I drove down to Hubert, NC on Tuesday to visit with Mary Ann. I had breakfast at Helen’s Kitchen, as I normally like to do.
Mary Ann fixed me a couple of hamburgers, and she also had some stir fry cabbage & onions, and some sliced tomatoes. The cabbage were reminiscent of the slightly sweet flavor of the boiled cabbage on the buffet at Seaboard Station restaurant in Hamlet, NC. The tomatoes had some flavor and the combination of hamburger, cabbage and tomatoes was extremely satisfying.
Those flavors were so satisfying that I made me a similar stir fry cabbage and onion side. I used some bacon fat and margarine to flavor the cabbage & onions and added just a hint of Splenda and some Agave Nectar for sweetness. I sliced some cauliflower and seasoned it with Toasted Sesame Oil and some smoked paprika and baked it in the oven at 450 degrees.
I also microwaved an ear of corn and added some salt and margarine to it. I broiled 3 steaks, and had one of them with the cabbage and cauliflower.
Still had some of the steak from the previous day, and some of the stir fried cabbage/onion, so I sliced some more cauliflower and mixed some toasted sesame oil, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and salt & pepper in a small Tupperware container, added the cauliflower, put the top on, and gave it a good shake. This coated the cauliflower with the fragrant oil. I put the cauliflower on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven on HI Broil. Several minutes and the cauliflower was ready. Re-heated the steak in the microwave. Put one ear of corn in the microwave for 5 minutes and it was ready for a little salt and margarine.
The steak had looked good in the grocery store, and at about $8.50 for the package, and there were 5 small steaks, then this seemed like a good deal to me… I was thinking this would be about $1.35 per steak, but just used a calculator and it comes to about $1.70 per. But, the steak was tender, and cooked well under HI Broil. *I have started cooking my steak & lamb under HI Broil. I like the char that gets put on the meat. But, the meat is cooked to medium, with no pink.
Oh, my gosh, the flavors were just as good together as the previous day’s meal. The cauliflower seasoned with toasted sesame oil & smoked paprika is savory, and the stir-fry cabbage/onion is slightly sweet. Slice a piece of steak, and then the next bite of the salty corn on the cob. The only thing that might make this better would be some sliced tomato (that actually has flavor).
*I recently realized that none of the grocery stores I visit, and I visit a bunch, have good flavored tomatoes for sale. The exception for flavor is the Campari brand (which is a smallish tomato, but consistently good flavor) and Wegmans has various Cherry tomatoes that have good flavor. So sad that the Sunset Farms “Sweet Bites” stopped being sold. I’ve asked the company at least twice, with no reply for the reason that these really good tomatoes were discontinued. Why? Legal action? Blight? Not a clue that makes sense. They were consistently flavorful, had been sold for maybe 5 years, and were showing up in various grocery chains: WalMart, Harris Teeter, Food Lion, etc.
In Harris Teeter, yesterday, I saw some bright red tomatoes (mid-sized) on the vine (4 connected), but when I went to pick them up, I realized that they were very cold (possibly had been frozen). That’s just stupid on the part of the green grocer. Refrigeration changes the flavor of tomatoes, and NOT FOR THE BETTER! — I bought an heirloom variety of a red tomato (with gnarly shape) at Pate’s Farm Grocery. They had marked the price the same as the other regular tomatoes (I think it was $1.99 /lb.) but at the register the per pound price was about $3.59. I asked about this and was charged the lower price. That was good because when I got the tomato home and sliced it, it had little flavor. Damn, that’s why you grow heirloom tomatoes, for the old time flavor.
NOTE: A few days ago I came across a new drink combo that I like a lot. The twist is that I like it hot, but once it cools it is also good. The origin of this drink started with the flavor packets I buy at WalMart (when they have them, which is rarer). One flavor packet is Pomegranate Lemonade, and the other is Sweet Tea. I add water to these packets, and then also some Cranberry juice (diet) and some orange juice. I like this flavor combination and have drank it often, cold. But, because I ran out of the Sweet Tea packets, I have started boiling water and making tea from tea bags. After I make the hot tea, I add Splenda and maybe Agave Nectar. I had let the hot tea cool when I made it previously and had not thought to try it hot… but when I did try it hot, it was wonderfully tart & sweet.
[NOTE 12/04/24]: More than a year and a half, and I am still drinking this flavor combo, almost every day, and enjoying it. I haven’t grown tired of these mixed flavors, but they all have to be there. Any missing flavor and the combo just isn’t the same. I haven’t had it hot in a long while, but should try it again. I have a few carafes that I use to blend this mixture and have been using the empty ICE drink containers to freeze ice for this mix. [end NOTE]
NOTE [05/22/23]: I recall looking at some quinoa at Sprouts a few days ago, thought I had bought it, but had not. Went back for it yesterday and bought some tri-color quinoa. Had it in my mind to try and fix a quinoa salad like I had bought at either Publix, or some other grocer’s deli in the past, but not recently. I actually went back to Sprouts to buy some quinoa, and then when I got back home realized I didn’t have any dehydrated cranberries. I will mark this up to “old age” but so frustrating.
So, I still went ahead to try and make the quinoa salad, even without the cranberries. I threw in some raisins. The quinoa cooked really quickly, about 15 minutes (bring to boil, reduce heat, cover) and then another 10 minutes off the heat and fluff up with a fork. Cooked perfectly.
I then added some baby spinach that I had done a chiffonade, some almonds (buy sliced almonds for this), and edamame (soy beans). *I recall that the “Fat Farmer” had grown some soy beans on our farm at times. **I don’t recall his name (Frank Howell), but he had a big belly and he rode around in his truck to the various farms he was working (had leased out). We had a $3K a year tobacco allotment, and I think it was about this that he paid us each year. ***I gave the farm away to the New River Baptist Association some years ago, and they sold it to provide for a good portion of the purchase price of the old Onslow Academy, making it into the associational offices (E.J. Hines).
12/04/24: As I re-read the above paragraph about Frank Howell, I recall that just a few months ago I met his daughter who had gone down to South Carolina and was a “Home Economist” (my term) for many years in the Clemson, SC area. She then retired and has moved back up to the Swansboro area. I met her at a luncheon with Mary Ann at El Catrin (a glitzy new Mexican restaurant in Swansboro). I sat beside her not knowing who she was related to, and at some point when she mentioned her brother I asked her who she was. It was then that I told her about “the fat farmer” and she laughed.
The dressing for the salad consisted of some lime juice (lemon), honey, Agave Nectar, Splenda, dijon mustard and olive oil. I also added some orange oil. Mixed the dressing into the quinoa & other items and it turned out very well. Would have been even better if I had remembered the dried cranberries. *I like the dehydrated cranberries with the oat cereal that I buy at Food Lion.
I bought four ears of corn, that had already been shucked, at Pate’s. I prefer unshucked corn, that I cut the ends off and cook in the microwave for about 5 minutes, but I see that I can wrap a paper towel around the shucked ear, wet it, and microwave this for 5 minutes, and it steams the corn just like in the husk.
I had fixed some borlotti (cranberry / roman) beans and red chard some time ago. Had seen this on a Jamie Oliver cooking episode, and it had an interesting, earthy flavor. This was only my second time fixing this, but it turned out well, once again. Cooking the dried beans down takes about an hour and a half. You then cook the red chard down with some onion, and mix it all together until the juices evaporate.
I cooked a hamburger, on the stove top (messy, a lot of grease spatter). Had the hamburger, cranberry beans & red chard, stir fried cabbage & onion (a little seasoning meat), and an ear of corn. The beans & chard would be good with a round bone lamb chop, or a pork chop. *But nothing can beat the steak, stir fried cabbage & onion, ear of corn, and toasted cauliflower (with toasted sesame oil & smoked paprika) that I had the other day. All those flavors just enhanced each other.
**I am also going to try to fix the Wakame (seaweed) Salad like the one I bought at Publix a few years ago… and a jar of which I bought at Golden Hex a few weeks ago. I’ve tried this sometime, probably in the last year, but failed. However, the salad from Golden Hex was not “perfect” from the jar, and the ingredients I added to it did make it “PERFECT”. I think the additions included toasted sesame oil & seeds, soy sauce, vinegar, and some sweetener. *I think there was also some hot pepper flakes.
Bill Gibson, II 