The Cross & Cleaver. Where Heaven Meets Earth
The main course and the sermon.
There are two one-liners aptly describing the importance of the main dish in the course of the whole dinner. One is that: “well done is reserved for a good and faithful servant, not for a steak” (cf. Gospel of Matthew 25:23). The other is that: “fish does not wait for the guests; the guests wait for the fish.” Sermons have those as well. BTW—sermon is that part of the church service when the minister talks… about important stuff (usually). As the one-liner goes: “sermon is supposed to be about two things—about God and about 10 minutes.” Well… no more than 20 anyway.
In many restaurants or cooking shows, you hear, or read, about the “feature dish” or “feature chef.” In worship, there is often talk of “feature preacher” or “feature theme.” In either of those, the dish/message is supposed to “shine” and “come through.” In other words, dinner or service is to be memorable, through being brought together, by the whatever it is that is central to it.
I wrote earlier on about a “theme,” weaving itself through the whole experience. Well… the dinner’s main course and the service’s message respectively should not be overshadowed by the appetizer or the hymn. Nor are they to be so magnificent as to render the soup, or the opening prayer, utterly unmemorable.
When I set to plan church service or a dinner for four, the sermon and the main dish are always the first or the last I work on. And I don’t mean writing or cooking. I mean the core… the message… the meat of it if you will. I look at the theme or flavour around which we gather, and I ask myself how to address it, or present, it properly. What story, imagery, meat or fish would be the best canvas for all these elements we already encountered, and which are yet to come?
I am not sure if I make much sense here (I am a bit tired while writing this). People often ask me how I do “come up with those ideas,” referring to both my services and dinner menus.
Well… sometimes, but very rarely, I wake up in the morning and have it all figured out. 95% of the time it is prayer, thinking, research, and several ideas ending up in the garbage before something concrete starts taking shape. Then there is always some trimming as I tend to, often enough, write, prepare and cook rather in excess.
So here are two mains I really enjoy. I mentioned lemon a few articles back, and both recipes use the same lemon butter sauce.
Nice thick filets of Coho or Sockeye salmon. Rinse, pat dry, rub gently with a touch of oil and season scantly with salt and pepper. Preheat A non-stick pan to med-high and drizzle with oil. Grill 3-4 min max for medium rare or 5-6 for cooked through. Serve with the sauce.
Pork tenderloin—rinse, pat dry, rub with oil and dry mix of Italian or Greek herbs. Roast in the oven at 425°F for 30 minutes or until internal temperature is 145°F. Serve with the sauce.
THE SAUCE :
Melt ¼ cup of butter with 1 tbsp of cream. Bring to almost simmer and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and add 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Season with freshly ground pepper. For salmon you can add a tbsp of capers, and for pork a handful of Kalamata olives.
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