Quick-Blistered Tomato Tagliatelle from the new Trish Magwood’s cookbook, My New Table: Everyday Inspiration for Eating + Living.
It has been a decade since Trish Magwood last published a cookbook and a great deal has happened in those intervening years. Her young children grew into teens, she went through a divorce, she moved out of the family home and she purchased a new one, which she has just finished renovating.
In the midst of all that change, Magwood says the one constant in her life – the one thing that kept her grounded – was her kitchen table. It’s the place that brings her family together and keeps them together, where they share stories, laughs and lots of good food.
It’s only fitting, then, that Magwood’s third cookbook is called My New Table: Everyday Inspiration for Eating + Living, and it is defined by her experiences of the last 10 years, moving homes, blending two families and learning to find inspiration in simple, everyday things.
Although there are 100 recipes, My New Table is not just a cookbook – it’s a visual compendium of all the things that make Magwood happy, from fresh produce hand-picked at her parent’s farm in Creemore, Ont., to antique serving pieces she’s found on her travels, cozy nooks in her new home to photos of her children, at the table or helping to make something in the kitchen.
“My New Table is a reflection of the more simple way I eat and live now,” says Magwood, who divides her time between her home in Toronto and Creemore, a rural community north of the city. “With age comes wisdom and I’ve learned that some of the most delicious meals are made with farm-fresh ingredients that need very little done to them.”
There are recipes for simple snacks (Parmesan and Panko Snap Peas), salads (Cherries and Tomatoes with Burrata), hearty soups (Forest Mushroom), simple sides (Honey-Fired Roasted Carrots) and mains, such as Spaghetti Limone, which has only a handful of ingredients. “I believe in using simple, good-quality ingredients and letting their natural flavours shine.”
Now 50, Magwood says she has reached the point in her life where she is quite proud to call herself a very simple “butter-and-olive-oil, salt-and-pepper” kind of cook.
“I’m a trained chef but I don’t want to be spending hours in the kitchen making a meal for my family. I love to eat but I don’t always love to cook. I’ve found that by stripping things back to the basics of what constitutes good food – I’ve rediscovered the love of cooking and I want to keep the love.”
Quick-Blistered Tomato Tagliatelle
Serves 4
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 1 package fresh tagliatelle
- 1 handful arugula or pea shoot microgreens
- ¼ cup chopped basil
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan
- Salt and freshly cracked pepper
In a heavy cast-iron pan over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and fry garlic for 1 minute.
Add the tomatoes and saute until they burst, soften and blister, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Just before draining, take a 2-cup measure and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta. In a large bowl, toss the warm pasta with the tomatoes. If necessary, add pasta water, a little at a time, until you reach your desired consistency. Top with the greens, basil and Parmesan and season generously with salt and pepper. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil.
Excerpted from My New Table by Trish Magwood Copyright © 2021 Trish Magwood. Photography© Ksenija Hotic. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
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Gayle MacDonald