
I've been so down in the dumps that I feel I have forgotten how to cook. Last week, I wrote a list and ordered on line from wholefoods. For all I whine about NYC, the ability to have anything delivered anywhere at anytime is amazing and I am sure I will miss it. Anyway, our bags of groceries arrived within 2 hours and I made the best hummus I have ever made (recipe from Molly Yeoh, the trick being to add some water and whizz for way longer than you ever think necessary), little flat breads from Diana Henry and some spicy lamb mince and feta to go on top as sort of Turkish pizzas, a delicious crunchy salad of cucumber, radish, parsley and lots of lemon juice. I also made a giant batch of bolognaise (I see the NYT version of the Marcella Hazan recipe is now exploding on social media but I learned that milk in the sauce thing from my friend Rose, who probably got it from Marcella 30 years ago). By the way, my single best kitchen gadget is a mini food processor and I use it to chop onion, celery and carrot for the easiest mire poix for about a hundred things I cook from a Nigella tip from eons ago. I also made the hummus in this. I have a cuisinart one which has a strong engine and a sturdy blade and a bowl that can deal with being chucked in the dishwasher.
It was a week of good dinners (and lunch leftovers) so with renewed optimism I ordered groceries again yesterday and am planning on:
- beef bourginon (to use up the very ordinary red wine I bought at the Tuscan castle in Napa)
- a spanakopita (I managed to order a giant tub of feta as weirdly, despite having grown up with imperial weights, I have lost my ability to conceive just how cheese a pound is)
- tray salmon with olives, cherry tomatoes, green beans and anchovies
- pasta with broccoli and sweet Italian sausage
I forgot to order bread so I made some. I have had two disasters with wholemeal bread in this kitchen but I mixed in a little bit of white bread flour and made the mixture wetter and it seems to have been very successful so I am renewed in my optimism.
Also, my boss was in town from California and she discovered an Italian deli within 10 meters of the office where you can buy excellent produce (including giant fresh made sandwiches for $6 including a bottle of water) and have none of the Wholefoods lines, so I feel very optimistic that the cooking star is rising.
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