BUYER'S REMORSE

I kind of went nuts shopping at the farmer's market last week. Somehow, magically, I ended up with massive amounts ginger in my bag.Good for digestion and circulation, I've been finding all sorts of creative ways of incorporating this little root in my diet. When I stumbled on a recipe that incorporated ginger with three of my favorite foods (pasta, lemon and garlic) I was thrilled.

Traditionally, this recipe is made with linguine but I wanted to make it with some type of pasta that would better hold the sauce. Make slightly more sauce if you're using whole wheat pasta, as I find it takes more potency to flavor that style of pasta.

If you're feeling a little ginger-phobic, don't worry. The lemon-garlic is the dominant flavor in this dish, with the ginger making a nice appearance as an aftertaste:

Rotini al Limone e Zenzero
Musical Accompaniment: Filligar, The Nerve (http://www.filligar.com)


About 3 handfulls of rotini (you want ~ a cup of pasta per person)
1 lemon
1 slice of ginger, grated (about the size of a nickel)
4 tablespoons of olive oil
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/4 cup of dry white wine
pinch of parsley
pinch of salt
black pepper

Zest the lemon (just peel the yellow in long strips, instead of using a grater. you'll thank me later)
Pour the 1/4 cup of white wine into a sauce pan and add lemon zest. simmer for 3-4 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix the lemon juice with 4 tablespoons of olive oil with the garlic, parsley, and black pepper in a separate bowl.
Strain the lemon zest from the wine, and pour the wine into the lemon-oil-garlic mixture. set aside.
Cook pasta until it's al dente (not floppy !!!). Drain pasta, reserving about half a cup of water in the saucepan.
Put pasta and sauce in saucepan, grate the fresh ginger over the pasta and stir. cook on low heat for about 3 minutes.
Serves 2.