Cooking again

With my shoulder pain most intense when I am cooking, typing or washing the dishes, we have been getting by with very little cooking this past week. Finally I felt rested enough and well enough to get back to the kitchen. Dennis had bought my favorite, fresh broccoli, so I set to making my ole' standby broccoli dish, a recipe developed by my mom:

After rinsing the broccoli I set it for proper steaming on the stove. Here is the most crucial part, you don't want to over cook the broccoli or let it boil rather than steam. I also salt my broccoli to taste.

I use a saute pan with olive oil and chopped onion, cooking slowly over low heat.

Garlic, glorious garlic!

Peel the cloves

Mince them up.

Add the garlic to the already cooking onions. Watch that the garlic doesn't burn.

The broccoli should become a lovely bright green when it's ready. Turn off the heat. I adore that little stainless steel steamer. It fits in any pan and keeps your veggies out of the water.

According to Bernard, pasta needs "many waters" to cook right, along with a splash of sea salt.

You can really use any pasta style you prefer.

Once the garlic and onions are cooked well, I remove from the heat and allow to cool. Once cool enough, I transfer the broccoli to the saute pan and turn the heat up low to warm everything up while the pasta cooks. I will sometimes add more olive oil at this point.

This is wonderful if you add fresh grated Parmesan. Sadly we were all out. Still, it is a yummy and easy lunch!

Cooking with Bernard

Recently Cousin Bernard came over to cook lunch on a Saturday. This is no ordinary lunch but since we are family and  it is the weekend, it takes on a life of its own. Bernard wanted to make mussels and fries (A French thing) for us because the fresh mussels were on sale for 1 euro a kilo but since I am not a mussel fan Bernard brought a piece of fish for me. Dennis and I went to Nice for our meeting and when we returned the house smelled of apple tart and white wine cooking. I did try the mussels and no I am still not a fan but the pot of onions and wine, garlic and mystery herbs smelled wonderful. We crunched on fresh bread and four different cheeses, two different wines and yes, apple tart for dessert.  But it didn't end there.  Bernard took our car home and returned Sunday morning at 10:30 to cook lunch again but this time, I was commissioned to assist him.

The menu? A starter of salad made from "lamb lettuce", which is some kind of baby green, chopped beets, chopped scallions, including the bulb, dressed in a creamy mustard like dressing.




The main course was a pork roast and together Bernard and I pealed apples and potatoes, chopped up garlic and onions and filled the area around the roast with everything. Bernard added pepper, salt, spices of Provence and "oil of olive"..water and of course, butter.  Cooking with Bernard is very peaceful. Since I speak almost no French and he speaks only a little English, we mime what we need to, laugh a lot, gesture wildly and the rest of the time we enjoy companionable silence. I stood between the sink area and the table in the tiny kitchen while Bernard sat at the table, we chopped and pealed while Anna sat just outside the kitchen watching our every move.

The roast was ready and so was the salad. While we waited the hour and a half for Porky Pig to be done, Dennis and I went out for apéritif liquors. The destination was the border store in Italy, just about a ten minute drive from us, if there isn't any traffic.  There we bought whiskey and vodka, Cinzano and Calvados. Well stocked with a box full of booze, we came home to eat and drink and laugh.

Bernard had set the table while we were out and the roast has done, just resting before he attacked it with this crazy electric knife that I am terrified of.  And he wielded it with grace, even after a few whiskey and cokes.

Anna was very well behaved and her reward was bits of discarded cheese and some pork roast with her dinner. Having Bernard with us is always a good time, especially when he brings dessert. The surprise was 2 different eclairs, chocolate and coffee.  Bernard cut the eclairs in half to have enough for each of us but as full as I was, I could have managed to stuff them all in. DELICIOUS!

After dinner, cheese and bread, salad and dessert, white wine and red had all been consumed, we tried some Calvados which is a liquor made from apples and we dipped sugar cubes into it. Wow.

 In total Bernard was with us until Dennis brought him home after 7PM.  Almost an entire day spent in eating and drinking. Ah, France.