A famous bbq pit boss once said “man does not live by brisket, smoked turkey and sausage alone”.
I didn’t believe him, but like many things in life, living long enough to put a few more notches on my belt has proven the pit boss right.
While we’re obviously biased toward and post fare favored by carnivores here on the Friday Feast, we’ve come to have a new appreciation of the world of ‘the other food groups’ with newly minted resolve to eat a bit healthier year. And by damn it’s paying off.
January even found us digging out this simple but ‘damn that’s good’ recipe from Flathead Valley friend Lisa C (she gave us this Chicken and Dumplings recipe too), which has proven to be damned tasty on just about everything you can imagine dribbling it on. In tribute to Lisa, here’s part of what we’ve said about her before –
She Who Must Be Obeyed, the famdamily and I first moved to the Flathead back in 2001; we set up housekeeping up on hill overlooking the sweet little valley just east of Smith Lake. The view of Glacier NP through the valley slot to the northeast was simple stunning. I sprayed over 200 gallons of paint the first few weeks painting the house, the barn (red of course) and a fair amount of fence to put a new face on the property.
The neighbors were duly impressed and came to check out the crazies painting everything that wasn’t moving. We soon took to spending time with the family at the bottom of the hill and the husband and wife on the next property down the road.
Now they (the down the roaders) were an interesting pair; she was an intelligent, kind, truly gifted chef who was about as unpretentious as they come. She handled fresh ingredients with a reverence we’ve rarely seen and loved our big garden on the hill. He ended up being a son-of-a-bitch, but that’s yet another story. Her name was Lisa and she died due to a basically untreated throat cancer just three short years after we met her.
Time for another batch of this magic elixir today…
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup ‘good but not your very best’ balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp. sherry
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, smashed
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. water
Go to it. Smash the garlic cloves beneath your knife blade and place in round-bottomed bowl (so you can whisk). Add all the remaining ingredients except the olive oil and whisk well.
Now drizzle in the olive oil while whisking to create a nice, smooth emulsion.
Taste it via a finger and smile.
Enjoy.
