Lunch for Dr. J and Lisa
Our vet, Dr. Karen Jordan, rocks! A mobile vet, she comes to our house, reducing the amount of stress on my beloved Bobka, who was diagnosed with renal disease a little over a year ago, at an age that shall remain nameless so as to preserve his youthful appearance (and maintain my denial a little longer). Dr. J uses “alternative” vet methods on him (which we consider traditional, but more on that later). She swears he tolerates acupuncture better than most of her patients. And I gotta say, how much more can a mommy want but for the vet to ooh and ahh over your baby? I’m inserting a photo here so as to demonstrate how well-deserved it is in this case!
Bobka, Love of my life
My human innamorata, Vittorio, understands that he plays second fiddle to the first love of my life, so anyone who takes such great care of him is very important to me by default. The fact that Dr. J truly gets the magnificence that is “Mr B” only further endears her to me.
We are currently administering sub-q (vetspeak for subcutaneous) fluids for my baby, and because I’m squeamish about giving them at this point, and also because Dr. J is so fantastic to come do it as a “drive-by,” we all get to see each other at least once a week, and twice every 3 weeks or so for the acupuncture session. At this juncture, I must also give a tip of the hat and intro to the fabulous Lisa, vet tech extraordinaire! If I didn’t give her accolades before (oh, but I did), I’m even more apt to heap praise upon her after she was out sick for an appointment during which we needed to take blood from Mr. B, and I got to fill in as vet tech. Harder than it looks!
There is a food point to the story here, and here it comes.
Last week, when Dr. J and Lisa arrived, I was cooking the last of the 4 pounds of chanterelles our friends Sam & Cornelia graciously donated to us (and which became several amazing dinners!). The night before, Victor and I had painstakingly washed and oven dried the remaining 1 1/2 – 2 pounds we hadn’t yet cooked, determined not to let them get too old to use. Then that morning, I sautèed them up in a little olive oil and vegan butter. The house was filled with the aromas of slowly cooking onions, garlic and those delectable fungi. So my dynamic duo were intoxicated, especially since it was almost lunchtime! We talked at great length about the mushrooms, and about the Mushroom Club of GA, of which our friend Cornelia is the president, and her husband Sam treasurer.
So this morning, as I was looking for produce in the fridge to make my version of the Dr. Oz juice, realized that I had leftover risotto bursting with those pre-cooked beauties, along with some lovely fresh English peas). We had made it for dinner a few nights earlier with our friends Clay & Anne, to get us in the mood while plotting our next Italian adventure. I also had tried to turn the mushroom sauté that went with it into a true mushroom ragú, a delicacy we’ve not yet quite perfected (there’s a stunning example of it, the best we’ve had, at La Tavola). It hadn’t quite gotten there. But I threw on the risotto to start warming, about half an hour before they were due to arrive, and put the mushroom ragu into the small cast iron skillet, and doctored it up with a little white wine, balsamic, and veggie stock.
Then while those were working, I put together a small tomato peach salad, copied from my innamorata’s efforts of earlier in the week. The peaches were just starting to get a little wrinkly, so I debated about whether to peel them, but decided to just toss them in, and dressed it all. And something amazing happened: those little orange nuggets started to absorb all that lovely dressing, along with the tomatoes’ juices, and plumped right back up! Yum. After I set up the plating (since I had time to do so!), I realized I needed a little something else on the plate, so put just a few parsley leaves drizzled with a little Strippaggio Cask 10 balsamic, and a few drops of their Gold Medal olive oil. Beautiful, if I do say so myself. Added just the right touch of color.
The ragú, ragúing!
It turned out they were a little delayed getting there, so the risotto lost a little in the texture department, but certainly not in flavor. And that ragú? It finally did what a good ragú should: came together and got all cozy-like. So it actually benefited from the extra time. Note to self: long, long, slow cooking is essential.
When they arrived, I had everything ready to go. But it turns out she’s been on a strict food plan, mostly juicing and avoiding any but brown and wild rices. I portioned it out pretty small, so she still decided to have some. Hope it was worth it! The juice, though, was a big hit, as was the tomato peach salad!
Dr. Oz juice is here. I added celery, fennel and ginger for good measure.
Summery Tomato-Peach Salad