Good morning!!
That picture above was taken on my 81st birthday, last May, by my friend Patricia. Yes, the very one who comes to play the piano with me on Wednesdays. She had just given me that awesome apron for my birthday. I think it's my favorite garment ever. It was from the French Provincial shop but I note that it was made in India. I love everything from India: towels, napkins, clothes.
I usually give Patricia a lunch when she comes over, and this time it was a very simple recipe, and delicious too.
Boil a box of mini-farfalle. Farfalle are those bow-shaped pasta and I just love that shape. Mini-farfalle are even better, being smaller with more surface to take the sauce.
I got this recipe out of some magazine last spring. It just looked good! So I have made it, amended...and love it.
First, you chop up a lot of walnuts pretty small. You may use your mini-Cuisinart or just do it on a board with your good good old Oklahoma flea market English old style steel knife. The best knife in the world. Oh, I love it.
Then you cut up some fresh herbs pretty small. I used parsley, a little sage, and a very little thyme, some chives, and some basil. In other words, parsley was my staple because I love it. I have loved parsley since I was a child. At some point in my preschool childhood, we had a rabbit. Probably an Easter present. We used to feed him parsley by hand, and I loved the avaricious way he ate it, dainty and gluttonous at the same time. I used to try to imitate him, wrinkling my nose, and in the process I learned that I loved parsley too. Use plenty of chives, too, or add some very finely chopped shallot or green onion.
Your walnuts should be a bit toasted, by the way. You can do it actually after you chop them and then they won't fly all over the kitchen as badly when you cut them.You need very little toasting time by the way. Almost immediately you will get a toasty smell from them in the dry skillet and that is when you take them off the fire. And get them out of the skillet.
You should grate a small pile of Parmesan cheese. You should cut up some bread for crumbs and those crumbs should be toasted too. Put a little olive oil in the skillet after you've poured out the walnuts, and toast the bread crumbs there. Then put the pasta into a bowl, pour over the heated olive oil and crumbs, add the walnuts, add the herbs, toss, and there you are. Oh, and add s and p.
If you want a garlic flavor, I would cut a clove in two and rub the bowl that the herbs are in before you mix it all together. I went through a big garlic phase and had garlic in everything. The main thing I learned there is that often garlic is more delicious and less intrusive if you use two or three cloves in a dish instead of just one. For some reason, I tapered off my use of garlic in recent years and I don't think my health has been improved by that. I just have tapered it off, don't know why. Perhaps I should go back to it.
Anyway, the other thing on the plate is a slice of those really long skinny baguettes that are so good buttered and put in the oven for a few minutes. I don't think there is any white wine up there but there should be. My favorite at this moment is Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut sparkling white wine. A champagne, really. How delicious it is. I also like other dry white wines, but not Chardonnay. You should drink your favorite. Oh, and I also like Prosecco, an Italian sparkling white wine. Maybe I just think white wine should sparkle. Anyway, that is a delicious little pasta dish and you should make it with the herbs you love best. YAZZYBEL
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