CHAPTER 88 - NOODLES WITH WEDGE SHELLS ---- CAPÍTULO 88 - FIDEOS CON COQUINAS
The aroma of Pilar's sofrito began to take possession of Villa Claire from eleven o'clock that morning. It was a rich and savoury scent, in which golden garlic and peppers mingled with the sharp splash of white wine and saffron, heralding the dish that had aroused Claire's anticipation the previous afternoon. In the kitchen, Pilar moved with the unhurried assurance of someone who had performed the same ritual a thousand times before. Upon the marble worktop, the galvanised pail the children had brought back from the beach no longer contained sand; the wedge shells, properly purged in salted water, lay waiting for their moment to open in the great pot and release that wild, briny liquor which transformed a humble dish of noodles into an Algeciras delicacy. Cecily, faithful to the habit she had acquired over the past few days, put her head round the door. 'May I?' she asked, pointing towards a kitchen cloth. Pilar, who by now had quite taken the measure of th...
