In honor of Julia Child’s birthday, I wanted to eat. Going off to Paris was not an option, and no French restaurants were open in the area – but Julia would want me to cook.
Channeling her joie de vivre and her courage to use whatever happened to be on the shelf, I found shallots, garlic, elbow macaroni, olive oil, fresh parsley and basil from the little pots I nurtured – and Romano Pecorino cheese.
After slicing the shallots and chopping the garlic, I heat the pan before pouring in a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil. First – the shallots sautéed to a shimmer; then the garlic – just soft, not burnt. In the meantime, the pasta boiled to al dente in 6 minutes.
I poured the shallots and garlic into a deep crockery bowl from my Grandmother’s era, and then remembered her cheese trick. I grated the cheese into the now empty shallot/garlic pan – mmm, melted cheese – browning and aromatic.
Only a cup of the macaroni went into the crock (I had used only one shallot and 2 cloves of garlic – lunch for one). Then, the chopped parsley and basil and, finally, the liquid cheese. I gently tossed all together, and sat down to eat right out of the bowl.
A moan of pleasure out of my mouth and a toast to Julia – happy birthday! No pictures – ate it all!
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