I can’t cook solo.
Just to clarify: that is not a boo’ed-up humblebrag. I need a playlist, a dining companion, podcast back episodes, a cat to trip over. Solitary silence is reserved for the morning meal (I get livelier around brunch).
There’s also the question of volume: cooking solo, I cook for 10 (and then have to eat the same thing twice a day for a week). Or I just gnaw on a bag of baby carrots. These are vicious polarities.
This is all to say that you shouldn’t cook in silence (unless it’s morning, Silent and Undisturbed). You should cook things to scale. And you should start planning for all the dinner parties you’re gonna have when we have flattened the curve.
I’M NOT GOING TO (WRITE) MAKE YOU A (LOVE SONG) SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
Close your eyes and imagine you’re in the office.
“Like white belts and orange cans of Sparks,” (!!!!!!!!!!!!) “Myspace so thoroughly defined the way the ’00s looked, sounded and felt that it was probably destined to not make it out of the decade alive.” (Also, what was Glossier CEO/“The Hills” Teen Vogue super-intern Emily Weiss doing in a MySpace ad in 2013?!)
#JustQuarantineThings: AfriCam’s many live feeds (my favorite is the Tembe channel’s elephants), the Dalgona trend (South Korean whipped coffee), just getting mad at our neighbors, a chicken jumping for apples.
A SIMPLE DINNER TO SHARE OR NOT
Adapted from Queen Deb, this is the first dish I cooked for Adrian, and my standby for a hearty dinner cooked easily when you’re sick of staring at screens.
Prep time: 10-20 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS
2 cups water
1 cup semi-pearled farro (I like the bagged kind from Trader Joe’s)
Half a large white onion
2-5 cloves garlic (lol)
1 box of cherry tomatoes
A vulgar sprinkle of coarse or sea salt
A dash of red pepper flakes (to taste)
A pinch of cumin
1 tbsp. oil (use olive if you like, canola also works fine)
A few fresh basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons, or about 1 tbsp. of dried
Grated parmesan, a few little chunks of feta
WHAT TO DO:
Presoak the farro in water in a medium saucepan/pot, about 10 minutes while you prep everything else. Adding each ingredient to the pot as you go, cut onion in half again, and very thinly slice it into quarter-moons. Thinly slice garlic cloves. Halve cherry tomatoes.
Add salt, pepper flakes, cumin, and oil to pan, and set a timer for 30 minutes. Bring uncovered pan up to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
At 30 minutes, the farro should be tender, seasoned and cooking water should be almost completely absorbed. Top with basil, parmesan, and feta. Eat warm and feel warm.