Pneumonia in June
Pneumonia in June sounds like it should be something more exotic like an Indie Retro Punk band from Finland, but it is what it is. I have Pneumonia...in the month of June. A special trick according to health professionals and I don't think everyone could have pulled off but me. I haven't touched my camera in a week or set foot in the kitchen.Nothing appeals to me, despite my husband's best efforts to parade tasty nutritional tidbits alongside my sick bed. All I do is sip water. I surprisingly find that I'm dreaming of my Mom's Vichyssoise which makes me think back to food we ate growing up. Now I ask you, what young child thinks it's normal to have a bowl of cold potato soup in front of them for light summer meal? My parents raised culinary monsters. We thought Vichyssoise was something everyone had. Didn't all Moms make bread (2 kinds) every week, kept the fridge stocked with homemade mayonnaise and serveEggplant Caponata as a common appetizer (years before pine nuts were easily fund in grocery stores)? Surely most parents snacked on Liederkranz cheese with Bremen wafers while sipping martinis. I once asked my Mom, on my 12th birthday, for Quiche Lorraine and Beef Wellington for my "birthday meal" and she didn't flinch ( She only recently found out I had no idea what they were at the time and had only asked because they sounded like something a mature, chic, twelve year old would eat). Back to the Vichyssoise...I realize now it was an economical way to get a second meal out of a roasted chicken. Strip it of every shard of chicken meat left on the carcass and boil the heck out of the carcass for chicken broth. All you need after that is potatoes, leeks, and milk. It was years later that I found out it should have been cream. I was managing a Williams Sonoma in Stamford, Connecticut and a Rep.from Cuisinart demoed a true Vichyssoise in the store. Cream? Is this how it's suppose to taste? I chalked it up to my Mom being low cholesterol before low cholesterol was cool but I really know itwas because milk was cheaper. So now I lay in bed fighting the 102 temperature, dutifully taking acetamentaphin and antibiotics on schedule wishing I was Elizabeth Montgomery in Bewitched. Then I could just wiggle my nose and before me would appear a dish of that wonderful chilled ecru concoction, garnished with chives from the garden and just a dusting of Lawry's Seasoned Salt, served in an ugly black bowl with an olive green pattern that I think my parents won on a game show. I will have to put it together myself when I am well. Until then I will have to "suffer" through my 17 year old daughter making me her famous "Fresh Angel hair pasta with peas, pancetta, and parmesan". It's a magical meal. As you see, I too have raised culinary monsters...
Claire's Pasta Serves
4 to 6
* 4 slices thick cut pancetta sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
* 2 garlic cloves, halved and thinly sliced* 1 box (10 ounces) frozen peas, thawed* ¼ cup of olive oil* ¼ cup of warm (lowfat milk)
* 18 ounces fresh angel-hair pasta
* ½ tsp red pepper flakes
* Fresh parmesan cheese
Directions 1. Set a large pot of salted water to boil. In a large skillet, cook pancetta over medium heat until crisp (5 to 7 minutes). With a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain. Pour off excess fat and add olive oil topan.
2. Add garlic to skillet; Cook over medium, stirring occasionally, until it begins to soften (1 to 2 minutes). Add peas and pepper flakes and milk. Heat on low until peas are no longer frozen.
3. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente, according to package instructions.(fresh pasta cooks in seconds) Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water; drain pasta, and return to pot. Add the contents of skillet to pasta; toss to combine, adding some reserved pasta water a little at a time to moisten. Sprinkle with bacon and Parmesan cheese, serve immediately.
