Wednesday morning the NYT Dining section was spread out on the breakfast table. Fingers pointed at a photograph of a heaping plateful of crunchy spring-green vegetables with a few rosy strips of animal protein thrown in. "Look at that," said my husband, "Pork." "Ohh, baby corn." "Sugar-snap peas," said the children, of course followed by "Mommy, can you make this?" "Hmm, said I, "Looks good, if it weren't for the pork." "Oh come on, those who don't want meat can eat around it, and the children would love the baby corn." I could see where this was going. "And it's a stirr-fry. It only takes 15 minutes." "That's preparation time, they don't tell you how long it takes to chop everything. And it is one of Nigella Lawson's recipes. Her recipes never work out. And it calls for oyster sauce."

So they talked me into it. I was yearning for crunchy veggies and spring dishes, and I was going out anyway, so I could pick up everything I needed. I had my doubts about the Oyster sauce. I don't like to use ready-made ingredients, even if they have exotic names.

I shopped at a place called "Garden of Eden." It is one of these places where the produce is displayed in wicker baskets and plastic grapes hang from the ceiling. There are no right angles and the aisles go this way and that way and are generally never longer than 2 feet. The produce was actually reasonably priced and good-looking. I am sure they get you with the prepared Deli-stuff though.

When I came home I marinated the meat and went ahead and prepped the veggies. Chopping was done in 15 minutes, and then I went and did some other stuff, until close to dinner time.

The verdict: It was ok, but not wonderful, just as had been my experience with all of Nigella's recipes I have tried. I got over myself and used the oyster sauce, having carefully compared ingredients and selected the brand that seemed to have the least artificial stuff in it. But I still don't see why one "needs" it.

It was kind of fun though getting the various ingredients together. And now I will even more appreciate the tried and true family-favorite Broccoli-Tofu stir-fry. It takes 15 minutes, prep time included.  11:31:52 PM    
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