Nothing says comfort like a lovely bowl of warm, cheesy carbs. Carbonara is a dish I often love to order out at restaurants because its simplicity really showcases a chef’s attention to detail and perfection of preparation. While the dish itself is really only a handful of ingredients — pasta, egg, hard cheese, cured pork, and black pepper (sometimes with an added kick of garlic and parsley) — there is so much nuance to the dish: the pasta cooked just al dente so it stands up to the sauce; the crispiness of the cured pork adding the right amount of saltiness; the silkiness of the egg and cheese sauce tossed just right so it doesn’t curdle; and the added garlic and parsley finely chopped to perfection to garnish. It’s a dish I’ve always admired eating out, but never really tried making at home.

With the extra time at home these days, we’ve had ample opportunity to try and re-create some of our favorite dishes at home — learning some new techniques and trying out some new ingredients in our kitchen. Carbonara is one of those dishes — along with pad thai, chipotle chicken quesadillas, soy-glazed salmon, and other favorites. I’ve started to share some of my favorite home-perfected recipes in my ‘Currently Cooking‘ section, and hope to continue to post new recipes here as I write them. These are recipes that I’ve learned and adapted over time, and hope you get to enjoy too! Also for a longer list of recipes I’ve tried from other bloggers and cooks, check out the ‘What I’ve Cooked‘ section of my blog. Happy cooking, stay safe, and be healthy! xo.

Happy April, all! It’s hard to believe it’s already Spring, with the cherry blossoms in full bloom here in D.C., and the winter chill giving way to warmer, longer days. It’s also now week four of our “stay-at-home” phase, as the world largely goes on lockdown to fight off what has become a global pandemic. I couldn’t have imagined at the start of 2020 that in a few months’ time, we’d all be in the situation we are now. Though as upended as life seems right now, I know how important it is to stay put right now, to be okay putting life on hold for a bit, and to stay positive through it all.

Between getting outside for our daily fresh-air walk or run, listening to Franc Inter radio at home, and Zooming with fam and friends across the globe, cooking has quickly become one of my favorite things these days. I know cooking has always been a big part of my life, but even more so now, with the extra time at home and desire to really embrace cooking therapy for all its worth. Now that we’re working from home, and the days somewhat blend into each other, cooking has become a lovely way to create a nice separation between the end of the work day, and the beginning of the evening. Plus, it gets the creative juices flowing, as Jacques and I try to come up with new and diverse dishes to try each week. Some of our recent cooking endeavors have included pan-roasted salmon with pesto couscous, chicken pad thai with a kale miso salad, steak fajitas with stir-fried veggies, spaghetti puttanesca with a spring salad, and spicy chili with beans and rice.

Every weekend, we usually try to plan ahead and think of what we’ll want to cook during the week, and then make a big grocery run to gather all of our ingredients for the week. A good number of items we already have on hand (i.e. staples like garlic, onions, dry pasta, herbs), but we still need to pick up other items like fresh produce, fish, etc. In normal times, I usually like to make ad hoc trips to the grocery or market throughout the week, to pick up things fresh that can be cooked the day of; but since we try to limit the number of grocery runs we do these days, we try to do all of our shopping in one (or two) trips on the weekend. It keeps things organized, and also gets us to think ahead about what we’re going to eat that week.

Above: Ingredients being prepped for pad thai, and below, the finished product.

I always try to follow several rules of thumb when thinking about what to cook during the week. For one, try to keep things balanced so that you have a good portion of veggies, some protein, and some starch, with every meal. Two, try to cook first what has the shortest shelf life, earliest in the week (i.e. if you buy fresh fish from the counter, plan to cook that within a few days; frozen items can last longer and be cooked later in the week). Three, try to cook only what you’ll eat that night, since food is always best prepared fresh, and keeps your fridge from accumulating too many miscellaneous leftovers that often get forgotten. And four, be creative and resourceful when thinking about what to cook and what ingredients you have on hand; if you bought a head of broccoli for the week, use half of it roasted as a side, and use the other oven for stir fry in pad thai.

Above: Ingredients prep for a pecorino-walnut kale salad; and below, a dinner of pan-roasted salmon with herby couscous and a salad.

My goal is to get these recipes written up and on the blog so you all can also give them a try! So please stay tuned. In the meantime, you can check out what I’ve been cooking recently from recipes inspired from other food blogs.

Happy cooking, be safe, and stay healthy, all!

Much love,
Ash