Palermo, 2015.
After the last long weekend finished and I started my week again back at work, I was thinking about why the weekend felt so good. Well, my brother Matthew had come to visit and we spent the weekend hanging out and talking. I realized it had a big part to do with food. I ate so well, that does not mean we went out for nice meals at expensive restaurants. No, we ate simple, comforting food, most often at home, with the exception of those fries with garlic aioli from Bellwoods Brewery, which were well deserved after 3.5 hours of dance class.
When I think about my passion for food it almost always comes back to my love for sharing food with others. I like to think it is one of the special values my mother passed along to me. My mother's continual generosity and value for inclusion inspires me. Growing up my mother always had the attitude there was always room at the table for another person, especially someone in our little town that she worried was not getting a proper, warm meal on the regular. If they couldn't make it to our house, she often delivered a hot meal to the disabled or seniors in the community during the holidays.
Not much makes me happier than to have company over and serve them a meal. Sharing a meal together is so much more than just a way to fill your belly it is a way to feed your soul. When I cook for others I truly want them to feel the love and care that I put into preparing the food. My new work life I end up eating takeout five days a week and in some ways I am incredibly grateful that I have a job that essentially covers two meals a day and I don't ever have to worry about packing a lunch or going hungry. But eating takeout, prepared food all week long makes me crave home cooking more than ever. When I worked at a restaurants on my days off I almost never wanted to be found in the kitchen, I wanted and needed separation from the kitchen to prepare myself for another week of long hours. I needed to be on the other of the table, being served and not serving. But now working as a food stylist, I crave simple food made by me. I don't want fancy dishes or even complex flavours, I just want something that will nourish and satisfy me, whether that is poached eggs and sauteed rainbow chard with tomatoes and bread or a kitchen sink salad full of all the vegetables from my fridge or garden.
I may not have much money but I always feel rich when I eat well and share it with others.
This is my first winter in Toronto after spending the last two in Sicily at the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School and I find myself reminiscing on past meals there often as of late. I've been craving boiled cauliflower served with lemon and olive oil, panelle, biancomangaire and more. Last week I decided to try making one of my favourite winter pastas, 'Pasta con broccolo' -essentially mushy cauliflower cooked with onions, anchovies, raisins and topped with toasted pine nuts and golden breadcrumbs.
Pasta con broccolo
1 lb penne pasta
1 cauliflower, cut into medium sized florets
Olive oil
2 anchovies, packed in oil
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 tbsp tomato paste or estratto
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted until light brown
1/2 cup breadcrumbs, toasted in olive oil
Salt
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (salted like the sea, always taste test).
In a large frying pan begin to soften the anchovy fillets in olive oil until they dissolve, add onions, cook until soft over medium heat, about four minutes, add tomato paste, cook for 1 minute, add raisins and wine, reduce by half.
Meanwhile blanche cauliflower in the salted water until tender, approximately five minutes, once tender add to frying pan and let continue to soften, there should be no bite left and it will start to break down. Boil pasta once cauliflower is done, add to frying pan, tossing everything together adding a bit of pasta water if dry.
Scoop into pasta bowl and top with toasted pine nuts and breadcrumbs.