Sequestration Meal #59

While I was staring at the contents of my pantry, a can of kidney beans reminded me of a recipe I'd tried and liked a while ago for beefless filets by Chef Jana. She doesn't seem to have the printable recipe up on her blog anymore, but the video--and a recipe--is still up. I still say you have to add more water; it's clear to me she must have because her batter is pourable. I definitely add water to the batter when I make it. So maybe sometime I'll put my version of this recipe up.

So this meal is, as she recommended, a simple salad in a homemade oil-and-vinegar dressing (romaine, cucumbers, red pepper, tomatoes, and red onion), plain short grain white rice, and beefless filets in onion sauce. The onions aren't burnt; they just sucked up all the soy sauce, which is just as it should be. So lovely.

It was really, really hard to motivate myself to cook anything on the day I made this, but it soothed me profoundly once I had made it. I knew I had the physical strength to do it; it was just that my emotional state wasn't cooperative. I was glad this improved it so much. Also, it is a meat substitute without any of the ingredients people seem to be buying all of around here lately--no chickpeas, tofu, wheat gluten, etc. It's primarily kidney beans, potatoes, and corn starch--and it's totally gluten free. So having it in my arsenal is a reassurance of a sort.

Here's Jana's video to show you how she made them. Jana's onion sauce looks a lot different than mine, but she does say she likes her onions more raw, and I'm definitely not in that camp. But hers are prettier than the sauce I made! So I guess if you're going for looks, and don't mind your onions being more raw, just don't cook them so much.

P.S. I'm not sure how to just post about food right now. I mean, sure, this is a food blog; it should be about food. I can't and won't apologize for that. But it's also about a pandemic at the moment, and then there is the reality of the things beyond my isolated walls, which is a shattered nation expressing its despair. To Americans: Please, try to keep hope, and look for some way to help matters where you are. None of us can fix everything but we can all try our best to improve something. To everyone else: We're trying.

Eat well, everyone. Get enough sleep if you can manage. Preserve your health if you can, to be strong enough for tomorrow. Seek justice for all.

It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. --Robert F. Kennedy