*This is repost of the original from April 25, 2012 that was taken offline in a flurry of spam frustration. Oops. Here it is again.*
As Remi has been away for the past day and a half, I have been thinking about what it is that I like to cook when I am cooking for one = me! Admittedly, most of the time when he is away from home, I put the kitchen in shut down mode. We cook in this house and because we both work from home that means two meals a day. Now lunch is usually of the salad variety but that can still require a lot of preparations, so it can do me a bit of good to just subsist on casse-croute, picking at bits of this and that.
The first evening I eyed the (albeit home-made) leftover pizza. Certainly that was the obvious option. But it just wasn’t ringing the tummy bell. What about that bunch of broccoli that was languishing in the veggie bin? The one that I had bought even though Remi doesn’t like it? Allez-hop! Now or never time. So I decided to make a pasta, arrabbiata-style. Why? Because, with the addition of a couple squirts of smoky harissa paste, I could make it as spicy as I wanted! As some of you might know, the French by and large (excuse the generalization) are not into culinary heat. Not so for this girl who used to go the East Village Indian guys so that she could gleefully cry into her curry. Another bonus? As the smoochee was nowhere to be seen I could spike my tomato sauce with as much garlic as I could see fit. And not just any garlic but le nouveau ail, the fresh variety, which frankly, I am addicted to. I can eat it raw like bonbons, just like some of the local old-timers do. A sauté of le bacon (think Canadian), yellow onions, fresh flowering thyme (a luxury in itself), herbs de Provence, red wine (I just happened to have some in hand, quelle surprise) and it all came together into just exactly the taste that I wanted. No photos because, even if I did think about it, it was in my belly too fast.
Not so the next day when I redid the same adventure for lunch. What do I want? Two other banned ingredients came to mind: red cabbage and raw pois chiches or chick peas. I added a little extra laitue that was on its last leaves, tuna, roasted peppers, shredded carrots, Trader Joe’s salt-free 21 Season Salute (why oh why aren’t there TJ’s here? Why?) plus a simple vinaigrette. It took me back to when I was a young ‘un living in NYC and I ate this salad all the time so I had the added contentment of memories à la Proust with each munch.
Not that Remi is a food dictator, not in the least and he is more than patient with my no goes of beef, les abats and frog’s legs (I have done it but no they don’t really taste like chicken). True, he is the real chef in the family and is not afraid of attempting anything. Petits paquets de coquille St. Jacques au foie gras et bacon avec une reduction d’homard? Bring it on! I am just the comfort food girl, as you can well see. But it was really lovely to be a little selfish in my preparation and it got me wondering, what are your favorite tastes? The ones that you go to time and again for a little boost? That are “yours”?
You definitely would Virginia–the ingredients are too yummy to pass up! And it's not like there is the easy out of ordering delivery here either–trust me, how I wish that there was!
Mmmm!!!! And let me just add, say the word, and anything you want from Trader Joe's will be shipped from Ann Arbor asap!
Wonderful post
Feta cheese. I put it on almost anything, including toast.
Heather, I'm experimenting with cooking for one at lunchtime on the days when I haven't booked myself for lunch with friends. The funny thing is I've basically had the same meal to days in a row- once at home and once out. On Monday a simple plate of roasted chicken, cucumbers and tomatoes. And yesterday I ordered chicken kebabs and Greek salad at one of my favorite lunchtime restaurants. The latter was a bit fancier, but the basic building blocks of chicken, tomatoes and cucumbers is what I loved!
Bon appetite!
Oh I admire your adventuresome culinary spirit my dear! I'm afraid I'm pretty middle of the road when it comes to cooking. Perhaps if I lived in Provence, I'd do much better. Oh i KNOW I would! 🙂
V
Bonjour Heather. I have not stopped by for a while, so looking forward to catching up with you and your travels. I just woke up in Seattle, and it looks like I have picked the right story! Miam! Miam! How lucky you are to have an "in-house" chef! I love to eat but the daily grind of cooking family meals every night wears me down after a while. I liked your descriptions in the post, but was even happier when dear Helen T. left the Nora Ephron's recipe in the comment section. Bonne semaine a Arles! Veronique (French Girl in Seattle)
Oooh, thank you for this Helen! Peeling the tomatoes!!! *the sound of me thunking my hand against my forehead* I know this and yet I am SUCH a lazy cook. One of the things that I now take for granted in living in the South of France is that I can get great products from Italy because it is so close. So I usually rely on a pulpo di pomodoro as my base. But it isn't the same thing! So you have inspired me. Merci!
Hi Heather
I love your creativity in the kitchen. I know exactly how you feel. Long ago I read Nora Ephron's Heartburn and in the story she featured about 6 receipes, all excellent.
Her pasta recipe has become my standby Nora Ephron’s recipe is titled Linguine Alla Cecca it’s just pasta with a raw tomato sauce. In a large bowl, pour about 1/2 cup of good olive oil. cut the clove of garlic in half so it can later be easily removed. Seed and chop and peel (by immersing in a pot of boiling water for a few mins. about 7 tomatoes and put the flesh in the bowl. Grind in salt, pepper, red pepper flakes; tear up a bunch of basil leaves and add too. Then leave this to sit. You want a minimum of one hour but all day is preferable I cook bow tie pasta (always pasta that is a product of Italy, the wheat differs from North American wheat) – drain pasta and mix. Add freshly grated parmesan cheese. (Heather, lately I have been adding a spoon of dijon mustard to the bowl and it gives a good flavour)
It is also excellent as leftover cold pasta salad.
Have a glorious day
Helen xx
Thank goodness for Timéa!!! Like yourselves, I am far more interested in eating than cooking but when one is necessitated by the other, I try to enjoy the process. 🙂 Hoping your weather is finer in Budapest than here in Arles…brrr….
Hello Heather:
How good all of this sounds. And what comes over is the obvious pleasure which you both take in preparing and cooking delicious sounding meals. We, as we think that you know, love to eat [almost anything] but hate to cook and if left to our own devices, which happily we seldom are, would most likely survive on the very worst kind of instant food. But not junk – we do draw the line at that!!