The Cross and the Cleaver:… the Memories Continue
Easter, and indeed entire Holy Week, is a time of remembering our sacred story. It is also a time we tend to spend with families, if at all possible. Special meals, recollections of the past, articulating hope for the future.
I was tempted to reflect on food of times of Jesus. I do have a bit of knowledge of the matter, if I may write so boldly. Perhaps a sample menu of what the Last Supper consisted of. Mind you, it would not have been dishes of the Passover (or Seder) supper, as I subscribe to the notion that the Last Supper was not such a meal.
As I was thinking the above, I walked in on Dawn talking to her younger son, Alex. She passed me the phone and we chatted as well. I showed up in his life when he was 15 years old… or should it be that he showed up in mine? I taught him to fish, and he passed his driver’s license on my car. I watched him grow and mature. He taught me patience, discernment on what matters. He enabled me to discover that if a computer game involves more functions than “left”, “right”, and “fire” I am not good at it whatsoever.
Alex also taught me how to cook chicken tournedos (thick, round cut of chicken breast wrapped in bacon). These featured regularly on our family dinners; they were affordable and Alex BBQ’d them to perfection every time. One day I asked him to teach me… and he did. I remember it as if it were yesterday. It was raining. We were in the backyard, under the covered deck we called dojo, BBQ was already pre-heated. Alex said that you cannot BBQ without good music and pressing “play” he filled the air with succulent and delicious tunes of Rammstein’s medley (I still have the CD he made!).
So in this time of remembering, I am inviting you into my past and into making it alive.
First – go to Close’s Family Foods (in Kindersley) and in their freezer section find the package of 10 chicken tournedos. If you cannot, then ask for Talaat, the owner and he will see you right.
Place the separated pieces on med-high pre-heated and oiled grill (or grill-pan if cooking indoors). Flip them every 5 min. and keep flipping until, to quote Alex: “they turn from hard frozen to soft and watery and then hard again but still juicy and not dry.”
Word of confession here – my first few attempts were inedible, then I discovered that still-raw chicken can be nuked; burned hockey pucks even the dog walked away from.
Serve with cold potato salad, especially in the summer. All you need is a bag of baby potatoes (yellow, red, mixed – whatever you like).
Boil them according to instructions, making sure they are not overcooked.
Drain and chill. Mix with all or any of chopped: pickles, red or green onions, hard boiled eggs, celery, can of peas (or peas and carrots), cooked parsnip, Granny Smith apples, black olives (the possibilities are endless actually).
Dressing is made of Dijon or German mustard (or mayo if you must), olive oil, salt, pepper, tarragon (you cannot beat the fresh one!) and whatever other herbs you like.
In summertime, such salad is a perfect accompaniment to chicken tournedos, or fried fish, or roast chicken, or bone-in porkchops, or grilled sardines.
Just don’t forget something light to wash it down with… like lemonade.
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