Italian Home Food: Pasta Carbonera with peas
Finally felt well enough to get my big shopping at Fred Meyer done today, so there are more choices in the fridge. For both breakfast and lunch I fell back and Monday’s menu: Breakfast = oatmeal and apple with milk, Lunch = toast with peanut butter and half a banana.
Dinner on Tuesday, Hunger Challenge Day #2. Whole wheat pasta Carbonera with peas. Green salad and baguette slices topped with mashed black beans.
Dinner was what an Italian friend of mine calls “Italian poverty food”. I fixed a simplified variation of my version of Pasta Carbonera with Peas. My friend saw a lot of this dish during his Bronx, New York childhood. Apparently it was his mom’s fall-back dish when money was tight. Italian peasant culture really knows how to put together a filling, delicious meal from a few simple ingredients.
The dish is basically a cooked pasta (whole wheat spaghetti in this case), dressed with an oil (olive oil is best, but as I didn’t have it, clarified butter. A combination is also good) and a grated cheese (Parmesan is good, but as I didn’t have it, shredded mozzarella). Salt and pepper to taste. Thawed frozen baby peas are added at the very last minute; the peas are already blanched, so they don’t need more cooking,just a gentle warm-up, plus you want them to retain their bright St. Patrick’s Day green color.
Accompaniments are a green salad and French bread baguette slices with some of last night’s black beans. They look a bit odd, but trust me, they are delicious. The idea is from Lucida Scala Quinn’s “Better with Beans” show (see Day #1}. After toasting the baguette slices, scrape a halved garlic clove over the top, butter well and add the mashed beans.
