Lent. Let's Do This.

Zack and I joined Church at Cahaba Bend about 3 years ago. We both were raised Baptists, so while we had heard of Lent, we never practiced it. We had never given anything up, or taken on something, or really ever even considered it. But our church...a Methodist church...takes Lent and all the events surrounding Easter very seriously, which I love. Two nights ago Zack and I participated in our second-ever Ash Wednesday service. (last year we were unable to attend because we were flying home from a two-week trip to Europe, more on that later.) During the service, our pastor, Lyle Holland, talked a lot about the importance, as Christian, to participate in Lent. It really struck me this year, for some reason.

That said: here's what I decided to do, and why. I think Zack is pretty much on board, more or less, in doing this with me. Truth is, we eat out...a lot. Whether it's an awesome local burger or bbq joint or Domino's Pizza on Valentine's Day, many meals, and many dollars, are spent this way. Also, why I am a pretty solid baker, I'm not the best cook, simply because I don't cook enough! I work for a food magazine, and everyday of my life I'm surrounded by gorgeous food and food photography, and I also figured it's high time to learn my way around the grocery store (past the baking aisle anyway) and get to cooking fresh, with in-season ingredients, and (relatively) healthy. I figured in the process, we'd save some money that we can put towards future things like a bigger house and a bigger family :)

Also let me say that the there are some exceptions to this: Wednesday nights with our students at Little Italy's is a tradition that we can't break! And next month we're going to Chicago for a long weekend.

So last night officially began all the fun, and I was really excited to get started! I kicked off the season with an adaption of a Jamie Oliver recipe: linguine with slow-braised leeks and crispy pangrattato. I was a little leery of the leeks, but thought I'd give it a go no less. The results were fantastic. Zack loved it, and even tweeted about it. The resulting comment thread made me laugh :)

(the ahpatatas bravas bit was a reference to the aforementioned Europe trip. Still makes me laugh a whole year later :)

Anyway, photos from dinner:

Leeks: cut lengthwise, then on the diagonal at 1/2" intervals. Ok Jamie.

Leftover French bread from a shoot last week. Perfectly stale enough to go for spin in the food processor with some S+P to make breadcrumbs for the pangrattato.

Toasted with olive oil and some rosemary sprigs. 

Terrible photo. Good food.