Ninecooks

Put it on pasta

Pasta, pasta everywhere, and not a drop of room left on the stove! All six burners were cooking with gas as the Family Cooking Group tackled pasta sauces in their first cooking session after summer vacation.

In fact, we were so busy making sauces and running back and forth to the herb garden for more fresh basil, parsley and mint, that I forgot to take photos while we were cooking!

With our pasta boiling away, we easily created four sauces, two of which were suggested by our readers:

• Penne bruschetta, with tomatoes, garlic and basil  — gutsy and full-flavored
• Sausage, pepper and onion — like a great Italian sandwich, without the bread
• Lemon cream with asparagus — elegant and delicate
• Chicken lo mein — spaghetti with a Chinese twist

Then, with time to spare and some odds and ends of squiggly pastas in the "junk jar", we decided to improvise one more sauce. Actually, it was the kids who invented this, by rummaging through the fridge and pantry, tasting and testing. They named it "The Autumn Leftovers", and it's a winner.

While we're relaxing over dinner, I always ask the group what they'd like to cook the next time. In November I want to teach latkes, and maybe have a bit of a dreidl game just for fun (we always play with chocolate coins, so it's kind of dessert, too). But for October's menu, they've chosen meatloaf. And apples or pears.

Meatloaf with an apple side dish? Or maybe meatloaf with apples inside. And, you know me... I'm thinking we should make two different kinds of meatloaf, done in mini size so they'll cook in the time we have.

Favorite recipes, anyone?

THE AUTUMN LEFTOVERS
Serves 4.

1/2 lb pasta of your choice: rotini, gemelli, macaroni, or a mix from your pasta "junk jar"
A few tsps of olive oil
2-3 roasted piquillo peppers, or any roasted red peppers from a jar
A handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped
2-3 Tbsp goat cheese
2-3 Tbsp feta cheese
Zest and juice of one lemon
2 tsp fresh mint, roughly chopped
1-2 Tbsp pine nuts
A few Tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1/2 lb fresh mozzarella, cubed
A few Tbsp bruschetta topping, or fresh chopped tomatoes, or roasted tomatoes with a bit of the roasting oil
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil, and add the peppers and basil. Stir for one minute, and add the goat cheese and feta. When the cheese begins to melt, add lemon zest and juice, mint, pine nuts and parsley. Stir for 2-3 minutes, then add the mozzarella and bruschetta topping or tomatoes. Stir for one minute, then add the cooked pasta. Continue stirring until the cheeses are melted and everything is well combined. Serve hot.

Another opening, another show

Only one more day until the start of the Fall season for all Ninecooks cooking groups.

First up, the Family Cooking Group takes on pasta sauces. Then The #1 Cooking Group takes the cake — well, two cakes, actually. Next, our World Cuisines Cooking Group travels to Senegal for a taste of West African cooking. And the Wednesday Lunch Group travels to the local farmstand for a supply of butternut squash, the key ingredient in two potluck vegetarian stew dishes.

Two weeks prior to cooking day, each group receives a shopping list, parcelled out so everyone brings a share of the groceries. I've stocked the pantry with spices, flours, sugar and salt. The herb garden still promises plenty of fresh herbs, though the cold snap may do in the basil. The knives are sharp and the stove's got gas.

So, let's get cooking!

Summer's over...it's pasta time!

We're still enjoying the last days of summer, which in the Ninecooks kitchen means no cooking (making s'mores isn't really cooking, is it?), no knives (out for sharpening), no menu planning (too hot to get organized), and no limit on the number of sugar-free ice pops being consumed.

And yet....

Something happened last week that shocked me right out of my summer daze.

Our old friend Rika was visiting from Mihama, a tiny village on the west coast of Japan. She brought her husband Ichiro, daughters Nagisa and Misaki, and son Shunpei. After a whirlwind few days doing tourist things in Boston, Ted and I wanted to introduce her family to our rural part of Rhode Island. We also wanted to send them home with some truly American food experiences, so we organized a s'mores and hot dogs party. After all, group cooking is the Ninecooks way.

Among the 30-plus people who came to the cookout were two of the families in the Family Cooking Group. They'll be back in the kitchen in mid-September. And it seems that while I've been not-thinking about cooking groups for the past few weeks, the family group has definitely been thinking about getting back in the kitchen together. Both of the teens in the group came up to me at the cookout and asked about our plans.

Lydia, do you know what we're going to cook next time?

Lydia, you remember that we decided to do pasta, right?

Lydia, we said pasta sauces, remember?

Uh-huh, I remember. And I love that the kids (and their parents) are so eager to get back in the kitchen.

In two hours of cooking time, and with a somewhat limited budget, we can make three or four pasta sauces. I have a fairly extensive pantry to draw on, and there's lots of basil and other herbs in the garden. But before I make a final choice of recipes, I'm throwing open the kitchen door for your suggestions.

What's your favorite pasta sauce? What do you think our families would like to learn to make?

Share your recipes and suggestions in the comments, please!

Rockin' and rollin'

Japanese take-out in rural Rhode Island?

Even better — it's Japanese make-in! The three families in Ninecooks' Family Cooking Group created these masterpieces in their first-ever sushi session. And, while we used traditional methods and some traditional equipment to make these beautiful maki rolls, we most definitely did it our way.

After rinsing and drying the rice, we prepped all of our filling ingredients while the rice happily gurgled and steamed in the rice cooker. We julienned cucumber, red pepper and carrots; blanched asaparagus; crisped bacon and fried a small omelet; raided the fridge for seafood salad; sliced turkey and cheeses and tomato and smoked salmon; plucked some basil leaves; and toasted black sesame seeds. We set out our condiments: wasabi, hoisin, praline mustard and Dijon.

The kids took turns toasting the yakinori (seaweed sheets). Then, with all of our ingredients ready to go, we turned our attention to the rice.

All hands on deck! The rice must be fanned! Out of the rice cooker, half the hot steamed rice went into a wooden salad bowl, the other half into a sushi-oke. We drizzled on the rice vinegar and sugar syrup, and gently folded and turned and fluffed until all of the rice glistened.

Just like those lucky empresses of ancient Rome, each rice bowl had two people gently fanning (with whatever was close at hand — bamboo mats, pot holders, packages of nori!). We fanned until the rice was just cool enough to handle, and returned it to the cooker covered with a clean dish towel to absorb excess moisture.

Then it was time to rock and roll, and roll we did. With our mise en place in place, and bowls of vinegar water at the ready (for dipping our sticky fingers), each cook set up a work station with a bamboo rolling mat. With their own creative flair, some used traditional combinations of vegetable fillings....

...while others went a less traditional route (Is that a peanut butter and jelly roll? Yes, it is!).

Our platter began to fill with maki rolls of every kind and color combo: asparagus and turkey with wasabi, cucumber and red pepper with Dijon, bacon and egg, seafood salad and carrot, smoked salmon and wasabi, and our very own caprese (tomato, basil and mozzarella).

By the end of the evening, we were rolling like pros. In fact, Lora tried her hand at a couple of inside-out rolls, filled with vegetables and sprinkled on the outside with black sesame seeds. They were a thing of beauty.

We had so much fun making our maki rolls, and they tasted so good, that we ate and ate...and didn't have room for dessert! But we did have enough left over for everyone to pack a lunch to take to school or work today.

Hmmmmm....peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or PB&J sushi? No contest!

Sushi, Ninecooks' style

Last week my husband Ted and I watched the oh-so-campy Ghostbusters for the gazillionth time. Remember the scene near the end, where the four ghostbusters are standing on the roof of Sigourney Weaver's apartment building, blasting their backpack-mounted phaser guns to no effect at the evil Gozor? Harold Ramis' character comes up with the idea to "cross the streams" (and defeat the villain, and destroy the Stay-Puf Marshmallow Man...which sounds completely ridiculous if you haven't seen the film).

When the four phaser streams intertwine, they prove powerful enough to change the energy flow around them.

And, strangely, as I watched the movie, this made me think of Ninecooks' four cooking groups, each one a stream, powerful on its own, but more powerful when intertwined into a whole Ninecooks community. That's our mission, building community one group at a time, one family at a time, one menu at a time.

And then, I thought of sushi.

(And right about now, you're thinking, "She's nuts!")

I'm not really nuts, but I am really excited about the idea of using some variation of the same menu for all four groups, tweaking a bit here and there to fit the personality, timing, and tastebuds of each. Crossing the streams, weaving the same ideas among the groups, taking from one and sharing with another.

For the new World Cuisines Cooking Group, which meets for the first time at the end of this month, I've been working on a bento box menu. We'll start with sushi rice made in the rice cooker, and we'll create a variety of vegetable nori-maki for one of the components of our bento box. We'll fill the bento's other compartments with teriyaki chicken or salmon, dumplings, salad, and steamed rice (I have some Nishiki brown rice I've been wanting to try).

The Family Cooking Group meets the first week in June. At first, I planned to explore the idea of hand pies – empanadas, arepas, Cornish pasties, calzones. But then I thought that, in the warm weather (and hot kitchen), it might be nice to do....sushi! Not the squishy-fishy kind, but some maki rolls with less conventional fillings like tomatoes and mozzarella, or bacon and eggs, or something with chocolate. Sushi American Style, by Tracy Griffith, has great ideas for my family-friendly version of the sushi menu.

The following week, the Wednesday Lunch Group takes over the Ninecooks kitchen. They've already expressed a desire not to cook too much in June (memories of last year's hot Spring cooking sessions dancing in their heads, I guess). Though we talked about a menu that riffed on strawberries, I think I'll propose....sushi! A platter of maki rolls and inside-out rolls coated with sesame seeds sounds like the perfect lunch, doesn't it? And maybe we'll figure out how to get those strawberries on the menu, too.

The #1 Cooking Group meets in late June, closing out Ninecooks' Spring season. By the time we get together to cook, it'll be way too hot to cook. The #1 folks are adventurous and accomplished in the culinary arena, so perhaps we'll explore even more unconventional sushi, using herbs and vegetables from our gardens. In addition to rolls, we can try oshi-zushi (pressed sushi) and fukusa-zushi, omelet parcels filled with rice.

Four groups, four different approaches. How do you say bon appetit in Japanese?

(Photo from Easy Sushi by Emi Kazuko, Ryland Peters & Small, 2000.)