While Grannie and Grampie Camp was in full swing, I discovered that our progeny do not have any food allergies… or peculiarities. In fact, they eat anything and everything with gusto. One day Bob thought our sage was looking big and beautiful, so he put on his my apron to make pasta (from scratch) with Brown Butter Sage Sauce. This is a recipe we’ve repeated time and time again since traveling to Tuscany. Mind you, it’s not written down anywhere – Marco and Claudio must store millions of menus in their minds!
“It’s a matter of timing,” Bob said “you have to start the pasta water first, and finish by adding the pasta to the sauce with parmigiana.” Don’t forget, he actually made the pasta first! Then he presented me with a written essay. Needless to say, it’s heavenly:
SAGE SAUCE:
450 gm Pasta
150 gm butter
A good-sized handful of fresh sage leaves
1/2 cup of grated parmigiana/ and another 1/2 – 1 cup for finishing
Salt and pepper
“Put the pasta water on to boil (with a big pinch of salt). While it’s heating, get a very large skillet (large enough to hold all the cooked pasta after it’s cooked). Put 150 gm of butter and the sage leaves in the skillet. Add salt and pepper to taste (the cheese has a lot of salt so be careful). As soon as the butter melts and begins to bubble, turn off the heat.
When the water comes to a boil cook the pasta. Add a ladle of pasta water to the sage and butter skillet. As soon as pasta is done, drain and add to the skillet. Toss the sauce with the parmegiana until you have a thick, creamy, buttery sauce. Serve with a sprinkle of cheese on top.”
Bob
Now you know what dinners may look like at our place, I thought I’d go through a typical camp day with y’all. A big breakfast favorite is my French Toast, and the secret is shaking a little cinnamon/sugar into the egg mix – also about a teaspoon of milk. Then you can only top your creation with REAL maple syrup, or maybe Nutella… oh, and some fresh strawberries or blueberries on the side.
My general rule of NOT making lunch also applies here. Panera is always a good choice with the Grands, but we learned that a favorite Nashville restaurant also serves lunch – Jaspers. After a rainy morning trip to the Frist museum, we swung into Jaspers which has a whole room dedicated to games! Shuffleboard, PacMan, Air Hockey, Basketball… you name it they’ve got it. A veritable wonderland for kids!
Alas our camp days are over. The Bride and Groom returned from a trip to Northern Ireland yesterday. I know, I know, Northern Ireland? But the Groom was presenting his research paper to an international audience of critical care doctors to great acclaim! His study can also be found in this month’s New England Journal. If any of our Irish cousins are reading this, I apologize since they had no time for a visit to County Mayo.
And about the aforementioned pasta dish, we hardly had enough for the VA Grandparents, since the Grands seemed to love it! This was us at the Frist Museum.
MountainMornings 