Food matters on my mind

 

Don Artemio's
because I forgot to take a picture of our home-done dinner tonight

First, food is on my mind because I cobbled together a dinner of this and that, with low expectations except that it got us fed and used up some leftovers. Jordan raved about it and said, “Mom, keep this recipe.” I wanted to ask, “What recipe?”

Jamie had given us three free trial meals from Home Fresh. I explained to him that his gesture was sweet and considerate, but meal planning and preparation were part of my joy. And generally I think I do it better than prepared kits. Christian and I used two of the meals when Jordan was out of town, but tonight we had the chicken breasts left over. (The green beans had long since bitten the dust.) I cut the chicken into chunks, salt and peppered it, and tossed with olive oil. Topped with fresh herbs from the garden.

Then I scraped and cut up those last three lonely carrots in the vegetable bin. Tossed that with the chicken in olive oil and baked for 25 minutes. Christian has always shied away from cooked carrots because they’re mushy, but not when you do them in a sheet pan. Just cooked enough. Served with leftover Caesar dip from last week’s happy hours because I dislike a plain dry chicken breast. I was afraid over time the anchovy taste would get too strong, but no. Jordan raved about it, said to save the recipe. Should I tell her she’s eaten it with potato chips a lot in the past?

Meantime, I goofed, again! on my order from Central Market and ended up with a bag of spinach, plus a small fresh bunch. The bag is for a company meal later in the week, but the small bunch was extra. So I blanched it, drained it and squeezed off the liquid, cut it up so it was chopped, and put it in a skillet with melted butter—a lot of work for a tiny bit of spinach, but the story gets better. When Jordan asked what to do with it, naïve old me asked, “Do you want creamed or plain spinach?” She was astounded. “I don’t eat it cooked,” she said. (I knew Christian didn’t, but I swore she did). I asked her to salt and pepper it and add a big dollop of sour cream. Instant and easy creamed spinach! And it was so good, even if I was the only one eating it. Jordan made a big salad to finish our meal. When I looked at my plate, my instant reaction was, “That’s a lot of food.” “Oh, it’s mostly light stuff, like salad and spinach,” Christian said.

The kids were invited to an eight o’clock dessert gathering at the neighbors’, so I got to do the dishes. I can’t complain, because Jordan had them all scraped and stacked and almost always she washes them.

But the other food thing tonight was that I watched the James Beard Awards Ceremony. I got started on it because Don Artemio’s, where I’ve had several good meals, was a finalist for best new restaurant. It didn’t win but hey! Finalist status is in itself a win. But the awards and the general atmosphere of the ceremony intrigued me. One presenter said, “Restaurants build community,” and I thought about how true that is. There was a wonderful sense of community in this large audience. Anthony Blinken, U.S. secretary of state, spoke about the way immigrant culture contributes to our food world and announced an alliance between the administratioin and the James Beard Foundation—what a fitting alliance.

The chef who was named best new or upcoming chef intrigued me, because his restaurant, Virtue, is in the heart of the Hyde Park Neighborhood in Chicago. In fact, I can picture the location at 53^rd and Harper. Hyde Park is, of course, where I grew up and where my Irene in Chicago Culinary Mysteries are set. As I said to Jordan, “Irene will be so excited that it’s a Hyde Park restaurant.” Then again, who can predict Irene’s reactions? Chicago—and Hyde Park—are still on my bucket list, so who knows? Maybe I’ll get to eat at Virtue. It’s southern cooking, with a twist, of course.

Big day tomorrow, so I’m off to bed early. Then again, it doesn’t take much to make a big day for me.