Sunday, October 29, 2006

*autumnal fare...extra protein*

*scroll down slowly - do not read the end first!!!*

Ed came back from his mum and dad's today with some absolutely gorgeous ruby chard; I've never cooked chard before, and it had been plucked straight out of his mum's vegetable garden, so I thought I'd use it tonight whilst it was still beautifully fresh. I consulted my vegetable oracle, Sophie Grigson's 'Eat Your Greens' for a suitable recipe, and came across this:

chard-3


Lovely, I thought. That will be just the job. I only had single cream in, but that would have to do. The chard looked so glossy and fresh that I thought it would be a shame not to photograph it to share, so here are a couple of pics of the raw stuff:

chard-1


chard-2


Isn't it pretty?!!

Anyway, I diligently followed the recipe, and when it was finished, although most of the vibrancy had been cooked out, it still looked (and smelled) fairly delicious. I'm going to hold off posting a photo of the finished dish for just a moment, whilst I tell you that the eating did not disappoint; both Ed and I cleaned our plates, resolved to eat chard more often (which we may end up doing on a fairly regular basis, as I think it may be a staple in our veg box over the winter months), and Ed tried to phone his mum to tell her what a hit it had been, but their phone was engaged. And now, here comes the rub. It wasn't until about half an hour ago when I was merrily cropping and re-sizing my photos to share with you, that I happened upon the reality of the extra protein. Here, in all it's glory, is my plate, just served, ready for me to enjoy, which I duly did, and, as already mentioned, I cleaned my plate:

chard-5


Looks OK? Quite tasty? Not as great as the uncooked stuff, but still not bad? Look a little closer...can you see, towards the right-hand side of the plate, where the chard meets the rice, a sort of pale greenish bit of something. I noticed this when I was re-sizing the photo, and immediately thought, "hang on, that looks a bit like a caterpillar - I'll blow up the photo to reassure myself that it's just a rogue piece of chard stem, masquerading as a caterpillar..." This is what I saw:

chard-4


Is there anyone out there in blogland who doesn't think this looks like a caterpillar??!!!

Sweet dreams, all :)

25 comments:

Ali said...

Oh my goodness - sorry but I am howling with laughter. Don't suppose there is any chance you took a picture of Hubby's plate is there?

Well, at least it confirms the Chard was fresh and not sprayed with pesticides!

tlchang said...

Gasp! Oh dear. That is the downside of fresh, organic produce. (I'm always having to check my greens closely for slugs or other undesired protein sources...) ugh. Hope that hasn't put you off chard.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, just think of the extra protein!!!

Have to confess to weeing myself laughing here, sorry.

It all looked and sounded yummy till I got to the end xxx

Kirsty Wiseman said...

OMG - Bluergh, ick and ack. Spit, cough, choke and heave. Huey, hurl, chuck and blow chunks.

I am going to die from laughing and virtual puking right now.

OMG OMG OMG too funny and too disgusting in one breath!

Fiona said...

That's hilarious!!! I know I know - it would make me feel quite queasy if it were my plate. But I'm sure I've eaten all sorts of aditional protein - and these littl veggie-eaters probably taste just like whatever they were munching on anyway. With organic food, I find I need to check the broccoli very carefully, as there are often very-well-camoflaged little fellas hiding in the 'branches'

greyparrot said...

oh
dear
god
*barf*

Debs said...

OMG Jo!!! ... insert gagging, vommitting smilie here ... why oh why did I choose to read your blog over lunch .....

Anonymous said...

This seems to be a very good reason for not photographing meals!

*Bleurgh*
*Gag*

Jaffers said...

You know, I dinnae like caterpillars...nasty little faces...and that definitely looks like a nasty-faced caterpillar fiend!!

ICK!!!!

suebaru said...

Oh...My....God......!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Christ on a bike. Mebbe it emerged as a butterfly and flew off before you got to it!
I honestly dont know whether to laugh or cry for you!

xx

Gretel said...

Oh that made me laugh out loud! Poor little grub, boiled, eaten and finally posted on a blog for all the world to see! Is there no dignity?

Tea said...

Oh Yow! That definately looks like a catapiller!

tea
xo

Anonymous said...

yakety yak
Jane (Brods)

Anonymous said...

AAArrrrggghhh! Errrmm, I mean, no, caterpillars don't look like that at all!!!

domestic goddess said...

OMG jo, i dont know whether to laugh or cry for you

beki said...

*GASP* Oh my goodness!

Anonymous said...

omg jo im ready to hurl and pee laughing here!! :)

Elfin said...

eeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww
Jo thanks for sharing that with the world we will all check our chard more carefully from now on ;)

Jen said...

You don't mean? You didn't NOTICE?? and you ATE it???? Aaarck :(

Amy said...

EEEWWWW! oh my goodness! If it makes you feel any better, years ago, in a health food restaurant, my father got a snail in his salad, quite contentedly sitting amongst the greens on the bottom of the plate. He whispered it to the waitress, who then, very loudly exclaimed, "There's a SNAIL IN YOUR SALAD!!!" To which the entire restaurant turned around to see what was happening. Fortunately for my dad, he did not consume it, however, rest assured, you are not the first to have consumed a bug! And maybe, just maybe, that was what made it SO delicious! A new trend perhaps?

Jaffers said...

Methinks you should submit your bug close-up to this site...it'll fit in rather well...

http://pishmo.com/macro/

jakey said...

[IMG]http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a269/xxjakeyxx/sick0021likethisone.gif[/IMG]

Anonymous said...

OMG!!!! Jo yuk!!!!! LOL

Cath said...

And did it taste nice???