Had I not been an active member of FFWD, I would have passed right on by this recipe in "Around My French Table". While I am huge fan of pasta, I'm not such a proponent of figs and raisins and when adding them all together in one dish, it definitely made me skeptical. However, I was willing to trust Dorie and go with it because of my love for the salty sweet combination of tastes...and because she (Dorie) has not steered me wrong yet... and because I am totally nuts about nuts!!!
With such a unique list of ingredients to start with (above), I told my self in the beginning that I would not be allowed to add any of my own ingredients into this mix. After all, what could I possibly add to this carnival of tastes?
However, I did not listen (an rarely ever do) to that little voice in my head and before long I had a baking sheet of fresh peas and chopped garlic all set to roast in the oven before adding it into my version of Beggar's Linguine. Is that so wrong? LOL
The list of ingredients for this recipe are now this: Butter (lots), pistachio's, almonds, figs, raisins, linguine, peas, garlic, Parmesan cheese, orange zest and chives. Needless to say, I was a bit worried what kind of reaction I'd get when I sat this dish down at the dinner table (not our usual Midwestern fare), so in addition to the pasta, I also grilled up a couple of big juicy steaks for the men in the house...just in case :)
It certainly is a pretty dish with all it's colors and textures (not to worry, the whole nuts and unshelled pistachio's are just for the photo. That's not the texture I was speaking about! ha,ha)...and guess what? We liked it, we really liked it!!!
I doubt this will become a "go to" dish in my repertoire of meal plans but it certainly was a tasty and fun meal to serve on a typically boring Wednesday night! Oh BTW, we ate the leftovers for dinner on Thursday night too and they were ever better the next day. Who knew? ... Dorie did!
The above is a trivet/tile I painted for Dorie a few months ago. I can only hope that she is using and displaying it in her own home kitchen and that it makes her smile...just like her recipes make me smile.
Come back next week because we'll be making a recipe for "Salted Butter Breakups" and they sound really, really good! I can't wait...more butter :)
Until we eat again,
Labels: almonds, FFWD, figs, pasta, pistachio nuts, raisins, Travel the world
