Sometimes, you just want to eat ... and eat well!
This year has got off to a pretty slow start. Being a good home cook, I do like to keep things interesting as well as good and nutritious for my wife and our family when they're around, but it does get hard dreaming up new things week in week out.
Yes, sometimes, you just want to bung a whole load of things that you love into a pan and eat it!
Tonight was one such night!
My other hobby is automotive detailing - you know, take a car (any car) and then compound, polish and burnish the paintwork to the sublime and clean, dress and present everything else to the most ridiculous detail? Well, there's a fellow called Mike Phillips who is practically a philosopher amongst detailing circles who has the tagline, "find something you like and use it often".
That can equally apply to food, and indeed should!
We'd been to the supermarket and felt so uninterested, but did pick up a whole basket of good food as well as a couple of bottles of really good cider. I like to drink, but my dear wife is not one for it ... but a glass of really good cider and she's in. Henry Weston's 2010 Reserve, which will be quite excellent in a few years if there's any left, but tonight, perfect!
Food?We'd picked up some turkey breast, which I diced and accompanied with whatever I could find in the fridge - streaky bacon and chorizo ... gotta get those fats in! I did use a lot of tallow retrieved from this morning's breakfast to keep it all moist once the vegetables were added.
We'd also picked up a white cabbage, some asparagus and some green beans. Green beans are perfectly paleo, so stop getting hot under the collar! These things can be eaten raw and I am certain that if our proverbial caveman ancestor had found them, he'd have eaten them!
Stop worrying! It passes the raw principle.
Other things in the fridge and in the larder - some cavolo nero (Italian black kale), a leek, some ginger, spring onions, garlic, Scotch Bonnet chilli, later some mushrooms, a lot of tallow retrieved from sausages cooked this morning ... oh, all sorts of things.
Take a heavy bottomed pan.
The heavy bottom is a must - this dish is NOT a stir-fry, it is a paleo scramble!
The heavy bottom is necessary to ensure that the dish remains hot, even with the heat turned down - we don't want this too hot, but we do want it kept hot!
Perfect outdoor cooking over a real fire, for which cast iron is a must ... but in the kitchen, my crappy old heavy based non-stick pan will do for now. When we move (less than three months now), I can use cast iron ... roll on ... roll on ...
So, the ingredients ...
... some meat and some vegetables.
This is not a case of bunging a bunch of food into a pan and warming it though. This is carefully selecting ingredients that you love and will work together. Or, just grab a bunch of food and go on an adventure, which is often how really interesting combinations are put together.
Simply add some fat to the pan and start loading in the food in the order in which it needs cooking - fatty meat first, lean meat next, onions, leek, spring onions next, heavy stalky greens next, other greens, flavours - ginger, garlic, herbs, spices ... cook it all together and serve out.
Stick a fried egg on top - make sure it's a good one. Accompany with a bottle of good cider and seriously enjoy!
