I have little space in my life at the moment for project cooking. No long, drawn out kitchen productions in my life - a meal requiring multiple steps, careful measuring, or extensive planning is not a meal I’m interested in. (Unless someone else cooks it for me. And this is why I love restaurants!)
I’m torn constantly between managing my time for my work against time for my family, and as the primary cook in our house, the less time I spend cooking in the evening is more time I get to CHILL.
I could also stop writing this newsletter, but I’m hustling now so I can, in the future, build myself my dream kitchen in a house in the country and spend my entire day reading, listening to music, and project cooking.
Ratatouille is one of the dishes I’d cook. I’d love to take the time to carefully fry the individual ingredients in olive oil, each reaching peak doneness before carefully combining the parts into a brilliant, symphonic whole.
In the meantime: Lazy Man’s Ratatouille.
This is the beautiful summer stew, laden with olive oil and immersed in a reliable jarred tomato sauce, simplified for an easy weeknight dinner. I love this dish room temp (or cold) alongside a nice piece of roasted fish, or even on its own with a scoop of ricotta or fatty yogurt. Perhaps this isn’t traditional, but it tastes damn good, and home cooking should not be slavish to tradition but should instead be unabashedly chasing tastiness and ease.
I hope you enjoy:
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