My life in 10 dishes, continued
For the last few years, my husband has had a summer golf membership. He’s not a golf fanatic, he doesn’t (often) play on weekends, he badly needs a lesson (or three), but he enjoys getting out there, hitting the ball, the exercise, and the camaraderie with a group of friends from work. They play on Thursday nights, when daylight saving time is in effect. Tonight was to be their first evening of the spring/summer of 2010/11. But it has been raining steadily for about 24 hours now. It started in earnest last night as we were at an Indian restaurant with friends, before seeing Guru of Chai at Downstage Theatre. In the quiet moments of the performance, we could hear the rain pounding on the roof. And today, it hasn’t let up. It’s still raining now, though much lighter.
So golf was cancelled. And that means, so was my Thursday evening pasta and chardonnay. See, D doesn’t particularly like pasta. I know!! I can hear your shock now. It drives me nuts. Because you see, I love pasta. I love the texture, the different shapes, the fillings, the sauces, the parmesan cheese. I love it all. I could live on pasta. At the very least, I’d like to be a normal person who could cook pasta once a week for her husband. But he doesn’t like it. It’s not that he dislikes it (apparently), it’s that he doesn’t particularly enjoy the texture. He deigns to eat a chicken pasta recipe I occasionally make, but that’s only because I don’t make it very often. And when we have visitors, he has no choice but to eat the summer pasta recipe I make (courtesy of my sister-in-law in Melbourne) with caramelised onions, olive oil and lemon juice, cherry tomatoes and smoked salmon. The sauvignon blanc we serve with it helps stave off any complaints. But other than that, our dining table is pretty much a pasta free zone.
Except on golf nights. I start looking forward to summer Thursday evenings in about July. I tend to plan what type of pasta and sauce I will make a day or two ahead. If I’m feeling lazy, I have a favourite tomato sauce from the supermarket. Most commonly I’ll try the first pasta recipe I ever made (from the Aussie WW Dinner Party2 cookbook already mentioned in this series) – a tomato sauce, with white wine and tomato paste and lots of fresh basil. If it’s cold and I want some comfort food, then it might be a creamy sauce (made with lite evaporated milk – it pretty much does the job of cream with a tiny fraction of the fat), often with tuna or salmon for the omega 3. If I’m feeling summery and fresh and healthy, it might be a fresh, squashed tomato and olive Jamie Oliver sauce. If I’ve planned ahead it might have butternut squash, spinach, bacon and feta cheese. If I’m really feeling lazy, it’ll just be pesto. I recently tried a roasted garlic, carrot and pistachio spaghetti at a local restaurant with some friends. It was to die for. But I know I won’t be able to reproduce it. And this year, I’m planning on trying Bridgett’s melted eggplant sauce too.
I try to ensure I have a good bottle of chardonnay to go with it. I am not afraid of drinking alone! Thursday nights mean I can eat what I like, when I like, and drink what I like with it. Thursday nights mean peace and quiet, comfort food, a good book or my choice of TV show, and of course, good wine. Thursday nights mean pasta and chardonnay.
Just not tonight.
My inherited last name aside, I married into an Irish-Italian family. Pasta is the name of the game. And because I live within biking distance from an old-time Italian neighborhood, pasta is easy to find and cheap. Weird shapes, bulk linguini, fresh tortellini in the refrigerator section. Love it. Italian/pasta is so forgiving to cooks like me (I’m not much of a recipe follower–I am inspired by them but rarely follow them strictly). If you stray, or add some olives, or use more basil or less fennel, you still get a good outcome. Pasta, along with dried beans soaked overnight and crock-potted all day with salsa, is on our weekly menu always. Always.
My current fave is pesto “cream” sauce (like you, I cheat–I use skim milk fortified with powdered milk, or evaporated milk from the can) with fresh mozzarella and cherry tomatoes tossed in right before serving. THAT is summer.
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This is an absolutely perfect post. Perfectly written, perfect story telling, mouthwatering detail. I love the idea of your ritual. I will begin imagining you on Thursday nights…or, perhaps, given the time difference, dreaming of you, if I’m to get the timing right.
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Ok, now I’m going to try the pesto cream sauce too.
IB – I think you’ll be sleeping as I’m slurping on pasta and chardonnay.
The good news – weather forecast for Thursday is FINE!
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Excellent news on the forecast!
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Wow! So glad I finally found this! And you make your Thursday nights sound so enticing, you shouldn’t be surprised if people start showing up to share them with you.
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