Know your roots.

Unless you lived everywhere in the world, and have mastered the cuisine of every part of the globe, you owe your particular tastes to the place you spent your childhood.

Putting together a meal for me takes me back to Italy, this scene, for instance. An outdoor place, with big tables, many people, wine pouring freely, children running around and a few people in the kitchen or by the outdoor oven/grill searing the meat, and bringing platters of charred lamb riblets to the table.

What goes with grilled lamb riblets? Pasta with fava and artichokes and mint, and an assortment of crudites like fennel bulbs, radishes, carrots, etc...  and fresh bread with good olive oil for dipping.

Ingredients for the Vignarola sauce:

1 lb of fava beans, shelled and blanched (use peas if fava not available)
5 small artichockes cleaned, blanched and cut into small pieces
1 bunch of mint, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2 C olive oil
1/2 C pasta water
salt and pepper to taste

Saute' the onion in the olive oil. Add the fava and and artichokes, lower the heat and simmer until the pasta is ready. Add 1/2 C or more of pasta water to make a light sauce. Add mint at the last minute.

Serve over pasta with pecorino cheese.