Last winter in Texas, with the helpful guidance of a friend in our park, I made my first attempt at Cacio e Peppe. Cacio translates to cheese and Peppe to pepper. Those are the ingredients in this spaghetti dish that’s apparently a favourite in Rome.
With only three ingredients, you’d think the dish would be easy. It’s far from that.
Pecorino Romano Cheese and Black Peppercorns are the two ingredients The peppercorns are ground small with a mortar and pestle, and the cheese is grated to a fine consistencyWhile the pasta is cooking for half the normal time, the peppercorns are heated in a heavy skilletPasta water is added to the peppercorns in the pan and then the pasta to continue cookingMeanwhile, hot pasta water is added to the cheese and stirred with a fork until it’s a smooth paste
The cheese paste is then added to the pasta in the pan and stirred with tongs to coat – then served immediately (feature photo)
The reward for the required attention to detail is a pasta dish with a creamy, peppery cheese sauce.
My second attempt turned out even better than the first and hubs claims it as his favourite pasta dish.
When I was growing up, Mary Moore was a household name among the womenfolk.
Mary (Allen Clark) Moore, born in Hamilton in 1903, was a Canadian food writing legend. From 1928 to 1978, she was a nationally syndicated newspaper food columnist. Her columns, which appeared in as many as 25 daily newspapers across the country, were clipped and used by thousands of Canadians…
… Moore was known for her heartwarming, highly personal recipe columns, in which she dispensed cooking advice and also encouraged her readers to take a long walk each day. *Exerpt from thewhig.com
I remember both of my grandmas and my mom faithfully clipping the recipes from Mary’s column and either pasting or handwriting them into a notebook.
Many of the main dishes and desserts I enjoyed in my youth came directly from Mary’s weekly newspaper offerings.
When the first edition of her cookbook was released in 1978, I purchased a copy.
To this day, it’s my all time favourite cookbook.
In its pages, I can find recipes I remember my mom, my grandmas, and my friends’ moms and grandmas making. There are even recipes my high school home-ec teacher used in class.
As I gently leaf through the ingredient stained pages of this well-used and mightily worn hardcover book, I’ll come across a familiar recipe and smile with a fond memory.
One such recipe is Mock Marzipan Strawberries. My maternal grandma made these every year at Christmas and made them as table favours for my wedding.
I now make them as well.
These are mine
Straight from the cookbook:
First editions of this cookbook in excellent condition now sell for $200 CDN. My book is far from even good condition, but even if it was in excellent condition, no amount of money could purchase it.
For quite some time, I’ve been craving a good old pot roast meal.
Hubs isn’t a fan of roast beef, so I seldom make it. In fact, I believe it’s over a year since I’ve made a roast beef dinner.
Yesterday, I purchased a nicely marbled chuck roast (bottom blade in Canada) and cooked it in my Instant Pot. Tougher well-marbled cuts are the best for Instant Potcooking.
The preparation is a breeze, and except for the peas and the salad, it was a one-pot meal and most welcome on a cold Saskatchewan day.
The meat was fork tender and hubs even commented that he liked it.
Self gifting is how I describe purchasing unnecessary items, just because you’re interested in them and you want to give them a try. The likelihood of anyone else gifting them, to you is, at best, slim, so you treat yourself.
Silicone bakeware has always intrigued me.
Last week, I finally caved in to my curiosity, and bought this muffin pan.
Can you guess what I’m baking that might work better in this than in a regular muffin tin?
Radically Retired 