“But despite heavy clouds, a feeling of contentment hangs in the air, coming from the kitchen's ability to be two things at once: to be an enclosed space that effectively opens up the world through taste and flavor and imagination. Nature comes in here. Pomegranate seeds on rice dishes, a strip of orange peel for a negroni, or a ribbon of lemon skin for a martini. A lime wedge for gin. A bowl of ripening pears. A jar of dates. Peaches roasted in rose water and stuffed with marzipan. Blackberries scattered on pancakes. Apricots cinched in chutney. Memories of melons, and the vine pergolas and fruit trees of summer, of prized Uzbek cherries carried in boxes across borders. The kitchen is an orchard.” KitchenFruitsFeastCottagecoreBountiful Book:Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels Source: Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels
“I cast concerns away and instead wallow in the heady rosy-lavender-ish fragrance that is rising from the pan on the stove. Intense and intoxicating, it offers a pleasing foretaste as the dried apricots, chewy as toffee, and whole jet-black prunes carried back from Istanbul bob in the simmering sugary water. This spoonable, fruity concoction is an attempt to feed the heart what it misses, and to bring some color to the table.” FruitsCompote Book:Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels Source: Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels
“In Edinburgh, the hoşaf, taking its name from the Persian, meaning 'delightful water', because that is exactly what it is, bubbles on. Fruit plumping up and bobbing in the pan: the apricots like wrinkly-skinned cheeks, the prunes like black onyx gemstones. I think about the simple magic of it. How by taking a handful of dried apricots and prunes, then adding sugar, water and heat--- and time, the most important ingredient of all--- it becomes glorious hoşaf.” CookingFruitsCompote Book:Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels Source: Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels