Wednesday, June 9, 2010

'Slap yo mama' good

When I was younger, the fam made occasional journeys to Sam's to stock up on staple items. Daniel and I liked to tag along so we could hit up the sweet old ladies with the "try me's". Once, a lady had meatballs at her little table and boy was she excited about those meatballs! We tried them, gave the obligatory "Mmm!", and then she told us we should try them with some pineapple. "It's so good, it'll make you wanna slap yo mama!", she told us. Eh, they weren't quite that good. However, I have discovered a recipe that will indeed make you want to "slap yo mama". It's a Pioneer Woman recipe; she's absolutely delightful and I think we're destined to be friends. Make this at your earliest convenience; it's stellar. Throw in some chicken (or shrimp, if you're into that sort of thing...I'm most certainly not) and a giant salad and you're all set!

Garlic-Lemon Pasta
1 lb. thin spaghetti or angel hair (I used whole wheat)
4 tbsp. salted butter (1/2 stick)
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 3 cloves because that's how I roll)
1 whole lemon, juiced and zested (I zested 2 lemons because, as with the garlic, if some is good, more is better)
2 cups sour cream
1/2 tsp. kosher salt, or more to taste (I used just a sprinkle...I don't like a lot of salt in this)
grated parmesan cheese
flat-leaf parsley, chopped
extra lemon juice

Boil pasta. While pasta is boiling, melt butter with olive oil over LOW heat. When butter is melted, add garlic. Squeeze lemon juice into pan. Turn off heat. (In the name of all that is good and kind, turn. off. the. heat. I didn't do this once and the resulting texture was quite...curdled. Ick.)

Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and a bit of the salt; taste as you go. Pour the sauce over the [drained] pasta. Squeeze on more lemon juice, and sprinkle on the parsley and parmesan cheese. Go slap yo mama.

*PW bakes her pasta, and I have done this in the past. It's still really good, but the sauce kind of vanishes in the baking process. It becomes more of a "noodle dish" instead of pasta and sauce, which is what I prefer. Here is the link to her recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/baked-lemon-pasta/ If you're not familiar with PW, plan to devote the rest of your week to looking around on her website. I dare you not to fall in love.

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