Night at the improv

Some days in the kitchen are just perfect little dreams. You have all the ingredients on hand, the dishes are already done, your oven stays at perfect temperatures, birds are chirping and things taste like you're a rock star chef. Other times even the most prepared of us will hit a wall. What do you do in that case? IMPROVISE. Now this happens regularly seeing as even with a well made grocery list, I skip over very important ingredients. I'm used to moving on without cumin, or using stock instead of wine, parsley even though I really want cilantro. All these things don't phase me too much. But the other night I was very excited to make a grilled tuna recipe that had a wonderful citrus marinade and an orange salsa. The ingredients were simple, the technique was nothing new. But things just went completely south.

Both of my oranges were less than quality on the inside. This I find out after already squeezing the juice of one for the marinade. The other, wasn't fit to even juice. What to do with beautiful Ahi steaks that were the only "meat" you purchased because it sounded so good? Keep on truckin'.



I figured there was just a bit of juice and that it wouldn't be destroyed with all the other good stuff. What to top it with and serve with it had all changed. I was outside grilling up these beauties and pondering what the heck else to eat. It's hot outside here in the valley. Very hot. Pregnant ladies don't do well in heat. I don't do well in heat. MMMMMM. Tuna steaks:



So I get back inside to the wonderful invention of air conditioning and hope my brain can pull it together. The kids are becoming scavengers searching for any remnant of chip, or candy (what they consider to be suitable dinner items). Needless to say I scrapped together the most random of things: edamame beans, pasta and roasted beets. I chopped up some green onions and cilantro and threw it on top of the tuna.



Now some improvisations have proven to be the most happy of accidents: yogurt instead of buttermilk for pancakes, homemade on the fly enchilada sauce, frittata fixings. This wasn't exactly an epic, but it wasn't bad. I mean I had to cook one tuna steak past rare because of my oh so fragile state (I know I may have well just opened a can of tuna, but it was still better than the can). But it will make my husband one nice nicoise salad, and it was an opportunity to stumble into the mysterious world of unknown potential.

Do you have any great stories of impromptu cooking, or happy accidents that have landed on your list of epics?