Why are these 3 little words that I never hear from my daughter? She never tires of it, which means that if she can possibly help it we have pasta several times a week. Not a terrible prospect, I agree as there are so many delicious variations out there. So why is it that we keep having the same old thing over and over?

‘Oh, didn’t anyone tell you? That’s what kids do. It’s in the manual. ‘

Oh yeah, that must have been the day I was daydreaming about pan seared scallops and Cape Sauvignon steamed mussels with crispy pancetta wisps and…oh yes, we were talking about kids, I mean, pasta! Well I was going to say with squid ink linguine… No, I wasn’t really, but doesn’t it sound delicious?

Well, back to dinner then. It’s Friday night which generally means I’m feeling lazy and Dakota gets to choose. She almost always chooses a quick pasta, making this a good arrangement all around. ‘So what exciting ingredients did you buy today mom?’ is another string of words that are never ushered by my daughter. Sheer masochism makes me persist in asking: ‘What kind of pasta would you like tonight babe?’ Knowing full well that the answer will be, yes…and it is….’with tomato sauce, of course Mother!’ I’m Mother with a Capital M quite often these days. The ‘Silly Question!’ remains unsaid.

So here’s another one for the 30 Second Suppers then. Not literally, but the actual work involved in this dish adds up to not much more than a few minutes.

Spinach Trottole with Slow-cooked Tomato Sauce, Wilted Spinach and Buffalo Mozarella

• I put a pot of water on to boil.

• When it’s rolling I add pasta (tonight - some organic spinach trottole) We’ll have to check with Sognatrice exactly what that means, but I’m going with ’spiral thingies’.

• I bring the water back up to the bubble and let it boil for two minutes. Then I take it off the heat, put a lid on and let it steam for 10 minutes (the amount of time directed on the packet)

• While that sits I put a fresh ball of buffalo mozzarella in a side dish, wash and shred some spinach from the garden and …and….

I think I’ll just go and check my emails.

• pasta time is up - I drain it, toss some olive oil and some bottled slow-cooked tomato sauce I made earlier in the month, into the pan.

• I stir it all around and put it back on the heat to warm through, stirring in the spinach to wilt and putting the lid back on for a minute.

• I spoon it into a shallow bowl, chop some fresh herbs in (hoping she’ll miss them amongst the shredded spinach) and I yell: Supper’s ready.

She knows it’s pasta so I don’t have to yell a second time. She washes her hands, and proceeds to decorate her pasta with bits of freshly ripped mozzarella. In fact she’s shredding, decorating and nibbling at the same time. ‘Babe! Wait until you sit down, please!’

We carry our pasta bowls through to the dining room and I watch Dakota as she ’settles’ her bowl. Turning it round and round like a restless puppy until she finds just the right angle. I guess she wants to start with the most yummy bit. Just before she digs in she glances up and I know what’s coming.

‘You’re the best mom in the world!’

I can’t help my Cheshire cat smile. Sometimes life is sooo easy. It’s ten minutes since I walked in the door, supper’s on the table. My darling daughter is in 7th heaven, and it’s Friday night.

Aaah, I love weekends.

Oh yes, and this is my entry for Ruth’s Presto Pasta Night. As usual Ruth, I’ve got my post in at the last minute, but we generally eat pasta on Friday and I’ll have forgotten what I did by next week. For other great pasta ideas check here. Have a good weekend everyone.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS