Granny Jannie

So, I get to start over again, again. My companion of ten years loaded all of his stuff into a friend’s van and headed west to relocate to Oregon. Quite a distance from Pennsylvania. He goes to join his young adult children and get his own fresh start.

The parting was bittersweet. It’s the right thing for both of us. I threw a family party. After we ate, we gathered in a circle and passed around a pretty good bottle of champagne. As the bottle went from person to person, each expressed wishes of good luck and explained how they would each miss him. It turned out to be a very nice tribute.

Tonight, I continue the process of moving on. I’m going to the first meeting of a group of people, some of whom I already know, who are planning a vacation canoeing in the Wabakimi Wilderness in Ontario in August. It’s been about 20 years since I made such a trip, and I can’t wait to hear the loons again.

I am a weekend cook. A friend once described the kind of cooking I do as “recreational.” I do not have to put a dinner on the table every night for a family, so I cook from scratch using fresh ingredients, explore and try variations on the cuisine I was raised on – a combination of 50s American and Pennsylvania Dutch. I usually cook Saturday and Sunday nights, and make dinners for two – me and my boyfriend, Jim. I am very partial to Mediterranean cooking.

I grow a fall crop of broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. Sometimes I throw in decorative kale, but not this year. A couple of frostings sweetens these vegetables and has the added benefit of getting rid of cabbage moths and worms. Although the heads are small, they are good and exactly the right size to feed two.

I’ve been picking broccoli for about four weeks, cauliflower for two weeks and now the cabbage is ready. It was a blustery, cool weekend, and ham and cabbage seemed in order for Sunday. But I was unsure about what Saturday’s meal should be. I thought of maybe a lamb tagine, but that seemed like two extra hearty meals in a row.

We are fortunate on Harrisburg’s West Shore to have a wonderful farmer’s market in Lemoyne. Every Saturday morning, I shop at the farmer’s market buying from the various vendors. I seek out meat from small producers, get free-range antibiotic free when I can, buy local vegetables and fruit in season and buy out of season vegetables from these vendors since I can see where my money is going. Many Saturdays, I take my four-year-old granddaughter along. She usually wears sunglasses, carries a plastic purse and wears beads for these special outings. We always stop first at the cookie stand and buy a half dozen chocolate chip cookies.

So I went in knowing I wanted ham hocks, but I didn’t know what else I might want. There is a seafood vendor right at the entrance I usually use at the market, and I saw they had fresh halibut. Sometimes decisions are just made for you. I also decided to make an oyster stew.

So here’s Saturday’s menu.

Oyster stew (adaptation of recipe in Cuisine at Home Dec. 06 issue – added bacon and sautéed vegetables in drippings)

Halibut baked with roasted vegetables (my own recipe below)

Black bean cakes with Mexican rice and slaw (also from Cuisine at Home 06 issue)

Halibut baked with roasted vegetables

Tossed three roma tomatoes, three sweet banana peppers – yellow and orange, about six slices of lemon each cut into quarters, three sliced cloves of garlic in olive oil. Seasoned with salt and pepper and roasted in a 350 oven for about half an hour. Removed from oven and deglazed with a little chicken broth. Added a little of the liquor from the oysters. Increased oven to 400. Cut a ¾ pound piece of halibut in half and put it on top of the vegetables. Baked for about 20 minutes. Served halibut over the vegetables and broth.