2020: A Year of Cooking

Cooking has become a major part of life during the pandemic. Although we have always been into cooking, and found it therapeutic, it has now become an indulgence and a major daily activity.

Cooking provides us a much needed sense of control in a world that has become unrecognizable and full of uncertainty. When cooking, the outcomes are directly related to our efforts. Plus, we are bounded at home, what else can we do everyday?

There are our go-to dishes: octopus, grilled fish, roasted chicken and vegetables, beef bourguignon…

But there is always a urge to cook something new, something different.

We pureed the asparagus, crusted the halibut with fennel and created a very colorful and complex flavored dish to cheer us up.

We baked a meat tart from scratch. The edge was a bit burnt, but we gave ourselves a pass for the first try.

We found comfort in dough, with homemade irregular-shaped pizzas, and dehydrated tomato tarts.

Longing for Sicily, we decided to bring a bit of Sicily to our table. It took us some time to make the eggplant timballo, baked pasta with meat sauce, spicy sausages and ricotta cheese, wrapped in roasted eggplant slices.

On the other hand, pasta n’casciata, also a Sicilian baked pasta with eggplant, beef ragu and bacchanal sauce, was so much easier. The full Sicilian fare was completed with a bottle of Etna Rosso.

Trying to be creative, we decide to use dashi, a Japanese seafood and seaweed broth to cook a mushroom risotto. The smokiness of dashi complimented the earthiness of mushrooms so well, resulting in one of the best risotto we ever had.

During the lockdowns, we finally dipped our toes into baking. Baking is probably the hardest thing for us. Dough is such a mysterious being. It could be too cold, too warm, too much air, not enough air, too stiff, too soft…..It is as demanding as a princess! It is also a great way to spend time in lockdown!

Butter/Oil free orange almond cake

Dark chocolate peach tart

Blueberry lemon yogurt cake

Foccacia bread with red onion and thyme toppings

Danish walnut squares

Olive oil orange cake

Sicilian pistachio Gnocchi

What are we cooking in 2021? I certainly hope that we don’t have to cook as much in 2021! Maybe we can finally meet friends in a restaurant for a change; maybe we can travel to another country to try a completely different cuisine; maybe we can take a baking class in person…