Hotel Gourmet: Hitchin, Day Five

I received my fifth treatment at the Taymount Clinic and my gut felt good. Lunch had already turned into a culinary adventure (in a good way) and I was eager to continue eating well, for the benefit of my microbes, of course. This meant seeking diversity of colors and flavors, eating some of my vegetables raw, and including some high-quality animal protein.

I often hear culinary herbs spoken of as if they are something altogether different from vegetables--as if we need a sanctioned reason to use them. Tonight, basil was not held to a different standard. While it may be chock-full of plant medicine, it's also just an edible plant. I'm a real rebel.

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Like I mentioned in my day five health update, I tried something new for lunch today. A fish vendor was selling a few mollusk-looking things of which I had never heard. A brimming pot of cockles (no longer brimming, at right), cost me £2 and was quite delicious. Come to find out, cockles are a type of clam not native to my part of the world. I was reasonably sure of this when I committed to eating them, but was glad to firm up my suspicion with an internet search. I passed on the malt vinegar (with gluten), but a squirt of lemon juice added some zest in its stead.

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Being an avid apple lover, I am always thrilled to see them for sale when I travel. While a few varieties remain ubiquitous, regional climates and palates tend to favor different types.

The Cox's Orange Pippin is considered one of the premier dessert apples of England--a standard by which all others are judged. Having experienced my first of these fine fruits a couple of days ago, I am inclined to agree. Cox are particularly challenging to grow stateside, but I will continue my efforts. On this day, I enjoyed one from the market.

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This is what I ate for dinner:

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Steamed Globe Artichoke with Clarified Butter

• Steam an artichoke in an inch of water until soft.
• Serve with clarified butter and good salt.

Find an artichoke

Cook until soft

Serve with butter

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Chicory and Basil Salad

• Chop chicory, basil and carrot and add to bowl.
• Add olives, olive oil, salt, olive brine (only if high-quality) and some white pepper.

Rinse and chop

Season and enjoy

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Wilted Greens tossed in an Anchovy Mustard Sauce

• Chop greens and onion and add to pot with a little water.
• Cook with lid on until greens are wilted, then drain water.
• Add anchovy, white pepper, and mustard powder (or mustard).
• Chop/mash anchovies and spices into a paste, then toss into the greens.

Brassica-type leaves

Chop and wilt

My spices

Just starting to chop...

...to more of a paste

Toss and serve

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Grass-Fed Ribeye Steak with Clarified Butter

• Melt butter.
• Cook steak on low heat to avoid smoke and mayhem.

Melt fat

Cook slowly

Enjoy

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British pastures must be places of abundant corn, because that was the fattiest supposedly grass-fed steak I have ever eaten. In reality, this steak probably came from a grain-finished cow that grew up on grass and pasture but then lived out its final weeks eating a diet optimized to make it fat. Sadly, this practice of grain-finishing compromises the animal's health and skews the ratio of its stored fats toward those that are less optimal for human health. At home, we eat 100% grass-fed and grass-finished beef that spent its whole life on pasture--that's the kind of meat that tastes like magic and feels like medicine. Out here in the suburban jungle, far from my chest freezer of Alderspring beef, I do the best I can.

Thanks for sticking with me!

In good health,
Ethan