What happens in Book Club...

...gets shared and enjoyed! This month’s Foodie Book Club reading was Cherries in Winter: My Family’s Recipe for Hope in Hard times, by Suzan Colón.  

Our author’s family faced tough times by putting up soup. Me, I fix pasta. Her mother and grandmother share expensive cherries in winter: “the snap of the skin, the tart juice tasting of summers past and the summer to come.” For my part, it’s capers and good olive oil.

In keeping with the theme of the book, we brought “comfort food” to our gathering: something that got us through hard times or was a family favorite. My offering hearkened back not to the Depression or to a deprived childhood (mine wasn’t) but to my days as a college student.

I ate a lot of pasta. (For you young people, pasta was my generation’s Ramen.) But since I have an Italian mother, you know I wouldn’t settle for spaghetti and Ragú. It didn’t cost any more to buy capellini or mostaccioli or my favorite, farfalle. I could toss it with some tuna, sprinkle a little cheese, or add some of those cheap onions. I would indulge in a little jar of capers, because they added a lot of flavor and always seemed so elegant.

 

Book Club Pasta

1 box Farfalle (Bow Tie Pasta)

2 cans diced tomatoes

Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Italian Herbs

Capers

Cook the pasta, drain. Pour in the tomatoes including liquid. Add olive oil, salt and herbs to taste. Add capers, heat until warmed through.

Cover with foil, put in a box or bag and head to Book Club. Eat leftovers for lunch the next day.