Pasta Extra Virgin Olive Oil Bliss

Well Peanut I am feeling pretty guilty seeing as how you have started the work out routine and I have just consumed not one but two bowls of pasta!! No one told me that when you marry an Italian they come with a disclaimer that reads "May cause spontaneous consumption of large quantities of delicious pasta" Yes, pasta night in our little abode has sadly come and gone once more and has filled our bellies to the brim and will hopefully keep us satisfied until next weeks pasta night. We ventured down to our little fresh food market or as Australians say Green Grocer and picked up wild field mushrooms, and fresh just rolled out peppercorn Pappardelle pasta (which is just a really wide flat pasta). From there we came home and Paul began to assemble his weekly masterpiece of tasty goodness. He always keeps what he is making me for pasta night top secret until he serves it to me in a bowl. Tonight he made Pappardelle Pasta with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, field mushrooms, fresh basil, fresh parsley, & topped it off with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Of course it was amazing made extra amazing by the olive oil that he used which of course comes fresh from his olive grove.....oh yes the man has an olive grove which produces the best olive oil I have ever laid taste buds on. His Mom and Dad slave away at the grove each year and every May we get freshly cold pressed olive oil from their grove. Me being an Oklahoma Girl with a Norwegian Mother means I was raised with all things butter!! Everything from the biscuits to the rice was made better with butter and then I met Paul and discovered quickly that not every family is alike especially when it comes to butter v.s. olive oil. In Paul's family even the cakes are made with olive oil and they do not take very kindly to someone asking for butter for their bread. Luckily Paul told me this before our first family dinner night. So Peanut with all this pasta eating I think I need to steal some work out routines of yours or maybe we can do a Skype work out session together? I have added the Paul's Pasta recipe for you below. It is very easy to make and if you can't find wild field mushrooms any mushrooms you can get your hands on will do. But remember what Julia Child told us in her cooking book...Don't Crowd the Mushrooms Ladies. Make sure you put a few sliced mushrooms in the pan to saute and make sure that each slice has plenty of room around it as to not crowd the mushrooms otherwise the pan will fill up with water from the mus

hrooms and it becomes a mess.

Paul's Pappardelle Pasta:

2 cloves of chopped garlic

2 handfuls of chopped fresh basil

1 handful of chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil plus more as needed

2 large field mushrooms sliced

1 packet of fresh pasta (serves two but double recipe for more and so on. If you cannot find fresh pasta then dried pasta works as well)

Put pot of water on to boil. And once boiling then put in fresh pasta while sauteing the mushrooms. If the pasta is not fresh and is dried pasta then put in pasta before you start to brown the mushrooms.

In a saute pan coat the bottom of the pan with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and saute the mushrooms and add salt and pepper. Brown the mushrooms and then add in the garlic and saute for 1 minute.

Once pasta is al dente then drain pasta and put the pasta into the pan with the extra virgin olive oil and the field mushrooms and mix all ingredients together.

Once mixed then serve pasta into bowls and sprinkle basil and parsley on top of the mixture and grate parmesan cheese on top and serve.