Centripetal and Centrifugal

One obstacle to home cooked meals is that cooking messes up the kitchen. This is a problem for tidy people who want everything to remain neat and for messy people who find the kitchen too disorganized to cook. Either way, a home cooked meal with family and friends is a joy worthy of addressing this dilemma.

My observation is that there are two types of people when it comes to tidiness, centripetal and centrifugal.

The centripetal person's tendency is to be neat, to gather in whenever possible. See a shoe, put it in the closet. See a dirty dish, wash it. See a book, put it on the bookshelf. See a bookshelf, use it only for books. For the centripetal type, neatness and order come naturally.

The centrifugal person scatters everything upon contact. Start to cook and suddenly the kitchen is a tornado of dishes, butter, the bottle of Worstershire sauce that was in front of the salt, the mail on the counter, and yesterday's newspapers. Doing anything is an effort because it is always necessary to wade through this tornado and worse yet, when the task is done, trying to put everything away.

Since I'm the centrifugal type, I don't know what to say to the neat and tidy person except that I've always wished I were you. But for the centrifugal types here are a few ideas that I can offer to make things a bit easier:

1. Check out Flylady (http://www.flylady.com/) My daughter told me about her and I am a convert. One of her best ideas - every night before you go to bed, shine your sink. Even though chaos may be everywhere else, there is something satisfying about completing this one, perfect task.

2. When you cook, wash as you go, rinse and re-use, and figure out how to make recipes without using extra bowls and utensils. Dr. Sue's 5 minute recipes use this principle.

3. Think containers and systems.

There's one more adage that I can't recommend because I haven't mastered it, the one about putting everything in its place. But I'm trying. Meanwhile, if you've seen my cell phone cord or my blue hair brush let me know.

Welcome to Dr. Sue's Kitchen Blog a companion to Dr. Sue's Kitchen with recipes for 5 minute meals to enjoy with family or friends. I'll write about enjoying food and enjoying life and perhaps my musings about the meaning of it all. With or without philosophy, there will be easy-to-make recipes that you can make at home.

Profound conversations have taken place at my kitchen table over linguine with clam sauce. Here's a good place to begin a 5-minute meal repertoire.

Linguine with Clam Sauce
Ingredients:
1 can chopped clams
2 tbls butter
1 tbls olive oil
1/4 cup white or red wine
2 cloves fresh garlic
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
sprigs of Italian parsley chopped and whole for garnish
1/2 lb linguine
1 Tbls salt
water

Bring water and salt to boil in large pot. Cook linguine until al dente. Pull a linguine out and bite it. It should be firm but not raw in the middle. Drain in a colander.

While the linguine is cooking, heat olive oil in a medium frying pan on medium heat. Mash garlic in a press or on a cutting board and add to oil. Saute about 1 minute. Add juice from canned clams to the pan by opening the can lid and holding it shut to let the juice pour through. Add about 1/4 cup wine (Dr. Sue is not too good at measuring...so don't worry if it is a little more, not sure about a little less.) Bring the sauce to a boil for about 4 minutes to reduce it. It will start to look thick and bubbly. Don't leave the pan at this point. If you use white wine (traditional) the sauce will be white, but red is fine too. I use whatever is open.

Once the sauce is reduced, plop in the clams and the butter. Reduce the heat to medium and stir just until the butter is melted and the clams are heated through.

Put linguine on a serving plate. Pour sauce over linguine. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top, then the chopped parsley, with some whole parsley for a garnish. Buy good parmesan cheese and pass the extra. Yummy with a tossed salad.

Enjoy! May profound conversations follow.

Do you have a favorite 5 minute recipe? Post it here.