Vegetable hash

Eastside Road, October 21, 2013—

WHEN I WAS A KID we had meat for dinner virtually every night. Occasionally there'd be macaroni and cheese, but that was pretty rare. Normally we had meat: chicken, beef, or pork; maybe rabbit. (Never lamb: Dad hated sheep in every form.)

These days we don't eat meat at home that often, as you may have noticed. Salmon once a week in season, sausage usually once a week. We eat out so often, almost always with meat on our plate, that at home we eat more simply. And for health reasons we restrict our consumption whenever possible to meat produced without antibiotics, beef finished without corn.

For a few years we gave it up almost entirely, though I did buy bones in those days, to make beef stock — a few spoonfuls of beef stock in a dish was enough to make us think we'd feasted on a roast.

Tonight was another meatless meal at home. Lindsey made a braise, I guess you'd call it, starting with an onion-garlic sofritto, adding peppers and mushrooms. Mushrooms, of course, beef up almost any such dish. On the side, as you see, Nancy Skall's matchless limas; green salad afterward…

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