To go green or naked

I have to admit that the first time I saw a french fry sandwich with butter or mayonnaise on a menu, (a chip butty) I thought, there may be no return for the English (my husband).  The thing is, you can throw down your soap box, jump up onto it, and start judgement day early or just improve on a french fry sandwich. 
blogff0347.JPGCut a potato into matchsticks, get three cloves of minced garlic golden in olive oil with a minced shallot, add a sprig of marjoram (if you have it) and when the onion and garlic are gorgeous, about three tablespoons of chopped fresh parsely.  Season with salt.  Reserve all of this on the side.  Add another drizzle of olive oil and then your potatoes along with some salt.  Over medium heat let the potatoes get crisp and golden (don’t move them around in the pan) and then start to flip them around a bit with a spatula.  As soon as they are cooked through, add the garlic mixture.  Bring a pot of water to the boil, add salt to taste nearly like the sea, and add orchiette.  When the orchiette are al dente, drain well and then toss with the potatoes.  You can go the whole hog and top with some toasted croutons or pine nuts or just rip in some fresh mint and or basil leaves, and serve with a little green olive tapenade and shavings of parmesan, and on the side a salad of orange, red onion and tiny salad greens.  Also excellent with a cheese course.

(Just for the record, in Genoa, for possibly of hundreds years they have served a pasta dish with pesto, green beans and potato, which isn’t far off a chip butty, which at the end of the day, all right, it’s not so bad, even very good.  It’s a little bit like the difference between saying to hell with it and running into the river without, or wearing a bathing suit.)

1 thought on “To go green or naked

  1. “you can throw down your soap box, jump up onto it, and start judgement day early” what a great word picture.. thanks for the vision..

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