Yesterday, at some point in the afternoon, I considered vacuuming out the sliding drawers that are my pantry. The thing is, you can close a drawer as fast as you can open it, and move onto bigger and better before you get too worried about it. Yesterday though, the drawer wouldn’t close. There is too much in there, not even counting the crumbs. Oprah is on to something with the medicine cabinet rule–if you haven’t used something for six months (or an unknown number of years), there is a pretty good chance that it’s life is going to be lived out in a drawer with no hope of any other purpose.
I’m throwing away caramel colored cocoa puff balls, cammomile tea and clumped up sweetened coconut that I froze for a few years, and then somehow it moved back to the drawer.
To keep the red pepper flakes in the running for keeping their address, I am going to make spaghetti al limone with some heat. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil (the water should taste like a well seasoned soup). In a heavy saute pan, drizzle in the best olive oil you’ve got and get it heating up over a medium flame. Add three to four cloves of flattened and minced fresh garlic and saute them with a pinch of salt until they are beginning to go golden. Turn down the flame. Immediately add 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley and a tablespoon of chopped fresh mint. Let the herbs go a dark green, but nowhere near brown. Turn off the heat. Add a tablespoon of fresh lemon zest (no pith) and a quarter teaspoon of red pepper flakes. When the pasta is al dente, drain well, keeping a little of the cooking water in a cup. Add the pasta to the frying pan along with garlic (no fire) and a tablespoon or two of the cooking water. Taste for salt. Give a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice, and about a quarter cup of homemade fine toasted bread crumbs. Add grated parmegiano reggiano serve with a good plate sauted escarole and garlic and some hard boiled eggs with a little aoili.