Surprise, it's ...???

Saturday night we went to a gala dinner for the wonderful Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT. Just so you know – and, if you live anywhere near Haddam, you’ll want to know – The Goodspeed is a historic playhouse presenting only musicals.  Lots of the performers who started at Goodspeed have gone on to Broadway and so have several of the shows, including the original Man of La Mancha and the beloved Annie.  Not bad for a theater that’s so far off Broadway!  The gala honored Jerry Herman, the composer/lyricist with a few hits, like Mame, Hello Dolly and La Cage aux Folles, to his name, and it was such a thrill to hear some of his songs performed, then to have him speak so movingly about his life in the theater and his affection for Goodspeed.

But on to dinner, which was held in the scenery workshop – although you wouldn’t have thought that’s where we were.  I know, if a theater company can’t create a set, who can?  From where I sat, it looked like every one of the 200 guests could have been gold-star members of the clean-plate club.  All of the dishes, from the grilled vegetable appetizer to the berry tartlet, were polished off, but there was one thing left on every plate that held the filet of beef:  that red, furry thing in the picture.

No one ate it and no one I asked knew what it was. 

Turns out it’s amaranth!  Because I’d never seen it in its “fresh” state - in fact, I think I’ve only seen it as flour - I tucked the stem into Michael’s lapel and brought it home to taste in the privacy of my own kitchen.  And here’s the report:  I still don’t have a clue what it tastes like.  This one (which might be more accustomed to being in decorative gardens than farmers' fields) tasted just like the beef it rode in on! 

Comments

[clew]

Amaranth greens, some of which are actually red or purple, are fairly common in Chinese greengrocers. I find I can use it in any spinach or chard recipe; it's not the same, but it's close enough.

Was this a young spring of the leaves, or of the flowers?

[Dorie]

Anna, thank you for writing. Actually, I assumed that anything that was on the plate was edible, I'd just never seen amaranth before and was surprised by its look and vivid color.

Congratulations on the dinner -- it was beautiful and, most important, delicious!

[Anna, the chef at Gourmet Galley Catering]

In fact, the "fire sticks", as they call them, on the plate came directly from our produce company Sid Wainer. The unwritten rule on garnish is that you never use anything that isn't edible. (an obvious statement I suppose!) We thought it was interesting and might definitely make this particular crowd go "hmmmm..."

[RuthWells]

I thought it was a feather. : )

[Dorie]

Well, Mmm, I didn't exactly EAT it, just tasted it. Oh what I won't do for journalism.

And, Robyn, like you, I prefer to think "ornamental" rather than "weedish".

[Mmm]

I thought that sprig was dyed and dried. You ATE it???

[Robyn]

I have only ever seen it as a grain (in cereal, etc.) as well. You sparked my curiosity, so I checked it out on Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaranth ). It doesn't appear as though it would have taste, or perhaps not any more than eating a raw grain of wheat. Or maybe your guess is correct that the sprig you had was the purely ornamental variety. Let's hope they didn't choose one of the "weed" strains to garnish your plate!