Bums No Longer

As my lovely coauthor has mentioned, our culinary experimentation has been aided by a surplus of free time. Lately, however, our free time has reduced dramatically. What happens now? Do we surrender to bad takeout and Pop Tarts? Never!

To begin with, breakfast is still steal cut oats every day. We didn't have much choice: that stuff is addictive. It's also easy to prepare, even if you've just stumbled out of bed. The key, my friends, is a double boiler. Behold.


Our double boiler is nothing more than a fairly wide saucepan with a stainless steel bowl ($1.50 at a restaurant supply store) topped with the saucepan lid. This nifty little setup heats the oatmeal--or any other grain you'd like to cook-- with steam, which means that the heat stays constant and the oatmeal never boils over. A very occasional stir is all the tending it requires. The trick is to bring a good amount of water up to a boil in the saucepan first, then pour as much as you need into the bowl with the oats, and set the whole thing over the remaining hot water (now reduced to a simmer). For two servings you'll need 3 ounces of oatmeal and 12 ounces of water, along with a healthy pinch of salt. The exact degree of doneness you prefer in oatmeal is a deeply personal manner, but in general the kernels should have opened up and the surrounding liquid should be viscous, which takes around 45 minutes. In the meantime you can hop in the shower, have a cup of coffee, whatever.

That's breakfast. For lunches and dinners, my new favorite strategy is preparing elements which can be used in a number of ways. Last weekend, for example, we made a mixture of ricotta, goat cheese, parmesan, and raw garlic to fill cheese ravioli. The extra cheese mixture topped a pizza bianca one night and became a sauce for some white bean ravioli another night. Now, we also make double batches of pizza dough and store them in the freezer. This dough, in addition to making amazing pizzas, is a fantastic flatbread for lunch and can even be made into a small bread loaf for sandwiches. Those flatbreads are perfect with some homemade hummus or white bean spread. The white bean spread can also be a filling in ravioli. And so on. . . As you can see, a little forethought can turn seemingly complex meals into a simple matter of assembling a few things you already have on hand.

Even if you're only cooking for one or two people, don't be afraid of big batches. Fresh pasta can be frozen. Extra rice can be turned into the best fried rice you've ever had. When you break into a new package of tofu, slice and bake all of it. A glaze can be added later if you want, and baked tofu is great in soups, on sandwiches, or tossed with fried rice. Leftovers need not be sad and unwanted. They can be repurposed and transformed; they can also save you a whole lot of time.

One final note: lentils. In addition to being outrageously healthy, they can be prepared very quickly and flavored in a number of ways. If you are a lentil beginner and they freak you out, try the lentil pancake recipe below. I'm pretty sure no one can dislike them, and they take about 10 minutes of effort.

Of course, we're still learning how to merge a busy schedule and good cooking. There as many discoveries yet to be made. Stay tuned.