Sometimes the snow is just so beautiful. Today the flakes are big and fat. Not falling. They’re floating. That should be a meteorological term. Let’s go outside this morning and enjoy the snowfloat. The chairs we might fold open in the summer, taking a seat at the edge of the driveway to enjoy the sun, we could do that now, put on sufficient clothes, go outside and snowbathe.
Days like today everything slows down. Cars pass by the house at a crawl. A few people walk down our street in their heavy boots, going out for a salubrious trudge. On a day like today I always want to eat pasta, the ultimate comfort food. Its warm bulk fortifies us against the cold.
I had a sauce in mind and looked it up, tagliatelle con piselli–essentially pasta and peas. This from Elena Trabucchi, somewhere online, “una ricetta che preparava spesso mia mamma sono le tagliatelle con piselli e pomodoro.” Her mother’s dish. My mother-in-law’s dish. So simple and delicious. It could also be your dish.
A small onion, between golf and tennis ball size, diced and gently sauteed in olive oil. In the winter, a cup of frozen peas, added to the onion saute, which you warm together with a few tablespoons of water. Just a couple minutes. Then the tomato puree. Go easy. What you see below, about half a cup. (I love Mutti but any brand is probably fine. No spices!) Low heat, add a tablespoon of water and cook 15-20 minutes. Onion, sweet. Peas, sweet. Tomato, sweet. Put them together and whatta ya got? Right.
Add a little salt when you shut the heat off. Signora Elena indicates tagliatelle. That would have been my mother-in-law’s choice (she made her own). Today we went with campanelle (little bells) shown at the top of this page. Really, any pasta will do.