roots are strong, it’s a weed, pull it out and toss to the side.

Beans climb the trellis, tomatoes hug the stakes.

Pea pods crawl along the ground, corn shoots to the sky.

A watermelon the size of a cucumber, a cucumber the size of a watermelon,

wins a 4-H prize for my brother at the fair.

Picking peas for lunch, I slit the pod, scrape the peas into a saucepan,

Eat one from each pod immediately.

Green taste crunches in my mouth,

Revealing the secret hidden underground,

Fresh flavors of sunlight and heat and riddles never heard.

 http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/the_carriage.png