A Year of Improvising
En Cuisine, comme dans tous les arts, la simplicité est le signe de la perfection. (“In cooking, as in all the arts, simplicity is the sign of perfection”)
Richard Olney - Simple French Food
Winter Light, Cooking with Massimo & Friends Part 6
It is true that until recently I have never made pasta from scratch. I bought the pasta machine, a shiny steel contraption and Jamie’s book on Italian cuisine as gifts for husband and kept my fingers crossed. He prepared the pasta mixing flour and eggs going from novice to pro within weeks so for me, why bother? However, now that ravioli presented itself in Bread is Gold page 32 to be exact well I had to test my fortitude.
Pity and Awe, Cooking with Massimo & Friends Part 5
What really moves me is spending time sharing and creating food that teaches me a new way to be in the kitchen. I really like thinking about a recipe for a day or two. Today I was offered some grapefruit from a homegrown garden, yes I will make the Fennel and Grapefruit Salad with the Anchovy dressing. Great I can’t wait. That’s what its all about. I am with Gwyneth (Paltrow) anchovies on anything. It’s a shame my kids don’t eat them, but maybe in time they might. (I love G.P’s cookbooks too) So this is the heart of the kitchen, the coming and the going, and the turning up again to do it all over again.
“Submit it to the test”...Cooking with Massimo & Friends Part 4
Turning to Bread is Gold: Extraordinary Meals with Ordinary Ingredients I learn about Alex Atala’s food, his traditions and his intention behind the food he cooks. I learn that the anchovy is a wise friend in the meal that can reproduce quickly in the food chain, unlike tuna that can take a year or so to grow. I did not know that and revel more in the deep flavours that this sauce shares. The key take away here is to add anchovy to the garlic in oil part as it dissolves into the sauce adding flavour and boldness.
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.
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.
Kitchen Notes
So for years I have been collecting cookbooks, buying them somewhat guiltily thinking this is the last one each time.
Incubation and lone wolves
I press a lemon into my palm hoping to release the juice, extract it somehow. Winter that time of resolving, reflection. I find myself in a dream, frosty mornings, inept gas heater, longer mornings laying prone…