One of the fun things for me about cooking is finding a new ingredient, and then building it into a dish of some kind.  It’s a creative challenge, and sometimes you find just the right combination of ingredients that makes you go ‘WOW!’

The other day I had the opportunity to stop in at a specialty store here in Kamloops that carries an amazing selection of olive oils and balsamic vinegars.   4 Oak Oil & Vinegar will be the subject of an upcoming post, but fighting the dastardly Russian website spammers has kept me from getting to it yet  – but I digress…

One of the (many) other items they carry is a line of pasta out of Colorado that is really unique.  I picked up a couple different ones to try, one of them being a Lemon Ginger Fettuccine.   This is a flavoured dry pasta, so it appealed to me as a base for something to create.

Tonight I decided to rummage around and see what I could come up with.   Working with what I had on hand, I created a sautéed prawns with white wine and butter sauce  to go with the noodles.

One of the most rewarding things for me in cooking is having the one I love most in the world tuck into a creation, and look at me with that ‘OMG’ look in her face – it makes me feel very proud and is all the reward I need for the effort.  Tonight I got that look.  As we talked after finishing dinner , Kathy said she was giving it a “three yummms up”.

The pasta was incredible, and I think the  prawns did it fair justice.  I’ve written down the rough recipe, and over the next little bit I will formalize it and post it on the site.   In the meantime I highly recommend you take a trip to 4 Oak and check them out.  Find something inspiring, and give it a go.   And when you get ‘that look’, please share!

Enjoy!