Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Not a Cook; Not a Problem

Store bought cooked and deveined Shrimp, store bought Spinach Ravioli, with Asparagus, fresh peas, and red Scallions, with my best oil and Brittany sea salt. Yes, you must boil the Ravioli in salted water for five minutes, and the peas/ asparagus for 2-3 minutes. You can boil water, right?

Oh yeah, it took almost ten minutes.

12 comments:

nan said...

Wow - another beautiful dish. Your food blog posts make me hungry! And you make it sound so simple. Bravo!

June Butler said...

Dammit, mon. You make me hungry.

it's margaret said...

Yummm!
Okay --so last night I had traditional pulled pork in a vinegar sauce with coleslaw, cheese grits and a squash casserole. And beer.

Not quite as fancy as yours, I'm afraid, but anytime you are in town --we'd be glad to introduce you to this very southern faire.

Keep eatin'.
Many blessings!

johnieb said...

Darlin, I'm a Southern boy; the only problem with anything you said is the "vinegar sauce" part. I eat Memphis style, and have been known to sneak to KC or even (sssssh!) texas, but vinegar and mustard on a whole pig? However, as one who ate men's cooking, third world style (Vietnamese NCOs and us), I may even try Eastern Roasted Pig, but I would 'ppreciate it if nobody called it BBQ.

That, and they probably cooked the squash to death. But pulled pork, slaw, and Cheese Grits? Lawzie!

Hmmm. Maybe I have been eating Yankee too long.

artemis said...

johnie--this is Alice, aka artemis. I've had to open a new accout so I could tell you about (eastern) NC bbq. We cook the whole pig and pour a vingary sauce containing wonderful hot spices
(NO MUSTARD, lord, which bubba thought of that!) Since you'll have room for dessert after eating all our hush puppies, some places serve to-die-for banana pudding with a sky-high meringue.

Then you can waddle to your car and go home to take a long nap.

Some people call it a "heart attack on a plate."

The Cunning Runt said...

johnieb, that looks awesome, as I'm as lazy as I am gastronomically lecherous!

And margaret, I'm not a bar-b-que cognoscenti, but your pulled pork in vinegar sauce sounds lethal, in a good way! ;)

Anonymous said...

Dear Johnieb --

As with any region --they lay claim to the "BBQ" nomen.... and they differentiate as white or red BBQ --no mustard involved, just spices....

As to the squash --no, it's done pretty good, but not mush. --and I'm speakin' as a California girl.

and yes --I know I'm not supposed to, but I LOVE grits!

blessings, --it's margaret

johnieb said...

I'm really not that dogmatic about styles nor about labels. I thought I remembered "mustard", as perhaps in dry ground mustard, such as Coleman's, in one of the discussions at MP's: OCICBW, and apparently was.

Alice as in Palhart? Come again; I miss ya.

Kate Morningstar said...

I make pecan pie, but with maple syrup, not corn or cane, for sweetener. Canadian girl'll do that. And since we're braggin' -- a 16-year old boy I know said about it, "I haven't tried sex yet, and until I do, this is the best thing on the planet."

johnieb said...

Well, Kate, I take that recommendation with all due seriousness, and I have eaten some very good Pecan pie with Maple Surple (Gratuitous Roger Miller reference), but I grew up with four native pecan trees in our yard in town, and Mama always used the Clear Karo Corn Syrup (Hence the other name "Karo Nut Pie.") To me, the quality of the nuts is perhaps more important than sweetener or crust.

I have tried sex, a time or two, and I'd have to think a minute about the circumstances, at my age, before making a choice. :-)

Jane R said...

Oh, Kate, yummy! I am with you on the maple syrup.

And JohnieB, what a delicious and beautiful dinner. Bravo, bravo.

As for BBQ -- did anyone hear the story on Texas BBQ on NPR a day or two about? It was about Texas Monthly or Texas Magazine's annual "best BBQ in Texas" contest, about which they are very, very serious, and this year a little bitty hole in the wall place beat out the larger, better known place. Excellent radio story. I'll see if I can go find it and post it here.

Here we go again with the barbecue wars ;-). Though we are a pacific and pluralistic set over here, so let's just taste each other's favorite ways of doing BBQ.

I was so clueless when I moved to NC that I didn't recognize NC BBQ when I first saw it! 'Cause to me, BBQ means ribs. You know, there has to be a bone and a certain kind of color, reddish. (Okay, here we go into the vinegar vs. tomato wars.) Though it turns out they also have ribs here, a friend in Durham has a great place for those and I decided to forgo vegetarianism temporarily the day she offered to share some of those with me.)

And then there's the chicken barbecue at the Strafford, Vermont annual Fourth of July weekend volunteer fire dept. barbecue, but that is a whole other and very Yankee story, albeit a yummy one. Favorite place to be on the 4th of July, too. I miss it.

Now back to my vegetarian ways. I made salsa tonight. Woo hoo!

JohnieB, no comment ;-). Except "Hey, if you can get both..."

Jane R said...

Woo hoo again -- Here is the Texas Monthly barbecue story from NPR, and you can read a transcript as well as listen, and see pictures of Miss Tootsie, the "Pit Master." Fine piece of journalism.