Things done: 27 (ongoing)
Things worked on: 27, 38, 40, 45
On Christmas Eve, Tim and I have a quiet evening together- or for at least part of it; Tim has a quiet evening in the living room and I have a busy evening in the kitchen for part of it, too. We eat out often together, but Christmas Eve is a time to be home and enjoy each other's company and I get to cook a ridiculous amount of food for just two people. Most years (so far) we have not been able to get through all of the courses I have planned. This year we came close.
For the pasta course, I made Spaghetti with the "Good Woman's" Olive and Tomato Sauce. I really enjoyed this dish and happily ate the leftovers for dinner and lunch later in the week. I found this recipe in a book given to me by a friend many years ago called Italian Cooking with Olive Oil by Diane Seed. I enjoyed this enough to decide that my first month of 27 (try a new recipe every month) should be from this book. Unfortunately, I ended up with a much blander recipe that I thought had good potential: Pasta Shells with Creamy Walnut-Ricotta Sauce. Perhaps what made it so sad was that I have been looking forward to trying this recipe for a week now. I haven't given up on the book yet, but I will be more cautious in my next choice.
The sauce for the Walnut-Ricotta Sauce is cold (until you put it on the hot pasta) and consists of:
1-1/2 cups ricotta cheese (12 ounces)
1/3 cup packed basil leaves, torn into small pieces
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
So I tasted it and didn't add too much salt and pepper only to toss the pasta with this and
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
What a difference those walnuts make. I added way more salt and pepper than I normally would when I cook for myself because (and it may be obvious to you already) these ingredients are kind of zingless. Not to disparage ricotta cheese and walnuts, which I like individually, but there isn't any zing there. I have a feeling it was the word "creamy" that may have made me partially blind to this fact.
The "Good Woman's" Olive and Tomato Sauce is made with
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup black Mediterranean olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
1 cup green Mediterranean olives, pitted and coarsely chopped (I accidentally got green olives stuffed with sun dried tomatoes and they were very good)
1/3 cup capers
1 (15-oz) can peeled Italian plum tomatoes, undrained and coarsely chopped (or fresh tomatoes)
3 Tbsp chopped fresh leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste (doesn't every recipe end this way?)
First you fry the garlic in the oil (1 minute). Then you add the olives and fry that (2 minutes). Then you add the capers and fry that (1 minute). Stir in the tomatoes and parsley and simmer for about 20 minutes until it is thick. Lastly, salt and pepper. The zing factor is much higher.
So, since this is a monthly to-do, I can't cross it off fully, but I am still feeling that sense of accomplishment.
2 comments:
Dang! Don't you hate that when you get excited about trying a new recipe and it's just kind of meh. I remember one time finding this recipe for an oyster casserole kind of thing and getting all the ingredients to put it together and then having it come out tasting and looking like gack - so disappointing!
Well, I have a few months ahead of me to hone my recipe reading skills. I made a new recipe (from the New Joy of Cooking) for scones today that came out great, so there are still good things to come.
Post a Comment