With Watercreess

Let me get a housekeeping matter out of the way. If any of you are coming to this blog for solicitous food porn, you are gonna have to wait. Sure, I did not put up that many pics, and few would qualify as food porn, but there were some. Not for a while. At Looptopia a few weeks ago, while older daughter had the camera, someone stole it. All the text you have to suffer now, until I can spring for a new camera, blame on some all-nighting miscreant.

Too bad too. Last night's dinner would have made a show stopper. Two platters to film. First, a smaller, elongated, octogon-ish, white plate neatly framing about twelve spears of asparagus. A nearly un-natural shade of intense green contrasted with neat ribbons of black grill marks. If this frame would be orderly, composed, the second frame would be a jumble, abstract-expressionist. One of our large wooden, gullied platters overflowing with food. At the rims, logs of La Ratte fingerling potatoes, the grill bringing out their latent yellow properties. In the body of the platter, a mess of locally-raised chicken, grilled to deep golden, with splotches of black here and there. From the photo, you would notice those burnished colors but not really make out the chicken because the chicken was covered with grilled ramps, which themselves were shades of burning green and white. And off to the side of the chicken on the platter, in a little fox-hole I dug for it, the star of the show, the reason for the rest of the food, the watercress.

If it's not egg salad I am working my watercress around, it's a grilled chicken dinner. So French right, watercress with grilled meats. The dripping juices on the platter do make for a nice dressing for the watercress. This watercress, a month into its season, was not nearly as mustardy as last time but had a very pronounced licorice flavor. We will be eating a lot of asparagus in the next several weeks. Before I got too deep into that, I needed at least one more watercress meal. Wish I could have shown you it.