My turn to cook

Eastside Road, February 18, 2011—

OIL AND WATER, as everyone knows, don't mix: yet that's how I tend to cook. Start it in oil; after it's browned a bit, splash in some water and let it steam. Tonight I cooked half a dozen little creamer potatoes that way in one pot, six or eight little carrots in another, half a dozen good-sized pearl onions in a third. Don't forget to salt them a little.

When L. got home we had a Martini; then I cooked four petrale sole fillets the same way. Start them in a skillet with a little olive oil; when they threaten to stick, splash in a little water — in this case, extra water from the potato pot. I'd chopped up a few capers and a few Martini olives (pimento stuffed) with a little salt and lemon peel, and strewed that on top of the fish after turning it, and after sprinkling it with lemon juice. Et voilà. Green salad afterward.

Rosé, Guilhem, Moulin de Gassac, 2009