The Basics

As a new mom to a 5-month old baby girl, all basic cooking
know-how has almost completely disappeared from my brain. Instead,
“mommy brain” has taken over. I used to spend hours perfecting a
new recipe. Now I am lucky if I have a few minutes to myself in the
kitchen with no interruptions from the little one. Cooking requires
focus. Something that I just don’t have much of these days unless
you are talking about feeding, diapering, and entertaining an
infant. Tonight I made a simple side dish of sauteed spinach with
olive oil, garlic, and peperoncino (that’s red pepper flakes to
you non-Italians). I cooked the spinach perfectly. It wasn’t soggy
as sauteed spinach can be if overcooked, but rather the stems had a
slightly crunchy texture and the leaves were soft. As soon as I
took a bite, I suddenly got the sensation of biting down on grit.
Ugh! In my haste to get dinner on the table, I failed to rinse
the spinach well enough to remove all of the dirt. It ruined the
dish even though my husband insisted it didn’t bother him one bit
(he’s a really good liar and by the way spent most of the evening
trying to pick out the bits of dirt from his teeth). The lesson of
the day: Always wash fresh spinach in several changes of water in a large bowl.
No one wants to eat grit with their veggies.