What the heck is this?
A bad skin disease?
Some alien planet?
A bubbling mud flat?
The surface of a diseased organ?
A calcified brain?
Or simply the worlds uggliest...
ORANGE:
There was only one box of these. And they were all hideous. We were gonna pass them right by, but the farmer was cutting some up and I figured a taste wouldn't hurt. Turned out, they were probably the best oranges I have ever tasted. Sweet and juicy they had a bright flavor that belied their ugly duckling exterior. We bought a huge bag of them.
The rest of my purchases were fairly standard. Nothing to write home about really. A lot of what we bought ended up as tonight’s dinner:
The market has a fishmonger. He sells
the most beautiful fresh fish. Wild caught salmon to fresh it
practically still moves. We bought some yesterday and today, I planked
and grilled it. And of course by happy coincidence, I figured out that
anything I grill with the salmon benefits from the burning plank by
indirect contact. So when I make planked salmon, I always try to
include something else on the grill. Usually it's artichoke or
mushrooms. But, in the spirit of making my family try new veggies, this
time I did Belgian endive.
I picked up gorgeously gothy
specimens at the market. Deathly pale with just a touch of color,
endive aren't my typical fare. But I am a sucker for trying new things.
I had originally meant to pick them up before lent started in order to
bake them with some bacon. However I think grilling them and dressing
them with a bit of lemon juice, some olive oil, and a bit of sea salt
was just as effective. They went over quite well. Then again, I am
convinced that my family will eat almost anything grilled.
The
potatoes were another matter entirely though. I had bought a small bag
of the little beauty queens in hope of roasting them. I roasted six and
was disappointed with the results. They were dry, tough, and
caramelized in the weirdest way. So with the remainders I decided to
use a wet cooking method. I boiled them. Then after, prepared them with
a little bit of hazelnut oil, sea salt, Pimento de la Vera (sweet), and
dill. Simple and ooooh so good. The hazelnut oil was a perfect choice,
accentuating the nuttiness of the Yukons while the Spanish paprika gave
just a hint of smokiness that tied in to the rest of the meal.
And again, from humble ingredients, something spectacular to close out a nice weekend!
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