Most Popular Girl Pine Nut Sauce

This is one of my favorite posts from Cooking With Alice, originally published August 11, 2011. Funny thing is, I also remember this not tasting too bad, either. A rarity to say the least. Although, I've never made it again, which may be because of it being cost prohibitive. Buon Appetito! 

Turns out, pine nuts are very expensive and apparently there was a bad crop this year so in short supply. Luckily I only needed two tablespoons, because at $28 per pound I may otherwise have had to skip this one! Thank goodness for Rocky's in the Eastern Market where you can buy in bulk and just what you need. Oh, and a husband who is willing to run (literally) over there at lunch time to pick them up. So, that said, toasted pine nuts, chopped fresh marjoram and butter (an entire stick!), served over the pasta of my choice (penne).

The quintessential Jan/Brady Bunch episode "Miss Popularity". What kind of school has a 'Most Popular Girl' competition? Apparently Fillmore Jr High, and Jan is in the running against Kathy Williams.  Jan convinces Peter to be her campaign manager and enlists the help of her siblings by making them promises she never intends to keep. Somehow Jan has the notion that people can say anything to get elected and then do the opposite after they win.She even gets Alice to make campaign fortune cookies to hand out at school. Jan continues to promise her classmates anything they need to secure their votes, and beats poor Kathy. Oblivious to the little people who got her where she is, Jan quickly becomes a pariah at school and at home. Mike and Carol lecture her about her big head and empty heart, but it falls on deaf ears until she finds out that she doesn't have a date to the dance, because, as she puts it "I'm as popular as the measles". Feeling humbled, Jan sees the error of her ways, redoubles her effort to fulfill all of her promises, and accepts a date from Peter to the dance (not going to touch that one, either).  Fortune cookie say: All promises and no humility make Jan most unpopular girl.


The Recipe (in all of it's simplicity, cause that's the way Alice likes it, uh-huh, uh-huh)

1/2 cup butter
2 tblsp toasted pine nuts, chopped
1 tblsp chopped fresh marjoram
1 pound pasta (any shape), cooked
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Add the pine nuts and marjoram and cook for 3 minutes. Pour the sauce over the pasta and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with Parmesan.
Note: (Alice's, not mine) To toast pine nuts, arrange the pine nuts on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Serves the Brady Six.