The Perfect Pantry®

Other People's Pantries #18

From Annie (Undercover Cook), in Brooklyn, New York:

I somehow manage to cook and bake up a storm in my studio kitchenette. My entire apartment is just 230 square feet; my kitchenette is actually something like 2'x6'. Mini fridge, mini oven, and almost zero storage space.

Sesame oil (Recipe: squash and chicken soup)

Sometimes you feel like a nut.

Sometimes you don't.

Sometimes you feel like a seed, which is just a nut without its hard shell.

Sometimes you feel like a seed that's been crushed and smooshed and toasted and pressed until the oil inside it dribbles out.

That's when you know how sesame oil feels.

Olive oil, and a very grand aioli (Recipe: roasted fennel with potatoes and onions)

Last weekend, in a cooking class in my home kitchen, ten students worked together to produce a Grand Aioli, a typical harvest feast held in villages throughout Provence.

I know what you're thinking.

A French harvest festival. In the middle of May.

In Rhode Island.

Oui, oui!

In Provence, traditionally, the farmers bring their vegetables, the bakers contribute bread, the hunters might bring rabbit, the fishermen bring... well, you know. And the women of the village make the aioli, the garlic mayonnaise that is the raison d'etre for the entire meal. And there is wine, and singing and dancing.

In northwest Rhode Island, the farm stand and supermarket provided most of the food. Bread came from a local artisan bakery, fish from the fishmonger, and herbs from my garden: beautiful chives, thyme and lemon thyme, tarragon and mint. There was music, but no dancing; it was too early in the morning for wine, and maybe for dancing, too.

The Brazil 13 (Recipe: cheese-y cornmeal cakes)

Please welcome Peter, chef and co-owner of Pousada do Capao, who with this, his first-ever blog post, joins The Perfect Pantry as guest blogger. An American living in Brazil, he will share his stories, original and local recipes, and photos, once a month or so.

Guest post by Peter in Brazil

I live in the interior of Minas Gerais, Brazil, but a peek in my pantry would never give me away. Could be New York, could be California. I have a small obsession -- I am a pantry hoarder.

I always wanted to run an inn with a focus on great comfort food. I never ever thought it would be in Brazil. How did I get here? Let's just say I was a misfit bank executive, almost empty-nester, with a knack for languages and a love for travel, who decided to celebrate his 50th birthday walking across Spain on the Camino de Santiago, and there I met a woman....