Easter In Jacarilla

                                         The easter procession in Jacarilla

As we head off to Spain I always think of my mother Constance, but for her and my father we wouldn't own a property in Spain. My parents died within four years of each other, untimely deaths, and all their years of hard work and diligence saw them never reaching retirement age and reaping the benefits. When we first visited Jacarilla with it's beautiful church, historic palace surrounded by gorgeous gardens and woods and it's spiritual little sea rock grotto of the virgin where villagers light candles for their loved ones, I knew mum would have loved it.

The sense of community, the al fresco eating, the paseo (a ritual of an evening stroll) the religious festivals, all of these would have appealed to my mother given her Italian blood.

Before my mother became unwell she had regularly expressed a desire to visit Passione, this was an Italian restaurant in the Fitzrovia district of London co owned by Jamie Oliver's mentor Gennaro Contaldo. Gennaro was a great favourite of my mother's and when he gave the restaurants name to his cookbook she bought it for me, to this day it is my favourite cookery book.

I actually booked a table on one occasion but something else came up and as you do I said to mum, we'll do it next month, but next month turned into another month and into a year............

We never actually made it to Passione and I deeply regret it! I do take some consolation in the fact my mother inscribed my lovely Passione cookbook and I think of her whenever I use one of Gennaro's recipes.

My last post was about simplifying the way you cook, I originally followed this next recipe to a tee, now I tweak it, it's basically so simple and so utterly delicious that it features regularly on our table. I'll give you Gennaro's recipe but think about using streaky bacon in place of pancetta, mixed frozen veg instead of peas, cream cheese rather than ricotta and even a little grated Cheddar if you don't have parmesan.

Pasta with peas, pancetta and ricotta

Recipe
Pasta
Olive oil
Pancetta, cut into thin strips
Onion, peeled and finely sliced
Peas, fresh or frozen
Ricotta cheese
Grated parmesan
Black pepper

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions
Meanwhile, heat a glug of olive oil in a large pan
Add the pancetta and cook until crisp

                   
     Remove pancetta with a slotted spoon and set to one side

                                   
  Fry onion in the same pan until golden

Stir in the peas with a little water
Drain the pasta

Add the ricotta to the pasta with a little reserved cooking water and stir

Add the pasta to the onions and peas, add the pancetta and mix well, season with black pepper
Serve into warm bowls and serve immediately with a sprinkling of parmesan

I haven't given quantities as I'll let you be a judge of that, you know how much pasta per person your family likes, you might want lots of pancetta I use anything between 50g/100g for 4 and 120g ricotta. Sometimes I'll add quite alot of peas, other times a small handful, just adapt it to suit your tastes.

'I will look after you and I will look after anybody you say needs to be looked after, anyway you say. I am here. I brought my whole self to you. I am your mother.'
-Maya Angelou

Love Donna xxxxx