Have I ever told you how much I like grocery shopping? I love grocery stores. They really are a marvel, if you think about it, bringing produce and meat and cookies and cheese and frozen pizza in from all over the world in a comfortable, air-conditioned, clean space with friendly old women handing you samples of fruit on toothpicks.
Yes, I really like grocery shopping.
However, during the short ND growing season, I have to admit that there is a unique pleasure in pulling an entire meal out of items you've harvested yourself. Walking into the garden with a bowl and a pair of shears. Snipping a few leaves of lettuce. Pulling juicy red raspberries off the vine. Sauteing pheasant breasts that have been waiting patiently in the freezer since last season. Assembling a meal from the fruit of the land around you - there is a sacredness in the act that a trip to the grocery store can never match.
Sherried Pheasant and Raspberry Salad
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
4-6 pheasant breasts
1/4 c. dry sherry
Garden lettuce, trimmed and cleaned
Raspberries
Vinaigrette
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Season pheasant with salt and pepper. Place pheasant in hot oil, cover, and cook until cooked through, turning once midway in cooking (about 6-8 minutes total). Uncover and pour sherry over pheasant in hot pan; most of it should bubble away, leaving a bit of sauce. Remove from heat, slice pheasant and set aside.
Assemble salads of lettuce, pheasant and raspberries, drizzled with vinaigrette.
Yes, I really like grocery shopping.
However, during the short ND growing season, I have to admit that there is a unique pleasure in pulling an entire meal out of items you've harvested yourself. Walking into the garden with a bowl and a pair of shears. Snipping a few leaves of lettuce. Pulling juicy red raspberries off the vine. Sauteing pheasant breasts that have been waiting patiently in the freezer since last season. Assembling a meal from the fruit of the land around you - there is a sacredness in the act that a trip to the grocery store can never match.
Sherried Pheasant and Raspberry Salad
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
4-6 pheasant breasts
1/4 c. dry sherry
Garden lettuce, trimmed and cleaned
Raspberries
Vinaigrette
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Season pheasant with salt and pepper. Place pheasant in hot oil, cover, and cook until cooked through, turning once midway in cooking (about 6-8 minutes total). Uncover and pour sherry over pheasant in hot pan; most of it should bubble away, leaving a bit of sauce. Remove from heat, slice pheasant and set aside.
Assemble salads of lettuce, pheasant and raspberries, drizzled with vinaigrette.
Isn't it a wonderful feeling? A meal that is made of ingredients you know all of the history of is a fortunate one.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for grocery shopping, I'd certainly enjoy a store with fruit samples!