Paleolithic Alchemy

After weeks of having my ass glued to the chair, I finally found a gym that: 1) I like, 2) is not too expensive, 3) is close enough that I can ride there on my bike (thus taking care of cardio).

Good, one item off the list (so to speak).

So far I knew that I wanted to work out and get in shape, but I didn't really have exact idea what I wanna go for? Big and bulky or wiry with defined abs? Nah... Don't laugh, but it actually took me watching the "Thor" movie to realize that lean and muscular is the way to go. After a bit of digging around the world wide web, I found out what exactly the bloke (Chris Hemsworth) playing the God of Thunder did to get in the shape that landed and secured him the role...

The routine I'm gonna use helped him to go from twink to hunk in 3 months, so lets see, starting Monday, what in the same time frame can be achieved here...

Now, I have two out of three ingredients needed for the transformation I desire (I think it sounds tad more drastic than it actually is, lol), but a gym routine and tons of workout don't mean nor do anything without appropriate diet.

And this is what I wanted to write about today, actually. Cooking ;)

I've always liked to cook, although I haven't really been cooking that much during the past few years, for variety of reasons (read: excuses).

Recently though, I've been reading some articles and eventually landed on a site about Paleo diet...

Now, for those of you who don't actually know what that is, let me explain, briefly. Paleo (short for Paleolithic) diet works on (in my opinion legitimate) evolutionary assumption that our bodies are mostly attuned for the food our species has been eating throughout it's history. Now, given the fact that agriculture has been around for some 10.000 years, but before that we were for hundreds of thousands years primarily hunters-gatherers, the food we eat nowadays (especially grains and dairy) is not really what our bodies are built for (if you wanna find out more, look here or try Wikipedia).

I do like this notion, and even after exploring it from different angles, I can easily relate to it. So, here I am now, in the beginning of a trip back in time, re-exploring possible dietary habits of our ancestors (well, basically, I won't eat anything made of grain or milk, like bread and cheese and whatnot, nor anything that comes from a box + I'll eat when I'm hungry, not at a set time of day... sometimes I'll pig out on fruit or meat, and sometimes I'll have just enough to get me through the day).

Luckily for me, there is a farmer's market in my neighborhood once a week and I can easily get supplies of fresh vegetable, fruit and herbs for the whole week, and, more important, for a fraction of the price I'd pay in a supermarket (now I think of it, next week I'll try to take some pics and post them here).

That, together with a butcher's shop round a corner, covers pretty much all my new-found culinary caveman needs.

Aaaaanyway, what I was getting at is how all this made me remember how much I enjoy cooking. I've always found it somewhat like alchemy (at least the way I cook), with all the spices and ingredients waiting to be combined, never knowing what the outcome will be, gold or barely edible?!

Now, now, I'm just kidding, I actually cook quite well, but the truth is, I do love to experiment in the kitchen and lets face it, the Paleo diet offers me just that.

Thus, my dear friends, the dish of the day (for today) was this...

First of all, yeah, I love my plates too ;)

Second of all, it's a very simple dish, took me less than 1/2 hour from the time I started chopping first onion to the time I arranged it on the plate (and scrubbed the counter) so I can take a picture of it.

I took one big onion, few spring onions (two different kinds) and chopped them into bigger or smaller pieces. Next was one big green pepper, cleaned and chopped, 3 big cloves of garlic and (that's where it's gonna become a real alchemy) 3 medium sized fresh figs, cleaned and sliced. All that, except the figs, went in the pan. Next I sliced some pork (I'd tell you what part exactly, but my Greek isn't that good and my butcher doesn't speak English - It's a point and buy arrangement, like internet, only with more social interaction, cheeky smiles and thumbs up) and put it on the top of all the chopped onions and pepper (don't forget to put some garlic on the meat, too). That's when the figs come in play as I use the slices as a top layer to cover everything else in the pan. And, that's almost it... Almost, because the last thing that goes in is a generous handful (and I mean, really, really generous) of finely chopped fresh fennel. Pour in one big glass of water, put a lid on the pan and let it cook on a strong flame until almost all the water is gone (lol, and be careful about that, you can see that some of the onions turned slightly, ehm ehm, black...).

That's it, as simple as that and let me tell you, it was delicious.

Btw, the red round things on the plate are fresh figs, cut in half... I could have put a couple of fresh fennel twigs on the top, too, but I couldn't be bothered and really, I'm not that posh ;)

Anyway, paleolithic kitchen alchemy rules!