Since we incurred some expense on putting in a new air conditioning unit, I've been doubly careful about stocking the kitchen cupboards. I'm actually having fun trying to make 'something our of nothing' when it comes to meal preparation. Yesterday, I had asparagus from a bargain shopping trip, however, my younger son dislikes the stuff. He will eat it but doesn't enjoy it. In fact, he hates the tender tips and will cut them off and just eat the stem! Anyway, the asparagus got crisp-steamed, chilled, and served with a dollop of Asian dressing. In order to make a holiday meal enjoyable for my son, too, I scrambled through the vegetables and came up with a carrot, cranberry, apple combination. It was my wild card for the day but it won approval.
First, I peeled and diagonally sliced several carrots. I put them in a pot with a pat of butter, a bit of brown sugar, chili flakes (to taste), and 1/4 cup fresh orange juice. I let them simmer until they were almost just starting to get tender. I threw in a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Then I added a generous quarter cup of frozen cranberries and give them five minutes to defrost and get warm. About ten minutes before serving, I put in an unpeeled, diced apple, turned up the heat, and stirred to get the juices evenly coated and cooked down a bit . . . and served! Leftover vegetables rescued from the refrigerator tasted pretty good.
I think that is where people go 'wrong' in the kitchen. Sometimes, you have to take a chance and if you use your instincts about what you think will taste good, you are usually right.
No comments:
Post a Comment