What's in that...Friday

There are a number of things I wanted to write about today. In fact, there are a number of things I DID write about but as they piled up, combined with foodie Friday, it just got to be too much. So trying to live in a 'chill out, being crazed won't fix anything' frame of mind, I'm sticking with my 'have a beautiful day, MJ' plan, which started with heading into town by dinghy rather than walking, on the most beautiful morning we've had in weeks.

I found out Suzanne (with Tony) is back and we are all crediting her with bringing the sunshine she managed to sneak off island with three weeks ago. Well, if it kept weather beautiful in Canada for them, ok, we'll accept that. But don't do it again!

I'm going to an open house Friday evening, which is more truthfully a "I'm inviting some good friends over to see my new place and that will make me finish painting and getting things in order, and I'll have good food and hope you bring some too" sort of thing. Along with that, I had a lovely moment walking home and having a friend call me over asking if I liked asparagus. Of course I said yes and she promised to come by the cart and hand over her excess, accepting nothing but my glee. Which she did. Perfecto! I now had something great to bring to the open house...but how should I make it special, since usually when I cop some of those spears of ambrosia I steam them, add butter and salt and dive in? I looked up a number of recipes, settling on one that I would still incorporate others into. And so now we have Lemon Marinated Asparagus and Hearts of Palm with Feta and Proscuitto...maybe.

Lemon Marinated Asparagus & Artichoke Hearts

Makes 10 to 12 servings

• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 garlic clove, minced (I used 4 cloves...hey, I like garlic! Let's see if everyone else does)
  
• 1 (14-ounce) can artichoke heart quarters, drained
• 1 (4-ounce) jar diced pimiento, drained
• 2 pounds fresh asparagus
• Garnish: lemon rind strips

Preparation

Whisk together lemon juice and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl; add artichoke quarters and diced pimiento, and gently toss. Cover and chill 8 hours or overnight.

Snap off tough ends of asparagus; cook in boiling salted water to cover 3 minutes or until crisp-tender.

Drain asparagus, and plunge into ice water to stop cooking process. Place cooked asparagus in a large heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag, and store overnight in refrigerator, if desired.

Add asparagus to artichoke mixture, and gently toss. Cover and chill 2 hours. Garnish, if desired.

Southern Living, MAY 2003

Thanks, Judy A!

These are sort of fat asparagus, so I cooked them about five minutes at a boil
(after cutting off the woody end parts)

Drained, I had the ice cubes ready, put them in the pan and cool water...
then into the baggie overnight

This is the marinade and hearts of palm, which I had, instead of artichoke hearts,
which I didn't have...I didn't have the pimentos either

All bagged up, separately (lemon will toughen the asparagus, don't use it until a couple of hours before serving) and ready for the fridge overnight

Feta cut into squares and marinated with olive oil & herbs is something else I had that, while having my morning tea, suddenly seemed like it belonged in the mix

It's now Friday, and things have been modified, natch. This IS Culebra. First, there is no proscuitto to be found (where I looked anyway). So, I'm using some already cooked chicken breasts that I'd marinated in a light oil and vinegar type dressing. I got some artichoke hearts and pimentos and sliced them thinly before tossing them in the bag with the marinade and hearts of palm. And I had some green olives with lemon, so those went into the bag with the chicken strips.

Both of the bags were put back in the fridge to keep cool...the lime was for zest because I couldn't find any lemons (I did use bottled pure lemon juice in the marinade...shoot me)

Now it's time to mix them together!!! Oh boy!

I was very proud of myself for not licking the other bag...or this one, for that matter.

The final product will be put together later on (I'm taking some chives from the garden for garnish...maybe an orchid or three as well) and I'll get pictures...and better yet, comments and try to finish this tonight. Um...maybe!

Tomorrow I'll get back to the other brain churners. One involves a Dinghy Dock experience...so c'mon back. And have an excellent Friday night! I'm planning on it.

Obsessed with 'maters

One of the good things about being single is finding yourself wide awake at 4 a.m. and being able to get up and start doing things without disturbing someone who most likely would enjoy sleeping a couple or few more hours (if I've mentioned this before, oops, but I do think about it often). So it was this morning. Of course, the CWIM is always ready for me to get out of bed as it signals meal time. Sometimes I insist on some personal ablutions first but keeping things simple often wins, which means feeding her and getting her face in a bowl, rather than butting my arms or feet.

And there they were on the counter, just as beautiful as yesterday, but a day older. What to do with tomatoes, especially when hunger won't hit for about 8 more hours? What's in the fridge? What's in the garden? Well, of course... tomato and feta salad! With snippets of garlic tops in place of scallions, a bit of finely chopped hot pepper, a few gloriously huge basil leaves, balsamic vinegar and olive oil (if you ever catch me typing EVOO - shoot me - but assume I mean extra virgin), salt and pepper. There could have been a cucumber added but I think I bought the worst cuke ever (1/2 a day and it went south, far far south, to the land of instant compost. Held very gingerly when tossed garden side - yick).

For some reason, Milka's gets feta in every once in awhile and it's cheap! One of life's mysteries. Usually I cut it into cubes and dump it in a jar of seasoned olive oil and vinegar, but I hadn't gotten around to that step yet. It doesn't matter because by the time I get around to eating this, at lunch or in the afternoon when I get home, it will be well marinated in the drizzle of vinegar and oil. Maybe I'll find a perfectly ripe avocado to add to it. Oh, it's good to have goals!



By the time I was done snipping and clipping and chopping and mixing, it was just breaking into pre-dawn, light enough to water the garden and to see if I could take some photos. I did and I could.

Basil looking fine

Mockingbird singing the day in

Bougainvillea bloom high in the genipa tree

Happy Monday!