Re-Learning to Cook

It didn't long for me to figure out that my cooking skills were almost entirely limited Italian. Sure, I had dabbled with couscous and few other random chicken things, maybe even stuffed peppers in some vague Spanish way. Truth be told, I've got an extremely limited repertoire.

While cooking through another cookbook will surely be a good way to get started, I was thinking something a little more social. Not quite like a dining club, but I want to learn to cook from friends and strangers alike in an informal setting. So how do you go about setting it all up in such a busy city?

A story. A friend of mine threw a housewarming at her place last night. I had brought over a couple different kinds of brew, but it was quickly apparent that beer was not going to take the spotlight. The host had spent the better part of the day cooking penne vodka, rice and beans, buffalo wings, pizza, roasted chicken, coconut shrimp, guacamole, salsa, and something I'm now forgetting. Then came the cheesecake another friend had made and brought over and the curry chicken that was just fabulous. Here, near the bronx, were about 3 of my friends who had some serious cooking skills. Moreover, despite the range of pizza, penne, and buffalo wings, it was the latin flare that really stood out.

I tell this story because I want to start cooking and eating with people from what they know best. Learn how to make rice and beans and guac from my friends whose families from from latin america and beyond. Learn how to bake bread from, well, bakers, and so on. More than the food, people are connected to their food heritages in ways that make for heartfelt stories that make the dinner all the better. I hope to start soon!

Wild Mushroom Risotto

It was quite fortuitous that I had made my mushroom polenta a few days earlier. Important lessons learned: don't crowd the mushrooms, don't buy pre-packaged 'gourmet mushrooms,' leave more time than expected. I've made risotto before, but it's been a while, and it didn't help that Jamie doesn't always spell out which of the 'butter' segments to mix into the risotto at different times - it does matter. So I realized too late that I put way too much butter when softening up my onions and garlic. This set the stage for extra sauteeing time for the rice itself, and eventually a cooking process that went from 20 minutes to almost an hour.

T

he good news? The mushrooms came out delightful, and despite the extra-long cooking time, the risotto was a huge hit. (I think it was even better for lunch the next day, maybe there is something about letting it settle then reheating like a turkey)

Nearing the End of Jamie

Cooking 'through' Mr. Oliver's cookbook might have been an overstatement. It's not that I don't have the stamina for it. Some things are just not that feasible (like wild boar), some are beyond my equipment (like machine-rolled pasta dough), and some just aren't good (like anchovy related things). I'm willing to try something if someone hands it to me, but since I'm the one going to Fairway to pick up the goods, somehow anchovies don't make the weekly budget cut.

While I've made more recipes from Jamie's Italy than I have from any other cookbook, I'm not quite done yet, but I'm content to realize that I won't have done 'all' of them. You can call it a cop out, but I think it's just logical reasoning. However, here's what's in store for the next few weeks:

1) pizza (I'm seriously considering buying a pizza stone, but not sure that I've seen one that fits my tiny oven)

2) fresh pasta dough (I wanted to wait until someone had the grace to present my grandma's kitchenaid mixer with a set of pasta rolling tools, but my roller-pin will do fine)

3) more fish

4) more pasta recipes

It's strange to me that I haven't done more pasta, but that's what a project like this does. It forces me out of my comfort zone. It stretches me to consider new spices, techniques, recipes, and tastes. I am both a happier person and a better chef for it (the most recent wild mushroom risotto and shrimp frittata were some of the best things I've ever made).

As I finish out the remaining recipes in Oliver's book, I'm starting to look through my shelf to see what's next. In terms of cuisine, I'm pretty limited: french, spanish, greek, and American. I'll save American for last, but as I begin to flip covers of my french books I'm drawn toward Jaques Pepin. If I had barefoot, I would probably go for that, but for now, I'm staying away from buying more until I've used the ones I have.

Frittata Experiments

A frittata is a fun thing to make. It's quick, tasty, and really easy to share. It also has one big problem: it's very easy to overcook, and an overdone frittata really isn't worth eating.

Jamie has a really good suggestion for avoiding this: start with a really hot oven (425), pre-cook your frittata in pan on the stove for a minute or so, and basically sear the outside of the frittata for 5 minutes or so.

All of this makes great sense assuming your oven heats things evenly. Not here. So while the frittata came out wonderful, I recommend that you use that '5 minutes' as a very loose guideline. It took me about 10 minutes to even get a firm top, and another 5 or so before I felt confident I would have more than goo when I took it out. Know your oven.