Friday Food: Canned Aberrations

Friday 

Short version: Pork and gravy, chicken-y rice, peas and corn, ice cream

Long version: I did not really pull out all the stops for Valentine's Day this year. Or, um, any stops. In fact, right until I went into the kitchen to cook, I did not have a clear idea what I was going to make. One child was at a basketball game and one wasn't eating, so I was just feeding four people.

I started with the fact that I had a not-well child who thought he could maybe eat some rice. And I had chicken stock in the refrigerator. So that was the chicken-y rice.

Next, something to put on or over the rice? Because there were only four of us, I decided to use a can of the pork we used to get from excess commodities. I scooped out the fat from the can to fry the meat in, adding thyme, onion powder, and pepper, then used the juices from the bottom of the can to make a gravy. I typically use cornstarch for gravy, because I can just mix it with cold milk or cream and dump it in to thicken everything. I was out of cornstarch, though, and loathe to use a whole other pan to make a roux to thicken the gravy.

Can you make a roux in the microwave, though, if it doesn't need to be browned? Yup, you sure can. And that is what I did: A bowl to melt the butter, stir in the some flour and microwave a few more seconds to cook the flour, then whisk in the milk and dump the whole thing into the pan.

Nice to know that will work.

This whole skillet of food was quite sloppy and honestly looked like dog food, but it tasted pretty good.

I was too lazy to go ALL THE WAY to the outside freezers (ten feet from the door) to get another bag of frozen peas, so I just used the last of the bag that was in the refrigerator freezer plus some of the frozen corn that was in there, mixed together.

Steamy peas 'n' corn.

Saturday

Short version: Canned casserole, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: While I was trotting around the village on my morning run and pondering what to make for dinner--I do this a lot while I run--I remembered the can of Campbell's cream of chicken soup in my pantry. I found this can literally under my car at Walmart just before Thanksgiving. I had to get it out from under my tire anyway, so I fished it out and just brought it home.

I also had a can of, um, canned chicken in the pantry. I keep these on hand for fast meals to make fried rice or whatever, but I figured I could use it with the cream of chicken soup to make something like tuna noodle casserole, but with chicken.

So I cooked some noodles--small shells, because it's what I had--then mixed together the soup, chicken, some milk to thin it a little, onion powder, pepper, and grated cheddar cheese. After mixing that with the pasta, I tasted it.

SALT OVERLOAD.

It was so salty. SOOOOO salty. I mean, I like salt, and I salt my food pretty liberally as I cook, but that was a whole other level. Like, the kind of salty that almost stings. Guess I didn't need to salt the water for cooking the pasta.

Anyway.

To dilute the salt a bit, I started adding more stuff. First frozen corn. Then the last cup or so of pureed calabaza that was in the refrigerator. These two things toned the salt down enough to at least make it edible.

Also very yellow.

The finished product was okay. I mean, I didn't eat it, but everyone else liked it and took seconds, so I'll call that a success.

A good reminder of why I don't typically cook from cans, though.

Sunday

Short version: Brisket, pureed potatoes, green salad with ranch dressing, strawberry/rhubarb crisp with ice cream

Long version: This was the birthday boy's delayed celebratory meal. He had originally wanted pork ribs, which I had, but I didn't know he would be feeling well enough to eat his requested meal yet. So I had defrosted the brisket. And then when he was feeling better and discovered I was planning on making brisket, he said he had almost asked for that instead of ribs anyway, so I went ahead and made the rest of his requested food.

The brisket was a serious undertaking. I had asked A. to get me some brisket before Christmas, because I was planning on using it to make tamales. He came home with a whole brisket. These are a pretty good deal, because they're just about $4 a pound. They are also around 20 pounds of meat.

That's a large hunk of flesh.

I did not have the time to deal with that whole brisket when he brought it home, so I just chucked it in the freezer, where it got in my way anytime I was digging for something else in there.

I finally decided to face the brisket and pulled it out on Saturday to start defrosting. It took all day Saturday and all night to actually defrost all the way. Early Sunday morning, I cut it into two pieces. One of the problems with a whole brisket is that you have to thaw the whole thing to cut it, but then figure out how to re-wrap the giant piece that isn't being cooked.

I did not feel up to that at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, so I decided to cook the whole thing. So I cut it into pieces that would fit into my biggest casserole dishes, anointed both hunks of meat with ketchup, maple syrup, mustard, and salt, plus a bunch of water, covered both dishes, and put them in a 325-degree oven for several hours. I think eight hours? I don't know. Until they were done.

Well, until one got a little charred, actually, because I didn't keep a close-enough eye on the water level. But they were tender!

Then I sliced them and put what we were going to eat back into the juices of one of the dishes. I let that sit in there all afternoon, which keeps the meat from drying out. I added some homemade barbecue sauce before I re-heated it for dinner, and it was very good.

The birthday boy likes his "mashed" potatoes completely smooth, so I used my immersion blender for them instead of the handheld masher that I prefer.

He did not have a preference for a vegetable, not being a huge fan of such things, so I used my own judgment for that. And went with a salad. I did make the ranch dressing instead of using a vinaigrette, though, because that's what everyone but me prefers.

His dessert request was a strawberry/rhubarb crisp with butter pecan ice cream. I had just enough rhubarb left in the freezer to make that.

Ugly charred brisket (only half--the other half was in a different pan) and pretty red crisp in progress. Beauty and the beast.

This meal was a welcome return to our typical meals after two days of canned food. We had a (adult) guest with us for dinner, and while he was getting his second helping of crisp, he remarked to the children that they were going to be very disappointed when they left home and realized that most food doesn't taste like this. 

Good thing he didn't eat dinner with us the previous two days.

Monday

Short version: Leftovers, raw radishes

Long version: Cooking almost twenty pounds of brisket means plenty left for the rest of the week, hooray. We had it this night just re-heated, with a selection of leftover starches: chicken-y rice, mashed potatoes, and one serving of the salty chicken pasta.

Tuesday

Short version: Lamb chops, garlic bread, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: If you raise sheep, you can have Tuesdays be Lamb Chop Tuesdays, instead of Taco Tuesdays.

Lotsa lamb.

If you don't raise sheep, this is unlikely to be your plate on a random Tuesday night.

Luckily for this child, we do raise sheep.

Wednesday

Short version: Barbecue brisket sandwiches, carrot sticks with curry dip, canned peaches

Long version: I made buns for the sandwiches the day before when I was baking bread, so all I had to do when I got home from work was shred some of the leftover brisket and make a barbecue sauce for it to simmer in by dumping in ketchup, mustard, maple syrup, molasses, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce.

The canned peaches were not my peaches. They were Great Value canned peaches in heavy syrup. And very appreciated they were, too. Some of the family likes them plain, some likes them with cottage cheese. 

Thursday

Short version: Lamb chili and cookies at home, concessions food and snacks on the road

Long version: I made some lamb chili, plus peanut butter/chocolate chip cookies, and left it at home for A. and three children. I went to a basketball game in the afternoon. I had some egg salad before I left, and then I impulsively bought some potato chips at the very small grocery store I went to before the game. 

Very small grocery store pasta aisle.

I wanted to try the Crav'n kettle cooked potato chips. They were very good, so that's good to know.

The basketball player got his dinner at the concession stand, courtesy of the school. 

Refrigerator check:

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?