There is a
shocking secret at the Farrell house.
It is
something that, in most folk’s opinion, shames us, makes us less in their eyes,
sinful, people to be apart, shunned for what we are. We accept an idea that is wrong to many,
dangerous to most. It has caused us to
raise our children in an aberrant way.
We have chosen to set ourselves outside of society.
You see, we
do not own a microwave oven. I’ve been
militant about this. My kids were
underprivileged when they went to college.
Although they could pop popcorn on the top of the stove with real
butter, not one of them knew the setting on a mic that would make the magic
happen. Oh, the humanity!
I know
that’s hard to believe. How could you
get by, feed yourself properly without a microwave? Actually, it is quite easy, but like
everything worthwhile in this world, you need to think differently, about your
health and your food. Think for a moment
about how you use your microwave. My
guess is that it is almost always used to reheat leftovers.
Around our
house, it is rare that something would be simply warmed up and served
again. Instead, we make something
different. For example, almost any
cooked vegetable can be chopped up and cooked in an omelette.
Roast chicken can mixed with onions, celery, dried cranberries and mayonnaise
to make chicken salad. Bones can be cleaned of meat and used
for stock. Anything, well practically
anything makes a good taco or enchilada.
Besides, those rays can’t be good for you.
A while
back, I posted a recipe for curried turkey
legs and a red lentil dal. If you
made that one, and you should, you probably had extra dal left over at the end
of dinner. You could do what everyone
else, bang it in the microwave, spray it down with radiation and call yourself Chef of the Airwaves. Or, with little extra effort, you could try
the following recipe and make interesting food.
This would also be great with leftover rice pilaf or beans.
_____
Fried Dal
Patties with Sautéed Zucchini and Mushrooms (serves four)
1# dal,
cooked and cooled
1 ½ c. bread
crumbs
2 tbs. olive
oil
2 medium
zucchini, sliced into thin rounds
8 button
mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 clove
garlic, chopped
2 tbs.
parsley, chopped
½ c. heavy
cream (optional)
salt and black
pepper
Preheat the
oven to 350°F. With your hands, form 2
oz. patties of dal ½ inch thick. Roll
them in breadcrumbs and set aside.
In a sauté pan
large enough to hold 8 dal patties, heat 1 tbs. of olive oil. Sauté the dal patties for two minutes, turn
then bake them in the oven for about 10 minutes, until they are well browned
and warmed through.
While the
dal is baking, heat the remainder of the olive oil in a large sauté pan. Working quickly, sauté the garlic for just a
moment, until its aroma is released, but before it browns. Add the zucchini and mushrooms, season with
salt and black pepper. Continue on high
heat, keeping the vegetables moving so that they do not stick.
When the zucchini
and mushrooms are cooked through, pour in the cream and reduce it by 1/3, until
it has thickened to a coating consistency.
Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, stir in the chopped parsley. Remove the dal patties from the oven.
Spoon ¼ of
the zucchini and mushroom sauce onto each plate and top with 2 of the dal
patties. Serve immediately.
If you are
counting calories, leave out the cream.
Also, if you are trying to eliminate bread from your diet, it is
perfectly acceptable to eliminate the bread crumbs. Instead you should roll the dal in potato
starch. That will not hold the patty
together as well as bread crumbs, so you should turn the patties carefully.
