Thursday, June 10, 2010




I have apparently shamed myself into cooking...finally. As I've mentioned, I've had a rough couple of weeks and have been really bad about making time to cook. I always seem to forget that, tired or not, cooking is like therapy. A long work day just melts away while I'm chopping onions. I snagged the chives and basil we got in this week's share (along with a little supplement from my garden), along with a few garlic scapes and set out to make a simple, light lemon basil pasta dish. This is always something that seems to be better in theory than in execution for me, both when I make it myself and when I've ordered a similar dish out.

Really I wanted an excuse to use the super cute juicer I picked up at Anthropologie the last time I was in the City. When I came home and proudly presented it, W.O. said "oh, you're going to make orange juice?" Ummmm, was thinking more fresh lime juice for margaritas, but we all have our priorities. I hadn't had a second to use it for either, so even though simply squeezing lemon juice straight into my dish would have worked fine, I just needed to play with the pretty gadget.

So back to the execution - I very slowly warmed olive oil and lemon juice loaded with my pile of green stuff to infuse the flavor and provide a light dressing for angel hair. A bit of lemon zest, salt and black pepper, and that was it. It was better than previous attempts, but still a bit blander than I was envisioning. Still, I managed light, fresh and simple and didn't let my farm share basil go to waste. This week, I'll count that as a victory

3 comments:

  1. Love the juicer. Maybe a bit of good parmigiano-reggiano would have kicked up the flavor a bit. I try to always have a hunk of the real stuff on hand - imported and sold at Cappiello's in Schenectady. I freeze the cheese rinds so that I have them on hand to throw in when I'm making greens and beans. Unfortunately, my treasure of frozen cheese-rinds did not survive the recent move.

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  2. Did you go to the "new" Anthropologie in the Meat Packing District? I got the cutest green and white gingham top there a few weeks ago. Did you go to the High Line?

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  3. I hit up the once in Chelsea. Facing a long train ride home with no phone, internet or tunes, I needed to hit up an Apple store on my way from Tribeca to Penn, so ended up at Chelsea piers and stumbled upon the Anthropologie. God I miss having that store close by! Sadly I missed the High Line, as I saw your post after this particular visit and hadn't heard of it before. Can't wait to check it out though!

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