Day 139: doubling up on the comfort
If there are two things I find myself in deep need of when I’m feeling a little below par, it’s pasta (by preference: spaghetti or linguine) and bread. These are carbs in their finest form, in my humble opinion; with the possible exception of crisps (and dip, yknow, for a little creamy-fattiness too)! Some turn to cake, but I turn to the savoury option - anything you can add cheese to basically.
I guess, for me, this duo of carbs is usually achieved by heating the contents of a tin of pasta - macaroni cheese, ravioli, spaghetti shapes - and applying them to a toasted and heavily buttered slice of white bread, along with a good scattering of grated cheddar (pre- and post-pasta). I don’t do it often, since leaving university, so please don’t judge my use of tinned pasta. Though I can’t really see how it’s any different to using tinned baked beans, come to think of it! The important thing is: I am not deluded to believe it is an accurate depiction of the real thing.
Last night, I was looking for something a little fresher and homemade. Something that would grant me my daily potter in the kitchen, but not require hours to make. I needed almost-instant, double-carb comfort.
Imagine my thrill, therefore, when I looked up Nigella’s Spaghettini with Lemon and Garlic Breadcrumbs, which for some reason was fresh in my mind, and realised I had (almost) everything I needed.
Nigella’s Spaghettini with Lemon and Garlic Breadcrumbs
When I say ‘almost’, I mean I had spaghetti - without the ‘ni’. But I can see from checking nigella.com, just now, that the recipe is listed with spaghetti, and not its thinner cousin spaghettini (as it is in the pages of Nigellisima).
I had been 'staling’ a few slices of bread (O-FSL) on a wire rack throughout the day (doesn’t take long in this weather) and then had the not-so-joyous task of grating them. Compared to the last time I did this with rockhard bread, it was much quicker, far less painful and many decibels quieter! I then lightly toasted the freshly grated breadcrumbs to dry them out a little more, with the intent of preventing a mulchy mess from forming as I added otherwise very soft breadcrumbs to the lemony oil.
Granted, this dish would have been quicker to cook with advanced planning of the breadcrumbing but you know by now I am not that organised. It also gave me an extended potter in the kitchen, which is always nice.
Flavour musings
Mission Find My Shimmer is officially underway: starting with a little carb-on-carb action to help put the spring back in my step. No Atkinsing here! This bowl of pasta has it all: solacing spaghetti, bolstering breadcrumbs, sprightly zing, invigorating warmth and replenishing freshness. Double the carbs = double the comfort. (However, I think this recipe is less about the carb-on-carb and more about the honouring of the "time-hallowed peasant traditions" behind its provenance; see #Nigellisima for more on this and "il parmigiano/formaggio dei poveri".)
