People! This is not normal April weather for the Puget Sound area. Granted, we live in the convergence zone, but this is ridiculous.
April 18th.
Fer real. The previous latest snow that’s happened since we’ve been here was April 4, and this is much heavier. In fact, today, we’ve had a little bit of everything — rain, hail, small snow, big fat fluffy snow, and even a tiny bit of sunshine. Weird.
In other news, last night I made a really nice dish of fresh pasta, served with a fat roast chicken, salad, and a very tasty Italian Rose.
Pardon the messy bowl, I took the picture after dinner. I made the pasta myself, and it was extraordinarily toothsome. The recipe was from Alice Water’s remarkable cookbook The Art of Simple Food, a book I cannot recommend too highly. I gave it to ‘most everyone for Christmas last year and cook from it often. It is a distillation of her years of being a restauranteur in the French and also West Coast modes, and her passion for local, fresh food, all put together in a well written and usable text.
The pasta called for extra egg yolks, and perhaps that is the secret. Two cups of flour, 2 whole eggs and 2 additional egg yolks. Mix into a rough dough, adding a tiny bit of water if necessary, which I had to do. Wrap in plastic and let sit for an hour. This is one of those statements in life that when you hear, you must believe it. So I say again, if the instructions for any flour-containing recipe say, “Let sit for an hour, “believe it.
I’ve noticed a few other statements that work that way, too, by the way. When a child says he has to throw up? Believe it. When a person you feel romantically towards says, “I’m no good for you,” believe it. The third one, when a waiter in an ethnic restaurant says “You no like”, I merely take with a grain of salt. It’s usually just fine, but then I’m adventurous culinarily.
But back to the pasta. After its hour-long nap, I rolled it thin and cut it into fettucine, then tossed with it flour, covered it with a cloth and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours until dinner. Other recipes have called for drying the pasta on sticks, artfully arranged around the kitchen, but this was simpler and worked fine. Boiled in ample salted water, tossed with some olive oil and Cibo’s Sun-dried Tomato Pesto, and it was a delectable treat. Try it!
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April 18, 2008 at 9:23 pm
m. e.
Your photos are impressive, although I’m sorry about the snow. We, too, have had a late spring.
Enjoyed your picture of the empty pasta bowl, as well. I love to make noodles. As a pasta sauce alternative, I like to melt butter in a sauce pan, add lemon juice, basil and garlic powder (I tend to burn fresh garlic), coat the pasta with the sauce, mix in a little extra butter and then drench with parmesan cheese.
Goodness, I love good food. Thanks for sharing!
April 19, 2008 at 10:22 am
astrbear
That sauce sounds excellent! The lemon juice is a great idea. Unfortunately, my husband has recently learned he is allergic to milk products, so I can’t make it for a family meal, but lunch for me maybe . . .
Astrid
April 21, 2008 at 5:17 am
fillyjonk
That last “truism” reminds me of when a friend of mine went to a little taqueria and ordered something off the menu that sounded good to him…the waiter took the order back to the kitchen, came back out, and said, “Sir? That was the tripe you just ordered?” (I guess he had to go and get the translation of it from the cook)
My friend said that was fine and he ate it (I guess, I wasn’t there).
I tend to accept the “You no like” because I’m NOT that adventurous.