"Aunt Flora" news and stories

Yesterday, in my post about the Walnut Sauce recipe from 1978, I briefly mentioned one of the best meals I ever had. A few of you were tantalized by that hint and asked to hear the full story. Well, ask and ye shall receive.

My great-aunt Flora loved good food. In her prime, she was a psychiatrist and traveled to Paris at least once a year to shop for very expensive clothes and eat delicious things. In her retirement, she made a point of taking herself out to a very nice lunch several times a week. The summer when I was 12 years old, my mom and I were in Philadelphia visiting my grandmother and Flora invited us all to go out to lunch with her. She took us to a French restaurant called Michel's that doesn't exist anymore. I've lived in Philadelphia for the past six years now, and it was gone long before I got here.

I ordered one of the lunch specials, which was a plate of penne pasta in a creamy, beef-infused sauce. It was unlike anything I had ever tasted before. The pasta was perfectly cooked, so it still had a bite, and the ribs on each of the noodles helped carry the sauce to my mouth. The taste sang with notes of mushroom, cream, sage and beef. It was neither too rich, too salty or too beefy, instead just totally right. I can still remember the quiet that fell over me as I ate, slipping two noodles at a time onto the tines of my fork, trying not to eat too fast in order to lengthen the experience. It was the first time in my life that I understood the power that really wonderful food has to captivate.

Okay folks, now it's your turn. Tell us about your best meal!

My great-aunt Flora was something of a gourmet. She loved to cook and when time didn't permit to create something delicious, she loved even more to eat out. She was the one who took me out to eat one of the best meals of my life when I was 12 years old. It was so good that 16 years later, I can still conjure the taste memory of that dish. She also subscribed to Gourmet Magazine for about 25 years, keeping every single issue stacked in the closet of her spare bedroom. When it came time for her to move out of the apartment and into an assisted care facility, my cousin asked if I wanted any of the magazines. I took a scattering of them, ending up with about ten issues (these days I wish I had grabbed a few more, but I wasn't quite as interested in cooking four years ago as I am now).

Occasionally I pick up one of these magazines and flip through, looking for a little inspiration. Most of the time they are sort of dated and overly complex, but occasionally something jumps out at me. Today I am intrigued by a recipe for Walnut Sauce at the very back of the October 1978 issue. It seems to be a sort of pesto, but is rounded out with bread, milk and butter. They recommend serving it with pasta or steamed green vegetables and I think it sounds yummy. What do you think (the recipe is after the jump)?