Reality Bite....

April 03, 2007

It’s been more than 10 years since I’ve moved away from my home…after so many years of living on my own, I haven’t got many opportunities to cook for myself or I would rather say I was avoiding it, neglecting it or what ever !!

Tonight it happened …yes!!

I didn’t force myself in to this beautiful, small - compact space in my new house. KITCHEN- it was so inviting tonight. Ok I know am gonna create something it wasn’t just my dinner, it wasn’t throwing ingredients in to the pan…it was something more than that.

I didn’t have any fancy ingredients in my fridge…but am fully prepared to face the frozen mixed vegetables and frozen Pollock; don’t you think it’s more than enough??!!

Well let me start now and the only company I got throughout my cooking was a 440ml can of crystal clear genuine Budweiser. So I switched on my favorite numbers.

Here I go….

Finely chopped one red onion, two green chilies and a tomato medium sliced….yep!! That’s it..that’s all am gonna use.

Took out 2 chunky Pollock, sprinkled with some salt and pepper…didn’t disturb it for a while then gently drizzled it with some lemon juice and tossed it slightly. Now forget it.

With very little oil, sautéed the onions to golden brown that’s when it will ask u for more, knew it there goes my green chilies.. mmmmmmm.. green turns to pale…(craving for some thing really spicy tonight) adding generous spoon full of red chilli powder to my brown onions makin it darker, then tomatoes wanted to pop in, its happy to be there with that hizzzyyy sound. Just mixed them, they bonded so much. Now it’s the turn of vegetables. The moment I dropped them in to the pan, there was whole new silence there. Yeah!! What else we can expect when hot sautéed onion, tomato, and green chilies meets ice cold green peas, corn, broccoli, and shredded carrots??? After few moments when they got introduced to each other I could see a pleasant modulation. The vegetables started giving there moisture out to the onion mixture and the onion mixture giving there wholesome flavor to the vegetables. Wow!! I didn’t want to interrupt this give n take process with my ladle. So slowly closed the lid giving them privacy all they wanted.

Now my oven is all set at 160*C and waiting for Pollock ….with some brown onion on top Pollock is ready to be grilled. Placing it gently in the griller I started grilling it closed for 15min.( I just want my fish to be cooked to perfection anything more than 15min I know am gonna ruin the essence…. Trust me)

Mean while I sliced fresh rosemary potato bread and toasted along with Pollock topped with a thin strips of cheese.

A spicy mix-veg, brown onion grilled Pollock and 3 slices of rosemary bread. Man that sounds so good can u believe i got a 3 course menu here. Automatically I got a smile and a big gulp from the can.

Its 15min all set to serve. Steaming vegetables, prefect juicy Pollock, and crispy bread slices. (I prefer my all my dishes to be almost at the same temperature in the plate)

Surprise..surprise!!!

Let me tell u how it tasted in the plate it was so different than how they tasted when I tried them individually.

The mix veg gave an intense spicy start which was mellowed by succulent Pollock with a hint of tangy taste & roast onion flavor. Biting the bread was like celebrating the simplicity.

All I said to myself after this wholesome dinner was “LOVELY” and I was floating, when I came back to reality I realized one more thing….

Oops got some dishes to do.