She’s Choppin’ Broccoli, She’s Choppin’ Broccola

80P and I were walking home together from our respective offices and we were discussing the lack of dinner options and I declared that this has been my worst year of cooking on record. And on record, well, my record, that is, only counts since I’ve started cooking, so if you are to count all of my years on record, not just cooking years, than I’m not doing terribly, as I did fry cottage cheese. But in years that I have made it a priority in my life to find joy in the kitchen, this year, not so much is happening in that 10 foot by 5 foot space.

Anyway, don’t get all excited that this will be some glorious post about a new recipe. This actually proves my point. I now make sandwiches. Or simple pasta dishes. But with farmers market season starting, I have a feeling I can turn 2010 into to a year that will not tarnish my cooking record. Okay, enough records. Well, except for the record that my friend Vi always plays when I come over. Total crush on Band of Horses.

Back to the cottage cheese for a second. In January 80 and I were in Florida and I re/discovered two items that have found their place in my fridge many times this year.  One was cottage cheese (which I’d never had and decided it would be a good idea to make a sandwich out of it. See, there it is, another sandwich. A freaking cottage cheese sandwich.)

2010’s other popular item is smoked whitefish. Although I try not to eat that many animals, I can’t get over this salty, creamy, pungent, addicting addition to my life. (Can you use the phrase addicting addition? It’s overkill, huh?)

I usually eat the mashed fish on a bagel or dark bread toast, either solo or with raw onion. And once, out of obvious limited options, I had spread smoked whitefish on matzoh. This week I tried to switch it up and added in more veggies. And can I tell you, I am really digging raw broccoli these days.

Smoked Whitefish and Raw Broccoli Pita Pocket

In a bowl, mix together smoked whitefish, slivered raw broccoli: florets and stalk, shredded red leaf lettuce, thinly sliced raw red onion, spicy mustard, salt and pepper. Slice your whole wheat pita in half and fill the pockets with the mixture.

PS – Super sorry for that drunk blog post earlier this week. There were two major holidays on Tuesday and coherent blogging just wasn’t gonna happen.