Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The Gratest Gift

Yes, I know, every gift our kids give us is perfect, wonderful, the best gift ever. But we all know the truth: kids are kids, and sometimes gifts just get…dusty.

Both kids have done exceedingly astoundingly well at times. The Girl once bought me a dress: not only does it fit, I really like it. It is something I would have chosen myself. Our styles are quite different, so I was pretty impressed. I don’t have that ability to look outside of what appeals to me and see what would work for someone else, but she has it in spades.

Today, however, I am going to talk to you about the first of two gifts – received years apart – from The Boy that changed my life.

Years ago – more than five, at least – he bought me a really good quality parmesan cheese grater. For reasons I no longer understand, at that time I didn’t buy actual Parmesan. It was either (I am having a hard time saying this, let alone believing I did this), the Kraft green cardboard container of grated something, or if I had the money a small tub of grated something. And this was despite baking for a deli, and having access to not just Parmesan but Asiago, Pecorino Romano and various other hard grating cheeses.



Having freshly grated good quality parmesan on good pasta was like being introduced to an entirely new type of food. It wasn’t merely pasta with poor quality cheese and then pasta with good quality cheese it was more the change that happens when you are older and you have your first home made Mac’n Cheese after a life time noodles from a box with powdered cheese.

The sharpness brought out flavours in the sauce I had made that I’d never noticed before. Its saltiness balanced the sweetness of the tomatoes. I think I even heard the pasta sing a little bit when the cheese floated onto it.

I still have that grater. And that baby is going with me when I get married: The Boy will have to get one of his own. In fact I think I will add to my parmesan grating tools. The grater I have makes quite fine shreds, which I love, but I’d like to be able to have something that grates a bit bigger. And a hard cheese shaver, to make those paper thin slices of parmesan that appear on really excellent quality Caesar Salads.

Now I’m off to buy ingredients for Serious Eats’ Mac n Cheese with black beans and chipotle.