Sunday, August 14, 2016

Cooking with Pottery and Blue Apron

I listen to a lot of podcasts while I paint. From NPR to Radiotopia and RISK, most are sponsored by Blue Apron.  My mom joined Blue Apron first and when she brought it on a short trip, I cooked pleasantly with my Dad.  It was a tasty meal and there was no bickering at all.
     So I signed up, and when I went to visit my sister for a week, I had it delivered to her house.  The meals are nicely designed, can be easily adapted to feed more, but mainly, it's a good restaurant-quality meal that you don't have to plan ahead of time and all the ingredients are fresh and thoughtfully harvested.  But the best part is the ease of cooking it together, with anyone, and the kitchen bonding that creates when it goes smoothly.
      I love using "plate" as a verb and the pride in the meal it creates when you plate it nicely.  So now it's time for my own product placement....  People often complain that they can't see the design when it's full of food.. but what motivates you to stay on target better than a gawking owl! And when you empty it of the prepped portion, he stares at you again!
   Ever since I started making octopus serving dishes, people have said it would be perfect for Squid Ink Pasta.   So when it was an Blue Apron meal, I felt the cycle was complete and I had to test the hypothesis.
      I got out all the mini bowls I tell all my customers are great for preparing meals (they are trully the bowls we use most).  And we filled my octopus platter with squid ink pasta.  It was delicious!
"Plated" pasta
Some customers worry that the pots are "too beautiful to use".  People have been cooking in ceramics longer than anything else.  The casserole dishes I've been making recently are built on a mold made from a set of antique Danish (?) ceramic dishes that have been heavily used.  I fire my pots to 2200 degrees, so your oven is certainly not a shock for them.  Just recently we had friends over and we cooked Dutch Babies in my pots (though I neglected to take a photo).  And with all the apples and berries ripening, I've been making pies like mad... .  Now I'm determined to make new pie pans this week...