The Art of the Meal... De Vinci or Piccaso?
By Bobby Wallinger
Twenty-five years ago I wrote a column for the, Stockton Record, telling of my mistrust of famous chefs who wanted to turn a perfectly delightful, traditional Thanksgiving Feast into a soy-saturated, weirdo- vegetable, marshmallow-less, “Gourmet” meal.
Suffice it to say, a meal that would be interesting in content, but should never be tasted by anyone at the table under the age of twenty-one. Most of the recipes used in the Year-of-the-Gourmet-Thanksgiving-Dinner, contained enough booze to put Granny under the table until New Year. And, as for little ones, a recipe that called for one-half cup of rum beaten into the cream topping for dessert could have resulted in parents being put in the hoosegow for child endangerment.
Even my hubby, the ever-adventurous passionate cook, could not
hang with the, “Be adventurous” Thanksgiving fare and chose to
prepare an absolutely delicious meal with a “G-Rating”.
Now while my husband was the galloping gourmet wanna-be, my stints
in the kitchen have always leaned more toward Campbell’s Tomato
Soup, pared with an American grilled cheese sandwich and accompanied
by (may favorite food in the world), POTATO CHIPS!
All our friends recognized that if they were dining at our home,
and if the meal was anymore complicated than the afore mentioned,
Harry would be doing the cooking while Bobbie would be in charge of
clean-up.
Therefore I was surprised when a friend called to say one of the
couples in her “Gourmet Dinner Club” would not be available and
would my “buddy” and I like to come…Oh, yeah, and that meant
bringing along one of the dishes for the meal.
Knowing what a great cook SHE is I immediately accepted, assuming she meant I should bring a piece of china. But, nay, as in all Gourmet Dinner Clubs, each member, or in this case, fill-in-guest, is to bring an edible item from the menu selected by the host.
Yikes! I thought. But my friend readily explained I would only be responsible for the vegetable side-dish, and “not to worry”, she would send me the recipe.
Much to my relief, (I mean how hard is it to heat up some frozen peas) I joyfully agreed and asked my buddy, also an excellent cook, if he would like to go. “Absolutely”, was his immediate reply having been recipient of many a fine meal at the hostess’ home. “I’ll help with the vegetable dish.”
When the recipe arrived in the mail, to say I was “stunned” did not begin to cover it. No frozen peas here, the theme was Southwestern cooking and my task was to prepare a vegetable medley beginning with roasting of two Arizona Chilies. Now, I can’t speak for anyone else, but I had no idea Arizona had its own kind of Chili pepper.
Fortunately, my hostess grows them in her own backyard and could supply the peppers needed. But roast? And over an open flame? Oh, well my “buddy”, the great cook could take care of that part.
Next, I would have to “cut the kernels from eight ears of fresh
corn before the sauté process. Is she kidding me? Has she never
heard of frozen corn? Oh, well, again, not to worry…my buddy could
do that too.
Hmm, I mused as I read on.
Fresh garlic finely chopped, two kinds of squash, “cut Julienne-style”, sunflower oil (are they talking about those big yellow flowers?) shelled sunflower seeds, salt, pepper…
My worst moment came when my buddy called the day of the dinner explaining due to some unforeseen problem he would not be able to help cook but would pick me up at six to go to the dinner.
To cut to the chase, I was able to finally get it together, and I must say, Southwest Cuisine has now become one of my favorites. But for those of us not of the “gourmet” persuasion, I can assure you my Thanksgiving meal will feature a bird with a pop-out plastic thing to let me know when it is done and for the vegetable? You got it…frozen peas.
Have a happy Thanksgiving filled with peace and love and don’t forget to make your donation to the Stockton Emergency Food Bank so all our brothers and sisters in Stockton will be able to celebrate this All American Holiday.
