Inverting Half-Empty

These days I expect I am far from alone in needing help not infrequently getting my "half full" perspective back. The omnipresence of Dark Things cannot be dodged without access to deep caverns or access to controlled substances or something in that vein. I found this post helpful, in reinvigorating my good news buds and giving me at least a bit of short-lived buzz ("Praise The Lord: We Got Biden (2008), Not Lieberman (2000) or Edwards (2004)"). I was a little suspicious going in, not sharing the author's POV so far as to have stopped mourning the stolen 2000 election. The horrors perpetrated on the world and our nation as a result of that crime are not in the forgettable or forgiveable category for me yet.

Still, M. J. Rosenberg's larger point is well taken - and it offers another chance to choose between half full and half empty. Dems have been making extremely poor choices on many things for ages. Recent stupidities are not something new - though perhaps shocking because for the first time in quite a while they supposedly have the power or numbers to accomplish things.

Short Ribs, Tagine Cooking, and Moo-Shu Pork

We’re still enthusiastically playing with our food. Marg was hostess last Saturday to a “trunk sale” that involved friend Jules’ terrific custom jewelry and son-in-law Sean’s popular “Scentsy” flame-free room scents, and there were all sorts of tantalizing snacks (that-there is a delectable and gorgeous (savory) pesto cheese-cake – hoo-whee!).

But I’m here now about actual “meal” food. For starters, we purchased a portion of a (butchered) cow not long ago, and one of our first ventures involved a couple pounds of said cow’s short ribs. (I won’t pretend to no squeamishness here.) I don’t know that on my own I would have had the gumption to put all our chips on a recipe that invoked martini seasonings and gin, but collectively, that’s just what we did.

After braising, the beef spent several hours in the oven getting fall-off-the-bone tender, with seasonings including vermouth, gin, and juniper berries, among others. After removing bones and connective tissue, the beef appeared irresistible, the pot-scrapings made for an excellent sauce, and the scrumptious beef was garnished with a topping involving lemon zest, cocktail onions, olives, parsley, and more gin.

As I say, I had some doubts going in, but this was definitely a keeper of a recipe. Now, if only short ribs had not become such a trendy (i.e., pricey) item!

A while back we came into possession of a lovely golden tagine, the distinctive crockery cooker of North Africa – Morocco in particular. Partly in honor of family members paying a visit to Casablanca and the West Sahara a few weeks back, I dug out the tagine and wrestled through the break-in process. This required hours of soaking in water, or, according to some, a mix of water and milk. I went with the simple, given that concocting a way to soak two moderately large bits of seemingly fragile pottery was enough of a challenge. And the idea of milk infused into the porous crockery brought a certain funkiness to mind that was not appetizing.

There is plenty that is mysterious about this though. I gather the tagine was developed with the idea it was to be used over charcoal or wood fires. It would seem then that the vessel should be pretty impervious to heat, but I was unclear as to whether the stovetop was really workable. I went to the trouble of buying a metallic disk heat diffuser in hopes of avoiding hot spots or possible cracking of crockery. It worked out fine.

I settled on a recipe centered on chicken and chick-peas, with somewhat exotic seasonings including cinnamon, one I can rarely bring myself to add to a savory meat dish. Harissa and ras al-hanout, North African spice mixes we have been dabbling in for a while now, are more welcome. I browned some chicken thighs in the tagine, giving it its’ first trial, at moderately high stove temp, added chickpeas that had been soaked overnight, carrots, and various other additives, then tended the loaded tagine for an evening, planning to reheat for dinner the next night.

I thought it worked out well. I had gone easy on the cinnamon, but it was still detectable, and fine with me. I have my sights on a variation involving the preserved lemons that I gather are a hallmark of Moroccan cuisine, together with green olives. I have been shocked at what the market seems to demand for a couple preserved lemons a la Morocco. But my mouth waters at the thought. (And maybe a little more derring-do with the spices might be in order too!)

Meanwhile, we had some leftovers from some scrumptious porkchops Eric had assembled, and got some Moo Shu Pork queued up. Left to our boomer devices, I/we would have settled for flour tortillas or something as the packaging, I bet. E went for pancakes from scratch – and, in reality, ingredient list is short. It’s one more thing, mixing, waiting, rolling, and cooking, but what a great custom touch.

Likewise, using shredded Napa cabbage rather than pre-made coleslaw mix as we might have been tempted, was wise. The result, spooned onto a home-made pancake prepped with Hoisin sauce, was quite delectable!