What is becoming more and more evident to me is the number of people around me who have real medical needs to avoid certain foods. Allergies to soy, ulcerative colitis, gluten intolerance, these are just a few. There is the mysterious Retroperitoneal Fibrosis and its possible inflammatory roots, so I have adopted a (mostly) dairy, wheat and sweets free diet, a work in progress. My friend Kit is following a gluten free diet as well, for health reasons. I have a friend with thyroid issues thought to be auto-immune, who is talking about this. And now Laura is instructed by her rheumatologist to adopt a very restricted diet, as part of a program to help her regain some semblance of health. How restrictive? Try no grains, no starches, no refined sugars, only certain fruits, no beans or legumes, no dairy, no seed oils.
I know, right? When I first saw that, I balked! Then, my second response was to obsess about all the things that are NOT on the list. Her husband is mourning the lack of bread. No lentils, no bananas, no yogurt, no.....Wait. That is the problem. It's kind of like when my oven died a few years ago. All I could think to make for dinner involved baking. There are parts of the world where an oven in the home is not commonplace. (Even in France, but that's because one can just pop down to the boulangerie!).
When I first started talking to Laura about this diet, I kept asking her if this or that was allowed. Mostly, there were a lot of no answers. Then I started thinking about what she COULD have. I flipped through my book of collected recipes. In an effort to combat the down mood that she was in, I started listing the recipes that I had that she could eat. Even I was amazed what qualified.
Southwestern Beef Stew, Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Hazelnut Butter, Curried Squash Soup, Grilled Steak Salad, New American Borscht, Roasted Tomato Soup, West Coast Coleslaw, Asparagus Soup, Green Chili Pork, Braised Port with Pears and Chilis, Halibut with Garlic Mayonnaise Topping, Crawfish Pie without the pie, Beef and Broccoli Stir fry, Shrimp and Cabbage Salad.
I have only scratched the surface, and only out of my own compendium (several of these are already on the blog, by the way). All recipes can be shared.
Part of the point here is that if you can let go of what is not on the restricted list, and keep your mind open, there are plenty of things that you are likely already eating, things that you already enjoy, which are perfectly acceptable, even under the rubric of a severely limited diet.
Another point, one which I have been struggling with myself, and slowly grasping, is that sometimes food just needs to be food. This is hard for me. I am a particularly food obsessed person. I like food, really good food. I think about what my next meal is going to be in a detailed kind of way. If I invite someone over for a meal, I spend a great deal of time perseverating about different menu items, and probably take far too much time in the preparation work, making an excessive effort. Food does need to taste good. It's great when it tastes great. But it also needs to fill a person up, and it doesn't have to be excellent to do that. It's OKAY to enjoy a very simple meal and to let go of the gourmet obsession, and just get a meal in.
Finally, sometimes, it's worthwhile to take a lesson from our picky children. How many times does a child eat largely the same key ingredients as the adult, but in discrete items that don't touch on the plate. It's frankly infuriating most of the time. But there is something to be learned here as well.
For instance, this method allows one to focus on what really makes a particular dish delectable. I gave a lamb stew recipe to Laura at her request, but it has garbanzo beans in there. Now, they add a nice textural component to the dish, but I am willing to guess that it would be fine to omit them, and it would still be a tasty stew.
Another case in point is the hamburger. What is the key ingredient here? The BEEF! Make this ingredient excellent, and prepare it well, and let go of the things that one then associates with a burger in the typical American presentation. So, I made burgers this evening: I took ground beef from the famous grass fed organic beef, added a tablespoon of barbecue sauce, 3/4 tsp of kosher salt and 1/4 t of ground pepper. I mixed it all up, fried it on my trusty grill pan to rare/medium rare, and served it with sliced tomatoes, an excellent barbecue sauce, carrot and celery sticks. It was great!
I would like to take a minute to mention the barbecue sauce. My friend Mark got it from About Barbecues and Grilling by Derrick Riches and it's delicious, and easy to make. If you are going to have stripped down ingredients, it is worth it to make them really good ones.
Deconstructed burger
Mark's Kansas City Rib Sauce
makes 2 c
1 c. Ketchup
1/4 c water
1/4 c vinegar
1/4 c. brown sugar
3 T olive oil
2 T paprika
1 T chili powder (I use chipotle)
2 cloves garlic
1 t cayenne (I reduce this)
Heat oil in sauce pan, add garlic and sauté. Add remaining ingredients, simmer about 15 minutes.
And, Laura? I know there isn't a bun here. And why do we obsess about a bun? It's just a vehicle to get the yummy burger to our mouths without a fork and knife! Let it go folks, and enjoy the key ingredient!
