Dinner Decisions

Leslie, who lives in sunny Tucson was saving me from Minnesota’s flannel skies. During our morning walk around her neighborhood the dinner menu developed – roast pork with roasted veg as the main course. Then we headed out for fun in the sun.

At the Sonora Desert Museum we walked in welcome sunshine awed by gracefully flying raptors, enchanted with nesting hummingbirds, and surrounded by gardens of organ pipe, saguarro, totem pole, and prickly pear cacti, as well as other desert flora.

At the gift shop Leslie purchased a yummy marinade blend for the roast. I came away with a stuffed javelina for a grandson who had a shoulder operation and a lovely coffee cup for the IT tech who rescued my files after a virus struck my computer. Then we headed home through the low mountains that wore toe to tip garb of saguarro cactus (pronounced “swaro” in Tucson).

Leslie’s husband Dale arrived home soon after we did. He was hungry and wanted something light. Time for “Plan P.”

We pulled out romaine, Dubliner cheese. a 2-day old baguette, leftover roast chicken from the prior night’s dinner, crisp bacon remaining from breakfast, 2 oranges, garlic, rosemary fronds, an avacado, a few roma tomatoes, fennel seeds, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.

To the bouncing beat of the Talking Heads, Dale washed and prepped the lettuce, Leslie and I chopped the chicken and plopped it into the juice from the oranges and a tablespoon of freshly mortar-ground fennel to marinate. Leslie zapped the bread in the microwave to soften it (it would be toasted, so we knew it would be fine with a little time in the microwave).

We sliced tomatoes for bruschetta (pronounced brews ketta)  and diced them for salad. I thinly sliced the baguette, bathed the slices with a swath of olive oil, and oven-toasted them (foil lined baking sheet, oven at 400 F). When they were beautifully browned and removed from the over, we rubbed the slices with a garlic clove.  A slice of Dubliner to each and a perky red tomato slice topped every round.

Into the bowl of torn romaine we tossed the diced tomatoes, cubed avocado, crumbled bacon, and chopped chicken. A sprinkle of salt and balsamic vinegar moistened this pantry-produced dish.

The adddition of a bottle of white wine finished off the dinner.

HINT: marinating white meat chicken in a lively acidic lifts the juiciness quotient as well as adding flavor.