Babette’s Business Partner // Kielbasa Cajun Rice
She’s got her eye on you.
When the diner came into Babette’s possession, she needed help to get it up and running. So she went back to the Old Blue Mountain Inn where she'd been working for the last ten years, and recruited their best line cook, Nikke, to run it with her.
Nikke didn't bat an eye when Babette explained that she'd discovered the diner after a formless entity fueled by otherworldly hunger chased her for miles until she fed it a sack of cheeseburgers. Even when Babette described the lights all coming on at once, and the jukebox playing by itself, and the neon sign flickering on like a beacon in the darkness, Nikke didn't balk. She was young, but she'd had more than enough bad jobs and worse bosses to jump at the chance Babette was offering, even if the circumstances were a little peculiar.
But when Babette started showing her around, Nikke took one look into the vast kitchen at the heart of the diner, and the old refrigerator glowing with eerie green light, and put her foot down.
"Not going in there," she said.
"Oh," said Babette, a little confused but unoffended. "Well, you don't have to."
"Good," said Nikke.
“But, you know, it’s not going to hurt you.”
“You don’t know what it’s going to do.”
Babette made a wordless noise of exasperation.
“Anyway,” said Nikke, “I cook on the grill.”
Babette conceded that this was no more than the truth, and they went to check on the state of the restrooms, and said no more about it.
A few days later, Babette picked Nikke up at her place and they headed back to the diner with cleaning supplies. As soon as they walked in, they saw it: next to the grill stood a shiny new commercial refrigerator, with stainless steel sides and glass door free of smudges or fingerprints.
“What do you think?” said Babette quietly, staring at it.
Nikke considered for a moment. Like the rest of the diner, the appearance of the refrigerator defied explanation. But unlike the kitchen with its weird glowing refrigerator, it did not seem to exist in defiance of physics.
“I can live with it,” she decided.
Later, when Babette was out back taking measurements for a vegetable plot, Nikke got the feeling she was being watched. She glanced over her shoulder. The door of the new refrigerator stood half open, even though she hadn’t touched it.
The door shut, almost guiltily, as soon as she made eye contact.
Nikke stood there for a long moment. “I got my eyes on you,” she said finally, then turned back to her work.
Today, Babette is serving: Kielbasa Cajun Rice
Smoky, salty beef kielbasa chunks nestle in a brown rice medley with sauteed zucchini, red bell pepper, celery, shallot, garlic, and fresh herbs. The sausage coins are seared until golden brown and crisp on the edges. Deglazing the pan with lovingly rendered chicken stock produces a rich pan sauce that glazes the rice and sausage. It’s kind of like risotto, the faster way. A little parmesan on top and a side of ciabatta garlic bread completes the meal, and Babette likes to serve it with a sweet peach iced tea.
Don't forget to take a mint from the dish by the register on your way out. Printed inside the wrapper is a secret message from the kitchen.
Une mûre mûre murmure au mur. (A ripe blackberry murmurs to the wall.)