2021… You’ve started us off with a bang! But just for a few months, can’t you just sit down and behave, and let me enjoy a simple cooking blog?? I don’t have time to be glued to news reports. Not when I have the whole wide world of The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes From an Accidental Country Girl laid out before me. That’s right, after a brief online poll to select my New Year’s project, Ree Drummond emerged victorious (again), so this year will be dedicated to experiencing all the flavors from her very first cookbook!
This just in! “Independent Fact Check”: I have already cooked from this book! In fact, I have made MANY of the recipes included in this relatively short volume. Even if I wasn’t clued in by the fresh-faced and dewy 12-year-old photo on the cover, I would have guessed this was Ree’s first book because it holds a mere 63 recipes, and only about three feature vegetables. She has apparently since learned that just because her hubby disdains most green things, the cookbook-purchasing public at large needs new ways to prepare broccoli. And leeks… (see below!)
With a lucky stroke of forethought, while in the midst of cooking my way through Dinnertime (circa 2017-2018), I did my future self a favor by photographing and labeling most of what I tried out! Therefore, I am hereby committing to documenting ALL the recipes in “Accidental Country Girl”, even if some of them were originally prepared years ago. Admittedly, the first three photos are meals I have (so far) only made once, but #4… you have a special place in my heart!
Ok, first stop arguing that I clearly did not use penne pasta in my Penne alla Betsy! Substitution is the spice of life… Or something like that. Whatever pasta you choose to use, this riff on penne alla rosa is DE. LISH. US!! It all started when I was distractedly watching a Pioneer Woman rerun at 10:00 PM and Ree started describing an amazing meal her little sister Betsy always makes for her when she visits. She didn’t get much past sautéing the shrimp in butter and then onions and garlic before my mouth was watering and I was rummaging through the pantry to collect the necessary ingredients. The best part about this dish was that I did not need to go to the store for anything (did I mention it was 10 o’clock at night??) yet I ended up with Italian comfort food on my plate in under 30 minutes. Faster if I hadn’t needed to peel and devein the shrimp. But seriously, don’t skip that step… This is one of those dinners that I have suddenly gotten a hankering for out of the blue and have repeated several times. Once I might have even used penne…
One word I think I will use a lot throughout my journey across the remaining 40 or so recipes I have yet to try, is “simple”. In her debut collection, Ree highlighted the down-home flavors that cut the mustard, so to speak, with her less-than-culinarily-adventurous husband and small kids. That is not to say they aren’t GOOD, and she sneaked in a couple “foreign” options such as Migas and Sangria, along with seafood specialties no one else in her family would touch. More on that later… While I don’t expect to learn complex new cooking techniques during this go-round, I have every faith that I will find new family favorites to add to my rotation. In fact, I have a feeling “Betsy” is coming to dinner this week!
Have Book, Will Cook 