Growing up I was somehow led to believe that eating starch with starch was somehow naughty. Not truly bad naughty, but devilish, sneaking candy before dinner naughty. Nowadays, whenever I make pasta with corn, I feel a bit like I just got away with something slightly illegal. The recipe for Pasta with Bacon and Corn, is from Dinner A Love Story, one of my favorite blogs. It’s a great read if you don’t know it.
All of the veggies tonight were from my csa box except for the corn which was frozen (organic sweet) corn. For the tomatoes, I just cut them into halves and chunks and drizzled them with olive oil, basil leaves and salt which I’d blended together with a hand-blender.
The whole meal can be made in 35 minutes if you put the pasta water on to boil right away, and remember to put the pasta in to cook as soon as the water boils. And also if you use frozen corn, cutting it from the cob would probably add 10 minutes or so.
One of the most important messages communicated in The Steady Table is the introduction of Fast Food alternatives. Having lived through the 1950s when ‘convenient’ food was first introduced- frozen vegetables – TV dinners – canned and jarred vegetables and pasta sauces – all foods that mostly moms made from scratch each day, it’s easy for me to understand the history behind our present fast food dilemma.
Today’s society eats all the time and everywhere – on the street, in cars, at desks, in front of TV, and because eating is so easily available to us, we have moved away from eating at table to eating everywhere and all the time.
My mother was a good cook. When ‘convenient’ food became available she introduced it to the family table only to realize that it was far inferior to what she prepared herself. I was not old enough to realize the reason for the shift – could it have been complaints from my dad? or was it a matter of pride on her part? Whatever the reason, we never became deeply involved in the fast food and adopted what Nina calls the steady table as part of our life as a family. It’s always interesting to me to see what remains and what is lost when children become adults. For me eating at table is significant in keeping family together, and this blog proves over and over again, Fast Food can be good food.