International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day and Kochtopf is organizing a food event to celebrate. How could I NOT join the fun! Here in North America, women have certainly come a long way...being able to own property, choose who they want to marry - and, if necessary, divorce. They can go to university and become doctors, lawyers or anything else they wish to be. They can even become presidents of major corporations - perhaps even of the country! Women in other parts of the world are not nearly as fortunate, so I love the idea of this event to bring awareness. Out of that, hopefully, change for the better.

The theme of this event is to make a dish that's yellow - apparently, women in southern countries are given sprigs of Mimosa (one of my favorite harbingers of Spring!) as a sign of respect.

Yellow food....So what should I make? Corn on the cob smothered in butter was the first dish that popped into my head, but it's winter and the only corn I would be able to find would be tasteless. And then it came to me...What could be more yellow than pasta made with eggs like the artisan tagliatelle I happen to have on hand and creamy butter? Top that combo with some pale, salty Parmigianno Reggiano and it's a totally perfect Yellow meal.

Tagliatelle with Butter, Parmigianno Reggiano & Pepper

Funny story about this simply perfect dish... I was flipping through a new issue of Saveur, March 2008 . What was I thinking??? I mean, I'm supposed to be regrouping around the South Beach Diet. I try hard not to use butter...in fact, I use Olivina on my bread, I avoid baking...but the magazine was soooooo tempting. And what's the issue a tribute to?...BUTTER!!!

The lovely photo of spaghetti with butter and cheese had me dreaming about it for a week. So I bought some beautiful creamy unsalted butter and a hunk of good Parmigianno-Reggiano and tossed it with some pepper over the artisan tagliatelle. I ate it, I moaned over it...and then it hit me....I've been making fun of my little niece for years. Her favorite pasta...spaghetti with a dab of butter and sometimes some grated cheese. Perhaps I owe her an apology.

Please join in the IWD celebrations and share a special yellow post.