Recipe #1: Superb Marinated Pork Fillet Roasted on Rhubarb

By Jamie Oliver:

Ingredients:
1 large handful of fresh sage
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
olive oil
2 pork fillets, trimmed
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
10 slices of prosciutto or Parma ham
12 long stalks of baby rhubarb, washed

By Andrew Fernandez:

My attempt was tragic... but it tasted pretty darn good though it did not look anything like the picture in the recipe book. Well I have to explain more as to why that is...

I have to admit that I had no clue what rhubarb really is and still have not seen what rhubarb is in real life. I spent 20 minutes at the Meijer produce section looking up Wikipedia trying to figure out and making sure that Swiss Chard was definitely NOT in the rhubarb family.

Apparently rhubarb is a seasonal vegetable that is often mistaken with swiss chards and is clearly not available in the beginning of January, in Michigan. Oh! and Wikipedia says that the leaves are also toxic. Some part of me really is happy that they were not available. My replacement? Well the closes 'looking' produce I could use was the swiss chard. That was a compromise after 20 minutes of Wikipedia investigation in the middle of the produce section at Meijer. I had to keep moving around the produce department as the iPhone loaded because I didn't want to look like a total geek at Meijer glued to his iPhone.

The next item on the ingredient list was prosciutto. Look, I had already spent 20 minutes learning about rhubarb, its more than I can handle on a weekend. I just used smoked ham chucks. I could not take a minute longer at Meijer.

Lessons Learnt:
I need to do my investigation at home about the ingredients. I realize that its not so easy to cook these dishes as indicated without substitution. The first recipe was a scrape-by, but I have to say that it tasted pretty good!

I also have to learn to cook in smaller sizes. Eating the leftovers for 4 days isn't quite so great. I'm sure it tastes really good if made correctly, but if its not... It's a lot of yuck-food to eat for awhile.