Dec 31 2009
Trattoria-stylee
A couple of posts back I cooked the Nigel Slater lamb (with Mediterranean flavours), for which I’d purchased a couple of those annoying fiddly little packets of herbs that always go limp in the fridge and make you wonder why you don’t grow your own herbs (until you remember you live in a third floor flat in Scotland right next to one of Edinburgh’s most polluted streets). I assumed they’d end up for the chuck so resolved to make a proper effort to cook with them. There were herby salads, garnishes and fragrant tomato sauces. In the end very little of either herb went to waste. This concoction stood out- it had Dougal practically jumping up and down- for its decidedly restauranty flavours.
It wasn’t really anything fancy. I got some happy chicken and pan fried it in olive oil with buckets of garlic till it was all tinged and fragrant and lovely. Then some cream went over the top, with oregano and thyme, and the whole lot was allowed to meld and bubble down. Served with tagliatelle, oven-roasted red and yellow peppers (need an excuse to get the oven on on these cold dark nights) and some peas to up the veg count a bit. It really did taste like something you might pay £8.95 for in a trusty tratt- what commendation!
YUM…