I planted the seed......

One of the great things about 'spending your life' with the same person is that you know how to manipulate coerce your partner into doing just about anything you want him to do.  Today, was the first day of my summer holidays. I had planned to do a little laundry, do a little gardening, ride my bike and even blog a little. I was excited to have several hours to myself with the Chef busying himself at work and the crumbcatchers at school. That all came to a crashing halt when the chef ended up with a bad dose of 'early summer flu' aka manFLU so I had to put my selfish desires of day-off-dreamery aside and act a little 'nurse-like' for a few hours. (ewwwww).  

Dangling Winter 2009 Issue No. 83 of 'The Art of Eating' in front of the chefs runny nose I propped him up in bed with fluffy pillows and left him to while away a few hours after I took the kids to school. Whilst out watering his 'offspring' in the pollytunnel it was brought to my attention that there was an abundance of parsley taking over a top corner of the plot. Shaving it closely and leaving loads for friends, I plucked enough for a large bowl of tabbouleh figuring I'd be left to my own devices for dinner. (cue evil laugh here....I had a plan!)

Buttering him up like a fat pig for slaughter, I fed him on of his favourite comfort foods for lunch (Grilled Cheese sandwich with soft cooked egg ontop) and as we chatted about the cost of drugs for a simple 'manFlu' being outrageous (EIGHTY euros) I proposed we come up with interesting ways to deal with the excess parsley so's as not to waste it.

As luck would have it, the Chef had just read a recipe using parsley in his favourite foodie rag. Should he be 'feeling up to it' later he would try to give it a whirl! (return of evil laugh - the man cannot resist this food magazine. EVERY time he reads it, he has to stop what he is is doing and make something).

With both ducks laying lovely eggs daily now we have no shortage of fresh eggs around here (also needed for the recipe) so off I went in search of a few for the 'ailing' Chef.

Bagnét Verd is a very common sauce in Italy and this recipe is from Ristorante Moderne, Carrú, Italy.

WhatchaNeed:

• 2 large handfuls of flat leaf/Italian or curly parsley
• 3 cloves of garlic (or more if you are trying to keep Dracula at bay)
• 2 yolks of hard-boiled eggs (cooled)
• 2 salted anchovies (rinsed)
• 10 salted capers (rinsed and squeeze the water out)
• 4oz (100gr) day old bread (remove crusts)
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil (more if you want a more fluid sauce-like texture)
• 1/4 cup cider/white wine vinegar
• A sprinkling o' salt

HowTaMakeIt:

• Finely chop the following: parsley, garlic, anchovies, capers and bread. With the egg yolks gently mix those ingredients in a bowl. 
• Add the oil, vinegar and salt to taste.
• Let stand in a cool place for an hour or two before eating.

It is that simple and it is that damn good. We had this dolloped atop of some braised chicken thighs (from The Friendly Farmer) and the kids ate the lion's share of this meal. That says it all folks!

Those are all the WiseWords I have for this evening,

WiseMóna