The Art of Eating….
So I am searching for more tomato recipes, because we have made a lot of sauce this past few weeks. I open An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, Elizabeth David quips, “A world devoid of tomato soup, tomato sauce, tomato ketchup and tomato paste is hard to visualise”. Yes, so true for modern cuisine she is right. I find her recipes for tomato are odd choices, Tomato honey and Tomato Conserve. A French style reduction that would be jam like and enjoyed with cheese and a glass of Bordeaux. Perhaps I can find something better in her Mediterranean Cooking or David’s Italian publication. But it is good to think out of the square.
Maddy and I have taken to slabs of fresh tomato on a plate with a hunk of Burrata on the side. Simply put, there is nothing better than that, or maybe a few leaves of fresh basil torn from the bunches growing in the potager, with its heady aromas of anise, liquorice, lemon. No less it is a declaration of a meal turned into art…..
Poor Mans Feast, Cooking with Massimo & Friends Part 3
No less, food has become the back bone for days spent at home, no distractions. I have been cooking, gardening, weeding, growing things like kale and spring onions, leek and delphiniums, pots of sweet peas....my own dreams of a row or two are coming to life. Somewhere in between I have returned to a few days at work and the rest is just the domestic and the creative and a cook book to ponder. A blue one since the beautiful cream cover I have set aside. I am still cooking from ‘Bread is Gold’ and trying out recipes and gaining a whole new way of looking at food and the possibilities of simple ingredients and what is possible in the day to day.
How Big is a Sprig? Cooking with Massimo & Friends Part 2
How is it that this cooking project is now the anchor for days at home? A lifeline of sorts and perhaps a welcome distraction in the middle of navigating new territory in lifestyle, family time and communications. Lucky for me slow living and slow food has been my happy place over the years, its almost the perfect foundation for this time we now find ourselves in.
Three Simple Things, Cooking with Massimo & Friends Part 1
In truth, I have never tasted Panzenella. I may be nutty for Italian things but I have been oblivious to the wonders and intense flavours of this magical dish. At a time when tomatoes are laden and sun bathing on windowsills and a loaf of Pane di Casa is half eaten it was time. It made sense but in truth I wasn't that excited about it.
Slow Mondays, Cooking with Massimo & Friends
It’s funny but I have to come to realise over the past few weeks as I manage and figure out how I am going to cook every recipe in this book I realise that reading a cook book and mediating upon the recipes is much like a spiritual practice. You turn up, you read, begin, make, follow, sample, season, taste, prepare and ultimately create something beautiful to sustain your day. You commit, you take your intentions, your creativity and your intuition to the table.
The Cookbook Project
Somewhere along the way I have been contemplating the idea to find a cook-book that I would go on to actually cook every recipe in the publication. The theory being that I learn some new skills in the kitchen, perhaps find some fresh recipes I can rotate on the family menu, perhaps take myself into new territory in the land of cookery and food. I have been thinking about this for about a year now.