IN THE SELLWOOD KITCHEN

This Month’s Episode: The Four F’s of Summer

By Michael And Erin O'shaughnessy

The Bee, Jul 7, 2010

EDITOR’S NOTE: Michael O’Shaughnessy is a key executive in THE BEE’s parent company, Community Newspapers, Inc. He moved to Sellwood with Erin, and has become obsessed with food, leading to this monthly feature. This month, Michael pursues the lordly task of commenting on everything everyone else is doing, while THEY prepare the food. It should be noted here, however, that he is not above participating in the eating of it. The recipe is provided so that you can, too.

Starring Erin & Mike and Adam & Josh

Filmed on Location near Beautiful Downtown Sellwood

Soundtrack: Stairway to the Stars by Jack Weigand (At the Organ)

“It seems like years since it's been clear.”

“There’s a lot of food,” I remark to Obie, who is mewling up a storm around my ankles. I’m sitting under the pergola at Sellwood Kitchen 2, on the fourth day of summer. Early evening, warm but cooling, as the breeze swirls from yard to yard in soft gusts in its own version of “Duck, Duck, Goose”.

“Here Comes the Sun”, a live version, starts to glisten from the radio. Seriously. I am not supplying this for literary effect. I mean, it was a perfect night.

Adam and Erin are preparing the food, Josh is setting the table, and I am as usual sitting, sipping, and scribing under the sunset-dappled wisteria. I feel like James Beard, the only food critic I can ever recall.

Our appetizer and main course are hewn from mostly similar ingredients, though the recipes were conjured independently by our cooks. Peppers, mushrooms, onions, corn, zucchini! Those fresh summer garden tastes and colors I’ve been craving since the first day of autumn! The grill is fired up, or gassed up (much as I will be, later).

Earlier, Erin whipped up some fresh guacamole. To think: Only a couple of years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of eating an avocado (it looks like a green rock); but now I rank it among my favorite vegetables! And so I practically fill up on chips and guac before the Portobello mushrooms arrive. Yeah, mushrooms – that’s ANOTHER garden item I shunned for ages, thinking all mushrooms tasted like those slimy canned ones you slop over a warm gray flank steak.

“I need a little skillet for one pepper and one onion,” Erin queried Adam. These sautéed in the kitchen as the mushrooms grilled delicately outside. The smells wafted into the sitting area where I put on an LP of organ music by Jack Weigand, and swiveled in the “chair of contention (and tension)”, the latest treasure Adam discovered at the Bins. Josh isn’t crazy about it. But what it lacks in comfort, it abounds in charm.

Indoor cooking completed, we moved outside. It’s very green out here: The leaves, the guacamole, the cat’s eyes, the neighbor’s house, Erin’s shirt, the wine bottle, the bug in the wine bottle… Yikes, there’s a bug in the wine! What’s HE doing in there? (Please insert punch line here.)

“Oh, he’s gonna die in there,” I say to no one (as everyone else is working on dinner, and here I am still sitting in the sun, contemplating issues philosophical and ethical). “What is Life” by George Harrison starts to glisten from the radio. Seriously. I am not supplying this for literary effect.

Suddenly, the food arrives in front of me! The Portobellos are full of onions and peppers, and draped in a silky slice of Swiss! Adam’s grilled vegetable and chicken salad is incarnate! We eat it leisurely.

“Tonight’s meal is brought to you by our wardrobe”, announces Adam, who cashed in a bag of togs at a resale shop.

Erin asks, “Remember body suits?” I did; they were all the rage in the early 90s. Josh wasn’t familiar with them. We explain they were sort of like adult onesies.

“I’m so glad for a good day,” misspeaks Josh, but we know what he means. “Friends, food and wine,” he continues, “– the 4 Fs of Summer!”

“That’s only three, and one’s a ‘w’,” Erin laughs. Then I laugh. Then Adam laughs. Then Josh laughs and the cat laughs. Even the bug laughs his last little laugh. Welcome summer!

--- OUR RECIPE: Portobellos ’n Stuff ---

Erin’s Intro: This Sellwood Kitchen started out like so many others. I had no idea what I was going to make until I got to the store. I was shopping for some inspiration, and I found it. I had no time to communicate with Adam about the plan, but somehow we ended up on the exact same page. Grilled (as if we’d do anything else) ingredients, and southwest flavors. It was almost as though we planned it. I couldn’t resist giant Portobellos, and Adam couldn’t resist grilling absolutely every ingredient in his dish. It turned out to be a great pair. The chicken and veggie salad may even end up at a wedding reception catered by ITSK this summer, who knows!

4 large Portobello tops.

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit