Currently reading: Cooking with Nora

I just took out another cookbook from the library, Cooking with Nora: Seasonal Menus from Restaurant Nora. Nora Pouillon is the owner-chef of two DC restaurants, including one that is Michelle Obama's favorite (President Obama surprised her with a dinner there for her 46th birthday). What's unique is that Nora has been in the business of responsible cooking, serving organic everything (food, beer, even the cotton on the tables and the waiters). I was lucky enough to have eaten there (thanks to a generous gift certificate). It was as delicious as promised.

Nora suggests the following tips for home cooking:

• Don't use sugar substitute (they haven't yet been proven safe)
• Use filtered water (DC water lately has been tasting a little chlorine-y)
• If your lemons, limes, and oranges are organic, use a vegetable peeler to zest, then remove the pith with a sharp paring knife, and use the rest of the whole fruit in a blender for soups and sauces.
• Use tamari (I noticed Nora uses it in many of her recipes, it's a Japanese soy sauce that is thicker than the regular soy sauce we're use to)
• Use goat cheese (a lot of the recipes use goat cheese as the go-to cheese)

I made a rosemary polenta from the book. It was tasty but wasn't as pretty as the picture. Her recipe required first boiling the polenta, refrigerating it (something I didn't have time for), and using a grill (something we gave up when we moved). My polenta was in pieces. Next time, I would simply cut slices of instant polenta (found in the pasta aisle) and fry in a pan with olive oil, chopped shallots, chopped garlic, chicken broth, rosemary needles, sea salt, and black pepper (the ingredients the original calls for). It's wasn't a total failure; now I know I can make polenta at home in a few minutes.