cook pot stories

I don't know about you but I have a real cookbook problem. I have more than I will ever use. I keep acquiring them. I read many cover to cover, often never cook anything from them (hence The Cookbook Project) and they take up space on my shelves. I have maybe half a dozen I use regularly and the rest I look at then think I should pass them on but somehow I just can't make myself. I Know How To Cook  by Ginette Mathiot (trans. Clothilde Dusoulier of Chocolate and Zucchini ) is one of those cookbooks I've tried to give away several times but just couldn't. If you haven't heard of it, this book is often called The Joy of Cooking for the French. It's not necessarily the most elaborate cookbook you might find, but it is full of recipes and clear instructions that make it accessible for less-experienced cooks. First published in 1932, it was intended to be a resource for young home makers, to help them feed their families easily and well. Since I am not experienc...

So here we are at the first recipe installment of The Cookbook Project . Yippee! Last week I told you about Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking book and my history with Indian food. This week we're making saag paneer, a lovely spinach and cheese dish. For copyright purposes I'm not typing out the recipe verbatim. You can find the book in your local library if this inspires you to cook. Saag paeer can be made with a wide variety of greens, but for most American palates, spinach is easiest. I started by chopping up ginger, garlic and green chili in a food processor. My food processor wasn't quite able to make it a paste; you can easily buy a ginger-garlic paste in an Indian grocery store. Now I understand why it's available for sale. I thought of macerating it in the mortar and pestle but didn't bother. I don't think it had a significant effect on the final product beyond the occasional burst of ginger in the mouth. From there I fr...

Last week I told you about the launch of The Cookbook Project, an attempt to use the resources in front of me to help rediscover my love of cooking four years after Kevin's death. This week I'd like to talk about one cuisine that is many and an old friend of a cookbook, then next week we will venture into a recipe together. It may sound a little slow, but I'm hoping each post will evoke memories and curiosity beyond the mechanics of cooking. This blog is about stories as well as food,  after all. I don't remember when I first had Indian food. I know by the time I had graduated college it was a big part of my gustatory life. My friends and I frequented a restaurant called Ghandi in Central Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts (long since closed). We went so often that the proprietors worried when we skipped a week. Each time when we walked in, an aroma spicy complexity would surround us and we took pride in consuming the fieriest food they would provide. Eventually I no...