shortlists nos. 32-36 / november 2011
Rather than give you a detailed account of each of November’s highlighted shortlist-documented dinners, I think it’d be best to point out the themes. Because A. I’m typing with one hand and B. boy, were there themes! I thought wanting to eat the same thing everyday was a symptom of pregnancy but apparently I’m forevermore afflicted with an unshakable desire for pasta. Preferably the same pasta over and over until someone either runs from the dining room crying or we all start to develop vitamin deficiencies.
Earlier in the month my pasta of choice was anything smothered in ragù. Just goes to show you can never overdo a true classic. (Right?!) The first shortlist up there, from the meal that started me on my ragù spiral, was a dinner for 8 or 9 people, all of whom were squeezed into our too-small, over-heated house. So my intention to satisfy with a hearty meal – cooked on the stove all day – ended up causing us all to break out in sweats. Didn’t stop me, though, from pulling out my old party trick once landed safely in Boston, where overheating in November is not a possibility.
Another MVP this month was the just blogged about pesto di pistacchi. We’ve served it twice in Sydney and twice in Boston. My poor father, a man who hates going to work without leftovers for lunch, ended up eating spaghetti with pistachio pesto for four meals in a row, which lead to this priceless nugget of information: pistachios may or may not be diuretics.
On the dessert front, I tripled up with both the incredible triple chocolate mocha caress cookies (to be blogged about shortly and come from Brenna, our dear guest blogger and fellow dessert lover) and banana tartes tartin (which taste just as good as they sound, and will be gushed about soon).
If you see something on a shortlist that you’re curious about (bhartha, perhaps, or roasted bone marrow) let me know and I’ll be happy to oblige. There was so much deliciousness this month, that I have a backlog of recipes to share. But the deliciousness elsewhere, in the form of pudgy little thighs and burgeoning double chins, has been the biggest distraction of all.
