Cooking And Eating....“Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es”

Triple-washed brown rice, cooked in chicken stock with tumeric, cilantro, chervil, chives, green curry paste, dried raisins, cranberries, dates and apricots, grated cocoanut,  chopped dried prunes, dandelion root, sliced scallions, sriracha pepper sauce,  and diced cherry tomatoes.....

 ONCE, A NECESSARY ACCOUTREMENT AT THE DINNER TABLE, WHEN SUGAR WAS A SCARCER, MORE PRESTIGIOUS COMMODITY.......AND SERVED, WITH A  SCOOP.....BEFORE THE DAYS OF COVERED SUGAR BOWLS AND SPOONS

 

I STRIPPED DOWN A ROTISSERIE CHICKEN, SEPARATING MOST OF THE 'MEAT' FROM THE COOKED CARCASS....THEN DUMPED THE 'PARTS'....NECK, BONES, TAIL AND BITS OF CARTILEGE AND SKIN..... INTO THE PRESSURE COOKER, WITH SOME VEGETABLE STOCK......COOKING, PRESSURIZED, FOR 3 MINUTES.....THEN ADDED A CUP FULL OF HERBS, SCALLION SLICES, AND THE REMAINS OF SEVERAL PLASTIC CONTAINERS OF HERBS AND SPICES....COOKING THESE FOR ANOTHER COUPLE OF MINUTES, UNDER PRESSURE....THEN ADDED THE REST OF THE CHICKEN'S STRIPPED OFF WHITE MEAT AND A CUP OF SAUTERNE TO THE BROTH, BENEATH THE STEEL BASKET.... AND ALLOWED THIS TO REST, COOLING DOWN WITH THE COOKER'S TOP HAVING BEEN REPLACED, BUT WITHOUT ADDITIONAL HEATING....FOR HALF AN HOUR.....THE STEEL BASKET IS THEN REMOVED, AS IS THE CHICKEN....BENEATH IT....AND THE COLLECTED DRIPPINGS AND BROTH ARE THICKENED INTO A GRAVY FOR THIS 'FRENCH-ISH' CONCOCTION.....WHICH WILL BE SERVED OVER AROMATIC, STEAMED JASMINE RICE, FLAVORED WITH TINY, F...

I couldn't resist...not that I wanted to.....a couple of Kroger 'mark downs'.....$1.99 for a huge bag of collard greens and $2.49 for a pound of hickory-smoked bacon......I cooked the greens in chicken stock, adding lots of chopped scallions,  pomegranate liquor, ground peppers, Cajun seasoned salt, pulverized raisins, tobasco sauce, chopped garlic, rice wine vinegar, Mexican Valentina salsa picante and the tiny bits of honey-roasted cashew nuts that were left at the bottom of a bag......something that my grandmother would never have considered, of course...... thick, Prelibato red vinegar was dizzled over the cooked concoction......I decided to serve them with feather-light old-fashioned white cornmeal corn sticks, carmelized in the old Martin Stamping and Stove cast iron cornstick mold.......Now, I wish that I had made some black-eyed peas to accompany this N. Alabama-ish afternoon treat.. THEN, I DID    North Alabama afternoon 'snack'..... 2 1/2" yellow cor...