Or, what to eat when you want your tastebuds to feel better than your political sensibilities.
This recipe, loosely adapted from Alana Chernila’s wonderful The Homemade Kitchen, is a smack in the lemony face to your quick bowl of noodles. The only trick is that you need to have some roasted garlic on hand, which I was sadly lacking when I first attempted this recipe. Not to be deterred, I did a quick 20 minute roast of some bulbs I had stockpiled after the holidays, and this warm hug/culinary adventure unfolded before me.
I started today by reading the news with breakfast, which might have been my first mistake. I recently read a study claiming that a bad news start to the day, or in my case the grim state that comes from reading said bad news, continues on with you throughout the rest of the day. Folks conducting the study actually measured how much more depressed you were by the end of the day, in comparison to starting your day with positive thinking, flowers, or cuddling puppies (ok not really compared with those, but just imagine what such morning experiences might do to your five o’clock self!). After reading this, and recognizing that the negative carry-through idea totally makes sense, I resolved to avoid reading the news in the morning. Clearly my resolve is not as resolute as it should be.
I can, however, state with conviction that a fragrant, pickle-y lemon, combined with the pungent glory that is lots of roasted garlic, emulsified with a bit of help from their friends oil, cheese, pasta water, and parsley, combines into a glorious thing. You feel clever, as if you have pulled something off. A bit of power, snatched back from the grinding gears of the presidential transition. Do it.
A note: next time, I will almost certainly add some bitter greens, like broccoli rabe, and some toasted nuts of some sort. Let me know if you try it.
- 1 lb linguine
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup finely chopped preserved lemon (about ¼ - ⅓ of a preserved lemon, depending on size)
- 2 heads of roasted garlic, each clove squeezed from its skin
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped parsley
- coarsely ground black pepper
- To roast the garlic: cut off the very tops of the bulbs. Place each bulb in a foil cup, and place each foil parcel in the cup of a muffin tin (I did only two bulbs, placed in the center cups of the tin). Pour a dash of olive oil in each cup and seal the top. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, and check for spread-ability. Cloves should be very soft and slightly golden brown.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Cook the Linguine until al dente, according to package directions. Save 1 cup of cooking water before draining the pasta; transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- While pasta is cooking, heat 2 tablespoons of oil to medium-low in a large skillet.
- Add the thyme, the preserved lemon, and the garlic cloves (after you have squeezed them from their papery packaging). Stir and mash everything together until the entire mixture has a chance to mingle and disintegrate a bit. Chernila calls this stage of her recipe a "relish", which I found helpful. Cook 3-5 minutes.
- Remove lemon/garlic mixture from heat and add to pasta in mixing bowl. Add cheese, pasta water, and parsley, mixing well and scraping both bowl and spoon/tongs for relish-y bits. Don't let the flavor clump itself on your mixing spoon.
- Add more water if the sauce seems thick; top with more parsley and lots of black pepper.