Sauteed Veggies & Brown Rice

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Sauteed Veggies & Brown Rice, originally uploaded by simple and glorious.

I still can't say much about yesterday, other than it involved work, crying, and frustration. However, I have a great friend who is wonderful to me and made my day better. He came over bearing ice cream because he knew I was too upset to think about eating dinner. After a soothing talk with bowl and spoon in hand, I was already starting to feel better. A game of Settlers of Catan later, I emerged as the victor FOR THE FIRST TIME! I never ever win games, especially against this friend, because my brain does not like to think strategy. I know it sounds ridiculous and small, but I have no doubt that God was orchestrating that win. From the beginning to the end of my night, God did little things to calm me down and lift me up. Most of it due to this friend. Who rocks.

Today has been better. Less tension, less angst, no crying. Always a plus for me. This week has been oddly taxing, so I turned to my standby meal tonight. I make this probably once a week when I don't even want to begin to think of a recipe. I grab whatever veggies I have in the fridge, chop them up, saute, and serve with brown rice. Simple, easy, and always changing with the produce we get from The Farm.



This week I used a plump zucchini that just called to me when I opened the crisper. When I lifted it up, I found a yellow squash that looked like it was on its last legs so I had to put it out of its misery. I found a baby bok choy just chillin' next to some spring onions and decided to throw those in too.

I'm not going to give you a recipe because I don't feel like figuring out measurements tonight. It's pretty basic. Chop veggies. Sautee longer cooking ones in pan with a wee bit of olive oil. At last minute, add greens, in my case bok choy (could also use chard, spinach, etc.). Pour in some Tamari & Sweet Chili Sauce. Turn off heat when wilted, add spring onions. Serve with brown rice.



Bok choy, especially the baby variety, has to be one of my favorite vegetables. So earthy, green and sexy. Yes, I am calling bok choy sexy. There is no way to not agree with me here. Smoothly supple stalks that lead to fragile leaves of deep velvet green. And then when you cook it, oh my word, what you thought could not be improved only gets better. Dense, dark, and brooding flavors mixed with a bright crunch. It gets me every time.







Tamari, a dark soy sauce, likes to hide in the background. Somewhat like the bass player in a band, you don't really hear it but you notice if it is missing. I use it in so many dishes, even ones you would never ever think to put normal soy sauce in.



If Tamari plays in the background, Sweet Chili Sauce is our lead guitarist. Melodious flavor (is it spicy? is it sweet?) with zings of heat, it plays a major role in this dish's flavor palette.


P.S. I grabbed a carton of mushrooms and chopped those as well. I added them to the pan with the squashes and immediately smelled something fishy. Literally. I put my nose to the pan and discovered it was the 'shrooms. Deciding they were obviously not a good thing to eat, I started pulling them out of the pan with my hands. Bare hands here people. That's how far I will go to make my food good. I managed to get them out before they infected the entire dish. But really, since when to mushrooms smell like fish?