We are running around the bases, and heading into August. That means the hottest part of the summer is still ahead of us. And we will be that much deeper into hurricane season.
I am dully contemplating what to do for dinner, but the heat has sapped any creativity I might have been harboring. Last night I nearly set the stove on fire when I broiled some tomatoes, according to a recipe for Tomato Choka I found in the Thrillist. I was bored with our summer repertoire of meals, and I was showing off, too. “Look at this divine new dish I just whipped up in my most expert, food-writer-y way.” What a disaster that was! Black smoke billowed out of the broiler; I am lucky that the smoke alarms didn’t go off, it was that big of a mess. https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/tomato-choka-recipe From now on, hubris lesson learned, I need to stop trying for unusual meals, and see what is left over in the fridge.
I found a new Substack newsletter to read the other day: Andrew Zimmern’s Spilled Milk. The piece that leapt off the computer screen first was “Bizarre Foods…In My Fridge?” I cannot compete with Andrew Zimmern. We have nothing in cold storage as exotic as moose shanks or salmon roe – but we do have a jar of duck fat, four kinds of hot sauce, four kinds of mustard (no wonder there is a world-wide shortage), lots of cheeses (Swiss, Jarlsberg, Cheddar, fresh mozzarella, block mozzarella, Parmesan Reggiano, feta, Peccorino and a sad little blue-tinged cube of Colby), 6 bags of frozen homemade pizza dough, and OMG – I just found a bag of pork chops dated November 21, 2020!
We lived in Florida for a long time, and learned one of the rules of hurricane preparedness is to be sure cook what is in your freezer right away, so if you have to evacuate, and the power is cut, you won’t come home to a house reeking of rotting meat. (I have just chucked out the vintage frozen pork chops, you’ll be relieved to know.) We don’t seem to have a lot of meat – a baggie of frozen taco meat, one filet mignon, three portions of salmon, and two boxes of breakfast sausage patties. Maybe that bodes well for the upcoming hurricane season.
In the fridge we have two bottles of wine, half of a lemon/blueberry cheesecake, two slices of pizza, four packages of tortillas, both flour and corn. Also bags of salad, a head of broccolini, a Vidalia onion, cilantro, blueberries, a green pepper, carrots, four ears of corn, a bunch of cilantro and three eggs.
The easiest meal would be cheese and crackers and wine, with a modest green salad and the yummy dessert. But that would be pretty lazy. We could thaw the taco meat, and make cheese-topped tacos. There are chips in the pantry. Then we could include some greens, and use up some hot sauce. Or we could break the family rules, and make a pizza on a night of the week other than Friday. We could also make a small frittata, and a big salad. We know the wine won’t go to waste.
I know you can’t do this often, because the novelty will wear off, but having breakfast for dinner can be amusing. Not a sad bowl of cold cereal, but pancakes are always cheery. Or waffles, with a scoop of ice cream. Decadent. You will be just one step away from guzzling absinthe.
I recommend getting out a pad of paper and making a list of everything in your fridge. It is quite an eye-opening exercise. You might feel a little bit better about your dinner prospects. Plus you won’t have to go out in the heat to stock up. You will be practically hurricane proof.
“My mother really would make these dreadful concoctions. She really prided herself on something called ‘Everything Stew,’ where she would take everything in the refrigerator, all the leftovers, and put them all together.”
-Ruth Reichl
https://andrewzimmern.substack.com/p/bizarre-foodsin-my-fridge-chit-chat
Lyn Banghart says
I love this! I so enjoy your writing. Thank you! (We are having soup for dinner tonight…..)