A Delicious Experiment: Pasta and Then Some...

Yesterday I was really wanting to have some pasta, yet the only kind I had was the spiral kind. And I had no pasta sauce, so that was out of the question. However, I had a few ideas up my sleeve. I once clipped a little recipe from Whole Living about pasta with raw garlic. I didn't bother to dig it out, but I think you basically tossed the pasta with some extra virgin olive oil and some raw garlic. I also just got Gwyneth Paltrow's new cookbook, My Father's Daughter, and recalled a recipe of similar fashion with a lot of parmesan cheese. I didn't technically look up the specifics of that one either, but I knew I had plenty of parmesan cheese, plenty of extra virgin olive oil, and most certainly plenty of garlic to use with my lonely spiral pasta.

Photo from here.

So! I began cooking it up. And then I thought, "Oh, no. I need to eat a vegetable. Ah, I'll toss it in!" My original choice was peas, as they are my go-to frozen vegetable, but apparently I used the last bit and didn't tell myself, because there were no peas to be found. My only option: asparagus. Now let me say, it was a great choice--very serendipitous to say the least. I cooked it a bit, snipped it up, and once the pasta was ready I tossed in the olive oil, the garlic, my splendid asparagus, and plenty of shredded parmesan cheese. Delightful. But! Something was missing. I could just feel it. So I reached into my cabinet and grabbed the crushed red pepper--and let me just say, I'm not necessarily a big fan, so this move was significant. Needless to say, voila! It was exactly the thing to finish off my little creation, in both taste and aesthetics.

Photo from here.

I know. You want to make this now too, right? So here's a recipe-ish. But don't forget, I made it up, so take all the liberties you need! (PS--sorry no photos. I dream about being Ree Drummond, but I am not yet organized enough nor do I have the energy to load them on my computer. Plus, it's all gone, so there's no hope in getting a picture anyway.)

Taken from here.

Pasta-that-is-yet-to-be-named 

(I've got to think of a good one--maybe Italian, and perhaps after a village)

some pasta - any pasta!

some garlic - maybe 2 cloves, or three

plenty of shredded parmesan cheese - i shredded to the rhythm of "Pomp and Circumstance" as I hummed along, and that's no lie. perhaps because it's graduation season? good try.

vegetable of choice - you could be wild and use vegetables of choice too. i know.

extra virgin olive oil - just enough to allow for an easy toss

crushed red pepper - a sprinkle or two. it's flavorful.

1. cook pasta and veggies separately

2. while those are cooking, mince garlic, shred cheese

3. when pasta and veggies are done, drain, return to pot, add a bit of evoo (as Rachel Ray would say) and toss with the cheese and garlic

4. now the cheese will probably melt, so for good measure, i like to add a sprinkle of parmesan cheese to the top after the toss. don't forget to sprinkle the crushed red pepper too!

Voila! A creation. And dinner.

Bon appétit!

In Delicious Progress,

Lacy