WHAT'S COOKING
Last night, we were cooking English peas, beautiful little peas that we'd just shelled and set in a small saute pan. I was going to do them in an itty-bitty dab of butter and something else - only I couldn't quite decide what that something else was going to be.
My pal Katalin came into the ktichen and saw the peas. "In Hungary,'' she said, "we put parsley in the new peas.'' Katalin motioned to the bowl of freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley on the kitchen counter and continued: "Parlsey, exactly like that.'' I grabbed a handful of the fragrant parsley and tossed it into the peas. "Anything else?'' I asked Katalin. "Yes,'' she replied. "Black pepper. A little bit of black pepper.'' Since a peppermill also was nearby, that was easily accomplished.
One taste made me awfully glad Katalin had spoken up about how the cooks in her family prepared a simple dish such as peas in her native Hungary. I felt as though I'd traveled, even though I was right here at the Shore, at the home of friends I see every week.
The local lands are starting to yield some pretty glorious bounties, and I don't seem to want to stop cooking. I bought some gorgeous baby spinach and cooked it down with a bunch of other veggies (broccoli, carrots, spring onions) in vegetable stock, whirred it all together in a food processor, then added some seasonings and heated the thick puree of a soup till the flavors fully melded. I spooned it into bowls and squirted in a lot of fresh lemon juice just before serving. That lemon juice woke up the bright flavors of the vegetables in the soup like the sun wakes the Earth.
Over the weekend, I e-mailed my friend and colleague Shannon Mullen that I couldn't seem to work up the same quivering heights of enthusiasm for the new car I'm getting this week as I could for ramps or a certain brand of sweet onion I've been scoring in these parts. He told me I should write about this on the blog. Which then would have to be re-named, "Confessions of a Really Weird Woman.''
Or, as my 12-year-old cooking buddy Matthew likes to call me, "Crazy.'' Short for "Crazy Lady, the Cook.''
cheers,
Andy
5.22.07
My pal Katalin came into the ktichen and saw the peas. "In Hungary,'' she said, "we put parsley in the new peas.'' Katalin motioned to the bowl of freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley on the kitchen counter and continued: "Parlsey, exactly like that.'' I grabbed a handful of the fragrant parsley and tossed it into the peas. "Anything else?'' I asked Katalin. "Yes,'' she replied. "Black pepper. A little bit of black pepper.'' Since a peppermill also was nearby, that was easily accomplished.
One taste made me awfully glad Katalin had spoken up about how the cooks in her family prepared a simple dish such as peas in her native Hungary. I felt as though I'd traveled, even though I was right here at the Shore, at the home of friends I see every week.
The local lands are starting to yield some pretty glorious bounties, and I don't seem to want to stop cooking. I bought some gorgeous baby spinach and cooked it down with a bunch of other veggies (broccoli, carrots, spring onions) in vegetable stock, whirred it all together in a food processor, then added some seasonings and heated the thick puree of a soup till the flavors fully melded. I spooned it into bowls and squirted in a lot of fresh lemon juice just before serving. That lemon juice woke up the bright flavors of the vegetables in the soup like the sun wakes the Earth.
Over the weekend, I e-mailed my friend and colleague Shannon Mullen that I couldn't seem to work up the same quivering heights of enthusiasm for the new car I'm getting this week as I could for ramps or a certain brand of sweet onion I've been scoring in these parts. He told me I should write about this on the blog. Which then would have to be re-named, "Confessions of a Really Weird Woman.''
Or, as my 12-year-old cooking buddy Matthew likes to call me, "Crazy.'' Short for "Crazy Lady, the Cook.''
cheers,
Andy
5.22.07
posted by Andrea Clurfeld at 10:52 AM
1 Comments:
,,,,and the certain brand of sweet onions would be???????
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