Last night I got home from the gym (thank god the New Year’s Resolution crowds are dissipating!) and decided that the most perfect dinner would be GDL’s Lemon Spaghetti. Simple, nutritious, exactly what I needed after a fairly healthy day on my part (pat self on back).
Despite the fact that Everyday Italian lists it in the “Fresh From the Pantry” section and Giada claims, “I always have a few boxes [of pasta] around, and so I’m never at a complete loss for a meal,” I happened to be at a complete loss for lemons and oh yeah… spaghetti. Unlike most full time workers, I have always enjoyed a trip to the grocery store. Just like Bed Bath and Beyond, grocery stores fill me with a sense that anything is possible. And just like Bed Bath and Beyond, I can easily get carried away.
There are three large grocery stores within 10 minutes of me- Super Stop & Shop, Whole Foods and Stew Leonard’s. If anyone other than my immediate family is reading this and happens to not be from the tri-state area, allow me to introduce you to the infamous “Disneyland of Dairy” known as Stew Leonard’s.
Visualize, if you will, a fresh farmers market in a giant old rustic barn. Now mix in Cosco-style free samples, Connecticut trophy wives with shopping carts and Louis Vuitton handbags fighting their way through the labyrinth of foodstuffs, and finally singing animatronics. Oh yeah, it’s an experience. When I first moved to Norwalk, Stew Leonard’s became an essential stop on my tour for visitors. They ate it up. Some even returning with coolers on the next visit.
So last night I pulled in to Stew’s with a mission. I was focused. Lemons, spaghetti and home again. No heavenly smelling fresh baked bread, no mozzarella ball samples, no singing produce would distract me! “We’re Dole fresh vegetables, we’re gooood for yooooouuuu!” No! Lemons, spaghetti, home! What?! 24 roses for $12.99? Sold. I deserve roses, dammit.
So back home with lovely pink roses looking on admiringly, I prepared Lemon Spaghetti. I halved the recipe since just cooking for lil’ ol’ me and whisked olive oil, Parmesan, lemon juice and salt and pepper in a bowl and set it in the fridge. (I’ve concluded that whisking has to be one of my favorite cooking tasks mostly because of the word- whisk! Love it!) Anyways, eight minutes later my spaghetti is cooked and I toss it in the lemony sauce. Salt and pepper on top and I sit down with my wine (and my roses, yay) and enjoy a lovely Everyday Italian meal.
8 recipes down, 117 to go.
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