Recipes to make loved ones
Cooking for one — times 3 — is a special, edible gift of love and holiday cheer
t started with the casual mention of cookies, a special kind of cookie, made for nursing mothers. (The idea with these cookies is that they have brewer’s yeast, which helps milk production.) Since my daughter Zoe is about to have a baby, I can’t help but think of ways to support and love her. There’s no real science to the lactation cookie recipe, it’s more folklore, but the gesture of a sweet gift, made just for one person’s needs, wants or whims — that idea stuck.
In this season of buying and giving gifts, I love making food for people, something to be shared, for sure, but made because you know that there is one person who loves its flavor, needs its nourishments or it will simply bring them joy. Maybe it’s chocolate or garlic or crunchy vegetables, it doesn’t matter. It’s the gesture and the time spent making it that matters.
The other day, Luca asked if I would make him a pan of vegetable lasagna and I thought how absolutely loving it is, to spend a few hours assembling food that feeds not only a winter craving, but also feeds a family (and for more than one night — what a bonus!). So I cooked up the lasagna, a big pan of rich, cheesy noodles, layered with tomatoes, herbs and colorful, tender vegetables. It isn’t what I typically cook and serve. But this dish, a whopper of a meal, includes every food group tucked neatly (or not so neatly, depending on your layering skills) into one pan. For this recipe, you need a chunk of time. The vegetables need to be roasted, so they’re soft and slice easily when layered with the cheese and sauce. I like to make my own sauce, and though it’s a simple recipe, it takes some time, too. Finally, the building of the dish feels a bit like creating an artful masterpiece: careful assembling of color, form and texture. There’s warm orange, deep green and rich purple here, and it’s nestled among the creamy pale green of wholemilk ricotta cheese mixed with pesto. After it’s built, there is a long turn in the oven and out it comes, beautiful, warm and the best kind of gift. I like it best the next day, when it’s had some time to rest. When served at room temperature, the layers stay intact and it looks like the artful masterpiece that it is. This dish was made at Luca’s request, and he loves vegetarian food best, so I kept it that way. My husband would prefer some ground sausage between all those layers of vegetables and, when he requests it, I’ll make it that way.
The next food gift was
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