Cook for a Crowd

Sometimes I cook as if I had ten children. This is one of those times. I am making my blue enamel cast iron vat of tomato eggplant pasta sauce with capers, chopped black olives, celery, and garlic. I just added few of Jamie's home made Italian sausages for added fat and flavor. The pot is already filled to the brim, simmering for the day.

I am an impulse buyer when I go to the produce section of Price Rite and I never leave without a few extra vegetables. I am not sorry because it's always a bargain and I can freeze things for those countless nights when I am uninspired and unmotivated about what to cook and eat. I must label the containers so I have an idea of whats in there because I never remember even when I am sure that I will.

I am always switching up the order and schedules of things in my life. Perhaps it's my ultimate freedom. It's also my version of travel. Lately I start my day like a trucker in an all night diner with black coffee and radio at the dark hour of 3 AM. A few hours later I'll enjoy eating dinner food for breakfast and lunch (leftover lasagna, chili, etc) and I like breakfast food for dinner (fried eggs or pancakes) because it's calming and soothing. I like fruits an apple or a banana with peanut butter or a mini peanut butter cup or Hob Nobs (from Job Lot) with black coffee as a snack.

I just washed 5 pounds of potatoes. They need their eyes taken out. They have been sitting on my kitchen counter for weeks, another impulse buy. I might make my 1979 Presto pressure cooker recipe for German potato salad (posted on this blog). I have some spinach that is asking to be used. We'll see. Maybe a pizza rustica or torte. Stay tuned.

Update: I washed and chopped the bag of fresh spinach and added it to the tomato sauce. It tasted overly acidic or maybe it was eggplant bitterness. I didn't have any cheap port wine to add as a sweetener and I didn't want to use sugar so I added the leftover chick pea liquid from yesterdays batch of cooked peas and it was the perfect sweetener, balancing the flavors. I spooned the sauce into a plastic container that I cooled in a tub of cold water. I added some of my cooked chick peas to the sauce. It is delicious. Maybe I will make some home rolled pasta noodles next.