Friday

Friday, oh, Friday. A sunny one, not a bit like this day.

No. Not at all.

I make a list of every vegetable we have, mindful that there will be not an ounce of shopping done this weekend. Plenty of potatoes in the drawer; a bag of mushrooms need using before they open their gills and expire; three long, expensive, but irresistible leeks; a plump-bottomed eggplant and a kabocha squash (both currently employed in a still life and, therefore, out of culinary action); a grimly smiling half pumpkin; a tiny bunch of radishes; two heads of celery (can’t get enough of it right now) a bunch of baby carrots and two cauliflowers, hiding shyly beneath their leaves. Onions, always, and some really good local garlic. There are pears and apples too, small and perfectly fitted to the palm, sweet mandarins and a hand of slightly unripe bananas. More than enough, with what’s growing in the garden, to see us through to week’s end.

Potatoes are scrubbed, knobbly, waxy kipflers this time, then sliced and layered with rounds of leek, cut from the tallest of the trio, and thin, crisp crescents of mushroom. A rich, porcini-infused sauce – I am temporarily annoyed with Deborah Madison for referring to the resultant cupful of liquid as a ‘stock’, one thickened with a generous sprinkling of flour – is warmed with an equal quantity of milk that would, without Oscar, have gone to waste. Carefully poured over while hot, the dish is covered with foil and baked slowly for a couple of unattended hours. We come home to woodsy, wintry aromas, cheeks flushed by the cold and appetites bolstered by a considerable amount of sandy dog-walking. Foil comes off, heat goes up and all is lifted, golden and bubbling, to the table.

There were other things this weekend, of course. Quiet, good things. Onions cooked on the gentlest of heats in 2 cups of real stock (retrieved triumphantly from the back of the freezer), a few chunks of preserved lemon, some ginger and oil - oh, boy – for a tart with roasted chunks of said grim pumpkin. The cameras and I went out collecting light, too, and the wait, as always, is part of the fun. There was sun on the skin, sleeping in, dog burrowed between us each morning, and some unformed thoughts about photography and the importance of illustrating our food.

That post, I hope, is to come. How did it get to be Monday so quickly?

Comments

[Wendy]

Beautiful post. Read over a breakfast of rye bread, peanut butter and strawberry jam. How did it get to Monday indeed?

Love, love, love that first picture. So atmospheric.

[Wendy]

PS Expensive leeks? Didn't know there was such a thing. Special type?

[Lucy]

Oh, that breakfast sounds yum, Wendy. Happy Monday to you. Leeks here are stupidly expensive. Nothin' fancy 'bout 'em, but they are $2.50 each for organic ones. I treat them, thus, as precious beasties.

[Arwen]

You make the terrible weather look quite pretty in the first photo. I like the way you get double use of your veggies too. Still life then dinner - art and nourishment. Beautiful!

[Johanna]

love that top photo - seems like a savouring of the moment but the time does pass quickly - love hearing about all your vegies - do we get to see the still life?

[maybelles mom]

i wonder that every monday.

[Mari]

I wish I'd been in the kitchen more this past weekend, but I had such a full social calendar that my kitchen was strictly the spot where I stood to wolf down a quick breakfast, and do the odd pile of dishes. Next weekend better.

And yes, how did it get to be Monday so quickly...very sad indeed.

[elk]

it pleases me to see your images of sweet produce and to know that I am not the only one that uses what is on hand...not setting foot in the market ~elk

[Mariana]

Leeks are a wonderful base for a good soup. Unfortunately I won't be eating too many at those ridiculous prices. BTW, your images are lovely.

[Callipygia]

You my dear, make me so very grateful to have eyes! What a joy to look at these images and see what you see...xx

[chelsea]

I'll see your week and raise you a month - how did it get to be July?!?!

Nevertheless, only you could make me long for winter in the midst of my summer (again). Somehow cold air and the earthy scent of that casserole seem dream-like.

Too bad about those leeks - they are always priced as luxury items around here. Why? Onions and scallions cost a fraction!

[Jean]

Wow. I stumbled on your site and was amazed by your photos. I'll be back, and often. -- Jean

[Christina]

I almost always leave the same comment: beautiful. But, it is always true!

[another outspoken female]

Am reading this as I bake a tray of vegetables for dinner (little red potatoes, pumpkin, cauliflower and green round sprouts)...those mandarins sure are sweet and yes, I almost cry every time I contemplate buying an organic leek. How did they go and get so expensive, one minute you got three for that price and the next they were an elite vegetable?

Pictures are stunning :)

[rachel]

I would really like a Deborah Madison book...her recipes keep popping up all over the place and lots of writers I like (yourself included) seem to adore her. Which one do you recommend ?
I've said it before, but I will again, I like our seasonal differences, it is nice to read about woodsy wintery aromas whilst living in Sticky, humid, melon, fig and scented Rome.
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