Feast

Whilst looking for new culinary treats I tripped over “Not Without Salt” and discovered Cacio e Pepe - a traditional Italian dish of spaghetti, pecorino cheese, butter and freshly ground pepper: “What these three ingredients do in combination with one another creates a full sympathy of flavor with a little orchestra. Salty and nutty, spicy and perfectly buttery. What it lacks in visual appeal it makes up for in savory perfection.” How could you resist that description? Just reading it made me salivate!

Following this recipe, I spent a relaxing Sunday afternoon foraging for the various ingredients we would need, and in the evening T and I cooked up a four-course feast with Cacio e Pepe as the star of the show.

• To drink whilst cooking: homemade Rhubarb Vodka and Fentimans Ginger Beer
• Nibbles: Finocchiona Marini (Italian salami with fennel seeds), green olives with lemon and baguette.
• Cacio e Pepe, and to accompany the main attraction, fennel, cherry tomato and basil salad with olive oil and sherry vinegar dressing. To drink: 2009 Greco di Tufo, 'LoLoggia della Serra', Terredora Campania.
  
• Monte Enebro (an amazing Spanish goats cheese with a dry ash rind) with homemade quince paste.
• Meringue with blackcurrants (from the allotment) and cream.

Ummm... the pasta more than lived up to its promise. Less is definitely more!

PS. Sorry, too distracted to take photos.