Day Four - Michael Chirarello's Casaul Cooking

It's been a bit crazy around here with my parents visiting, plus I kept my five-year-old home from school so he could spend some quality time with his grandparents. 

I don't think I mentioned it yesterday, but my parents are really fussy eaters.  My mother was always a fussy eater.  She likes to wash everything twice or three times, soak it with lemon then cook it to death.  She's lightened up a bit over the years and she seems to be more adventuresome, but if you are making rice or Spaghetti your guaranteed she'll finish everything on her plate. My father on the other hand.... He use to eat everything!  Any kind of meat, fish, poultry anything.  He even hunted and fished.  Now not so much, actually not at all.  Fish, pasta, cheese and bread not to mention coffee and fruit seem to be the only thing in his diet.  Let's be clear now!  He only eats certain fish, only spaghetti and macaroni, white and orange cheddar cheese, crusty bread, black coffee, and a few varieties of fruit.  Where am I going with this?  It's really hard to entertain people who have selective eating choices.

My parents really loved the sauce from the Long-Cooked Hen in Tomato Sauce.  The problem was they wanted the same sauce on pasta the next day.  My mother understood that I needed to try a new recipe, but my Dad couldn't get his brain around it. LOL!  After lots of conveniencing and explaining, I was able to compromise and make the Spaghetti All'Amatriciana.  It was quick to cook; thank god....my father eats really early and can be a bit demanding when he's waiting for his food.  So this was the perfect recipe.  One catch!  It calls for 1/3 lb. of pancetta.  Yessssss I made two different versions of the dish, one vegetarian and the other with the pancetta.  Both tasted fantastic and everyone had two large servings.  My husband and Mother don't fancy Parmesan cheese or Pecorino Romano cheese.  The recipe called for the cheese, so I just mixed it in their dish and grated more on top of my pasta. No one was the wiser.  I used Spaghetti instead of Bucatini, which are the thick long noodles that I prefer, but my guests don’t.  The book called for either one.  The dish has a great bite because of the red pepper flakes and a subtle sweetness from the reduced red wine vinegar.  It's truly an amazing dish to make when you come home from work, simple and really delicious.

Sorry I didn’t get to blog about this last night, but as I mentioned, things are a bit crazy around here.

I’m still trying to decide what to make tonight.  My parents have left to catch the train home, so it’s just the four of us.  Something light, simple and cheap sounds good to me.



The Cookbook Addict