I’m driving off in the morning to spend a long, and hopefully restorative weekend with friends, cooking and swimming together, reading books and taking long walks. I’ll stop at the farmers’ market when I get there, but since I’ll be cooking in a rental-house kitchen, and I’m not sure what to expect, I’m also bringing essentials from home — ingredients that might be hard to find or expensive to buy in small quantities, along with a few tools.
What I’m packing for the weekend:
A bottle of extra-virgin olive oil, a deli container of fine kosher salt, a less full deli container of flaky salt, a small pepper mill, a small container of Tajín, a shaker of furikake, a quart container of short-grain rice, a box of dried pasta, a dozen fresh corn tortillas, a few lemons, a few green chiles, a piece of Parmesan, a dozen eggs, a packet of matcha, a tea whisk, a metal grater and an all-purpose, 6-inch chef’s knife.
That all fits in a wide canvas tote bag in the back seat of my car, and it’s everything I really need to take care of a few people for a few days. The eggs are for some kind of fluffy frittata for brunch, probably full of greens I find at the market. The nests of tagliatelle I had lying around are ideal for a springy pasta dish for dinner, with more vegetables and herbs, lemon zest and Parmesan.
The furikake is a shortcut to the flavors of toasted sesame and seaweed, perfect for seasoning hot rice to have with mushrooms or maybe asparagus, tossed with torn herbs, lemon juice and olive oil. Tortillas mean breakfast tacos are always an option, or maybe tacos dorados with potatoes, or with summer squash and mint. The Tajín is to shake over chilled watermelon or mango for a spicy, hydrating snack.
If I’m cooking away from home, I like to have an outline but keep it flexible, so that I can easily adapt to whatever ingredients turn up.
