evolution food!

There was a great article in last week’s New York Times. It was sort of a state of the union, except it was about food. It made several points, first of all that cooking has become a spectator sport (think watching Iron Chef while simultaneously microwaving a frozen dinner). The thing I found really interesting, though, was the only cooking that hasn’t diminished and has actually increased in recent years is grilling.

And THAT went into a discussion how it’s possible that early cooking (which consisted of, yknow, meat on an open fire, aka GRILLING), actually led to us evolving to human society as we now know it- we started scheduling meals, coming together, exchanging food, etc. etc. And in addition, the fact that cooked meat had such nutrient density allowed us to take in more energy that could go to our brains, allowing them to grow! Fascinating stuff. Anyway, I went back to my cavewoman days and grilled tonight!

Here’s the spread:

Eggplant, of which we continue to have a glut, which I grilled and saved for sammiches later in the week. Corn, in the husk and wrapped in foil per the suggestion of the blog world. Finally, gorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgeous wild sockeye salmon from this morning’s Costco trip, which I grilled atop the orange slices and fennel branches on the little plate, just simply seasoned with salt and pepper.

Here’s the finished product:

Droolity drool. It tasted even better than it looked. Wild salmon is, first of all, infinitely better than farmed, and the smoky flavor of the grill did amazing things for the fish. And it cooked perfectly! Gorgeously flaky, but moisty moist!

 

The orange slices and fennel were supposed to be just garnishes but then we started eating them… holy char! The grilled fennel tasted like tender smoky grilled licorice… except that doesn’t sound good. But, er, it was. Really good.

And the finished corn, which steamed beautifully in the foil and husk and smelled amazing while it cooked:

Finally, a simple salad of spinach, tomato, and little pickled eggplant (so cute!) with my mom’s homemade dressing with fresh oregano from the deck.

My (friggin unbelievable) plate:

I can just FEEL my brain growing and evolving. I’ll be superhuman if I keep up with this grilling!