This is last night’s dinner. You’ll notice I haven’t given it a name, because I can’t think of anything that’s elegant and reflective of its charms. Here are its charms:
- Very tasty, and unusual in a good way
- Chewy grains of Lundberg brand Black Japonica rice
- Oodles of different vegetables: carrots, rutabaga, onion & garlic, zucchini, Japanese eggplant, radishes, and crimini mushrooms, with the occasional punch of dried cherries and a sprinkling of toasted almonds
- Studded with cubes of leftover Pomegranate Chicken
- Terribly good-for-you, but not in an obvious way
- A WW Core Foods meal
I can’t explain why, exactly, but even for all the above-mentioned charms, I still wasn’t happy with it. Maybe if I assemble a list of not-charms it’ll become clear:
- The rice never absorbed the liquid fully, so it was slightly gummy overall
- Every mouthful tasted the same—the vegetables gave up their flavor in the cooking process, thereby losing their individuality
- I added the cherries early on and they virtually disintegrated, mitigating their punch
Hmm. That’s it for the not-charms, really. S and I both cleaned our plates. I guess we liked it, but I just don’t feel right inflicting the recipe on you yet. God, I hate that feeling, like a dish is working but not quite working all the way. It looks nice, it tastes nice, it is nice, but it’s not great. I’ll have to tinker with it some more. If you want to know what I did, please leave a comment and I’ll write up the recipe.