Dulcet Devotion

Wow! What. A. Week. Between the 365 Days of Dining Announcement (I’m a finalist!) and a new boss starting at work, by the time I get home at the end of the day, I am beat. Last night I was feeling especially frazzled and thought “I have nothing in the house for dinner and no time to make it!”  Which is silly, really, since cooking usually relaxes me. But when you’re feeling that way, you aren’t thinking rationally are you?

If you ever find yourself in a similar situation and say to yourself, “Ugh, let’s just order a pizza”, think twice! I have the perfect meal for you that is delicious, easy and even faster than the pizza guy.

Quicky Lemon Pasta

You’ve got pasta, right? And olive oil? Garlic? Check. How about a lemon, some chilli flakes, and parmesan? Of course! Kitchen basics! Well then you’re already ahead of the game. No lemons? No problem. You’ve probably got a bottle of Realemon kickin’ around in the back of the fridge anyway. No chillies but fresh parsley? It’s all good.

You get the picture. Whatever basics you have in the fridge become a masterpiece when added together with some herbs, spices and love.

Boil the pasta. Pour some oil in a bowl or wide plate and add the zest a lemon and minced garlic and let it ruminate. Grate some fresh parmesan cheese. Chop parsley or other fresh herbs if you’ve got them. Otherwise, decide which dried spices you’ll add.

Once you’ve organized that the pasta is ready! Drain it, quickly add back to the pot and pour the oil mixture over top. The heat from the pasta will perfume your kitchen like nothing else. Squeeze in some lemon. Stir. Add any other herbs and spices and the cheese and stir some more. Check the seasoning. Enjoy.

After I put this all together, I remembered that I had some leftover bread crumbs from Tuesday’s Caesar salad. So they went in too. It was a great addition of texture and flavour. No croutons? Try bread crumbs or crumbled crackers. There really are no wrong ingredients here. These are the kinds of meals that turn out better than complicated recipes: simple ingredients and savoury flavours.

What’s your go-to quicky meal when your stomach is yelling at you at the end of a long day? We can get a bit of a list started here for all to share.

One more thing before I sign off: I have to thank you all for come back again and again to read my blog. I appreciate you taking the time to read my stories and sometimes try out the recipes! Big thanks go out to you as well for supporting me through the Richmond, BC 365 Days of Dining Contest. I am currently in the top 12 and I’d love it if you’d continue to vote for me every 24 hrs until May 1st.

Help me get to foodie heaven:)