Another rainy day at the beginning of what I hope is not a completely rainy week. I had a bumpy start to last week with locking my keys in the car on Sunday. Monday my co-worker happened to look out the window and we saw a man walk up to my parked car and scratch it. Three of us have had our vehicles scratched and this was the fifth or sixth time mine was scratched. This gentleman lives in a yellow house behind our parking lot and thinks that where we park "blocks" his driveway, even though it clearly does not. I ran through the office like a madwoman yelling call the police. I flew down the stairs and out the back door and paused at my car to observe the fresh scratches with the paint flecks still visible. I spotted the man and screamed stop, stop, I saw what you did! He turned around with fright in his eyes when I rushed into his vision and promptly fell over. While I was talking to the police, a guy from a nearby restaurant came by and said his car had been scratched when it was parked by the yellow house and so had three of his co-workers. Long story short the DA will probably not press charges because of the man's age (he is way old enough to know better) and he suffered a dislocated shoulder from his fall. Then Tuesday I stupidly, yes very stupidly gave my credit card information to god knows who and had to cancel everything. It would take too long to explain why I fell for this particular scam at that particular moment, but I did. The week seemed to even out after that and I was happy when the weekend rolled around.
Yesterday I made a rainy day asian style soup with bok choy, ground pork and udon noodles. I had half a pound of the ground pork left and I've found that it starts to not look "right" after a few days in the refrigerator so I wanted to use it up. I also had a spaghetti squash that was getting spots so it was time to cook that as well. I bought a stalk of Brussel sprouts at the store this morning thought they would work as a side.
Brussels
I love these green nuggets. I didn't always cook them so well though. They are easy to f*ck up in a way. I think they need a good amount of olive oil, a hot pan and a heavy hand with the salt. Before I really knew how to cook them, I made them for my friend Peter when we were both living in New York. I was twenty one and Peter was about twenty three. He would have me over for supper many nights and it was always pasta with sauce and a bottle or two of wine. So I wanted to return the favor and I made him Brussel sprouts and who knows what else because I was a vegetarian at the time. Maybe some processed soy product. He took one bite of my Brussel sprouts and like the gentleman he is, kindly asked me to pass the salad dressing. He drowned those babies until there wasn't a hint of green left.
Trim the base of the sprouts and then cut in half, quarters for the very large one. Rinse well and then put into a hot cast iron skillet with olive oil. Stir them up in the oil and let them brown. I like mine dark and crispy. Add salt to taste.
Done
Spaghetti Squash
Sharpen your knife before you begin. I didn't and things almost didn't work out so well. Slice the squash in half and remove all seeds and pulp. Put in a pot of boiling water and cover for 20 to 30 minutes. I'm not sure how long I cooked this one, I just kept poking it with a fork until it felt tender enough. Once they are done, take a fork and pull and scrape the pulp out.
Pork
Frying bacon
Pork Ragout
- 1/2 pound ground pork (I used Marin Sun Farms pork)
- 2 slices bacon
- 1 link andouille, sliced
- one onion, chopped
- two cloves garlic, chopped
- oregano
- fresh parsley
- salt, pepper, Tony's
- one can organic tomato sauce
Cut the bacon into small strips and fry until crisp. Remove from pan, pour out the fat leaving about a tablespoon. Put in the andouille and cook until well browned. Remove from heat and add in the onions. Cook several minutes, stirring frequently and add the garlic. Stir a few times and crumble in the pork. Let the pork get cooked through and starting to brown, then add the can of tomato sauce and salt, pepper and oregano. Let it cook for about 10 minutes on low, watching and stirring.
Make mound of spaghetti squash, top with the ragout, garnish with cheese of your choice and parsley.
