Monday Night Dinner

What I wanted was asparagus, so what I bought was a pineapple. No wait, I swear this makes sense. Maybe it doesn’t make strictly logical sense but there was a train of thought that lead from one to the other.

I try not to buy produce which grows locally out of season. Or to be more precise, I try not to buy produce that grows locally and doesn’t ship well out of season. If I was really strict about buying in season produce I would have to eat canned or frozen vegetables from November through June, and that’s a little more hard core than I have any interest in being. Epicurious has a nifty little map that shows you what’s growing where when, but when you hover over Massachusetts it gives you a glum little message that says, “the growing season is currently dormant here” for a depressing number of months. Wilson Farms helpfully informs me that the apples I’ve been buying all winter are from Wisconsin, the bok choi is from California and I think the grapes are from Peru. On the other hand, the tulips I buy are local which at least makes me feel virtuous about my bourgeois indulgence.

Granted most food tastes best when it is fresh off the farm, however some food ships better than other food. If there’s a difference between broccoli fresh off the farm, and broccoli that’s been shipped in from Montana (or wherever) I’ve never been able to discern it. Farm fresh spinach and green beans are better than those packaged and trucked around the US, but the imported stuff is perfectly fine when it’s March and I need a vegetable to serve with dinner. Peaches, on the other hand, are only good when they’re allowed to ripen on the tree and then transported as short a distance as possible. Equally, there’s never been a tomato that shipped well and strawberries are best when they’re still hot from the sun they grew under. Similarly, asparagus is sweetest when the length of time between when it was picked and when it is cooked can be measured in hours not thousands of miles. Consequently while I don’t care all that much where my broccoli and green beans are being shipped in from in February, I won’t buy asparagus until it’s coming from a farm somewhere in Massachusetts.

Food which doesn’t grow locally ever – oranges, limes, bananas, mangos, pineapples, kiwis, insert tropical fruit of choice here – I have no qualms buying at any time of the year. It doesn’t grow here ever, so no matter when I buy it it’s going to have to be shipped in, and I’m not giving up having a banana in my oatmeal for the sake of the locavore food ethic. Asparagus aren’t growing here yet – much to the dismay of the woman I overheard at the store last weekend who apparently believed that because we’d had 2-3 days of nice weather that all the local spring produce would now be ripe and available for purchase, the manager disillusioned her much more politely than I think I could have managed – and I’m not willing to buy asparagus from Peru even if I was really craving some grilled asparagus in my salad. Pineapple, however, is never in season in Massachusetts so my guilt over non-seasonal foods was neatly expiated. The fact that pineapple and asparagus taste nothing alike is beside the point, the point is I can grill them both and throw them in a salad and therefore the one can substitute for the other (although, in the end I actually baked the pineapple, but that’s a minor plot hole).

Cajun Chicken Salad w/ Spicy Ranch Dressing
Baked Lime-Tequila Pineapple
Biscuits

Cajun Chicken Salad w/ Spicy Ranch Dressing

Recipe previously given: Cajun Chicken Salad

Baked Lime-Tequila Pineapple
I wanted to grill the pineapple because the thought of the way the sugar in the pineapple would caramelize and leave lovely grill marks was very appealing. However, in my idle search for interesting glazes to put on grilled pineapple (to really gild the lily) I came across a recipe for pineapple baked and basted with tequila and lime and how could I possibly be expected to resist that?

3 Tbsp tequila
3 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp sugar (you could probably also use honey)
1 pineapple

Combine the tequila, lime and sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Peel the pineapple and remove the eyes. Cut into quarters and remove the core.

Place pineapple flat side down in a large baking dish and pierce all over and all the way through with a skewer. Spoon the tequila-lime mixture over the pineapple and cover with a sheet of wax paper (or parchment paper). Bake at 425 for 40-50 minutes, basting every 10 minutes until the pineapple is tender and slightly browned (I stopped when the sugar was about to burn in the pan – which was at about 40 minutes).

Slice and serve.

Biscuits
Clearly I’m willing to embrace the promise of Spring. I made up my bed this weekend without flannel sheets for the first time since Christmas, and I folded away two of my blankets (I mean, I’m still sleeping under two blankets and a quilt, but baby steps). Also, this is the first time it’s felt like biscuit weather in a long time.

Recipe previously given: Farewell to Summer Dinner