Sunday, May 23, 2010

The Miracle

It is Easter Sunday (when I originally wrote this). Like previous holidays, I can get religously philosophical. Or rather philosophical about religion.. At the Farmers Market, a different feeling about religion, about God comes to mind for me. There is a obvious and frank simplicity to the miracle of the abundant Earth. We feed at the bounty. We nestle ourselves in her bosum. We bask in his sun. For pre-agarian people, an aniministic belief system seems almost like a fait accompli. There are a multitude of little miracles balanced with their capricious, difficult variabilities. But where does that leave us. David of Massa Rice was postulating today that just as we (our generation, "X" if you must label) are attempting to return to our grandparents ways with whole foods and natural methods, our children seek the modernization of the kitchen our parents bought and fueled with its' microwave and instant, convenience foods. Is he right?
My short ribs get smoked for three to four hours and then braised for another three or four. Here they are just getting started in step two. The tomato paste in the braising liquid maintains its bright redness, which will succumb to the heat and turns deep brown. It is not a convenience food per se, but, as it re-heats beautifully, I freeze much of this batch for the coming weeks and months. It is a miracle in itself. Perhaps the most significant realization in this batch was that compared with the prior batch I made, this one was not made with my own stock and did not have the same depth and intensity. It was good, but not amazing. 

After the fries.. the kale..

With all that cooking oil after my batches of french fries, I went to my unhealthy version of crispy Dino kale. Usually, I put the kale into a 350 degree oven with a generous sprinkle of EVOO for 25 minutes or so, but properly deep fried is even better. It is cleaned, but not washed as the crinkly kale would never get dry enough and spatter far too much, then fried for a few minutes with occasional turning to get all the leaves well done. Finish it with a sprinkle of fleur de sel and it is a delicious treat.