i have a confession: i haven’t been cooking much lately. after consuming (and helping to make) big holiday dinners, cookies galore, and attending and hosting several parties packed with delicious eats, i lost the urge to be in the kitchen for several weeks. mike and i have been subsisting on our local grocery store’s hot bar, frozen food, and quick things that barely require a recipe, like home made tacos and salads.
guess what? any guesses? no? well i’ll give you a minute or two to think up some guesses while you look at these photos….
i’ve been thinking about food a lot this week. as you might guess, this is not entirely unusual for me — as i am a major food lover and, obviously, blogger. but this week, i’ve been thinking especially hard about food for a few reasons. the first is that i began reading the book in defense of food, by michael pollan. i labored my way through his first book, omnivore’s dilemma, perhaps because i am not an omnivore (there are long chapters about killing wild pigs and the beef industry that are slightly nauseating), or perhaps because it seemed too close to something i might have read in one of the many sociology classes i took in college – assigned but not thoroughly enjoyed reading. the second book, however, is my first suggestion to you – i am tearing through it, and taking a lot of what he says to heart. what’s really resonated for me is his discussion of the importance of real, whole foods (not the store) – avocado, bananas, carrots, etc – instead of eating filler foods chemically designed to taste good and supply nutrients deemed important by the fda (think most commercial breakfast cereals and packaged frozen dinners). pollan questions whether food scientists have figured out what’s important for people to consume yet, and notes that food is about so much more than nutrients – it’s about the act of cooking with friends and family, interacting with them, savoring the taste of the food, and yes, there are nutrients in whole foods, but they are only part of the process. (thanks for hosting this “process” aka dinner this week, linn!)
last night we went out to dinner with my lovely sister at lillian’s italian kitchen. while the wait was a tad long for three hungry people, the ambiance in the former site of malabar was marvelous, created by packed tables of people who were talking, laughing, and slurping pasta by candle light. as i perused the menu, i was excited to see the primavera dish, which promised fresh veggies and spinach over penne or polenta with four different sauce options (marinara, alfredo, garlic & olive oil, and pesto). i couldn’t resist getting the dish and ordering it with polenta and pesto to see how it compared to my own polenta pesto dish. while it wasn’t vegan and i didn’t have my beautiful nikon with me to do the dish justice in the picture below, the polenta was creamy and delicious, while the pesto was absolutely amazing – bright, fresh, spicy, and creamy all at once. so i suggest you head over to lillian’s – you may want to make a reservation – and enjoy this tantalizing meal asap, while basil is still in season. oh, and in case you’re wondering, my fellow two diners had fantastic dishes as well, so there are many more tasty options than just the polenta with pesto. so now you have no excuse – go and enjoy!
i love polenta. it is one of my all time favorite foods — if, and only if, it is made from scratch. the first time i spied tubes of polenta at trader joe’s i literally squealed with delight and threw a package into my cart, imagining all sorts of possible delightful dinners. but when i got home and opened said tube, i was thoroughly disappointed. the polenta did not have a good texture, taste, or consistency, so i made the decision never to buy the tubed stuff again. the from-scratch-kind of polenta tastes like fresh corn, is creamy and smooth, and can be eaten porridge-like or allowed to congeal (sorry, k, know you hate that word!) into a smooth base for toppings. the latter is the way i prefer polenta, and even though it is a little time consuming, it’s a fantastic treat and quite simple to make.
