I didn’t feel like going out to buy food yesterday. As I started cooking, firing up the trusty cast-iron dutch-oven, my husband asked what was for dinner. "Whatever falls in this pot." No, I wasn’t feeling terribly creative. I looked around the kitchen and found: onions. He’d done a lovely camp-out cooking job for some folks recently and had brought home some of the left overs: green onions, regular walla-walla sweets, and some red onions. Into the pot they all went. I was thinking something like French onion soup. Some butter and they were browning nicely. Then I saw a bulk of garlic cloves — garlic goes well with onions! So in went the garlic. I added water and beef bouillon and then about a cup of dried hash browns because they were sitting on the counter. Leaving that to simmer, I went back to reading the on-line news. I noticed an article on tumeric and its pain killing properties. Hm. Couldn’t hurt. So, in went the tumeric and some ginger because I know that’s good for my heart and my digestion. The resulting concoction was a surprise to all of us, because — it was good! I puree’d it and even the 4 year old had 3 bowls. I think this was more East Indian than French.
When I was younger, the product of my food adventures was likely to be a disaster, but thankfully I’ve learned a few tricks over the years to keep things from catching fire. My favorite play is combining foods from different backgrounds to create an international flavor. What new combination will you try today? I love playing with food.
