2,500 words on the novel tonight, so I'm written out. Nearly.
*
The Powerball is up to over 100 million. The guys at work decided to each put in five bucks. I told them I didn't have five to spare.
Billy offered to loan me the five and I refused, because I don't have five now or even later to spare.
"Okay, Goo Goo. You cook up some of that delicious chicken of yours and I'll pay you five for it."
I stared at him. "If that's what you want."
I like barter.
"Only one thing," he continued. "Can you put those mushrooms in there. Those wild mushrooms."
"I've never cooked with wild mushrooms."
"Well, whatever they were, those fucking mushrooms."
(For the record, regular old white buttons.)
"And another thing, no bone in the chicken. I hate eating around the bone."
I growled. "Fuck that. Chicken tastes better on the bone. Learn to eat like a man. As for the shrooms, consider it done."
And he slipped me a fiver.
*
When I returned, Eddy told me that some guy came in looking for me.
"Are you looking for money?" Eddy told me he asked him.
Billy chimed in. "His name was Jerry. He was an electrician. He said he knew you from jiu-jitsa."
Billy always pronounces it jiu-jitssssa.
He looked at me knowingly. "I told him I'd dethroned you."
"Are you sure he name was Jerry? I can't think of any Jerry. Was he older? Younger? Big guy?"
Both of them, with their heads together, couldn't agree on a single physical detail other than his name, which I'm willing to bet a bag of mushrooms on that they both got completely wrong.
*
So now I'm going to cook myself dinner, finally, and work on lunch for tomorrow, which I'll divide up between Billy and myself.
Dinner is steamed pork buns from the asian market.
Lunch is brown rice with collard greens, mushrooms, bean sprouts, and bone-in chicken nuggets. Fish sauce will meet cajun-type seasonings. Dashes of sesame oil will give it that pleasant earthy quality. Greens and reds and whites. Crunch parts, nearly burned parts.
Billy paid five for it. He's going to eat well.
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ha! If you want good lunch leftovers, make a big pot of greens my way. simmer equal parts of Collards and Mustards, Mustards and Turnips or Turnips and Collards, never all three, with about 4 rashers of rendered bacon and drippings and some salt and a little ground black pepper for as long as possible, like hours if you can.
ReplyDeleteThe greens are good, even great, but the pot liquor you make is even better. Bake white skillet cornbread and throw it in the fridge. When you're ready for lunch, put a big piece of cornbread in a bowl and pour hot pot liquor over it. The resultant soupy mush is powerful enough to cure most diseases and can even make you look better. I know, seems like it would be gross or bitter, but its the sweetest, meatiest broth you ever tasted with no added sugar...
I will try that, absolutely.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Jess bought me a pressure cooker for the bday. I need your chili recipe.
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Thanks, PB! I'll check out your site.
1 lb each of cheap cuts of steak, pork and/or lamb, round is fine for beef and country style ribs are cheap and perfect. Get lamb if you find it cheap, otherwise double up on beef or pork.
ReplyDelete28oz can of diced or crushed tomatoes (no salt)
1 bottle of cheap ass beer
1/4 cup of lemon juice/bitter citrus juice
3 cloves of garlic
1 large onion
2 TBS of Tomato Paste
2 ancho's and 1 TBS sauce from canned ancho's
1 teaspoon of your choice of hot sauce
1 TBS cumin
1 TBS chili powder
3 TBS of Masa or 30-35 corn tortilla chips
Cube meat into 1" cubes. Toss in a big metal bowl with a couple of TBS of canola or vege oil. put your pressure cooker on the stove and heat up a little more oil. Throw in about 10-15 chunks of meat at a time and brown them, making sure you get a good fond on the bottom of the pan. Don't cook them, just sear them and build a fond on the cooker bottom. Do it in batches until its all browned.
While you are searing meat, dice the onion and crush the garlic and mix together. If the tomoatoes aren't diced puree them so the chunks aren't too big. Add the paste, juice, diced chile and chile sauce, cumin, chili powder and hot sauce to the tomatoes.
Reserve the masa and the beer. After the meat has finished browning, heat pan back up and then de-glaze with about half the beer. Once FULLY deglazed, layer in the tomato mixture, masa powder or crumbled chips and meat and mix up well. Pour in the last of the beer.
Look at it. is it too dry to boil? If so, add some more beer. If not, seal her up and hit the heat. Remember that if any steam is jiggling the cooker, its hot enough. Make it whistle and you're probably scorching your dinner.
Once you get it up to pressure, let it go for 20-25 minutes. If the family is around, use ventilation, the steam carries the chili capsaicin around and will cause choking and coughing (I'm not kidding about that).
When its done, put the cooker under the sink sprayer and jet cool it down till it unseals. Open her up and stir it around. Doesn't need rice or beans. A little sour cream and you're good...
You can vary this to taste in a lot of different ways. Red wine is actually better than beer to my tastes, but beer is more traditional. If you skip the corn meal, it will be watery. Eat as much as you can and freeze the rest, it freezes awesome and smells fantastic frying up in a skillet to warm it up.
Eat in joy!