Это предварительный просмотр рецепта "Turkey and Green Bean Pasta Salad; An 'interesting' day".

Рецепт Turkey and Green Bean Pasta Salad; An 'interesting' day
by Katie Zeller

There is a Chinese curse: 'May you live in interesting times.'

Yesterday was an 'interesting' day.

It all started about 6am....

Our phone seldom rings.

Our phone never rings at 6 in the morning..... NEVER!

Mon mari is in hospital. He had surgery late in the afternoon on Tuesday. (more about that tomorrow)

At 6am, Wednesday morning, I am awakened out of a sound sleep by the phone ringing.

You can imagine the thoughts running through my head as I raced to the phone.

It was a wrong number.....

But what strange alignment of the planets caused me to get a pre-dawn wrong number on that day of all the days in the year?

Damn near gave me a heart attack!

I got my day organized and headed off to the hospital. Mon mari was still very groggy, so, after giving him a sip of water, plumping his pillows, and plugging in his phone, I left him to sleep.

Ninety minutes of driving, 10 minutes there, ninety minutes of driving.....

I went to my dentist appointment. I had my teeth cleaned in one of the most bizarre procedures.....

I left feeling like my mouth had been sandblasted - with salt. (more about that tomorrow)

It was now late afternoon, and I had been home about 10 minutes when the dogs started barking. I went outside and there was a sweet-looking, white-haired old man standing at my garden gate. He greeted me like a long lost friend.

I was clueless.

I finally realized that he wasn't telling me his name was 'Dubois' but that he was the man with 'du bois' - the wood. We had ordered 6 cubic meters of firewood to be delivered in September. He wants to deliver it now.

Naturally, he would deliver it while I'm here alone, 6 weeks earlier than planned. That should take care of my upper body exercises for a few days. It's in 1 meter lengths. He dumps it in a big pile and I'll have to haul it and stack it.

He reminded me to get the money. Firewood is a cash transaction here.

I went back in the house and looked around. I had been up until 1:30 the night before cooking and freezing vegetables. The kitchen was a mess; my bed still unmade as I was washing the linens... and so on....

I decided to have a cup of tea before tackling the clean-up.

It was our friend from Spain, who I haven't seen since Christmas.

He was on his way to England, had had a flat tire (during the lunch hour in France - took 3 1/2 hours to fix) which prevented him from getting to his planned stop and could he beg a bed.

Good thing I was in the middle of changing the linens....

We actually do have spare beds.... And had I known he was coming I would have dug one out of the barn and put it together for him. I slept on the couch.

Fortunately I had a bottle of wine chilling, because I had no food....

But I have a garden.

I thawed a bit of turkey and tossed together a pasta with fresh garden vegetables.

Then we sat up, talking and drinking wine until almost 2am.

So much for all the work I had scheduled.....

This morning I had to whip up an early breakfast so he could get on the road and catch his ferry.

As soon as I hit 'Publish' I'm off to the hospital.

I feel like (to quote my mother) something the cat dragged in....

But the pasta was good.

I'll send it over to Presto Pasta Nights.

It's back home with Ruth, of Once

Upon A Feast, the founder (over 3 years ago) of this delicious event.

She'll have the recap on

her blog on Friday.

Now, gotta run.....

Vinaigrette

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, rinse lightly in cold water.

Top and tail beans. Cut into 1" lengths (2.5cm). Quarter shallots. Cut turkey into bite-size pieces. Heat oil in a medium skillet. Add green beans and shallots, stir-fry 2 - 3 minutes, until just crisp-tender. Remove to a large bowl. Add turkey and stir-fry until lightly browned and cooked through. Remove and add to beans. Stir all to help cool a bit.

Cut tomato into large chunks. Snip basil. Make vinaigrette.

To finish: Add a bit of vinaigrette to turkey, beans, shallots, stir to combine. Add pasta, tomatoes, herbs and a bit more of the vinaigrette, stir gently and taste. Add more vinaigrette as desired. (I used it all.) Serve.

Vinaigrette

1 1/2 tsp Dijon-style mustard

1 1/2 tbs white Balsamic vinegar

3 tbs olive oil, the good stuff

Put all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk well to combine.

I will never complain about my garden again (today).

Tonight I'm having an omelet and going to bed.... early!