Hazelnut Reflections

noodling around

I used to have a major cooking obsession.

It didn't always involve the actual cooking. I had a subscription to Bon Appetit, and hauled the back issues (10+years) around from Tucson to seminary to St. Louis until finally I decided to lighten that load. I still have most of my cookbooks, and piles of clipped recipes. It didn't help that St. Louis had both Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table, full of shiny kitchen toys.

But somewhere along the way I lost my cooking mojo. Not that I ever cooked all that much, but I wasn't so interested in my cookbooks, or getting new toys. Losing interest in stocking our kitchen with gadgets is not a bad thing, but I did wonder why I never seemed to have any interest or energy for the kitchen.

A funny thing happened on the way to Thanksgiving. When I was in the kitchen on Thanksgiving morning with my 10 pounds of russets, a vegetable peeler, and a deadline for making a batch of mashed potatoes for the first time for a major cultural feast day, I realized how much I was actually enjoying it.

So it's been back in the kitchen for me.

Last night I played around with one of those long-ago clipped recipes (from a Williams-Sonoma catalog, no less). The original recipe called for tagliatelle with sweet Italian sausage and leeks. Always a sucker for leeks. By the time I was done, it was egg noodles with chicken/apple sausage and leeks.

Yum. And since Husband doesn't do remains of the night before, I get the leftovers.

Needs more leeks, though.

posted by Emily @ 11:31 AM