asharalo55: Steaks & Boys - The Muddy Kitchen

This summer I have agreed to host my 16 1/2-year-old-son, The Big Lebowski, and his two cohorts, also 16 1/2. I made sure the downstairs bathroom-slash-laundry room renovations were finished before the crew descended on the house so that the whole downstairs floor could be boy-land: smells, dirty socks, wet towels, skanky bathing sits, half-eaten packs of cheese crackers ? all downstairs. Away from me.

I showed the boys around on their first night here in an effort to lay down the simple rules of the house. The scene was a little like Turner & Hooch:

?No barking, now growling, you will not lift your leg to anything in this house. This is not your room. No slobbering, no chewing, you will wear a flea collar. This is not your room. No begging for food, no sniffing of crotches, and you will not drink from my toilet. This is not your room?

Steaks & Boys @ http://themuddykitchen.com/

? No slobbering, no chewing, you will wear a flea collar. -

Food prep was a Stupid Stop & Shop hooha?conventional cereals, loaves of bread to last through the apocalypse, microwave popcorn, salty lunch meats. In essence, crap-food. What can I say? It was an act of self-preservation.

Have you seen how much three Lebowskis can eat?

? Grilled fava beans puts the responsibility of shelling the beans on the eater, not the cook! -

The main rule though was, ?I will cook 1 meal a day: dinner. And it will be delicious. And for that delectable reward, you will follow the rest of the rules.?

When I loaded up on my delectable-dinner-supplies, I pondered some beautiful slabs of cow at The Berry Farm. My husband doesn?t eat this one particular animal, so when he?s away doing his thing it sometimes calls to me: moooo.

? There is something magical about steaks and boys. -

I brought the marbled packages to the check-out line and the woman behind the counter was impressed by my beefy selection. ?Steaks. Nice,? she said gingerly placing the packs into a paper paper bag. ?I?ve got three teenage boys at home,? I told her with a huff of obvious exhaustion at the concept. I thought again about dinner. ?There?s just something magical about steaks and boys,? I added. ?There is,? she agreed.

? Mothers for ages have shown their true love to their boys from their kitchens. -

As it has been a windfall of cherries this year and I?ve barely made a dent in my supply with my three other cherry recipes, I try my hand at Cherry Ketchup. I have fed these boys so much sugar and Stupid Shop & Shop foodstuffs thus far, I feel I owe it to them and to myself to replace the Heinz with something artsier.

Ketchup can be made with any fruit ? kind of a cool thing to do when you?ve had enough of jam, yogurt topping and pie filling to choke David Lebovitz. I use the whole nutmeg ?nuts? I bought in the Caribbean years ago. Micro-planing whole nutmeg (even an old one) is ethereal compared to pre-powdered stuff.

CHERRY KETCHUP

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs cherries

2 tbsp whole mace blades or 2 teaspoons ground mace (mace is the dried lacy reddish covering the seed of the nutmeg)

1 1/2 tsp fresh ground black peppercorns

1 tsp dry yellow mustard

2 whole cloves

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon (or a small chunk of cinnamon stick)

1/3 tsp ground nutmeg, preferably freshly micro-planed

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

A dash or two of cayenne or Tabasco (for a spicier flavor, optional)

1. Combine cherries with 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until the cherries soften, about 10 minutes. Pass the cooked mixture through a food mill, or mash with a fork and press them through a colander so you get a chunky, mashy consistency.

2. Combine the cherry mashy sauce with the spices and salt back into the saucepan. Simmer over low heat until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon to keep it from thickening.

3. Add the vinegar and keep cooking until it looks like ketchup. You can adjust the spices a bit at this point. Mine needed a bit more salt. The ketchup will keep refrigerated for a few weeks.

Yield: 1 cup.