Cooking Arugula

For the first ten years or so of my working life I was employed in kitchens of one sort or another—first as a dishwasher and later as a cook. And while this may seem like an odd preamble to becoming a farmer, in many ways it prepared me well for what was to come. Yes, I did become familiar with a wide range of herbs and vegetables and how to use them, but for me, the more important skill I learned from the cooking days was the ability to stay calm, prioritize, buckle down and do the work that needed to be done. When tickets were suddenly hanging from one end of the heat table to the other because the blockbuster movie at the theater across the way let out and everyone decided to grab a bite to eat afterward on what was normally a slow and easy Monday night, there was no time to ponder the injustice of it all, you simply had to bear down and get through it—one plate at a time.

Of course I also learned a lot of practical kitchen skills–many of which I find myself using these days. Between her full-time teaching job, studying for her credential, mentoring the Watsonville Youth Band, playing in the Watsonville Band and a clarinet quartet, and doing a lot of the CSA admin work, Jeanne has had little time to do much else these days and I have taken on the shopping and cooking  tasks around here. Although it is often difficult to juggle with all that is required to keep the farm running smoothly, I have been surprised at how much I enjoy it. As anyone who has ever done it professionally will tell you, cooking at a restaurant and cooking at home are two very different things. In many ways, I find that I am a much better cook now than I ever was when I did it professionally. The patience, restraint and appreciation for subtlety that one develops with age serve the home cook well.

One of the real joys during this new stint as a cook has been discovering and subscribing to New York Times Cooking. The recipes they feature fit perfectly into my time constraints and abilities. They are simple—mostly using ingredients found in a moderately well stocked kitchen—and more often than not delicious. Even if I don’t end up following their recipes verbatim, I almost always get good ideas by searching their vast collection of recipes based on the ingredients I have on hand. Linguini with Tuna, Arugula and Capers is one example (available on the New York Times Cooking site). The full sized arugula you are getting in your box this week works great with this pasta, chopped into bite sized pieces. Lately, instead of using  pricey oil-packed tuna, I have been lightly poaching fresh fish in the sauce before adding the pasta and gently flaking it apart with a fork. For those intimidated by the anchovies, rest assured that they basically melt away and become unrecognizable—but they give the pasta the deep, soulful base that makes it so good!