Before Meg left for work yesterday morning, she told me not to worry about dinner. She had a “special” treat in store for us and would prepare it when she got home.
Wonderful, I thought…it will be lovely to have someone cook for me!
While I was making myself a cup of coffee, I opened her refrigerator to get some milk and couldn’t help but notice there wasn’t much in there. A carton of eggs, a couple of lemons, half empty bottles of this and that but nothing that was looking hopeful for dinner…
I sent her a note and asked her if she would like me to go to the grocery store and pick up whatever she needed for dinner.
“Oh no Mom, I already have everything that we will need.”
Yikes! I am sure by now you have come to understand that I am a little wonky when it comes to food… especially when I am on vacation.
Throughout the day, I sent out pleas for suggestions on Twitter as to where we could go for Italian food in Calgary. I didn’t receive one suggestion. Meggie is not on Twitter so, she was unaware of the panicked state that I was in!
At 7 pm, she opens up her refrigerator and takes out the carton of eggs and the 2 lemons. She then turns to me and asks, “are you going to blog about this…hee hee”
Last night was testimony to true and pure Italian cooking. A few simple ingredients, lovingly prepared creates a masterpiece.
I hope you will try these recipes. They are straight forward and lovely.
She continues to amaze me…
This is Theo’s mothers CAESAR SALAD recipe and it is exquisite!
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon anchovy paste
Place the minced garlic with anchovy paste in salad bowl and pour olive oil over top. Allow the mixture to sit for 30 minutes
1 egg
1/3 cup parmesan, freshly grated
4 anchovies, chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Whisk the egg into the garlic mixture until completely emulsified. Stir in parmesan, anchovies, salt and pepper.
Toss with 1 head of washed and cleaned romaine lettuce. Meggie removes the spines from the lettuce leaves, as she finds them bitter… add croutons and toss again.
Serve with freshly ground pepper and parmesan
She created the pasta from memory of a Jamie Oliver recipe that she had prepared last summer. This is her version.
Place a large pot of water over high heat and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling, add the pasta 4 ounces dried pasta per serving.
The sauce is very quick to make so should be ready when your pasta is cooked
LEMONY BASIL PASTA
1 large handful of fresh basil, leaves picked
Place in a mortar and pound to a paste with a pestle
2 large egg yolks
1 cup parmesan, freshly grated
3 tablespoons olive oil
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
Place all of the ingredients in a large serving dish and mix well
When the pasta is “al dente” lift it from the cooking water straight to the serving dish. You will want to have a bit of the starchy cooking water for the sauce.
Toss well so that the heat from the pasta cooks the egg yolks and so that the pasta is well coated.
Meg used papparadelle but decided she preferred a finer pasta…you decide!
Garnish with more chopped fresh basil and grated parmesan.
We popped open a lovely chilled bottle of Prosecco and sat down to pure perfection.
Thanks for reading.
