Alice Waters: Shrimp & Salad

Over the last few days I have been cooking extensively from the Alice Waters oeuvre, but a lot of it has been too undramatic to mention. A really terrific creamy cucumber salad. A pretty good braised duck. Another fine angel food cake. And so on.

 

But as this is my penultimate Alice Waters night, I feel compelled to issue a report. Once again Alice, my onetime nemesis, gets. . . and A+. Her sauteed shrimp and garlic (Simple Food) and Caesar Salad (Simple Food) are both astonishingly good. This was a messy meal we ate with our hands, but it was much appreciated by my finicky family. I think Isabel consumed one shrimp and a pound of salad. Owen ate two shrimps, a few Romaine leaves, and several dozen croutons. But no one threw a tantrum or even complained, and everything was delicious. 

What a triumph.

I am frankly astounded by how successful Alice Waters' Simple Food has been at helping me produce relatively popular weeknight meals. More on this later. Meanwhile, must  go help Isabel frost her Alice Waters chocolate cupcakes.

Tomorrow: Homemade spaghetti with meatballs and an apple tart.  Bonus: Pickled watermelon rind. 

And then we kiss Alice good-bye and move on to warmer climes where we will begin experimenting with filo dough, rosewater, and gum mastic.