OK.. so I am only two days into cooking like this, but I have to say it is kind of a laugh. Who knows if I will be saying that in a couple of months, but for now I am enjoying myself!

Cooking this way is also going to teach me to be a more practical cook. I do tend to use every pan in the house; and well, that just really isn’t possible now. We have packed away everything apart from two frying pans (a large and small) and two saucepans (a large and small). For untensils I have a metal slotted spoon, metal tongs, a few wooden spoons, and a couple of knives. That is it really. Ingredients are anything I can fit in the fridge, along with some olive oils, and basic seasonings.

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The kitchen you see there will never exist again. Yay!! A kinda strange feeling to be honest. I have only cooked in this kitchen for a year, but it really has been a huge part of our lives. All of the Wrightfood book and blog were created in here. Even the photos - they were taken on the counter you see just the other side of the fridge. We have really cooked some fantastic food in here, against the odds of the kitchen. This is also the place that I would somehow manage to get to at 2am in the morning, when I needed to warm a bottle of milk for Drake. I say somehow got to, because some nights I was so tired I couldn’t focus, yet still managed to get a pan of water going to gently warm a bottle - without burning myself!

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“Bloody hell, no pictures!!” you all yell. Well, take a walk down this blog a few entries, and look at the post about steak with stilton. Yep… now you get it! These two were pretty much the same deal, just changing out the protein. Turns out that some scallops go really nicely with the light celery root puree, especially when a little fat is added to the lean scallops (wrapping them in prosciutto).  You could also use bacon, or even better some pancetta. Wrap the scallops tightly, and sautee in olive oil and butter on the flat sides, for a couple of minutes a side. Really try not to overcook them, they end up as tough as old boots.

http://mattikaarts.com/blog/?p=208 - steak, stilton, celery root puree, mushroom ragu.

 Only a couple more days until the kitchen gets ripped out!

This is kinda my take on meat and two veg. I did this sauce quite a bit with pork a year ago or so, and then completely forgot about it. It was just this week, when I was trying to decide what to cook this week, that Danika said I should that port sauce again. I am glad she has a great memory to be honest, heck knows how I forgot about this one, it is awesome (if I do say so myself).

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Sardines are a great little fish. Well, to be honest, the term sardine kinda encompasses around 20 different small fish species. These little devils are really oily, and generally pretty strong tasting. You would see quite a lot of sardines back in Europe, where simple preparations really made them shine. In England we would often have sardines on toast for lunch, or a simple appetizer. The texture differences through the fish are pretty great too. Done right, you have a good crisp skin, with delicate flesh. Sardines are also riddled with little pin bones that you just crunch (you would have to be pretty insane to try and remove them all). When the fish is filleted, before it is cooked, you can remove quite a few of the bones though, which can be a good thing.

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Having a kid really lets you get back to doing basic purely fun things. This weekend we visited Jubilee Farms in Carnation, and hunted out two perfect pumpkins. Before having Drake there is no way I would have gone out hunting down a pumpkin, and that is a real shame. We had such a good time getting muddy, taking tractor rides, and hauling pumpkins around. Sometimes you just need a kid to validate doing this kinda thing. Big shame.

Jubilee Farms was awesome. A great local farm, run by people that really care about their produce, and their farmland. Originally certified organic, they dropped the rating a while back, but contine to farm in exactly the same “organic” way that they always have done. Like a lot of local farms, they don’t want to pay the big “organic tax” that comes with the government certification, and I don’t blame them. You can find out more at: http://www.jubileefarm.org/organic.html

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So the kitchen renovation is about 9 days away. Dani and I have been thinking quite a bit about where everything in the kitchen is going to go whilst the renovation goes on. What is perhaps more important is just how we are going to cook whilst this work is being done. Our contractor hopes to be done around Thanksgiving, but was rather happy when we told him that we might not be here for Christmas… To be fair, he is doing a lot more than just the kitchen, thanks to some great ideas he had for the sitting room off the kitchen. We were planning to do this reno in the summer, when we would be able to BBQ easily, but somehow that just didn’t pan out. Work got busy, time got away from us. So now we are into the rainy season, and we don’t have a covered deck. Still, a little bit of rain never stopped me from cooking!! I think we will get a portable gas stove thing, and have that along-side the BBQ. That should do us for a couple of months!

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Autumn has to be one of my favorite seasons in which to cook. Most people pick summer, and I can see why - amazing fruit, light clean ingredients. Summer is wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but for me it is all about Autumn. There is something fantastic about the days starting to get cooler, and that hankering for slightly heavier, hearty food that is bursting with flavor. Of course, you also have to love to abundance of mushrooms available at this time of year. This was something that really inspired this dish. For a couple of years now I have done a variety of mushroom ragu’s, using whatever mushrooms I could find at the market. Thankfully we get such a variation of them here in the Northwest that it really isn’t hard to pick up some pretty wonderful (and strange) specimens! A change of seasons is always pretty inspiring for a cook. You get new flavors, new ingredients, and really a completely different way of cooking. My summer food is always kept very light, minimal cooking, and simple ingredients. Autumn is something different. I still keep the ingredients simple, but I start to do more roasting, more slow simmering of food. Heartier flavors start to emerge, and I tend to pair foods together that are earthy and satisfying.

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This really is simplicity at it’s best. I cannot take complete credit for this one however. Dani and I were watching TV one night, and the British version of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares comes on. I hope I don’t loose some readers here, but this is SO much better than his new US version. The US version is more about drama, spending money, and shock tactics. Don’t get me wrong, the UK version is borderline over-dramatic in places, but it is still based around Ramsay and his simple food principles. Somewhat like the difference between the UK and US versions of “The Office”. The US version is bigger budget, more produced, not as real - and just plain not as funny. Ramsay’s principles from restaurant to restaurant really don’t change. He takes either a menu with far too many items on, over-complicated food, or bad service, and just simplifies things. Most menu’s are slashed in half. The food is simplified. The service is worked on - people sharpen up. Typically he makes places focus on clean, simple local ingredients. The result is always far better food, increased profits (apparently), and low and behold Ramsay has saved the day. What I like about this bloke is his passion for simple clean local food. He really instills passion in people about quality food, and that is a really good thing.

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Risotto is one of those perfect dishes for a cold night. Thick, warm, oooozy and rich. It just doesn’t get better than this and a glass of wine when it is cold and rainy outside. There is so many combinations of ingredients that you can bung into a risotto, it honestly never gets boring. In the Wrightfood cookbook I do a simple risotto cake which is paired with some clams, halibut and a great vegetable smoked paprika broth. The book talks a lot about the method of cooking risotto, and is worth checking out for just that alone! (course, I would say that wouldn’t I… you can download it for free at the Wrightfood website.

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Monkfish is a somewhat underestimated fish. It is just the tail that gets used, and does take a bit of cleaning. The result is spectacular though. Once called “the poor mans lobster”, and you can see why. It’s texture, when cooked properly, is really similar to the shellfish. I like to cut the tail into “medallions” (just a poncey name for thick slices), dip these in flour, then cook them in a little butter and olive oil.

 So what to pair this fish with.. Hmm….. Brussels! that great vegetable that every kid seems to hate, but I absolutely loved when I was a wee nipper. I think the problem came around from school dinners to be honest. You would get served up these soggy horrible little spheres of green mush. Shame, because in my mind those aren’t Brussel sprouts. When cooked properly they are fantastic. I like to cut them in half, boil them, then quickly pan sear just to brown them a little. I mixed these with a little slow cooked leek. To add a bit of crunch, I just ripped up some roasted prosciutto.

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This was one of those dishes that I would just make over and over again. Danika and I were just talking over the weekend about how quickly Fall has come around. It seemed like trees turned color just overnight. Whenever fall arrives I get a hankering for root veg, and also apples. Parsnips are one of my favorite roots. Sweet, soft, slightly chewy. They taste like a sweet potato, only better…. way better. I reckon they are an aquired taste though.. I hated them when I was a kid. Not now though. Oh no. So what to cook with some parsnips.. Hmmm. Apples. Got to be apples. Something else slightly sweet I think. So how was this dish done?

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