Food is love... Love is carbs

Passport & Plate - Pasta primavera del cuore

Italy | Wednesday, March 4, 2015 | 4 photos

Ingredients
-Thin spaghetti
-Pinch of Sea salt
-Olive oil
-3 cloves garlic
-2 bunches fresh asparagus
-150 g Sliced pancetta (or prosciutto)
-1/4 cup white wine (pinot grigio is good)
-200ml vegetable stock
-Cracked pepper to taste
-Baby spinach leaves
-Chopped fresh parsley
-Reggiano parmesan for serving

 

How to prepare this recipe
Cook thin spaghetti in boiling water with a pinch of sea salt. While it's boiling, add olive oil and garlic to a frypan. When aromatic, add chopped fresh asparagus spears and torn pancetta (could substitute with prosciutto). Stir as you fry the pancetta and asparagus, and when asparagus is slightly softened add the white wine. Boil until reduced by half, then add 200ml of vegetable stock and pepper to taste. Cook for 5 minutes, then add drained pasta to the pan along with fresh baby spinach leaves and chopped parsley. Once pasta is coated with the delicious sauce, serve with more parsley and reggiano Parmesan on top. Pop the cork on a chilled rose or white wine and enjoy!!

 

The story behind this recipe
Love is a funny thing: Sometimes it needs strength to weather a storm. Or London's famously bad weather.
What a bad decision... Two lovebirds, happy in their warm Sydney nest, decide to shake things up by flying to London for the winter. They did all the right things: Foolishly, they thought that their intricate preparations could protect them from unforseen incidents. Incidents like the GFC. Yeah, didn't see that one coming.
Months went by - cold, wet, depressing months without jobs and money - and they began to question their love. Was the stress more than just stress? Was this a sad, cold ending to such a promising relationship, so far from home?
One of the birds decided that Italy was the answer: After all, if you can't find your love again in Italy, where can you? She booked a surprise weekend away in one of the most loved-up destinations in the world: Venice. It was only a hop, skip and a jump to where her extended family lived, and it was time her lovebird knew about her culture. No, not just pasta and gelato: It was more than that.
Italy is more than that.
It's an espresso so strong that you are jolted into reality as the golden sun comes up over the piazza. It's architecture that speaks to you, tells you all its secrets. It's mamma's pasta.
A weekend or a decade later we returned to cold, wet London. He kissed her passionately and said: "Let's go home."
Five years, a wedding, and a lot more sunshine later, she makes him her version of mamma's pasta when things get tough.
After all, food is love... and love is carbs.