Supper Chronicles
Work Zone
An improvisational style of cooking has evolved in COVID isolation. I buy ingredients in the market adventurously, with a vague idea of what I might do with them.
Then, as suppertime nears, I prowl the fridge & cabinets, trying to decide what to cook. I am moved by discoveries that I am enthusiastic about cooking, but more often items that need to be used before they spoil.
The above is an example of the moment I assemble some ingredients, baffled by what exactly I will do with them.
In this case it was when I was sauteing the maitake, a mushroom I hadn't used before, that the menu came together in my mind. It was firmer than my usual shiitake. I had been intending to sprinkle it with soy sauce at the end of the saute to get the salty umami flavor that enhances rice & noodles the way I do with shiitake, but felt it would be undercooked that way, and not complementary to the planned cream sauce on the vegetables. So the idea of a little boiling in the linguini came to mind & suddenly I envisioned the path of all the ingredients to two bowls.
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