Expect the Unexpected – The Sporting Chef
I should have expected the unexpected today. After yesterday’s hard work, I was taking it kind of easy this morning planning for Tuesday’s Master Garden meeting to take place at my home and planning to film 13 episodes next Saturday (a week from today) for The Sporting Chef TV Show.
Yesterday, I worked in the garden, weeded the beds, planted a few planters with flowers and native grasses and just got plain worn out. Today, first on the agenda was drinking a cup of coffee and jotting down the episodes for next week’s shoot after I loaded the washing machine with the first load of clothes for the day.
As I turned the corner into my laundry room, I notice that a tall man that looked a lot like Scott Leysath, the Sporting Chef, was exiting the truck and headed for my door. I thought, “Wow, he’s in Montgomery today…glad he stopped by.” My thinking may have been a little wonky here in that it wouldn’t be that easy for him to stop by; he lives in California!
It didn’t even cross my mind that Scott was here to film. I ran to my calendar and it was in stone that we were to film NEXT Saturday, but when I thought about our conversation, the 24th (not the 31st) seemed to be yelling in my mind. OH, MAN!
Yes, he was here to film. I had no make-up on, 2 day old curly hair (if you have curly hair, you know what I was dealing with), the house was in…well…much use, and I did not have a plan!
The great thing is that Scott is really laid back and had to set up lights! That gave me about 35 minutes to get my act together. My mom called and said, “Well, this is good for you…it will give you confidence…you can do this…just be you.” It wasn’t all that comforting at the time, but that is exactly what I did and it worked!
Thankfully, we always have something cooking on the stove, plenty of meat in the freezer, a ton of canned seasonal vegetables, and a fall garden in full swing with a few summer plants still going strong.
This morning I was trying out a recipe I was thinking of using on the show, but wanted to make sure it worked perfectly. It did and I was able to use the recipe today, not once but twice.
Not only did I get to show how to cook 2 turkey breasts in the pressure cooker, but I made Alabama Barbecue Sauce and put it over the shredded turkey breast.
We had drippings from the turkey breasts, so I made gravy for one of the episodes.
Amazingly, idea after idea kept coming to mind. Maybe it was because I was using only what I had on hand and that is how I really cook everyday so the recipes and tips were just there, but most likely because I was praying – or maybe a little of both!!
We had persimmons that were ripe so I made a sauce/chutney to put over pork, pheasant, goose (which I also made!), and fish.
We have turnips coming up in the garden along with lettuces, broccoli, kale, and so much more so I made a bed of turnips for my venison tenderloin to rest on.
My herbs are flourishing so I made herb compound butter that I simply placed to melt on top of steak.
What a fantastic day! I can’t wait for all of you to watch the show knowing a little of the background of the next 13 episodes!! Thanks for being a part of my life….