Very Late Summer Pasta Bake

This is more of an improvisation than a recipe, which feels fitting for the very tail end of summer. I used what I had in my kitchen, and I didn’t do any measuring for this one, so here’s a rough sketch of the steps involved. For one person, collect about 1/2 pint of late summer [...]

Decadent Spring Pasta

One good way to use up the last of your pancetta (antibiotic-free, organic, humanely-raised) and also celebrate the asparagus bounty that is spring is to improvise on pasta cabonara – in this case sans eggs. You’ll need: about half a box of linguine fini; 2 strips pancetta, a bunch of thin asparagus (green), a splash [...]

Mushroom Stroganoff

A comforting dish for those times when things are colder than they should be. For this version: 10 – 16 oz mushrooms (a mix of wild ones, or some crimini, or basic white ones) halved or quartered or thinly sliced; 1 large or 2 small onions (or just half a large one, if you’d like [...]

Cooking the Pantry – Winter Pasta Edition

At times, it becomes glaringly necessary to clear out some aged items from your pantry or fridge. I had a quarter (approx) bottle of blue cheese dressing sitting in the fridge that needed to be used. Bottled blue cheese dressing is not one of my favorites (I inherited that bottle) but I also hate to [...]

Late Summer Meal

Onion Bruschetta and Cherry Tomato Pasta Caramelize some onions in butter. Do what you like with them, or keep them around for the bruschetta. Caramelized onions are good for so many things and are delicious in their own right. Do not clean the pan that you caramelized the onions in. Be sure to remove only [...]

Pasta with Zucchini and Ricotta

Something quick to do with summer squash (serves 2 hungry people or maybe 3, depending – I got one dinner and two lunch portions out of this): Julienne 2 -3 medium zucchini. Put a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Heat about 2 Tbs of olive oil in a large pan over medium [...]

Spring Salad

Once again, I’m spurred to action of the cooking sort by rapidly aging produce. This time, it’s peas. Spring means fresh peas, and in a burst of enthusiasm I got shell peas from my CSA. And then promptly let them sit in the fridge for a week. Luckily, the awesome Orangette‘s podcast Spilled Milk just [...]