Don’t Make Me Eat That
Change is so tough. When it comes to my comfort zone, it’s really tough. I like dinner with meat, a starchy side, and something green. What happens when wife Holly brings in something new, some thing I just know that I will and always have hated? List the things we can all say about how terrible they are?
Just like that Holly walks in one day last month holding some dark, dusty red brown, scraggly eared bulbs. They have a rat’s tail and some very, very knarly red stubs on the other end surely hacked by a frenzied farm worker working with a rough saw by the piece.
“We’re having fresh beets”, she says.
Most folks know that it is so hard to get an opinion out of me. I replied that she was using the wrong pronoun. Instead of We, she should have said I. Out came a reminder of the “Rule”.
There is the Rule at my house. It goes like this, “You don’t have to like what’s put on your plate, but you do have to try it.” My daughter Elizabeth was not the only one who had to live with this rule.
That night dinner involved some quick research. How can one roast a fresh Beet and make the thing eatable? It’s easy. In the oven for an hour on 350° F, peal it easily, and eat up. How clever is that?
A few weeks ago due to the darn Rule, I ate a Persimmon. Some of these really pretty fruits were sitting there coloring up the kitchen, so I stuck them in alongside the beets. Ok, there sat a sweet potato too. Why not roast it along side these others? So I did and when all were fork tender, it was time to season. The sweet potato is easy, just add a taste of balsamic vinegar, a dob of butter, and some black pepper. The others had to be pealed, salted. They then got the sweet sour thing going with some goat cheese. You gotta try something, right?
The oven was hot, so a quick roasting of my favorite Miss Goldie cut, the leg quarter, seemed just right. If all else fails, hand me a thigh. A few asparagus brought on the colors. It all was finished with a garlic pan sauce, dark and savory.
I am converted. This beet thing is amazing. They are so earthy sweet. It’s not like you are eating canned beets, or beets pickled in a jar. Trust me! From here on, I’m a fan. The Rule proved once again to be worth following. I might not like it, but I gotta try it.
So we are back to Change. I did, I have, and perhaps, if I stay lucky, I will again. Just follow the rule.
Then there is the magic of the emply plate bonus.
