Monday, May 30, 2011

And the Man at the Back Said "Everyone Attack"

This morning we went down to Casa Grande and had breakfast at Big House Cafe with Scott's mom.  I was disappointed with my florentine omelette, but I think that's because I really wanted to order the corned beef hash but didn't as I felt I needed to behave, gastronomically speaking after a weekend already full of bacon.  The omelette was good, mind you; I just wish I hadn't seen (and sat, staring at) the specials board, on which the chalk words corned beef hash taunted me, in size 72 font.
Scott, on the other hand, was unencumbered by some inner voice telling him to order wisely, and he selected the Barnyard sandwich - a whopper of a meal between a large roll.  The sandwich included eggs, cheese, a breaded pork cutlet, ham, and bacon (I think that's it).  It was so repulsive it was almost pretty:
The side of potatoes (yes, it totally came with a side)
was also slathered in cheese.

I did take a bite of the sandwich, and while there was waaaaaaaaaaaay too much ham, in my opinion (this coming from a girl who would happily never eat ham again), the cutlet was really quite tasty.  At that point we got started on a schnitzel discussion as Scott attempted to work through his mighty meal.
He didn't make it all the way through, a decision, I think, that was well made.
Of course, after that pile o'meat, Scott felt the need for "something light" for dinner.
Thus, I thew together a modification of a pasta dish that I had heard on this weekend's edition of The Splendid Table:
  • lemon juice
  • green onion, chopped
  • garlic, chopped
  • tomatoes, chopped roughly
  • green olives
  • capers
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil 
  • parsley, roughly chopped
  • pasta, cooked (I used farfalle, which was a hit - HRH even ate some)
  • parmesan cheese (optional)
Marinate the onion and garlic in lemon juice.  Add the tomatoes, olives, capers, salt and pepper and toss.  Add the room temperature pasta and the olive oil, and toss.
Just before serving, toss in the parsley and sprinkle with the cheese.
This is something I'll have to remember - it's easy, and the ingredients are interchangeable.  The room temperature pasta was a nice, refreshing change from warm pastas that we normally have.
Clearly I measured nothing, and there was a bit too much lemon juice in my version, but it was still delicious, and I'm looking forward to having more for lunch tomorrow.

I would have liked to add kalamatas to this;
that would have been saltily delicious.
To accompany the pasta, I found this beet and parsley salad recipe.  I don't think that I let the salad sit for long enough (it said 30 minutes, but I think this could really work best if it's made several hours in advance so that the beets really break down), but I enjoyed the earthy flavor that the beets had to offer.  Scott wasn't a huge fan.
The green onions and parsley were quite pretty against
the pinky, purply beets.

That's OK - it was fun to try a recipe for beets that didn't involve parboiling and roasting them, and hopefully Scott is ending the day feeling a little lighter than how he started it.
This was AFTER washing my hands twice.
At least I had the foresight to wear an apron over
my favorite white shirt.

No comments:

Post a Comment