WhatsApp, cooking, and happiness

Food and community are core to being Italian. About three weeks ago I had an inspiration to bring the two together in a quarantine-friendly way and it’s one of the main things that brings me joy these days. The idea started when I hit the wall about what to make for dinner. The first couple of weeks of lockdown I felt pretty creative in the kitchen but suddenly couldn’t think of a single thing I wanted to make and needed ideas. I reached out to a few close friends who love to cook, all over the world, and started a WhatsApp group that has blossomed into a lifeline for me. I want to share the idea as I haven’t run across descriptions of anything quite like it, although I am sure others are doing this. There’s something about the informality and camaraderie that makes this group very different from an article in the media about cooking in quarantine, a recipe chain email, or even a large Facebook group dedicated to the topic.

The group includes friends living in Beirut, London, Paris, Dublin, our village in Italy, Boston, and Berkeley, California. What has made it work so well? It’s small — a dozen people — so it is intimate and everyone either knows each other or is one step removed. More than about a dozen people might make it unwieldy and overwhelming. These people are fierce and well-matched in skills, creativity, and taste. Most have ties to the village so there’s a common frame of reference. Tastes are multicultural so ideas range from middle Eastern to Vietnamese to Mexican to regional cooking in America and beyond. We try to share recipes along with photos and descriptions. Ideas bounce back and forth with people adapting other’s ideas. Our family has been inspired to up our game in the kitchen which has been fun, not from competition but a sense of play and not wanting to let the group down. And we are very honest with each other — bad days happen when you don’t want to cook at all, recipes turn out badly, worries abound — so it is piercingly authentic.

This group has become my tribe that is feeding me on all levels through this crisis and what surprises me the most is that I am getting to know even close friends better as some days I know what they are having for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’ve been moved by how they are taking care of themselves by being creative and nurturing in the kitchen. It has been lovely to see people with completely different lives, who haven’t met yet, supporting one another and cheering each other on. It’s a silver lining that the extra time that so many of us have is being used to nurture, create, and invest in other’s lives.

If you are inspired I’d highly recommend starting your own, on any topic really.

Here a tiny sample of ideas, from the hundreds that have been shared. If you enjoy these let me know and I can share more. The cake in the title image above was made by Donella for Easter. It was an almost 13 pound, six-layer gluten and dairy-free coconut and vanilla monster. No we did not eat it in one sitting.

Stinging Nettle Pesto (from Dublin)

A lot of our recipes tend to be pretty free form like this one: “Collect the newer leaves of the nettles, leaving the quarter or so near the bottom on the plant (wearing gloves, of course), blanch them one minute in rapidly boiling water. Then squeeze out the moisture. Use your favorite pesto recipe from here on out, substituting the nettles for basil, then pulverizing with olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, and usually parmesan.” Our friend in Dublin adds “I make this pesto with a combination of toasted walnuts and pine nuts and prefer grana pandano in this one but Parmesan is great too. Then just use as any other pesto. Also – make tons while the nettles are young — it freezes beautifully.”

A friend quarantined about a mile from us was inspired by the nettle pesto to hand make orecchiette pasta to serve it on.

On the other side of our village another friend made Crostata di Visciole from Pasticceria Boccione in the Ghetto in Rome.

INGREDIENTS:
For the pasta frolla (sweet pastry):
-150g (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled
-300g (2 cups flour)
-150g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
-1 egg + 3 yolks, beaten
-pinch of salt

For the filling:
-500g (two cups) ricotta cheese (I use goat)
-150g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
-1 egg, beaten
-200g (9 oz.) sour cherries

To finish:
-1 egg, beaten
-Icing sugar for dusting

Make the Pasta Frolla (sweet pastry):
-Cut butter in small cubes, add to flour in a food processor
-Add the sugar and mix thoroughly
-Add the eggs a bit at a time to bring the mixture together (you may not need to use all the egg)
-wrap the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Make the filling:
-Mix the ricotta cheese with the sugar
-Add the egg and mix until combined

To assemble:
-Heat the oven from 180C (350F)
-Line and grease a 20cm (8 inch) cake tin with butter
-Divide the pastry in two pieces, one half the size of the other
-Roll the larger piece out to line the tin with about 1cm (1/2 inch) hanging over the edge
-Put the cherries in the tin and distribute evenly
-Cover the cherries with ricotta mixture
-Fold the overhanging pastry over the mixture and paint with egg wash
-Roll out smaller piece of dough into a 20cm (8 inch) disc
-Cover the top of the pie with the pastry disk
-Paint top of the pie with egg wash
-Bake for 50 minutes. If the crust looks too dark, place aluminum foil on top.
-Cool, and dust with icing sugar

And from Beirut, Lebanon we were teased by this:

Our friend described it as “the real traditional Lebanese bread device called saj. Since it cannot be industrialized pitta bread was created. Saj bread is very thin. The one we are preparing here is “manakish” with zaatar and keshek (orange one). Best eaten straight away while hot.”

We didn’t bother getting the recipe for this one yet, but I will as soon as we figure out how to rig up a device like this in the backyard.

Our Lebanese friend also created about six different kinds of unbelievable looking cookies for Easter. Here’s one. Next week the recipe…