Wholesome Cooking

Since we moved into the new flat I've been cooking up a storm. I love to cook, and it is a pleasure to do so with a semi-decent gas stove and ample marble couter space at my disposal. The kitchen still isn't very well equipped but with one knife, a few mixing bowls, a frying pan, two pots, a cake mould, and a cutting board I've been able to do wonders.

Here is what I've cooked - all from scratch, mind you - since we got back from Brasil last week.

• Spaghetti with a mixed vegetable sauce of tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, garlic, spring onions and italian parsley. This was our first meal in the flat. Ricardo and I both reflected about how nice it is not to have to eat in a restaurant.

• Whole roasted chicken stuffed with a mix of onion, garlic, lemon, and orange. I seasoned the chicken with an organic spice mix I bought in Cape Town that has coriander, mustard, sweet chili, ginger, garlic, and pepper.

• Chicken salad using the leftover bits of the roast bird. I added bell peppers, peas, onion, mayonnaise, and lemon juice to make a nice, tangy lunch the next day.

• Tri-color bowtie pasta with a homemade tomato sauce. I spiced things up with some fresh peri-peri chilis I bought from the woman on the corner who sells vegetables. I used 1/4 of a chili in the sauce - the peppers are small to begin with, no more than an inch long - and it was so powerful Ricardo almost gave up on the pasta. I loved it, though. Good old skewed New Mexican taste buds...

• Grilled chicken breasts with a lemon, mango, tomato and chili glaze. Lovely and tropical. I made some spiced rice to go along with the chicken, as well as a tomato and cucumber salad.

• Beef fillets with caramelized onions, tomato rice, and a fresh salad.

• Butter-flavored pound cake with a semi-sweet chocolate ribbon. I invented this recipe to use up some very expensive chocolates we had in the house. My mom gave me and Ricardo a sampler box of Scheffen Berger chocolates as a gift when we were in Brasil together. There were 5 different kinds of chocolate, each made with a varying concentration of cacao. The chocolates ranged from 41% (milk) to 80% (extra dark). Rico and I decided that we couldn't really handle the darker chocolates, so I decided to use them in a dessert. The result was a crowning glory of a cake, a perfect balance between the sweet pound cake and the bittersweet chocolate fudgey layer in the middle.

• Brazilian-style rice and black beans with a fried egg on top and a salad on the side.

• Mashed potatoes with butter, milk and fresh herbs. They came out nice and fluffy, thanks to a trick I learned from the side of the baking powder tin I bought last week. Add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder to the potatoes right before you mash them, and the result is lovely, light texture that you just can't get without putting a hand blender to the whole thing.

• Beef stew with potatoes, carrots, peas and onions in a chicken stock. We ate the stew poured over the mashed potatoes that were left over from the day before. Ricardo recently learned the phrase "comfort food" and wanted to know if this dish qualified. I told him it practically defined the idea of comfort food: slow-cooked, homestyle, creamy, hot and delicious!

• Repeat of the butter pound cake with the chocolate fudge ribbon. Ricardo liked the cake so much we sacrificed some of the lower percentage chocolates from the Scheffen Berger box to be able to make it again. I gave 4 pieces to the maid for her to take home for her kids, and she made me promise to teach her the recipe.

• Yesterday for lunch I made pasta arrabiata, where I accidentally went a little wild with the peri-peri. Poor Ricardo, I felt sorry for him as he gulped down glass after glass of water.

• Today I was inspired and finally made gnocchi for lunch, along with a tomato-carrot sauce. I hadn't made gnocchi for a good 10 years, but they came out just as delicious as the time I made them back in Albuquerque. I saved half the dough to make freshly boiled gnocchi again tomorrow, but with a different sauce. I'm considering a cheese or cream-based sauce if we can find the ingredients. If not, I'll go with my all time favorite - gnocchi al burro.

Increasingly, I am convinced that cooking is therapy for me. There's just something about preparing all the ingredients, chopping everything and organizing the raw ingredients into neat piles on the cutting board, lining up the spices and oils I'll use as I cook, and cleaning up as I go along that is soooooo satisfying. Not to mention the lovely feeling when the end result is a delicious, healthy meal.

I think cooking is along the same lines of color-coordinating my closet and folding my clothes into neat stacks, organized by season and style. I cook like one of those cooking show hosts on TV. Everything is pretty and orderly and clean - my kitchen, my closet... I suppose we all compensate somewhere when the other parts of life aren't so controllable.