the perfect dinner

Mai, the co-worker with whom I share my office since 2007, watches a TV show called perfect dinner. I have never seen it, but she says it's interesting. "Perfect dinner" is a reality show in which a person cooks "the perfect dinner" for other show participants. Mai is a psychologist and finds it fascinating to see how each cooking-host defines the "perfect" banquet; apparently the parameters that define that "perfection" hugely vary from one host to another.

This is my recipe for the perfect dinner:

Invite 2 or three friends; the evening will be more interesting if your guests don't know each other very well. Tell one of them to come at 7:00 pm so he/she helps you cooking, the other guest(s) should come later...let's say at 7:30 pm, since this last guest won't cook, he/she will do the dishes. Tell your friends they will eat on of the best pasta-dishes ever.

You will need simple stuff, so don't go to the supermarket, being home hearing your favourite radio station is nicer than spending 30-40 minutes buying groceries; but be sure to have two bottles of wine a chilled white wine and an oak-aged red (Yesterday we had an organic Cabernet Suavignon, oak aged, vintage 2006). You will need:
- Garlic
- Dried chillies
- Nuts (almonds, sunflower seeds, pecan nuts...walnuts also work)
- Pitted black olives
- Spaghetti
- Olive oil
- Lots of parsley

When your first guest arrives ask to help you cook. You both should fry with lots of olive oil at very low heat one chopped garlic clove for each guest, a teaspoon of dried chillies and two spoons of grounded nuts per guest. Slice 2 or 3 black olives per person Be sure that the oil boils lightly, if the garlic toasts this sauced is useless.

After 5 minutes of frying the ingredients, start preparing the spaghetti (use half a litre of boiling for guest). Start washing lettuce leaves (3-4 per guest), keep the salad simple: use only balsamic, olive oil and fresh basil leaves. Meanwhile, you or your guest should chop lots of parsley (1 tablespoon of chopped parsley per guest).

Turn off the pan where you are frying the garlic and the nuts.

About now, the rest of the guests will arrive. Open the white wine and make a toast. When the pasta is al dente, take it out of the stove; lightly rinse the spaghettis and leaving some of the water in the pot. Put the pasta back in the pot; add olive oil, the parsley and the stuff you have been frying. Mix all ingredients well.

While you do this, someone should look for a space to eat (the dinning room is ok, but try your own room or the kitchen itself), put chairs, forks and glasses for everyone. Serve the pasta on soup plates, shred heavy amounts of fresh parmesan or grana on top of the pasta.

Open the red wine, make a second toast, eat the spaghettis, have some salad. Finish the red, go back to the white (Finishing with the white wine is a good idea, since the meal is rather heavy).

If this dinner takes place during on Friday or Saturday, get your most expensive bottle of schnapps, rum or other distillate. Drink a glass or two with your friends and enjoy being with them!

Salud y buen provecho.