Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Pasta From Afar!

Tonight, I took some milk of the milk I picked up in Ormoc over to a friend's house here. He's an older German gentleman who says this milk is the best he's had in ten years. He says the milk makes him very happy.

That's great.  He's a very decent person with a lot of very interesting stories.

Anyway, as a thank you, he gave me this bag of pasta.  Maybe one kilo gram of centimeter-wide noodles.  According to him it's imported from Italy.  Hand made by a farmer there.  What an amazing bonus!


But ... but ... but ...

Holy Pressure Treatment, Batman!  (yes, I watched the Batman TV show as a child ... never missed an episode)  Hand made pasta imported from Italy?

I can't just slap some red sauce on that and call it good.  That would be like buying an SUV and putting little tiny tires on it.  That would be wrong.  In fact, I did just buy an SUV and told my friend who owns the garage ... "put the biggest, knobbiest tires that will fit".  The rainy season is upon us here and many roads are not exactly small tire friendly.  Given that the rain can sometimes be measured in IPM (inches per minute), I want to be ready.

Interestingly enough, the tires look perfect.  They look like they were made for the car.

So, now I must find a sauce that is perfect for this imported treasure.

Danke, mein Freund!

2 comments:

CM said...

mmmm. handmade tagliatelle...
I would steep some saffron in some reducing cream, then render off some pancetta with a little garlic and shallot. I'd deglaze with some marsala, add in the saffron cream, some peas and some perfectly cooked shellfish... Had it for supper last night actually. Minus the handmade tag.

James said...

Wow, sounds amazing!

I think I'll do something simple ... cook the noodles, then toss them in a saute pan with some extra-virgin olive oil, a little butter, and some fresh garlic.