Back in the Land of the To-Do List
After nearly two weeks of what turned out to be an utterly charming holiday filled with a bountifulness of dear, dear friends and family, I am back in the land of the to-do list. Yesterday I pissed the hours away on Flickr and Facebook, but today I strapped myself into my red chair and got down to business. Besides work (which is a little complicated, but fine), I now have at least three doctor’s appointments I need to schedule, many emails to answer, an apartment to clean, reading to catch up on, clients to badger and please, and—the indignity of it—I find that I am responsible for planning and making my own meals again.
Okay, I lied. That last one isn’t an indignity. It’s a tremendous pleasure. We’ve cooked dinner every night since we got back (yes, including Wednesday, and our flight didn’t get in until 6:10pm) and this evening another marvelous staple is on the menu: our favorite bacon-tomato-mushroom pasta. It contains fully a cup of white wine (which is a lot, but still leaves quite a lot in the bottle for later), is simmered until the bacon all but disappears, and winds up so rich and delicious that it is served (on long strands of green spinach pasta) without a whit of cheese.
Tomorrow we’ve decided that we’re bringing the holiday back to Chicago and heading to the Loop for an afternoon of great coffee and magazine reading in the Intelligentsia cafe. No work is allowed. (Ross will have a far harder time sticking to this than me.)
For more Boston, go here. Also, stay tuned for a future entry on the subject of “How a Person Can Put Her Entire Life on the Internet and Still Consider Herself Extraordinarily Private.”
August 24th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Is that a recipe you can share with me?
I had Intelligentsia this morning, but my kitchen doesn’t have the correct ambiance; I envy your afternoon on the Loop.
Glad you are back.
August 25th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
This is how we do it, slightly adapted from the original recipe: Saute 4 or 5 cloves of chopped garlic in olive oil, then add a mess of chopped mushrooms (we usually use criminis). When that’s been going for several minutes, add about 1/4 pound of chopped up pancetta (or the same amount of prosciutto, or about 8 slices of cooked bacon. The recipe calls for 1/2 pound of meat, but this is the amount we like). Fry for another couple of minutes. Then add a cup of good white wine (the recipe calls for a cup and a half, but again, we like this proportion) and let it go another ten minutes. At this point your whole kitchen should smell amazing. The wine intensifies the smell of the garlic and bacon. Finally, add a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, stir, and cook for another 20 minutes. You could add herbs, too — rosemary, oregano, whatever. We usually add a crushed dried red chili or two to the mix at some point. The recipe calls for a pinch of salt, but we’ve found that the highly seasoned meat renders that completely unnecessary.
Serve on pasta with torn fresh basil.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Danke–except no thank you for the Montell Jordan song that is now stuck in my head. I love working with pancetta &/or prosciutto but I’ve got two pounds of kick-ass bacon from the farm down the road mocking me from the freezer. This sounds fabulous.
You write that it was “a tremendous pleasure” to be in charge of your meals again. Returning from my vacation, it was the first time (maybe because I’m not away that much & yet we keep moving) that I felt Happy about being back in my kitchen. Like I walked through the garage door and through the laundry room and ahh!! (also ick because, eww, stuffy house) . . . yes! I make things in here and eat them and it is tasty! It was comfortable and welcoming and I’ve never attributed such strong feelings with my kitchen. My mom’s kitchen, yes, but that’s now a whole other story.
I’m excited about the Hoisin Chicken Buns I’m cooking up tomorrow; it is a baked recipe, which works because I’ve haven’t found a large bamboo steamer yet. Yay food!
September 9th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
. . . and I am making this tonight!
September 9th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
I hope it lived up to my loving description!
“So much depends/upon the quality of red meat…”