Since I last posted in this blog, we have moved countries. No more cooking in England, I'm afraid, at least for the foreseeable future. And I fear something is true which I have suspected all along: I actually enjoy cooking more in England than I do in the States. Since we have moved back to the States, I find myself just a little bit less interested in food than I have been for the past 18 years. This is an alarming development - not one I am happy with at all - but I have to admit that for the past few months it feels as though I have lost my cooking 'mojo'.
So, the only thing to be done is to pick myself up and find inspiration for my cooking in this different environment. We are moving to Southern California later this week, where we plan to live for a very long time, so that's the environment which will inform my cooking going forward.
To encourage myself to get back into cooking and find the same kind of excitement and pleasure in it that I once did, I forced myself to do something just a little bit different today with our Sunday roast. I focused on the vegetables. Instead of boiling the brussel sprouts, I roasted them - a far superior way of cooking them, I think. With the carrot and swede, I added orange peel, and they were amazing. To the green beans, I added lemon peel, which improved them greatly as well.
I think that vegetables are often hard to get right. I was surprised at how giving them just a little bit more attention transformed the meal from a bit mundane to rather special: the brussels were gleaming, the carrots were bright, the green beans dark and sophisticated. It made me happy to eat them. And that's a good sign for the future.
Carrots and Swede with Orange
1 lb. carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
1/2 lb. swede, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
Zest of 1 orange
butter, to taste
Boil the carrots and swede until tender. Drain them, and add butter to taste. Zest the orange over the pan, and stir thoroughly so the carrots and swede are coated evenly with the zest.
