This spell of cool late-summer weather has given me a chance to do some warm-kitchen cooking. I just don't feel like cooking when it's 85 in my house, you know? So anyway, yesterday I started off with roasting a chicken. Nothing fancy, just a little s and p and some olive oil. While that sputtered away in the oven I started on a "Rough and Ready Turnip Potage", as Deborah Madison calls it. Only she could name it that! It is really just leek and potato soup with turnips, but much more delightful than that sounds. It made an nice cozy dinner and was so easy I even had time to prepare and freeze a chard pie. Some chard had sprouted up in my garden plot so I felt I had to use it. That will be a comfort some other cool evening.
Today I had only one potty-training boy to look after so while he practiced listening to his body's signals I made a zucchini ricotta galette. Only herself at Smitten Kitchen could find a way to put three cheeses, butter, and sour cream in one dish. Amazing and unforgettable, with a killer presentation. Here again I'm using foods I grew: zucchini and basil. To go alongside I shredded the leftover chicken from last night and placed it on a bed of (garden-fresh) lettuce. It looked a little lonely so I chopped up some red pepper and had the boy shell some pink beans. They are so fresh and tender you can eat them without cooking! With a little sour cream and chive dressing it looked fantastic.
At dinnertime I placed it in front of my husband, sliced him a big piece of galette, and watched as... he made no comment at all. The kids had chicken and cheese quesadilla and were busy complaining about how I dared to put CHICKEN in their sacred quesadillas when I realized-- no one has ever modeled the appropriate response to "here's your food" for them. I turned to hubby and said sweetly, "Will you show the kids how to act when someone sets a plate of food in front of them?" He thought I was referring to the fact that they had picked up some pink beans and were putting them on their eyes. Easy mistake. I tried again. "When someone sets a plate of food in front of you, you say 'That looks great. Thanks very much.'" Everyone continued eating (or, not eating) and I went back to my own dinner, a little sullen. The salad and galette were excellent anyway.
I was just digging into my second piece when my boy suddenly looked at his bottom, got down from the table and went to sit on the toilet. He soon proudly showed me the deposits he had made. It wasn't the triumph I was hoping for today, but it was the one we got. And that's something.
