Friday 16 February 2007

Pasta pronto!

My toothache has come back with a vengeance and has been vampirically draining me all week, jabbing at me insistently despite all attempts to ward it off with painkillers. I hope I'm not starting to rattle. Yesterday was definitely a day for easy comfort food, beginning with a piece of lemon drizzle cake that a friend brought me and that was delicious. There is something incredibly comforting and yet enlivening about lemon drizzle cake, the dessert equivalent of a Thai green curry with its spicy chillies and gently lapping coconut milk, and it did me good yesterday as I waded through avalanches of admin. At the end of the day, Simon and I were both tired, both ready to flop, and both craving pasta, because pasta has to be the ultimate tired person food. Well, it is for me, anyway. I am still unable to leave Jo Pratt's book alone; it is having the same effect that Jamie's had, although I am not going to cook every recipe in it - I can't keep neglecting my other cookbooks. It is just so incredibly practical, particularly for midweek cooking, that I find myself irresistibly drawn to it. I promise I will, eventually, move on... Anyway for now I'm still smitten, not least by the easy 'pasta pronto' section, that offers speedy satisfaction and many store-cupboard ingredients; I've tried two already that I can report on now.

I'm not going to post the recipes, because I've already posted a couple from this book and I don't want to break copyright laws. In a sense, though, these pasta recipes are hardly recipes - they are very easy.
The first I tried was chorizo, tomato, rocket and black olive pasta, which was basically sliced chorizo fried until crisp in a little olive oil and tossed in the pan with balsamic vinegar and halved baby plum tomatoes (I prefer them to cherry tomatoes, in general) until the tomatoes began to break up, then tossed with penne, tapenade and rocket.


This pasta has amazing flavour and colour; it was much more satisfying than the sum of its parts would suggest. Definitely one to repeat - a perfect weeknight supper. It also has man-appeal, which is surprising in such a girlie book. It probably isn't a dinner for the fussy eating brigade on account of the olive-based tapenade, but they wouldn't deserve it anyway.

The second pasta dish I tested was a kind of variation on the pasta with bacon, cream and peas that has figured in Nigella's Feast and Jamie's Dinners - the ultimate in comfort food. This version is similar - pancetta, peas, double cream, pasta - but also has basil on top and, more importantly, Brie in it, which elevated it a bit for me (for those who aren't keen on Brie, try the dish anyway, as it tastes quite different once melted).
I'm not sure of the nutritional value of this dish so I will try not to return to it too soon, but yesterday it definitely hit the spot and it wasn't at all sickly, which some creamy pasta dishes sometimes are.

I have been wondering why I find this book so compelling. It isn't the writing style, the way it is with Nigel Slater and Nigella (Nigel particularly). The photographs are beautiful but it isn't just the images. I feel as though Jo has spookily tapped into my life and her recipes fit easily into how we live; this is the first time a cookbook has caught me so close. With Jamie, I often feel that I am stretching myself, trying new things, which is exciting; the downside of this is that sometimes I simply can't get what I need (live lobster, anyone?), which simply isn't the case with this book. I'm maybe not quite ready to move on from it yet, other than (obviously!) to continue with Jamie.

7 comments:

Freya said...

Kathryn,
Sometimes it takes a female to tap into that working woman ethic that male chefs seem to forget we have!!
I love the look of Jo's pasta. The Nigella one I've made a hundred times and it is always a great standby!
Love,
Freya

Litlove said...

Poor Kathryn with your toothache! I really do feel for you. The pasta dishes look yummy and, I give in! I will look for Jo Pratt's book...

Kelly-Jane said...

Loving this blog Kathryn, especailly since Jo is one of my darlings of the moment! Everything looks great and Looking forward to seing lots more :)

Kathryn said...

Freya, I've made Nigella's a few times too - and Jamie's from Jamie's Dinners. I might make it more except that it doesn't have enough vegetables in it and I'm a vegetable fascist.

Litlove, yep, this toothache continues - a literal pain. I think I've made myself Ibuprofen-immune which is a little scary...

Kelly-Jane, thanks for commenting! I know you are enjoying Jo's book as much as I am. I think the pink really helps:).

Kathryn x

Ros said...

Anything with lots of chorizo or cheese is good by me! I love pancetta too, so that Nigella recipelooks especially gorgeous, if a little decadent.

Ros said...

Whoops, I forgot to say.... I tagged you for a meme.

http://www.roshani.co.uk/livingtoeat/index.php/2007/02/16/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-me/

Kathryn said...

Ros, I'm onto the meme! Thanks.

Charlotte, pasta is one sort of food I do feel free to invent, and it never seems to end up disastrous. Yours sounds lovely.