Day 115: a little off game

Today I should have been talking about Nigella’s Double Courgette and Bean Salad - from Forever Summer - but I had a few sourcing issues with yellow courgettes. I know I could have just used green courgettes, but then it wouldn’t really be a double courgette salad would it. Also, I’m happy to wait until I can source them locally - the farm shop says a few weeks.

I had already bought all the other ingredients (before realising I couldn't get the yellow courgettes) - the basil, green courgettes and fine green beans - so it was as if by fate that Nigella’s #RecipeOfTheDay yesterday should be Pasta alla Genovese; perfect for using up the beans and the basil! The green courgettes I will use for her Pasta with Courgettes, from Nigellissima.

Nigella’s Pasta alla Genovese

Before starting this cookalong I never really paid much attention to how I cooked pasta; sometimes it was underdone - which I never liked - and other times it was a boiled mush. This was less to do with not be able to cook and more to do with getting distracted and not taking care in what I was doing. Now, however, I adore it al dente, but last night I seemed to digress and ended up overcooking both the pasta and the potatoes. Hence the sludge-like appearance of my photo. And don’t get me started on the photo; the wrong choice of bowl, colours and lighting - for my phone’s capabilities anyway. But it’s about flavour, and it tasted gorgeous.

Flavour musings

I was a little off my game last night, unlike Murray, and ended up overcooking the pasta - and the potatoes - to a potentially criminal state. Nevertheless, Nigella’s Pasta alla Genovese was delish and precisely what I needed to serve away my Monday Blues. I’ll smash it - and the photo - next time!