Life With….

Recently, I had people over for dinner.  As if often the case when some of this particular group of people (myself included) discussion turned to local organic foods, and other political topics.   As they were leaving, I showed them that my brother is currently reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma (see also here; for those that have not read it the first three meals are informative – the fourth while fun is impractical and can be skipped).  One of my guests refereed to it as a current “yuppie bible, ” which seemed apt.

I feel that many of the people I interact with are interested in food – all aspects of food. Where it is from, how it is made, how to grow it, how to prepare it, sharing it, and the experience of a good dinner.  Some of this is generational – we are all still without children and are mostly finically able to care for ourselves and entertain ourselves and others (see).   But part of it is pure yuppiness – the need to upstage and show our cultural awareness and upper word mobility is the definition of a yuppie.  Sometimes this is done through clothes and possessions – other times it is through paying attention to the proper causes.  (Given that everyone at the party is searching for work or completing PhDs, I am not worried that they are so secretly disgusted with the life of the urban professional that they have become Patrick Bateman or stated Fight Clubs with alter egos – but who knows – for those who don’t get the first reference please see or even better read American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis).

Please do not misunderstand me, I hope and pray the local food movement takes off. I am, and have been convinced, it is healthiest for our bodies and our planet –and promotes seasonal eating which in a weird way can add texture and complexity to our palates.  (Beef Stroganoff and Coq Au vin are great – but do you really want them in the mid summer over lightly grilled meat with grilled veggies and a berry flavored desert).  At the same time, I do wonder if eating local food is a way of proving elitist liberal bona fides, of our proving our commitment to the Earth, and our political leaning become a badge of honor we can display in the most primal way – within the very food we eat.

For this particular dinner I tried to use ingredients that I could source, or that were already in my kitchen, which is probably how some of these discussions got started.  Although I do try to do this in general – it was harder on this day as many of my go to stores were lowly stocked, fortunately I had some ingredients in my kitchen that worked well as compliments, and pantry roulette is a truly fun game.

I served three dishes, along with a store bought local spinach salad, desert, and a locally made salami Appetizer from Wine Authorities.  I thought all three dishes were good – but – I had cooked the dishes so that they finished about 7.  We did not eat until after eight thirty, and I thought being on the warm setting for 90 minutes dried out the pork – if I were to make it again I would try to figure out a way to preserve the vapor better or eat earlier.

The recipes are as follows:

Mustard Greens

I took a quart of water and added sliced three slices of turkey bacon.  I cooked that over low hear for 45 minutes, and then added Mustard Greens from South Carolina.  I cooked over medium-low heat for an hour until the green were properly softened.

Roasted Purple Sweet Potatoes with Turnips

I sliced two regional purple sweet potatoes (check out the grower and their philosophy) and one local turnip (though it was an exceptionally large turnip) into strips.  I coated them in a mixture of oil, rosemary, and rock salt.   I then laid them into a roasting pan that is safe in the oven and is beautiful to serve with, sprinkling the turnip amidst the potatoes to lighten the dish and contrast with the deep purple.  I threw some raisins I had laying around into the pan and roasted it all at 400 degrees for about an hour – until all of the root vegetables were soft.

Grapefruit marinated Pork Chops

The inspiration for this dish comes from 1080 Recipes, a Spanish Joy of Cooking of sorts.  The Spanish use lemons, honey, and spice and marinate the pork chops then roast them.  I wanted to use some citrus I had and played with thought combinations coming up with the following – which I truly enjoyed.

I used two ruby red grapefruits and juiced them.  I then sliced a poblano pepper and a cuabnelle and added them to the grapefruit. I added 1-teaspoon honey, and dashes of ground cumin, ground turmeric, cardamom seeds, and a dab of cinnamon.    I mixed this all and then added the six local bone-in pork chops raised right outside Chapel Hill.

I put the marinated meat into the refrigerator for an hour – rotating at the half hour mark.

After an hour I put the whole thing into a Tagine, though a covered roasting pan would probably work as well, and cooked for an hour at 350 degrees.  I then placed into an oven safe serving pan, in this case amazingly designed by Nambe, and cooked for an additional 10 minutes the pork chops alone – along with about 1/3 of the remaining marinade.

As I said above – these would be best warm fresh out of the oven.  But even dry they were nice with a hint of citrusy and Caribbean peppers and Spices playing amongst the natural flavor of the bone in pork.

All text and copyrights preserved by the author 02csb For more information visit http://www.peebesalgy.com Courtney Brown

Create Your Badge  All text and copyrights preserved by the author for words and original pictures and may not be used without author's permission. For more information visit http://www.peebesalgy.com Follow me on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/peebesalgy or contact me directly through http://www.peebesalgy.com/blog/contact-me/ Courtney Brown | Create Your Badge