Banging Pots, Clattering Spoons, Thunk of knives
Other than chamber music, the nicest sound at my house is the banging, thunking and clatter of pots, knives, and spoons drifting up to my study from downstairs. Those noises mean that Ed is at play in the kitchen. It means that the aroma of ragù or minestrone or lemon-garlic chicken soon will waft up the stairwell. Our house runs well when Ed pulls himself away from his writing and indulges in a marathon cooking morning. In Bringing Tuscany Home, I wrote about his jars. He likes to keep them full of oven-roasted tomatoes, artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, olive salsa, roasted garlic, tomato sauce, aioli, and soffritto, that base preparation of onions, carrots, parsley, celery and garlic that just makes ragù, soups, and many pasta sauces. In fact, it can be a simple pasta sauce. Steven Rothfeld shot this for The Tuscan Sun Cookbook. Ed's mezzaluna at rest after chopping the odori:
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With Ed's jars on hand, quick dinners appear with a wave of a wand. We've learned from our Tuscan neighbors the ease and wisdom of the concept on hand. They have their stashes of dried mushroom, wild cherries, and various vegetables they've put up. And of course, tomatoes–shelves and shelves of big jars of peak-season tomatoes. What luxury!
Ed's other prep that just let's us sail through busy writing weeks–his Vegetable Frenzy. He hauls every vegetable out of the fridge and decides it's fate. He lines up his herbs. Soon the music is blaring. He steams, roasts, sautés.
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He litters the floor with carrot peels and beet skins. By the time I go downstairs for my second cappuccino, this is on the counter.
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About two hours at the chopping board and stove, that's all it takes to make the week easy. Besides just side dishes of parsnips, potatoes zucchini, for a few days we have on hand beets for salad, butternut squash for ravioli, asparagus for risotto, onions for a pasta sauce, on and on. And what a healthy little lunch:
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We're not always this organized but when we are, opening the fridge and seeing all those glass containers full of delicious vegetables gives you pride! Right now, he's calling me. Soup's on the table. Is there anything better than a partner who cooks???
