So, if you saw the previous post you know that food is a big driver for most of our decisions. Last night I tried something new, and reinforced something else that we have been trying. The boy is a good meat and potatoes kind of man. Don't get me wrong, he loves other food, strange foods even, and is willing to try anything once. (including fermented shark when we were in Iceland) The key thing that makes a meal for him tho, is a bit of meat. So guess how that was for me when we first started dating and living together and I am coming from a nearly vegetarian lifestyle. (meaning I had red meat twice a month, and maybe a bit of chicken once a month) There was a part of him that was hoping that I would help expand the more vegetarian side of his palate, and I was.... well... I was in meat heaven.
In no way am I faulting my previous life -or speaking badly about it- it just was what it was. Out of respect for my partner, and simply because it was easier, I generally did not have meat products in the house. So when I moved into the new place, it was a cornucopia of meat; stuff that I had not been eating on a regular basis for a long time. GRRRRR that little ravenous predator inside of me took over and I slapped bacon on everything. :)
It has taken some adjusting, and in the interim I found out that some of my favorite foods to make that are super simple happen to also be of pleasure to my guy. Potato hash for breakfast, one pot noodles with veggies and meat, egg salad sandwiches etc... Generally it isn't a problem; it is food that makes us happy, and is easy to make. Like so many of my generation, I am not a fussy cooker. The thought of spending an hour in the kitchen for a meal that will be devoured in ten minutes bothers me, but I love when other people do it. Ok, I lie, I will gladly spend an hour in the kitchen if we are spending it together, cause lets be honest ladies and gentleman, the quickest way into my pants, is via food. Making it together is sensual and fun, and some of the greatest foreplay out there.
But, I digress. So, over the last few months we have been thinking about not the act of cooking food, but what ingredients we are using. From that it all returned to the 'vegetarian meals' are lacking in our diet. Now, it is easy to cook a vegetarian meal for a vegetarian, it is difficult to do so for someone that expects meat to be in the meal. There are two approaches; 1.trick them into thinking there is meat, 2. make it so tasty and flavorful that they don't realize it is lacking meat. Last nights meal was veggie lasagna and a new recipe for roasted carrots. The lasagna had been made in batches a few weeks ago and frozen. Lasagna has always been one of those things that has hardly worked for me, usually ends up either dry or is swimming in sauce, yuck! This time it worked. I made my own sauce (can of diced tomatoes, maybe two, a can of tomato paste, and seasonings galore. No measurements just dump dump sprinkle. That is honestly the way I cook)
I didn't think that would be enough for our meal, so I wanted to do some roasted carrots. Small problem, all of the recipes I found either had parsnips in them for extra punch, or were sweet. That just wouldn't do with hearty lasagna. So... I made it up on the spot. Here is roughly the recipe that formed on the go.
1. Handful of carrots, peeled and cut to bite size. I cut the carrot into inch or two inch rounds, then quartered them.
2. 3 or 4 onion wedges - take an onion, slice a wedge out of it, shove it in pan
3. head of garlic - well, maybe half a head after all of the trimming away of the bad parts. Whole cloves and half cloves, just shoved amongst the carrots
Take all the ingredients, place in a pyrex dish, coat with spices. I was partial to paprika, a cocoa/citrus mix that I have for roasts, and a touch of garlic salt. Then drizzle like mad with olive oil. Bake that shit till the veggies are tender.
I did it alongside the lasagna, so I guess it takes 30 minutes in a 380 deg oven... maybe it takes less in hotter? I don't know.
The real test came as I plated it up and placed it in front of the dutch boy. As I bit into the first carrot, I literally jumped up, so happy that they worked out. (I already knew the lasagna had as it was the last of the frozen batch) After a bit of joking around and teasing me, even the carnivore agreed and thought they were rather tasty! So hows that for a haphazard vegetarian meal! YAY!
now back to my egg salad sandwich for lunch today.
No comments:
Post a Comment