Summer of Old Gals
Or Drinking Wine with my Back against the Warm Stones of the House
Life lately consists of cooking preserves, restorations and kitten. So far I've made a variety of confitures, pickled cucumbers, marinated zucchini and baby egg plant, oignons confits, peach cider, verjus and tomato. We will eat all those things in a couple of months, when the world will have so much changed, and summer be a memory in a dish, jam on croissant, some slices of zucchini with fresh baked rye bread for apero. Nouilles facon Poissonchat with tomato sauce and that smoked mozzarella from Antoine, the farmer around the corner (I've written up the recipe for you further down the page, it's for cold days when drinking velvety red will be a real thing again).
I've got a summer me and a winter me, I've told my friend the other day, very happy mes just the problem is neither is good at saying good bye. The me writing this article still firmly is summer me, but I can see winter me lurking in a corner, waiting to light the fires and put up her feet on the fender with a good book at hand and some hot chocolate with cognac.
But then the apples are only just coming and the pears. Also there's still some bottles of rose wine waiting for balmy sunset watching. And I'm totally not done yet with throw together salads for dinner. Maybe it's time for some compromising. Indian Summer, what in my own native language is called the summer of old gals, when the burning heat of the sun has given way to agreeably pleasant afternoons spent outside the house shelling peas. Or, as I like to say, drinking wine with my back against the warm stones of the house, watching the sun go down.
Now, in anticipation of winter me, here's the How To for that super easy super tasty pasta:
What you'll need
A portion of homemade pasta
A jar of homemade preserved tomatoes, I'd say 2dl per helping
Bay leaf, thyme and a small chopped onion
A generous dash of olive oil
A dash of Yellow Wine (or sherry, if easier to find)
Sea salt and black pepper
Half a smoked mozzarella
If available, a handful of basil
How you cook it
Glaze the onions in the olive oil at medium temperature for a couple of minutes, add the herbs, increase the heat to maximum and deglaze with the wine. Add the preserved tomatoes, cook for 20 minutes, season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile cook the pasta, keep some pasta water when draining the pasta. Transfer the pasta to the sauce, add a ladle of pasta water and let simmer for 3-4 minutes.
Cut the mozzarella into thin slices. Arrange the pasta in little heaps on a plate and add the mozzarella slices around it and on top. Gratin for a couple minutes in the oven at 190° using the grill function. Decorate with basil and serve hot.
How you eat it
In the kitchen, with a glass of deliciously aged red burgundy, watching the autumn wind tossing leaves through the air and rain running down the window pane. Reminiscing of all the summer there was, anticipating all the summer there will be. Enjoy!
