Bad neighbours that we are - we hadn’t yet managed to arrange the 2nd lunch with our friends round the corner given the two batches of chums we’ve had to stay over the past couple of weeks and friends in Bordeaux we’ve visited and the vegetable patch that needs our constant attention less because there’s any more to do than watering and weeding and more to do with the fact we simply like spending time watching things come to life!
So it was that last Friday our neighbours called us on the telephone (getting lots of phone practice - although we’re not quite there - one of my sisters called the other day and began the conversation with a very well spoken ‘bonjour’ and when I responded obviously unsure as to who was on the other end she did say she heard the fear in my voice!) to let us know they were having “brochettes” (kebabs) on Tuesday (today) and invited us to join them.
So we set off today not quite sure what to expect to discover that we were only 2 of a party of 9 in total comprised of our other neighbours (the ones who gave us the 12 tomato plants) and another couple of long standing friends of our chums, (a friendship that stretches back more than 50 years) who’d heard all about the funny english couple with the chinese tractor!
We had a really lovely lunch that lasted 4 hours (Tony’s a little scarred by it this time round because he and one of our friends hadn’t gone to bed until the wee hours of the morning this morning so he was ill prepared for 4 hours of grilling (both us and the kebabs) in french!), and once again lived to tell the tale.
Thankfully, I had the opportunity to apologise that we hadn’t had them back to ours yet and said that instead of once a week for the month of June perhaps we could do lunch once a month for the duration of the summer, which was agreed upon.
During lunch I decided to try out a joke that we’d heard not long ago which is really intended for english people who understand french and I wasn’t sure if it would work - I can now confirm it doesn’t really but we still found it amusing - it’s a play on the words used for bat (which literally translates as “bald mouse”) and mouse and in french you ask what the word for a bat with a wig is.....which is of course a mouse but as “bald mouse” just means ‘bat’ in french it doesn’t strictly work as a joke!
Last night we remembered a good friend in Cayman very fondly as we enjoyed her chili and lemon shrimp linguine - recipe below and I really can’t recommend it highly enough - it’s very straightforward and thoroughly delicious - the first time we made it we didn’t have any parmesan so we simply crumbled some feta on top for serving which was equally delicious.
You will need
1 pound tagliatelle, linguine or spaghetti
1 pound uncooked shrimp (peeled and deveined and thawed if frozen - I like to leave the tails on for aesthetic reasons but not vital)
3 lemons
1 cup parmesan
dried chili flakes (to taste - approx 1/2 - 1 tsp)
fresh bunch of parsley
fresh basil leaves
4 shallots, sliced
2 cloves garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup white wine (and 1 for the chef!)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Bring a large pot of water to a boil (I add salt and a splash of olive oil to stop the pasta sticking).
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. While pan is heating toss the shrimp with salt, pepper and chili flakes.
Add a generous splash of olive oil to the hot pan then add shrimp in a single layer - let them sizzle until the edges go crispy without over cooking the shrimp - this won’t take long - remove the shrimp and set aside.
Add shallots and garlic to the pan and saute until translucent but not discoloured then add the large can of tomatoes and the wine - leave the mixture to reduce by half.
Add pasta of choice to the boiling water and cook until al dente.
While pasta is cooking and sauce is reducing, zest 3 lemons into a large bowl, add the parmesan, remaining olive oil, parsley, salt (about 1/2 tsp) and the juice of 2 of the lemons. When the pasta is cooked, drain and toss with the lemon mixture.
Add shrimp and a large handful of basil to the tomato mixture - toss, check for seasoning and serve on top of the pasta with extra parsley and parmesan.
BON APETIT
No comments:
Post a Comment