6/13/13
The other day we had gone looking for ezekiel pasta only to find they did not carry it at the whole foods that we went to. I assumed it would be at the other whole foods in town, which has a much bigger selection, and is not the store that was once a Wild Oats & had been bought out & converted. The first time, we just bit it & bought something similar, a pasta called "jovial" 100% organic einkorn whole wheat pasta. I looked at the ingredients and there was no flour, so although it didn't say that it was "sprouted wheat", it was the next best thing. Otherwise, i would be using rice noodles. Anything to stay away from flour. But rice noodles are not as versatile, they don't taste too good with any sort of Mediterranean seasonings... they just don't, you can't force it. So I was happy to find a substitute for Ezekiel in the Jovial, and to be honest, I think it tastes a little better, not as sticky/gooey as Ezekiel (but I would and could, never knock anything Ezekiel, they are my faves all over). So we bought it, I made some pasta last week and to my surprise, my roomie liked it. He is so incredibly versatile, it seems he might like almost anything I make, which means either that I am a relatively good cook compared to whatever he's used to, or he's a very good liar. But I think maybe he's just easy to please. A lot of people would be sqeamish about anything other than good old flour-based pasta. It just tastes like pasta, and that's what people are used to. But roomie's good with the substitutes, which makes him a great person for me to cook for. Basically, we like the same stuff. I also think he's just glad to have someone around to make food in the house. A bachelor's life is not easy when it comes to mealtime for many. A woman in the kitchen who whips up some dinner, as long as it's somewhat tasty, is quite a nice respite for many, especially those who are used to it.. like my friend who has been married twice. It's hard to get used to making your own food after being in those kinds of domestic situations. Especially the older you are..and those gender roles in full force... so there you have it. At least he knows how to run the washing machine. The dishwasher.. well he did have a question or two..
Anyways, so back to the pasta. I was tired today. I wasn't feeling like doing much of anything and so I wasted time until about 11 p.m. when I finally decided to get into the kitchen and make something. Yes, this is crazy. But it just happened that way. When roomie got home, I was not in a good mood. He smartly decided not to push it about dinner, and just said, when you feel like making food, go ahead and make it.. don't worry about me. Well, I took his words to heart, and headed to the kitchen close to midnight to make up for it. Crazily enough (it was just one of those days), he was down. I poured some vanilla vodka on the rocks, he poured some whisky for himself and I got to work. I had some leftover Einkorn. I decided to take the pre-packaged "stir-fry" vegetable mix of brocolli, cauliflower and carrots and cut them into smaller pieces, diced some white onion and minced two garlic cloves and threw it in a pot of boiling water. I boiled it all lightly, I simply didn't have the energy to saute them, strained them, threw them in the pasta, added a really great olive oil I invested in to use only for dressings and things that deserve an awesome olive oil taste, tore 4 or 5 leaves of fresh basil into smaller pieces and threw them into the mix, and added a bit of sea salt. The pasta was cold and the veggies were hot, so the whole thing ended up a horrible luke-warm. I could have refrigerated it, and it would have made a GREAT cold pasta salad, but since I wanted to deliver the food to a starved roommate at a ridiculous hour, I threw it all back in the pan, and put it on low heat. This actually worked out great, because the basil and garlic flavors really spread throughout the dish much better with the help of a little heat, and the pasta came out great.
While the veggies were boiling, I decided to make a cucumber dill salad that I had been thinking about since yesterday. I took out this great organic cucumber we got at whole foods a few days back, diced it into cubes, diced some white onion, threw them together, added the yummy olive oil, sprinkled dill over it, and sprinkled a bit of sea salt. Simple recipe, but awesome salad. Super cooling to the system and refreshing, a PERFECT salad for a really hot day, I was pretty psyched. I needed the cooling, hydrating effect of the cucumber and the pungent, spicy effect of the onion, and the soothing dill. Roomie loved the salad, and said it reminded him a bit of something his father used to make, except it was pickled. Glad to bring flavors to his palate that make him reminisce. And speaking of pickled... I am on day one of making kimchi. I'll have to write about that tomorrow. (I know, I'm a little bit behind).
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