A Fifth of The Way There

I missed the disco era. When I think of things I've missed in my life, I must say I don't feel too bad about this one. Possibly, I don't know any better. Possibly, it's never too late for disco.  Really. Disco seems to have taken on Cool Vintage status, just the timeless classic to mix into a new song (by Phoenix, for example--not new, but newer than the disco era). Of course, the disco era saw some mixing in of timeless classics, too.

Right. Where were we? ("A Fifth of Beethoven" always makes me think, "Oh, Toto, we're really, really not in Kansas anymore, are we?") I'm not sure whether I should apologize for putting you through that musical experience--a particularly awkward one after "Take Five." Bear with me.

Last week, several readers asked me for more under-five-minute recipes. I thought about doling out five more, but realized the key to these is in the building blocks. You need to find yourself a few "timeless" foods--relatively shelf-stable things that take little to no time to prepare. Once you have these, you can mix them into each other, or with other, ready-made foods and seasonings (like hummus, or gochujang).

One of mine: beets. If you have a beet and a small piece of fresh ginger, you can either cut the beet into matchsticks or grate it coarsely. Put it in a bowl with a little minced or grated ginger and microwave for 1-3 minutes. It should be crisp-tender, not fully cooked. If you want to, you can add any of the following: soy sauce, rice vinegar, dark sesame oil, hot sesame oil, salt. This is good with kimchee and rice. (How do you make rice in under five minutes? Cook multiple servings of it on a not-so-busy day. Divide it into individual servings and freeze. Reheat as needed. Or buy fully-cooked, ready-in-ninety-microwaved-seconds rice.)

This works just as well with carrots, turnips or rutabegas if you don't have beets (or don't care for them). You can omit the ginger and flavor it any way you'd like--with grated Parmesan cheese; with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper; with walnuts, raisins and goat cheese; with za'atar. You can go anywhere in flavoring this dish. At least I think so.

Personally, I feel that beets can take me farther than disco can, but that's just the kind of person I am. I'm also the kind of person who wonders, possibly too often, about what takes us where. I wonder about that on different levels, and find comfort in all the cliches about the journey being the destination. We might not know where we are, but we're getting there.