Joseph Truini at the Strategist has rediscovered the wonders of his food mill:
“For the uninitiated, a food mill is the antithesis of a modern kitchen marvel. It has no electronic motor or on-board circuitry. There’s no accompanying app, and it’s not Bluetooth compatible. It’s a simple, hand-cranked tool that’s used to mill (or crush) various fruits and vegetables for creating velvety-smooth sauces, soups, preserves, and purées.”
Joe Sevier at Epicurious says we should stockpile leftover citrus peels in the freezer:
“As I pulled a few slivers of frozen grapefruit peel from my freezer, I knew I’d made a smart move. I sliced the zest thinly lengthwise, chopped it across into a small mince, and scraped it all into a bubbling tomato sauce that had already been hit with harissa and white vermouth.”
Neda Ulaby at NPR wonders what happened to the beans people bought during the COVID-19 outbreak:
“Remember the early days of the pandemic when shoppers scoured grocery shelves for flour, yeast and beans? Since then, we’ve seen ample evidence of people baking sourdough and banana bread on social media … but what about all those beans?”
Joe McNamee at the Irish Examiner explains the appeal of home cooking during COVID lockdown:
“For some, it was a fleeting enthusiasm that soon grew as stale as the ubiquitous banana bread piling up in the bread bin but for many, many more, it marked a serious re-engagement with, or even brand new discovery of, what constitutes ‘real food’.”
At Food52, Barbara Sallick describes how COVID may make us think about and even design kitchens in a new way:
“For many of us, me included, the kitchen has emerged from the grab-and-go-on-my-way-to-somewhere-else spot in the house—an attractive and high-functioning pass-through—to a space where creativity and conversation prevail. The question then is: what can we add or subtract to improve this mindful equation?”
Faith Durand makes the case for radishes:
“If you’ve only eaten radishes somewhat reluctantly in salads, I need to ask you to try again. Radishes are a little spicy, a little juicy, and oh-so-crunchy, and they’re one of the best vegetables that people quite frankly don’t eat enough. They’re my favorite roasted vegetable, and their spectacular color makes them one of my favorites to put on a veggie board, too.”
Joe Sevier asks chefs how they like to cook beans and argues that they’re actually a great summertime food:
“If putting a big pot of dried beans on the stove to simmer away for few hours sounds like a totally winter thing to you, you may be missing out on some of summer’s best dinners. As we’ve pointed out recently, sometimes cooking a large batch of something low and slow is the answer to cutting down on dinnertime stress.”
Melinda Lavine explores how cooking can improve one’s mental health:
“Research concludes that cooking and baking can decrease symptoms of depression, anxiety and promote positive mood and self-confidence, said Annie Leusman, MSAW / social worker at St. Luke’s Mental Health Clinic.
“Cooking and baking call for cognitive, physical and socio-emotional processes. It completely immerses you, and it uses all the senses.
“‘When you’re cooking, maybe you’re smelling the garlic, sauteing olive oil. You might taste the soup to make sure you have the seasoning right. You can hear cooking, the chopping of vegetables, the knife on the cutting board,’ Leusman said.”
Yotam Ottolenghi lauds the chickpea:
“In a classroom full of every legume, the chickpea would be sat front and centre, my star student to whom I’d show a certain degree of favouritism. It’s not that the chickpea is any better than its classmates, but, assuming the role of teacher’s pet, it is eager enough constantly to want to please.”
Cabbage has become more popular with the coronavirus, reports Naomi Tomky:
“Packed with fiber and nutrients, cabbage climbed to the top of lockdown cooking popularity for the most utterly mundane reason: practicality. Cabbage lasts basically forever in the fridge, costs almost nothing and works just as well as a star centerpiece of a main dish or shredded and cooked down to near invisibility.”