Eating Sunday – Get Happy!

I am no believer in the fallacy of foodstuffs as aphrodisiacs and this post isn’t about sex (I swear!). But I believe in the psychology of what food can mean and do to us. In dream interpretation, there is no one answer to what an element may represent, but a complex package of personal symbolism that may or may not be tied to a cultural norm. So too in food, there is no one magical taste or texture that means all things to all people. Oysters may indeed turn some people on, but it isn’t the chemistry of seafood, but more the cultural belief that seduces. Many people I know find them the complete opposite of sexy or tasty (not I anymore – a bartender at Portland’s Oyster Bar made me a convert – fresh oysters + horseradish = yum!).

What I’m getting at with all of this is a dinner composed of elements that makes my senses profoundly happy…

Let’s start it off with spice!

I can’t think of many things that are as sexy as ginger. I wish I could find a perfume like this. There is something a little dirty and a lot exotic in this smell, reminding me of my time spent in China, of summer in 1970’s California, and warm suntanned skin. I really prefer the image I did of ginger a couple of months back for The Vegetarian Meal, but the above is what was used tonight. It makes a couple of appearances tonight, both in the dessert to come and teamed with…

Garlic. Next to salt and pepper, there isn’t another flavoring I use as much as this. As a flower, as scapes, as cloves; while ginger might say sex, garlic is security and home- a belovedness…

Chilis are a fear conquered, or perhaps more of a apprehension set aside. Really Spicy is something like a new set of friends. Of all the different types of heat out there, middle eastern, latin, eastern european, african, cajun, asian, and so forth, the one I come back to most often is the razor-sharp clean of southeast asian cooking.

Asian was the way I was wandering today, and I was looking for a play on standard plum sauce. This week, my friend Josh provided a very “plum” plum in the form of tart plucot jam (as you can see, almost more of a conserve than a jam). It does double duty tonight in desert and was the perfect base for the chili, garlic, and ginger whoosed together with a large splash of mirin and a large splash of soy sauce as a marinade for

I have eaten duck from here to Paris to Beijing and back and it is always the herald of happy occasions. If one can be made happy by meat, then duck rules- even over the homey delights of bacon. Silky and dark on the tongue, it is a fleeting, rare luxury.

I always love mushrooms, smelling and tasting of clean earth and their own terroir (if I can wantonly thieve from the wine industry), but I don’t often find such lovely ones. I almost didn’t want to destroy it by cutting into it, but these guys did make their date with the butter in the saute pan.

Like ginger, buckwheat also makes multiple appearances tonight.

The allure of buckwheat is elusive. It has all kinds of nutritional virtues, like being high in iron and antioxidants, and good health is its own happiness, but I was thinking of something more palpable.

I don’t want to overuse “earthy”, but it is apt here. It reminds me of walnuts, bitter and warm, and at the same time, is sweet and dusky.

For dinner, it was first transformed into a crispy nest for the duck…

…and added to a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, and zucchini noodles stir-fried in toasted sesame oil.

My favorite vegetable, cucumbers are summer mornings, bumblebees, and my father’s garden. These were the most fragrant I’ve had all season.

With all else in place, the duck was plucked from its bath and cooked rare on a hot grill.

I held back a little of the marinade for dipping sauce. Here’s the full spread.

As promised, the buckwheat, jam, and ginger all come around again for dessert.

Being half Scottish, I think it is mandatory/genetic that I love shortbread, but maybe the other Native American half feels the need to tamper with the recipe. Shortbread is really just a thinly disguised butter delivery system. Here the ginger gives it warmth, the jam (which after cooling, snuggles down into the cookie and holds it together) gives it a bite. The buckwheat makes it more sandy than usual. These do shatter if breathed on heavily.

Lastly, a nightcap of a twist on my own drink. In keeping with the asian theme, vodka is replaced with sake, and goes with sweet French vermouth, a dash of orange bitters, and a sprig of grapefruit mint.

Tonight, a small portion of the garden of earthly delights, less than magic, but far more than chemistry and caloric content.