A Story More than a Recipe: Cooking with Arran
My son Arran came up with an incredible recipe (or the start of a really, really good one) last night. He said he felt like cooking something sort of Asian, but didn’t really have in mind what he wanted to do, exactly. So I asked, what about a stir fry?
Bon Appetit: Julia Child's Kitchen at the Smithsonian
A trip downtown to the the National Museum of American History to view Julia Child’s kitchen proved to be a delightful outing for the culinary devotees in my family on New Year’s weekend.
If you have seen the film Julie & Julia then you already know that the Smithsonian Museum received the original kitchen and all its contents from her Cambridge, MA house from the grand Julia as a gift in 2001, when she was moving back home to her native California. Stuffed with Julia memorabilia along with the actual kitchen (yes, the real kitchen, not a model) a visit is such fun!
I especially savored her bookshelf, which ranges far beyond the expected cookbooks to field guides, world history, “How to Clean Everything”, and Bulfinche’s Mythology. I can picture her leaping up from dinner conversation to consult one of these for a salient point, can’t you?
Click here for a link to the exhibit website, which includes an item-by-item tour of some of her fascinating batterie de cuisine.
Bon appétit and bonne année!
Culinary Adventure: Black Beans & Rice, Dominican Style
What can be better than cooking with friends? Recently Rosenny and I took over the main kitchen at the Center and headed out on a culinary adventure, cooking lunch for the whole office. She brought the beans, rice, and spices, and I brought fresh veggies from the farm market. We got things going, and pretty soon colleagues were drifting in, curious. This is the smell of the Dominican Republic, friends, said Rosenny. When the whole thing gets together, it’s going to be something out of this world.
This was mindful cooking. We drank in the colors, smells and traditions, spicing everything with smiles and laughter. The magic ingredient that makes these beans like no other is sofrito, a pungent blend of Cubanelle pepper, garlic, onion, cilantro, fresh thyme and spices. Click here for the complete recipe as we made it. The results? A low cost, nutrition-packed menu that easily served us all, of Texmati brown rice, black beans Dominican style, and a gorgeous fresh salad that smelled like sunlight, with a simple lemon and olive oil dressing.
The slides show the step-by-step, and the happy faces of our friends. Mmmmmmmm….! Even the dishwashers were cheerful.
Bon voyage!
ps– what are some of your favorite big flavor, low cost, feed-a-crowd, nutritious meals?
