tonight i made gnocchi from scratch with homemade almond pesto. in the last week or so i have made fresh barbeque sauce (twice), two types of soup, veggies burgers, french toast, apple sauce, muffins, whole wheat bread etc... why do i want to labour for hours over a brief meal between the baby's pre-bed crankiness, being sucked dry, tip-toeing out of the room, possibly having a cold plate waiting for me or a dry, overheated version of what i had cooked? i'm not sure. but every couple nights i do something fairly ambitious and generally i really enjoy myself. i have always liked cooking and valued a good homemade meal from pure ingredients, but it wasn't until a few months ago that i started to understand what it means to create a dish.
two friends of mine and my partner are all restaurant cooks in places that seem to value quality, creative, from-scratch cooking. although my partner has been a cook off and on in various places over the several years i've known him, it wasn't until he got into the kitchen at caffe mariani in saint henri where we live that his skills truly solidified. i think it started with soups. i never understood the importance of a rich soup stock before this.
i think the birth of sebastian has inspired me as well. our days are simple and usually slow, laid back. we need to get outside and walk, so we stroll to the market and pick up produce. i have time to consult the cook books, meditate on new dishes, concoct whatever i decide on. healthy eating has always been a priority in my life, but is especially so now because i am breast-feeding the little guy and want to make sure i'm giving him the best i can.
alex and i used to cook from scratch often when we lived in victoria. the city offers such an abundance of local, fresh and organic food from greens to bison. after we moved to montreal i felt uninspired by grocery stores' pitiful organic isles complete with styrofoam, plastic-wrapped vegetables. the one thing quebec has going for it is a lot of province-grown food; for that i've been grateful. we're fairly frugal people and have no qualms with spending extra time labouring over a meal to save money here and there.
my favourite cookbook these days is from rebar in victoria, b.c. it's an excellent restaurant and their cookbook is so widely owned and delicious. i've had it for years but only in the last few months have i really delved into the recipes. some of my favourites are the greek red lentil soup, the rebarbeque sauce, the carrot cake, and the peanut sauce. i think the trick to following through with home cooking is to have a huge collection of spices; the fresher the better. food tastes a hundred times better if you don't skimp on the herbs and spices.
a typical veggie janine soup stock:
in a big pot cook in oil carrots, onion, garlic, celery, whole pepper corn, sea salt, coriander seeds, whatever else you want. add a lot of water, apples, herbs etc... boil then simmer for as long as you can bear, about two or three hours. strain the solid, keep the juice. i have a bag in the freeze that i add veggie scrapes to as i cook for the days i make a big batch of stock. i freeze in glass containers and defrost it in the fridge when i'm ready to make a new batch.
now, to relax with some red wine and chocolate...
two friends of mine and my partner are all restaurant cooks in places that seem to value quality, creative, from-scratch cooking. although my partner has been a cook off and on in various places over the several years i've known him, it wasn't until he got into the kitchen at caffe mariani in saint henri where we live that his skills truly solidified. i think it started with soups. i never understood the importance of a rich soup stock before this.
i think the birth of sebastian has inspired me as well. our days are simple and usually slow, laid back. we need to get outside and walk, so we stroll to the market and pick up produce. i have time to consult the cook books, meditate on new dishes, concoct whatever i decide on. healthy eating has always been a priority in my life, but is especially so now because i am breast-feeding the little guy and want to make sure i'm giving him the best i can.
alex and i used to cook from scratch often when we lived in victoria. the city offers such an abundance of local, fresh and organic food from greens to bison. after we moved to montreal i felt uninspired by grocery stores' pitiful organic isles complete with styrofoam, plastic-wrapped vegetables. the one thing quebec has going for it is a lot of province-grown food; for that i've been grateful. we're fairly frugal people and have no qualms with spending extra time labouring over a meal to save money here and there.
my favourite cookbook these days is from rebar in victoria, b.c. it's an excellent restaurant and their cookbook is so widely owned and delicious. i've had it for years but only in the last few months have i really delved into the recipes. some of my favourites are the greek red lentil soup, the rebarbeque sauce, the carrot cake, and the peanut sauce. i think the trick to following through with home cooking is to have a huge collection of spices; the fresher the better. food tastes a hundred times better if you don't skimp on the herbs and spices.
a typical veggie janine soup stock:
in a big pot cook in oil carrots, onion, garlic, celery, whole pepper corn, sea salt, coriander seeds, whatever else you want. add a lot of water, apples, herbs etc... boil then simmer for as long as you can bear, about two or three hours. strain the solid, keep the juice. i have a bag in the freeze that i add veggie scrapes to as i cook for the days i make a big batch of stock. i freeze in glass containers and defrost it in the fridge when i'm ready to make a new batch.
now, to relax with some red wine and chocolate...
No comments:
Post a Comment