fat free opinions on a food centric life
You may recall I purchased an entire pig last December and split it with a good friend. We each ended up with 100 lbs. of fresh, locally loved and raised, lean pork and have been busy enjoying every bit of its truly incredible flavor. So …
I think it’s fair to say that I equally enjoy baking sweets as much as I enjoy cooking something savory. Regardless of what it is, I normally rise to a challenge and can’t think of a better way to spend a day in the kitchen …
If you’d asked me even at age 25, I’d have told you squash wasn’t something I thought I’d enjoy eating at any point in my life. I’d just begun to experiment with zucchini about then and that’s only because I had a small garden and harvested a few that were more than a foot long and five inches in diameter. I quickly became someone who could cook anything with zucchini.
It was the yellow and orange squash I continued to not like the idea of, and I think it may have had something to do with texture. When I saw it prepared, it was always soft and mushy, and ironically, sweet. It’s always been a challenge for me to consider eating meat or vegetables that have been sweetened…well, as long as nobody counts Sweet & Sour Chicken, right?
Thankfully, I’ve gotten past the few issues I’ve had with squash, so when I saw the copper pot full of glistening “Texas Beef Brisket Chili” on the cover of Bon Appetit last month and realized those orange chunks nestled up against the beef were nuggets of savory butternut squash, I knew what we were having for dinner and quick.
But there was just one thing…this dish was anything but quick. In fact, it was the epitome of slow and low — and just perfect for football watching on Sunday.
I love tomatoes. I always have. I can remember when I was about eight and my family was living in the small town of Chipiona, Spain, my mother brought home a bunch of tomatoes. I know they weren’t ours since the patio surrounded by two-story …