Friday, July 07, 2006
Risotto with Salmon and Lemon
The week is over, the stress is fading and I am keen to get cooking again. I stand by what I said yesterday - my self-imposed exile from the kitchen was a well needed one - but I also missed the relaxing effect that cooking has on me. I
know, many people see it as a chore, but I find that there is nothing more revitalising than chopping vegetables, kneading dough or stirring soups. Stress only enters my kitchen as a companion to poor planning. So, if I remember to think things through before I start (something I often forget) and get my ingredients out in time, I'm ok. Nigel Slater said in one of his cookbooks that you should never pre-prepare your ingredients because that takes the spontaneity out of cooking turning it into a chore. I only partly agree with that. There are certain things that I know will go into a dish and I therefore like to have them ready for when I need them - chopped onion or garlic, meat, vegetables. Other ingredients are more a matter of taste and gut feeling, so they are kept aside and added as I think of them. This is my version of organised spontaneity that lends itself much better to the levels of skill of a home cook. And it's a lot less prone to disaster.Tonight I was definitely not up for handling catastrophes, so I took it easy with a simple risotto. There is something very meditative about making risotto. The chopping and stirring is calming and leaves you a lot of time to reflect on things. This was just what I needed, to get the events and feelings of the past week sorted in my head, get it all out of my system, draw a line under it so to speak. Now my soul is nicely cleansed in time for the weekend.
Christine at 10:12 pm
