Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Meal-making Music: Fleetwood Mac's Rumours


I almost always have NPR or BBC4 on when I wash dishes or sometimes I'll crank up the volume on Hall & Oats or Paul's double-disc Bad Company greatest hits album. Occasionally, I even decide to put on some music while I cook. It definitely makes the process more fun. Of course, it's important to pick music that accompanies whatever it is I'm cooking. Lentils always seem rather 1970s to me, so some vintage vinyl was in order.



If you fire up the turntable after the lentils come to a boil, you'll be putting everything out on the table as "Gold Dust Woman" plays. Yes, the prep time on this recipe is about the length of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. Awesome, right? Though not a particularly original choice on my part, Rumours has got to be one of the best albums ever ever. I listen to the entire thing. Even the songs that weren't hits.

In high school, one of my friends loaned me his copy of Rumours, I fell in love and I've had the album on two iPods and an iPhone since then. Saturday was the first time I've ever heard it on vinyl. Paul and I have a stack of LPs that we've bought over the years because we always intended to buy a turntable and never got around to it until this weekend. (I think it's funny that we're just young enough that the record-store owner looked a little skeptical when we told him we knew how to use a record player.) I'm looking forward to getting to listen to my collection and shopping for new (to me) records.



Lentil and Lemon Pasta

3 oz. red lentils
6 oz. fusilli pasta (or other pasta shape, I'm not picky)
2 tablespoons "pasture" butter
1 leek, white and light green part, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 lemon
several sprigs of parsley, leaves minced
heavy cream, to finish
sea salt

Place the lentils in a sieve and give them a good rinse, then place them in a medium saucepan and cover with water by a couple of inches. Bring to a boil and then simmer for half an hour (seasoning with salt 10 minutes in). Drain then return to saucepan to keep warm.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. In a small sauté pan, melt the butter and sauté the leek over medium heat until it's softened and just starting to brown (about 10 minutes). Throw in the garlic and stir around just until you're starting to get a whiff of garlicky goodness from the pan. Remove pan from the heat.

Drain the pasta and return it to the pasta pot. Add the lentils ant the sautéed leeks and garlic (and the butter you sautéed them in). Grate the lemon zest into the pasta, then juice the lemon and add the lemon juice, as well. Add minced parsley and stir together. Add enough heavy cream to coat the pasta. Season to taste with sea salt.

Serves 2

Adapted from "Lentil and Lemon Fettuccine" at BBC Good Food.


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About the ingredients:
The pasta is from a company that claims to have made it the same way since 1366 or something. I guess that's good enough for me. Everything is organic. (The parsley is even super-local--from my kitchen garden!) Pasture butter means it's from cows that eat grass. Most cows actually don't. (More info here.) If you can find it, raw or vat-pasteurized cream that hasn't been homogenized is ideal.

18 comments:

  1. Oh yum, this looks great! And I looooove Rumours TOO! I went through a bit of a Stevie phase when I was in college ;) driving home from Stillwaters listening to, yep, Rumours. I even saw Stevie in concert!
    Good to know this is a good cooking record! Now, have you watched Wizard of Oz to Dark Side of the Moon yet? ;)

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    1. I had a friend in high school (we were actually in a band together for a while) who was obsessed with Dark Side of the Moon and synching it up to The Wizard of Oz. I confess, I've never watched it. The Wizard of Oz has never been one of my favorite movies.

      Speaking of the college drive, I made the I-35 Norman-to-OKC route many a time. I haven't driven on a highway since I left Oklahoma, though. I think the highway system here in Wichita is really scary--a lot of suicide lanes plus the worst drivers ever. I have never encountered worse drivers anywhere in the world and, considering I've been to Texas many times, that's saying something.

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  2. I love the combination of lentils and pasta. And yes, I still have the vinyl version of Rumors. I am sure it's the second one because I wore out the first. It so great. I heard they are going on tour again soon.

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    1. I actually had to buy a second copy, as well. The first one I bought was totally scratched up. I don't know what I payed for the first, but the second was only $7. Of course the digital download from Amazon is only $5, but I feel like I get so much more when there's an actual record in front of me. Plus, with the digital download, you don't get all the liner notes and the photos.

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  3. Lentils are one of my favorite things and I love them with pasta. A little olive oil and I'm good to go. This sounds amazing though so I will have to give it a try.

    I saw Fleetwood Mac in Dalls during their reunion tour and had a wonderful time.

    If you ever go to the flea market on south Meridian you can buy tons of records for a few bucks each that are in terrific shape. I bought about a dozen a few months back for $15, mostly Julie London and some 80s stuff.

    I'm just ready for this heat to be over, and I've been here since 96 and this place still hasn't won me over :-)

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    1. Thanks for the suggestion about the flea market. I don't know that I've ever even been down to that part of Wichita before. I'll have to check it out this weekend. Paul and I have been sitting around this afternoon listening to Led Zeppelin, Huey Lewis and the News and The Eagles--all on vinyl. :-) Oooh, I love me some Julie London (and 80s stuff).

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  4. Cooking to music is just awesome and listening to Rumours would totally elevate the experience! I can always listen to Stevie Nicks. Congrats on your turntable!

    I'm with you on the pastured butter - so much healthier to get all those Omega 3s with the delicious butter. It's the only kind I buy now.

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    1. Ditto on the pasture butter. I usually buy two or three sticks at a time just in case they run out so I don't have to resort to Land o' Lakes.

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  5. Can you imagine the six foot tall fourteen year old that I was being obsessed with looking exactly like Stevie Nicks ? Platform boots, lace shawls, Edwardian-seventies-velvet...LORD I LOVE THAT WOMAN. My approximation might have been less-than-the-realness, but I sure enjoyed trying. Rumours, Tusk, and Fleetwood Mac (that first Buckingham/Nicks inclusive record) are like the holy trinity of my favorite-records-to-put-on-while-cooking. Or getting ready to go out. Or anything. It's like you read my mind! Atta girl with the lentils and lemon pasta (yum!) and record player acquisition. I need to subscribe via RSS so I don't miss these dang post, doing so right now. :)

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    1. At fourteen I was 5'3" and I'm still 5'3"! I imagine you towered over anyone and everyone with your platform boots. If I wear platforms, I'm around the same height as everyone else!

      Unfortunately, my record store only had Rumours or I would have definitely bought Fleetwood Mac and Tusk.

      Always happy to have a new RSS subscriber. :-)

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  6. The pasta sounds delicious! I have never been much of a Fleetwood Mac fan though.

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  7. Too bad we didn't keep our turntable - you could have had that one!

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  8. Pasta looks yummy! Errr....guess I need to listen to all of *Rumors* now. Oops. :)
    -Rebecca

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  9. Oh my goodness, some cows don't eat grass? I am so naive!

    I never got into Fleetwood Mac but I think I should. There was that one song that the Smashing Pumpkins covered (I could sing it but can't remember the title) which is especially lovely.

    Recipe looks awesome as per usual! :)

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  10. My goodness, is your blog awesome! I love how each recipe has a fun story behind it. Lentil and lemon pasta with a side of Fleetwood Mac? Well, okay. Though I must confess that I need to get my hands on Rumors (how is it that you always seem to have every album but the one the need?).

    P.S.- Your caveat at the bottom cracked me up a little.

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  11. This pasta dish sounds scrumptious, Lauren. I am definitely going to try it. I'm always looking for vegetarian dishes that pack some punch. I love lentils, too.

    God only knows what cows think of their non-grass diet.

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  12. LOL, are you sure you're not my age??? Rumors was huge when I was in high school :) Your pasta looks excellent, too!!!

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