Last Sunday though (I remember it well), a friend recommended a recent work by Rick Stein: Mediterranean Escapes. She mentioned several of the recipes she had tried successfully so, temporarily suspending my rule, off I went to the Book Depository and bought a copy which arrived on Wednesday.
In retrospect, the first recipe I chose to try, Spaghettini with anchovies, parsley and crisp breadcrumbs, was not a good one as hardly any of its exact ingredients are available in this country. The anchovies, for example, can only be found in a particular area of Sicily. Anyway, I soldiered on and bought the nearest substitutes that Sainsburys of Keighley could supply.
The spaghetti I chose was De Cecco. I discover now they have quite a web presence and their product is very good. Not that I’m a great pasta expert.
After several years of storing spaghetti on shelves in its original packets, risking breakage and spillage, I have decided at last I could do with a spaghetti jar. There are many available online.
This led me to remembering a comment I once heard made by Habitat founder Terence Conran. He was saying that when their first London store opened in the 1960s, the glass spaghetti jar was one of their most popular products, as most people had never seen one before. He recalled how one woman returned the shattered remains of hers, complaining that when she’d put the jar on her stove for the spaghetti to cook, it had broken. How ridiculous, I remember thinking at the time. How could anyone be so stupid? Looking back, I feel a tad guilty for having such a reaction. When Habitat opened, this country was at the tail-end of a post-war period which had included rationing, austerity and hardship for all. Throughout the previous three decades or so, ways of storing or cooking spaghetti were not high on people’s list of priorities.
The meal was quite good by the way. Only quite good.
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