Well here it is, late autumn, and I have felt inspired by it and a couple of other things lately to cook more delicious food. I now have a pot of pork green chili stew simmering in the oven. A recipe I kind of made up based on the ingredients I had on hand today. I hope it is delicious. One thing I know is that it is chock full of nutrients.
As for one of my other inspirations, the other night we watched an old movie called Babette’s Feast. I highly recommend it if you are in the mood for a deeply satisfying movie that you will want to ponder over afterward. Anyway, in the movie, surprise, Babette makes a feast. So, I wanted to make a savory small scale feast for when Husband gets home from a tiring day at work. Another thing that has been inspiring me is watching Emmy award winner Anthony Bourdain on TV. He is a very engaging chef who travels to cities in the United States and exotic places around the world sampling their food and culture. Warning #1: Do not attempt to watch it unless you have a plate of food to eat in front of you. It will just make you hungry. Warning #2: Do not attempt to watch it with young children. It should be rated PG-13 due to rough language at times. Bourdain actually has two shows, The Layover, which showcases a city that he experiences for 24-48 hours depending, and Parts Unknown, a great travel show focusing a lot on food.
Sometimes we need inspiration. Sometimes we bore ourselves to tears. I hope this inspires you to throw some broth, meat, onions, garlic, celery, carrots, greens, and whatever else seems good, into a pot and let it simmer. I won’t add, “all you need to do is add a loaf of crusty bread” because I hate it when people say that. I love crusty bread. They need to be more sensitive to the gluten-free people, the paleo crowd, the keto crowd, and those wanting to lose some weight who need to avoid crusty bread.
The flipside of fast, life-draining food like Taco Bell and McDonald’s is easy, life-giving food like I described above that can be started in the morning in a crock pot or later in the day simmering on the stove or in the oven. It probably took me 20 minutes to throw into a pot, in this case a Dutch oven, then it cook for a few hours while I did other things.
Addendum: The pork green chili stew turned out great and was very satisfying. And clean up was a cinch-just one pot.
Hi Vanessa, Babette’s Feast is one of my favorite “foodie” movies. Her lottery winnings allowed her to generously share a feast of food for friends was very moving. The intricate food preparations, such as the tiny quail cassoulets were beautiful. I agree that cooking stews and all in one especially in a dutch oven is the best… I’m happy your meal turned out delicious. Chris