Do You Like Mushrooms?

Sweetie loves mushrooms! It isn't really mushroom season, but we have a local place that grows them year-round. Like many foods, mushrooms aren't truly seasonal anymore when they are in the market and at a reasonable price every month of the year.

This casserole takes a bit of time because you're making the sauce from scratch, but it's not difficult. You end up with a deeply savory dish that goes well with almost anything grilled, so it's great this time of year. Everything is done on the top of the stove, too, so no oven necessary. That's a real issue since it is truly hot in many places around the world right now.

The starting place is a home-made mushroom sauce, plus boiled pasta. You can use any pasta you like, but these rotelli hold up to a lot of stirring, they tend to capture the sauce well, and you can find them in the multi-colored version I used. The pasta is plain, orange (probably has a bit of carrot juice in it) and green (maybe from spinach juice). This type of pasta takes longer to cook than noodles like spaghetti, but it's also bite sized, so easier to eat.

I confess that I made this casserole over a week ago. I found the photos in my photo group and realized that I never posted it. Since the recipe was made-up, I hope I can recapture all the ingredients!

If you make this, I'm betting you will enjoy the richness, full mushroom flavor, cheesiness from the two kinds of cheese, and the excellent sauce. It reheats well, too, should you have any leftovers.

Mushroom-Pasta Casserole

my own recipe
serves 4-6

1/2 pound (half a package) multi-colored dry rotelli pasta
boiling salted water to cook the pasta according to package directions

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted)
4 oz. crimini (brown) small mushrooms
2 tablespoons finely chopped yellow or white onion
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon dry thyme
1 cup broth, mushroom if you have it, but chicken, beef and vegetable are OK, too
1/2 cup milk - any level of fat OK
salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan - best quality available

Cook the pasta until al dente in the salted boiling water. Drain and keep warm.

While the pasta is cooking, in a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and melt the butter, then sauté the mushrooms and onions in the olive oil and melted butter until the onion is translucent. Add the flour and dry thyme and stir, over low heat, for a minute. Raise heat to medium-high. Combine the broth and milk and pour, all at once, to the skillet, stirring constantly, until the sauce begins to thicken. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the drained warm pasta to the mushroom sauce and stir well to combine. There may be some 'extra' sauce in the bottom of the pot. That's OK. Stir in the Swiss cheese, smooth the top to create a casserole, then sprinkle the Parmesan evenly over the casserole.

Cover and let sit over the lowest heat available, for five minutes. This will allow the flavors to meld a bit and for the extra sauce to be absorbed into the pasta.

Serve hot...and enjoy!

A Delicious Way To Get Your Veggies

Sweetie really liked this dish and said if we had this all the time that he would eat more vegetables...that sounds like a vote for this veggie pasta dish that is roughly a pasta primavera. The primavera part is Italian (I think) for Spring. The zucchini is certainly not a spring vegetable, but most of the rest are.

This is sort of a three-ring circus pasta. You are boiling pasta water, and then pasta, prepping and steaming or boiling some veggies and also sautéing others. Then you are also making a cheese sauce!

It takes a bit of time to prep the veggies but it can be done while the pasta water comes to a boil. I used the microwave to steam the broccoli, zucchini and snap peas, but you could also use the pasta water to blanch each in turn. Once blanched immediately submerge the veggie in an ice water bath to stop the cooking and to keep the bright colors. I would blanch them long enough that they are tender but still have some bite to them. In the microwave the broccoli (being in small florets) took about 45 seconds and the other two took a minute. I used a steamer pot with perforated lid and a tiny amount of water.

The second thing to do while the pasta cooks is to make the cheese sauce. This is a white cheese sauce and you can either use all ricotta, or part ricotta and part fresh farmer's cheese as I did. I've done it with all ricotta and that is lovely, too. Boiling water, added in small amounts followed by stirring with a mini-whisk, turns the cheeses into a silky sauce and a bit of grated Parmesan, salt and pepper, plus some nutmeg, gives it flavor. You can use the pasta water as the pasta is boiling and heat the sauce over very low heat until all the other elements are done.

Before I started the pasta water I prepared the truly savory part of this dish. I sautéed chopped onion, minced garlic, chopped carrot and chopped red pepper. Once the onion started to brown at the edges in the mixture of olive oil and melted butter, I turned the heat down and kept it at low heat, stirring once in a while, so that the carrots had a chance to soften and the onions to brown a bit more without burning the garlic.

A large, wide bowl is the best for mixing the elements of this dish together and for serving. Once the pasta is cooked, the steamed veggies, sautéed veggies and the cheese sauce all get tossed together. The final touch is a sprinkle of grated Parmesan. Enjoy!

Sort of Pasta Primavera
Serves 3-4

1/2 onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped, no seeds or stem
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped into small dice
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (I like cremini mushrooms)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter or non-dairy 'butter'

1/2 pound rotini pasta
salt
1 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced
1 1/2 cups sugar snap peas that have been cut diagonally into thirds
1/2 - 1 cup broccoli, cut into small florets

1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup fresh farmers cheese (or 1/2 cup ricotta and no farmer's cheese)
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
dash salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet put the olive oil and the butter and set over medium heat until the butter melts. Stir.
Add the onions, increase the heat to medium-high and sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is translucent. Add the red pepper, garlic, carrots and mushrooms, and stir. Continue cooking and stirring every minute or so until edges begin to brown on the onions. Cover and reduce heat to very low. Continue cooking, stirring frequently to prevent burning.

While sautéed veggies continue to cook, put a very large pot of water on to boil. While it is coming to a boil, prepare the zucchini, snap peas and broccoli.

Once the water comes to a boil, add the amount of salt you like in your pasta water (I use 1/4 teaspoon...some people like more!) Add the pasta, stir, and return to a boil.

While the pasta cooks, prepare the cheese sauce. In a small pot combine the  two cheeses and 1 tablespoon of the boiling pasta water (but no pasta). Stir to combine. I use a mini-whisk but have done it with a small flexible silicon spatula or a teaspoon. Once combined, add another tablespoon of pasta water and stir again until smooth.  Add the seasoning and stir. If the sauce looks too thick, continue to add water, a tablespoon at a time until desired thickness. Sauce should coat the pasta in the finished dish. Keep warm over a very low heat. Stir every minute or so.

Prepare the broccoli, zucchini and snap peas: steam in the microwave or cook is a separate pot of boiling water.  If boiling, remove and put into an ice bath, then remove from ice bath and drain, then add to sautéed veggies. Do this one ingredient at a time. Length of time should be to just barely make them tender. When you are done, all three will be on top of the sautéed veggies, with the lid on to keep hot.

When pasta is cooked to your desired doneness, drain and put into a large, wide bowl. Top with the veggies and then with the sauce. Toss to combine. Sprinkle combined pasta & veggies with the Parmesan cheese and serve at once.

A Saucy Pasta Dish for Asparagus Season

I hope that you love asparagus as much as I do. We have been getting some for a few weeks, but the asparagus coming into the market now are thicker and really fresh. I like them just steamed al dente, but tonight I updated a dish that Sweetie and I enjoyed first in 2013, so ten years ago at asparagus time.

By the way, Sweetie has been going through a tough time for the past three weeks or so. His back has bothered him on and off over the years, but a bout this long and this painful hasn't happened for about 20 years. He finally agreed last Friday to go the his primary care doctor...but saw the Physician's Assistant, who is quite good...and ended up with some muscle relaxants, pain pills, and a referral to a back doctor.

Those meds knocked him out, so he has been sleeping a lot, even during the day (which is unusual for him), but it has done the trick. Along with frequent chiropractor visits, the rest and meds have finally worked so that he didn't need any strong meds today at all...just an ibuprofen.

This dish was sort of a celebration for a better back because I remembered that every time I made the old version that Sweetie loved it. To update it I've added butternut squash 'zoodles', fairly thin strands of the squash that I found in Whole Foods today, already prepared although still raw.

In the original recipe you stew pieces of asparagus and broccoli in garlic and oil. These veggies go on top of pasta that has been dressed with an almost cream sauce made with ricotta cheese and some of the hot water used to cook the pasta. Today I used some fresh linguine and some Kite Hill almond milk 'ricotta'. Don't forget to use freshly grated nutmeg, if possible, in the sauce...makes all the difference!

The updated recipe calls for tossing the asparagus and broccoli pieces in the garlic and oil, then removing them. The butternut squash noodles are then tossed with the remaining oil and garlic and spread over the bottom of the pan. Because they take a little longer to cook than the asparagus pieces and broccoli florets, having the squash on the bottom of the pan allows it to have more heat.  Since it's all cooked covered over low heat, all the veggies cook slowly and become flavored with the garlic.

Of course while the veggies are cooking you boil the pasta and make the sauce with the ricotta. Once everything is done it gets tossed together and makes a really delicious side dish or meal. I would imagine that you could make it with just the squash noodles and broccoli when asparagus isn't in season, but I do love asparagus and it shines in this recipe.

Fettuccine with Ricotta and Asparagus, Broccoli and Butternut Squash

from the Mediterranean Diet Cookbook
serves 4 - 6

3/4 lb tender young asparagus ( or 1/2 lb asparagus and 1/4 lb broccoli crown)
1/2 lb butternut squash 'noodles'
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 -4 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb fettuccine
6 quarts water
1/2 lb fresh creamy ricotta 
dash nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Trim touch ends off asparagus after rinsing them. Cut tender parts into 2-inch lengths. Cut broccoli crown into small florets. If needed, cut the butternut squash 'noodles' into 6-8-inch lengths.

In a sauté pan place 3 tablespoon olive oil and the garlic; stir to blend. Add the asparagus pieces and toss to coat, then remove and reserve. Repeat with the broccoli florets. Finally, add the additional tablespoon of oil if needed and add the squash 'noodles'; toss to coat and then spread over the bottom of the pan. Arrange the coated asparagus pieces and broccoli florets over the squash (do not stir) and, over low heat and covered, gently stew the garlic, squash, asparagus and broccoli in the oil until the vegetables are tender but not brown, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally the last 5 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling water until tender. While pasta cooks, extract 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and mix it in a small saucepan with the ricotta. Set saucepan over low heat and gently cream the ricotta and cooking water. When the ricotta is warm, taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Add the nutmeg and 1 tablespoon of the Parmesan cheese and stir to combine.

Drain the cooked pasta and combine immediately with the cheese sauce, tossing to mix well. Add the veggie mixture and toss with tongs to lightly coat the vegies and mix them with the pasta. If desired, plate or a warm platter. Sprinkle with the rest of the grated cheese and serve at once.

Asparagus Time

Not sure if it's true where you live, but here asparagus are in season. The spears coming into the markets are just the right size...not too thin and not to fat, with nice tight buds and beautiful green color.

One of my favorite ways to enjoy asparagus is to just steam them and eat them plain, but occasionally I like to do a fancier rendition. This pasta and asparagus dish is my go-to for those times. The only down side is I use three pots before I'm finished, but the final dish is so good, with tender pasta, garlic infused bite sized pieces of asparagus, and a delicious cheese sauce with the added zing of lemon zest. A large portion would make a fine vegetarian (or vegan the way I do it) meal by itself, or you can pair it with simple grilled fish or chicken as we did. Sweetie makes the best grilled salmon and steelhead.

You start by putting some water on to boil. Then you prepare the asparagus by snapping the ends off , then cutting them into bite sized pieces. They go into a small pot with minced garlic and some olive oil and then cook over low heat which allows the asparagus to become infused with the garlic while still retaining firmness and their green color. Don't forget to stir them occasionally so that all the pieces become soaked in the garlic oil.

While the asparagus are stewing you add  pasta to the boiling water. The pasta cooks while the veg and garlic do their magic. (If you use fresh pasta, you'll need to do this when the asparagus are almost finished cooking and after you've made the cheese sauce so that the pasta doesn't overcook. The asparagus take about 15 minutes.)

The cheese sauce is made in the third pot, using ricotta cheese, hot pasta water, salt, pepper, a dash of nutmeg, and the zest of one lemon. Over low heat the water is stirred into the cheese to make a creamy sauce. With most ricotta it will still be a little bit grainy, but that's fine. If you are going for vegetarian, you can add a few tablespoons of grated Parmesan, too. For my vegan version I skipped the parmesan and used an almond milk based 'ricotta'. My favorite brand is Kite Hill.

Now you have all of the parts. Once the asparagus are tender and the pasta is al dente tender, you drain the pasta, immediately mix it with the cheese sauce, and plate the sauced pasta, then top it with the garlicy asparagus pieces. For those using Parmesan, you can sprinkle another tablespoon of parmesan on top and serve it up!

Pasta with Ricotta  and Asparagus

a variation of a recipe in the Mediterranean Diet Cookbook
serves 4 - 6

3/4 lb tender young asparagus ( or 1/2 lb asparagus and 1/4 lb broccoli crown)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh mint, minced - optional
1 lb pasta of your choice - I used fusilli  (For vegan version use pasta made without animal products)
6 quarts water
1/2 lb fresh creamy ricotta (For a vegan version, I used Kite Hill almond milk ricotta)
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 
dash nutmeg
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (Omit for vegan version)

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and add 2 teaspoons salt.

Trim tough ends off asparagus after rinsing them. Cut tender parts into 2-inch lengths. Cut broccoli crown into small florets, if using.

In a sauté pan, over low heat and covered, gently stew the garlic, asparagus (and broccoli) in the oil until the vegetables are tender but not brown, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in mint if using. Set aside.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling water until tender. While pasta cooks, extract 1/2 - 3/4 cup of the cooking liquid and mix it in a small saucepan with the ricotta. Set saucepan over low heat and gently cream the ricotta and cooking water. When the ricotta is warm, taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Add the nutmeg, lemon zest, and 1 tablespoon of the Parmesan cheese, if using, and stir to combine.

Drain the cooked pasta and combine immediately with the cheese sauce, tossing to mix well. Arrange over a warm platter and pour asparagus mixture over the top, being sure to scrape all of the cooked garlic onto the pasta and veggies. Sprinkle with the rest of the grated cheese (optional) and serve at once.

Italian Sausage Pasta Casserole

I'm not exactly sure where the first week of December went, but here we are on the 9th with no posts yet! Everything is fine around here, but all the preparations for the holidays take time. I remember that my Mom used to complain that every year it seemed to take longer to do the things that went faster the previous year. Not just holiday prep, but most things. Grocery shopping takes longer, laundry seems to take longer (although that might be because the washing machine and dryer are over thirty years old and so are the pipes...the cold water in particular seems to dribble into the machine. I suspect the pipes are filled up with minerals so less water gets through). Even cooking and baking seem to take longer, so I guess I haven't started as many baking sessions and only a minimum of cooking.

Anyway, time flies by and it's dinner time. What to make? Well, there are a couple of cooked turkey Italian sausages in the fridge, and it doesn't take long to boil water for pasta, nor to make a simple white sauce, nor to crisp up some bread crumbs in melted margarine. Put all that together and you have a cozy casserole, perfect for a chilly, damp night.

The white sauce recipe comes from a classic cook book; the Joy of Cooking. For the pasta I found a half pound of multi-color twisty pasta. Since this casserole only serves 2-3, you don't need any more pasta than that. I served the casserole with steamed green beans and Sweetie was very happy. Hope you will be too, if you try this recipe out. The pasta and sauce are fairly bland, but the sausage lifts the flavors and the crunch of the topping adds texture so that the whole is delightful.

Italian Sausage Pasta Casserole
Serves 2-3 (Double the recipe to serve 4-6)

For the Pasta: 1/2 pound rotini (I used multi-colored, but plain is fine, too)
salt (optional)

For the White Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter (I used margarine), melted
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk (I used soy milk)
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
salt and pepper to taste

For the Bread Crumbs
2 tablespoons butter (I used margarine), melted
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs

2 Italian sausages, cooked, and sliced in 1/4-inch slices

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt if desired. Once the water is boiling, stir in the pasta and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is cooked al dente. Drain pasta and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, make the white sauce: In a medium sauce pan, combine the melted butter and the flour. Cook, over low heat, stirring 3-4 minutes, until well blended and flour has had a chance to cook off the raw taste without browning. Slowly stir in the milk and simmer and stir the sauce with a wire Whisk until it has thickened and is smooth and hot. Whisk in the ricotta cheese until smooth again. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the sauce to keep a skin from forming.

In a small non-stick skillet, combine the melted butter and the bread crumbs. Stir constantly over medium-high heat until the crumbs are slightly browned and a bit crispy. Don't allow to burn.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a casserole dish. In the pot that the pasta was cooked in, combine the drained pasta, the white sauce and the slices of Italian sausage. Pour into the prepared casserole dish, use the back of a spoon to level the filling, then evenly top with the prepared bread crumb mixture. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the crumbs become golden brown. Serve at once while still hot.

Garlic and Butter and Lemon and Shrimp

Shrimp Scampi is a dish I first had when I was just out of college. It used to be the kind of menu item that white tablecloth restaurants of the time almost always had on the menu. I really loved eating it but thought that it would be difficult to make well and then I moved and had little income, so shrimp, which tends to be expensive where I live, was not on my menu. Eventually I just forgot about it.

A few days ago I was in an Oliver's market in Santa Rosa. They are a local chain of markets with the best of Whole Foods but at a slightly lower price point and far less pretentious. At their meat and seafood counter I discovered that they had large shrimp that had been frozen in bags of about 1 pound. I bought one and for some reason the idea of shrimp scampi popped into my head. Still thinking that it was a difficult recipe, I looked it up on Google and found that it's actually easy. There is prep work that needs to be done before you start cooking the shrimp because it goes together very quickly (except for cooking the pasta), but the recipe itself is simple. As with any recipe that seems simple, using quality ingredients is crucial. I started with some very nice shrimp. When thawed they smelled of the sea (but not 'fishy')which is a good indicator that they were handled well before being frozen. I made sure I had good linguine, a juicy and firm lemon or two, some excellent dry white wine, good olive oil, fresh parsley and a good, firm head of garlic. The last ingredient wasn't butter, which is the best thing to use, but an excellent non-dairy butter that I usually use only as a finishing ingredient. Since this dish depends on good butter, I really needed all four tablespoons to be as close to the best butter that I could find. Having a dairy allergy is no fun sometimes.

So, timing is important for shrimp scampi. Get the water boiling for the pasta. Gather all the ingredient together and prep the shrimp (I had to peel and devein them but it was OK to leave the tail on), zest and juice the lemon, mince the garlic, mince the parsley.

First you heat up a mixture of that good butter and quality olive oil. Then you saute' the garlic in that combination of oils. Once the garlic has cooked a few minutes, you add the wine and a pinch of red pepper flakes and cook that for a few minutes, then you salt and pepper the shrimp and add them to the wine mixture, making sure they are in a single layer. After a couple of minutes, you flip them over to cook the other side. After another couple of minutes you add the lemon zest, lemon juice and parsley and stir it all together. By that time your pasta is cooked and you drain it, then add it to the shrimp mixture and toss it all with some tongs until all the pasta is coated with the butter/olive oil/garlic/ lemon/wine/parsley mixture. Quickly you put the pasta on a plate or in a shallow bowl, top with the shrimp and it's ready to serve! I think it's between 8 and 10 minutes start to finish. No wonder it used to be a popular restaurant item. Done in no time and you can charge a lot for it.

So did it live up to my memories? Yes! In fact it was better. I didn't overcook the pasta. Most restaurants in my youth did. Ditto the shrimp. I used more garlic and it was fresher. I think I should have added a touch more salt, but otherwise it was perfect and perfectly delicious. Sweetie loves shrimp and I suspect he would like me to make this every night for a week. Do try it yourself if you can get good shrimp. The recipe is a combination of about four I found online, plus the lemon zest I added on my own. Lemon zest always ups the lemon flavor, so why not?

Shrimp Scampi
Serves 2-4

1/2 lb. linguine
1 lb. large raw shrimp, rinsed, peeled and deveined (OK to leave the tail on)
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons soft salted butter or non-dairy butter substitute
4 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
pinch red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

Have all the ingredient gathered and prepared. The cooking takes about 10 minutes, start to finish.

Bring a very large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. While it's coming to a boil, prepare the shrimp and the garlic, lemon and parsley. 

Once the water is boiling, add 1 teaspoon salt and the linguine and stir to separate the pasta. Leave uncovered and boil until al dente, about 8 - 10 minutes. Have a colander ready to drain the pasta.

Wait until the pasta water returns to a boil, then begin the shrimp part of the dish.

In a large skillet, melt the butter and oil together over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and saute' about 3 minutes, stirring a few times. Don't let garlic burn.

Add the white wine and the red pepper flakes. cook another two minutes, stirring often. 

Salt and pepper the shrimp to taste. Add the shrimp and make sure it is in one layer in the pan. After two minutes when the cooked side is pink insteado f gray, use tongs to turn each shrimp over. Cook on the second side for another two minutes, just until it is pink. Do not overcook the shrimp.

Add the lemon juice, lemon zest and the parsley. Stir to combine all the ingredients. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust seasonings if needed.

Drain the pasta (check first to make sure it is cooked al dente), then add it to the pan with the shrimp mixture. Use the tongs to gently turn the pasta over until all strands are coated with the garlic sauce.

Serve at once on large plates or in shallow bowls, placing the shrimp on top of the pasta. If desired, garnish with a drizzle of olive oil. Pass good bread to sop up the extra sauce.

Pesto to the Rescue

Everything is going so well with the entry project that I'm not really complaining, but, gee it takes a lot of time to do construction!

Yesterday we removed the old door frame, along with the expandable foam insulation, flashing above, old shims and tar paper. Sweetie did most of the heavy stuff and I scraped off old insulation and did the demo on the flashing and tar paper. Took a good chunk of the day. Thank heavens for things like pre-packaged chili seasoning and already made pesto.

 Last night we had my well-loved chili, but the night we had that awesome cheese and cherry tomato salad, we also had a super quick chicken pesto pasta dish. Could never have gotten both on the table without that Fircrest pesto. There were also the quick-fix helpers of fresh pasta from the store, frozen already-grilled chicken, and our own zucchini. Zucchini are so easy to prepare...no peeling!

So while the pasta water came to a boil, the sliced zucchini browned in a cast iron skillet. Once the zucchini came out, in went the frozen chicken strips and chunks. I let them brown, then removed them to sit with the zucchini while I browned some pine nuts. Once the pasta was done and drained, it was easy to put the hot pasta, green pesto, and a little of the pasta cooking water into a bowl and stir to coat the pasta with the pesto. A quick re-heat for a minute in the microwave made sure that the squash and chicken were hot. Into the past bowl they went, along with the pine nuts. After a quick stir to combine it all, I served it up and we enjoyed a fairly gourmet entrée that had taken only about 15 minutes to make.

It's a good recipe for hot weather, too, because you don't really heat up the kitchen much in 15 minutes. If we weren't having that salad with it I would have tossed some halved cherry tomatoes into the pasta at the end.

Pronto Pesto Chicken Pasta with Zucchini and Pine Nuts
Serves 2 - 4
1/2 cup prepared pesto (or to taste) at room temperature
1 package (8 oz.) fresh fettuccini
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 medium zucchini, ends trimmed, cut into slices
2 cups chicken strips and chunks, pre-cooked and grilled, thawed if frozen
3-4 tablespoons pine nuts
Salt and pepper to taste

Stir pesto to mix in oil. Set aside.

In a large pot bring water to a boil.

While water is coming to a boil, heat the oil in a large skillet. Brown the zucchini slices in the oil over medium-high heat, turning so that all sides brown as much as possible. Remove from skillet when brown and set aside. If pasta water is boiling, add fresh pasta and set timer for 10 minutes.

Without cleaning the skillet, add the chicken and brown it, about 5 minutes, stirring often. When browned and heated through, remove from skillet and set aside.

Without cleaning the skillet, add pine nuts to the skilled and, stirring frequently, brown them. Take care not because they can go from golden brown to burnt very quickly. Remove from skillet and set aside.

By now the pasta should be cooked. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta. Place squash and chicken on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high for 1 minutes.

Place drained pasta in a large, wide bowl. Add the pesto and a tablespoon of the cooking water. Stir. Add more water if necessary so that pesto coats the pasta. Add the heated squash and chicken and the pine nuts. Toss to combine. Serve at once.

Making Progress

I used to think that I would love to have the time to just loaf around and do nothing. When you are working full time and have a couple of kids to look after, a great guy to build a life with, and the usual errands and cleaning and shopping that building a life, or just having a life, entails, it's easy to daydream about a carefree time in the future without all those time eaters.

Turns out I'd rather have projects to do and even the occasional deadline than too much time doing nothing. I like having enough things to do that I need a list to keep track of them. It usually means that I'm interacting in some way with other people (which I usually love) and that I'm making progress on something that is meaningful to me. Somewhat surprising, but not a lot. I've always enjoyed the process more than the product and you have to have things to do in order to have processes, right?

So the carpet was installed, lots of stuff found new homes and some of the old stuff returned to it's place (like this computer), although there is more to do.

The book I'm doing for my InDesign class was uploaded to the publisher today *Yay!* and will be a real book at my doorstep in early December. There is still lots more to do for the class but it feels good to have the book part of it to print.

Thanksgiving will be at our house this year so I have lists and more lists and couldn't be happier! I made the Pocketbook Rolls again, this time with my sourdough starter, so we will have puffy, slightly sour, tender rolls to go with the turkey dinner. Since I have been fairly successful with my weight loss program so far I think I'll even allow myself a good size piece of pumpkin pie!

In no time Christmas will be here, too, so there will be more fun stuff to do to get ready. That will likely mean an increase in posts as I find new recipes to try for entertaining and for gift giving. I'm stoked!

Today I have a new and simple pasta recipe that I threw together one evening. It had to be simple because my eyes were still crossed from too much time proofing the book. It starts with a bed of fresh tri-color pasta (from a package in the refrigerator section of the grocery store...any good brand will do), topped with a melange of sauted onion and garlic, wilted fresh spinach, fresh chopped tomatoes, leftover grilled chicken, and some herbs and spices. Over it all I sprinkled a generous amount of toasted pine nuts. It was wonderful! If you don't have any leftover chicken, you could substitute some rotisserie chicken, cut into bite sized pieces and dinner can be on the table before you know it!

Chicken and Spinach Pasta with Pine Nuts
my own recipe
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (or more, to taste)
1 tablespoon olive or grapeseed oil
4 oz. sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 cups diced tomatoes and their juice...fresh tomatoes if possible
1 - 2 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
4 cups fresh baby spinach, rinsed well
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup pine nuts
Hot, freshly cooked, drained, fresh pasta ribbons - I used tri-color, but any fresh pasta will work

In a large saute pot, saute the onion and garlic in the grapeseed oil, stirring often, until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, cover the pot, and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Uncover the pot. Add the chicken broth and deglaze the pan, stirring to release any bits stuck to the side of the pot. Add the tomatoes and cook over medium-high heat uncovered, stirring often, until sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken and stir to combine. Heat 2 minutes. Add the baby spinach, stirring until it wilts. Stir in the parsley and thyme, salt and pepper.

On a dinner plate pile a serving of fresh pasta. Top with some of the sauce. Sprinkle with the pine nuts. Serve at once. Serves 4.

Playtime and Homes and Hearty Pasta

I had a play date today with my favorite 2 year old Miss Gravyboat...yes she told me to call her that. I highly recommend this kind of date. All play and no work is a delightful change from the rest of my life and the world is a pretty wonderful, fun place when seen through those two year old eyes. We started off with the Hokey Pokey sung by meow voices, followed it with a song sung by dancing cows...so we danced both times. A very zen song about belly buttons was also a hit. The Color Kittens book was read, we played with crayons and were silly with the color names we gave them, had a stuffed animal parade and dressed Madeline, drew cats and tossed plastic flowers into baskets. I even found out that the best thing to do with a TV clicker is to bang on it. Miss G gravely assured me that mommy does it that way.

When it was almost nap time she covered me up with a trio of blankets then changed her mind and gathered them up again and settled down in the sun with a stuffed kitty and an armload of other stuffed toys. I love children who know when they are tired and get settled for a nap so easily. As you can see, I didn't really babysit..I was just an oversized playmate who enjoyed a brief time of being a kid again.

One of the reasons for this happy time is that the family will be moving to a new home soon and Mom needed to pack. Much easier to do if Miss G has a friend over to play with. We talked over coffee while the little one napped and discussed some of the kinds of choices involved in choosing a new home. That got me to thinking about my top criteria for a place to live. I think my current home has the big ones covered:

- sunny inside and outside, but with periodic days that have fog, too
- not too big
- room for a garden

- outbuildings for storage and shop
- not too far away from town
- not too far from the ocean
- not too far from the city (San Francisco)
- a place where it is OK to be of a liberal outlook
- a place that doesn't have to be kept neat to please the neighborhood

One of the few things I do miss about our current home is not being within walking distance of anything except the gas station/store out on the highway a mile and a half away. When we lived in Berkeley I loved being able to walk to lots of places, including the downtown.

One of the things that I have found but didn't think about when we were looking for a place is that there are so many wonderful food producers in this neck of the woods. The fellow just outside of town has started selling his amazing strawberries again. A neighbor sells fresh eggs. I used to work at the farm of a woman who sells raspberries and goat cheese. My new neighbor is a cheese maker in Marin. As a food blogger all of this bounty is very much appreciated...and not taken for granted. And then there is the easy availability of world class wine....

What things are on your list for choosing where to live?

Guess I should include a recipe today since the last post didn't have one. Tonight's dinner was a good one, inspired by a fellow giving tastes of chicken sausage at a local market over the weekend. The tip is to cook the sausages in with the pasta. That way the pasta carries the taste of the sausage, too. It really did make a difference. Instead of a bite of sausage, then a bite of pasta with no sausage taste, each bite had some sausage flavor to it. This is a pretty quick meal, too, if you have the ingredients on hand.

Tri-color Tortellini with Chicken Sausage
makes enough for two...but can be doubled easily

1/2 package frozen tri-color tortellini pasta
1 small tomato, finely diced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1/2 jar good quality pasta sauce...we used Newman's Own
2 chicken sausages...we used Saags
grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Bring water to boil in a large pot.
While the water is coming to a boil, gather the tomato, chopped parsley, chopped oregano and pasta sauce together.
When the water in the pot boils, add the tortellini and stir gently. Add the two sausages and bring water back to the boil. Lower heat to simmer. Let the sausages cook 5 minutes, then remove to a cutting board. Let the pasta continue to cook. Slice the cooked sausages into bite sized slices.
When the pasta is cooked, pour into a colander in the sink to drain off the water.
While pasta is draining, put the tomato, parsley, oregano and pasta sauce into the pot the pasta cooked in. Stir and heat the sauce. Add the sliced sausage and drained pasta. Stir gently to coat all.
Serve while hot. If desired, garnish with grated Parmesan cheese.

I served this with a Caesar salad and it made a very nice meal.

By the way, I LOVE lurkers! I like comments, too, but I'm just happy that you choose to visit my blog and sometimes read my posts. WELCOME y'all !!

Harvest

When we first moved to our part of northern California, we tried out being exhibitors at the local county fair. Both kids won some ribbons for craft entries and I eventually won at the fall Harvest Fair for an over the top Victorian gingerbread house. Although the kids loved the summer fair with its fun carnival rides and contests and lots of animals and fair food, Sweetie and I have always been fond to the Harvest Fair which has more of a focus on local products and local wines. There are still lots of crafts and cute animals and fair food but the crowds are smaller and the pace is more relaxed.

This year I was lucky enough to do something I've wanted to do for a long time...work the Harvest Fair. Although the long days and challenging cash register set-up were tiring, I had a great time. The people I worked with were old hands at doing the wine sales (yes, that's where I ended up...ringing up wine sales! Isn't that a hoot?) and they were generous with their knowledge and welcoming as co-workers. I felt very fortunate to have such a positive work experience and to meet them. When there were slow times we were able to chat a bit. Each one was a stellar human being and interesting, too. I hope I see them again....maybe next year I'll work the fair again.

Speaking of harvest, we have been harvesting lots of tomatoes. Due to the cool and rainy spring and early summer everything is late, but there is something very special about being inside on a cool, rainy October evening and eating ripe heirloom tomatoes

that were only picked a day or two before. That wonderful fresh tomato fragrance is still strong, the slices are juicy and succulent, especially with a sprinkle of good olive oil, another sprinkle of aged balsamic vinegar, and a dash of garlic salt and fresh pepper.

It's hard to beat and makes the waiting worthwhile.

Some of the plum type tomatoes were cooked and the skins and seeds removed to make a fresh tomato sauce. Although I neglected to take a photo (thought I had, but the memory is not as reliable as it once was), I can assure you that the baked pasta dish I made using that sauce was excellent. I'll share the recipe at the end of the post.

The other harvest that is going on right now is of seeds. I have let some of the French thin green beans go to seed and the seed pod to dry out.

Before the rains came this week I was able to bring in the dry pods and remove the beans...I felt a little like Jack in the fairy tale

...those few beans will sit in the freezer until about March, then I'll plant them for the spring and summer harvest of fresh, delicious tender green beans. This kind of bean produces all at once (over about a week and a half), so I do succession plantings to keep the beans coming so having a lot of beans (seeds) is a good thing.

I also harvested some sweet pea and morning glory seeds to plant early next spring. I've tried planting them now but the snails usually munch them right up during the winter. Come spring I have no seed and no seedlings. If I can figure out how, I'll also collect tomato seeds and dry them, then freeze them for next years' seedlings.

Sorry about the lack of photos, but I'm sure you've baked a penne pasta casserole before...and that's what it looked like. The flavors went really well together. Besides, who can hate melty cheese?

Spinach Chicken Pasta Bake with Three Cheeses

1/2 lb (dry) penne, cooked according to package directions and drained. (I used whole grain penne but any kind will do...you could use another type of pasta, too, if no penne is in your pantry)
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
5 oz (half a box) frozen spinach, thawed and drained
2 cups tomato sauce, fresh if possible
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon dry oregano
1 teaspoon dry basil
salt and pepper to taste
three sticks string cheese (or about a cup grated mozzarella cheese)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Set aside.

In the pot that the penne was cooked in, mix together the cooked chicken, frozen spinach, tomato sauce, feta cheese, Parmesan cheese, oregano, basil and salt and pepper. Add the cooked and drained penne and stir to combine. Put this mixture into the prepared baking dish.

Cut the string cheese into coins and place evenly over the pasta mixture (or scatter the grated mozzarella evenly over the casserole.)

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 -50 minutes or until heated through and the cheese is melted on top.
Serve while hot. A salad and some crusty bread is a nice addition to this dish.

Serves 6 -8.

Simple Fresh Tomato Sauce and Pasta with Bacon

Finally, tomatoes to cook with!

When you consider that I start the seeds in February or March, you have to admit that it shows great patience to wait and wait and wait for enough ripe tomatoes from the garden that there are some to cook with...in the second week of September! Only a half year of work, weeding, watering and anticipation. Soooo worth it. Since I haven't had my yearly BLT sandwich yet I decided to add some bacon to this dish. Yum!

The dish that I made is a simple pasta dish. The pasta is a simple linguine from the store, cooked al dente. The sauce starts with a few slices of bacon crisped in a frying pan. After removing the bacon use the bacon grease and saute some onions and garlic in the same pan. After 4 minutes, the pan gets covered, the heat gets turned down and the peeling of tomatoes commences. If you are a smart cookie you can prepare the fresh tomatoes long before dinner time, but I worked today so it all happened at the same time. I was twirling around the kitchen like a ballerina in order to keep everything going: Water to boil for the pasta..... stir the onion mixture..... dunk a couple of tomatoes in boiling water to loosen the skins..... get out the bowls for the salad..... stir the onion mixture..... peel the tomatoes and chop..... check to see if the water is boiling..... chop the parsley and basil while a couple more tomatoes get heated up..... peel the tomatoes..... grate the Parmesan.....oops make sure the onions aren't burning, and so on. It's one of the reasons I don't share my kitchen too well.

Eventually we had a lovely fresh pasta sauce with fresh onion, garlic, Italian parsley and basil AND bacon... served over the linguine, topped with grated Parmesan. There was also a little leftover pork roast and some yummy green salad that Sweetie made. A satisfying and fairly simple dinner here at Elle and Sweetie's. Hope you had a nice Friday night meal, too.

My recipe is a good one, but if you want to see an amazing pasta recipe, with plenty of fresh, beautiful garlic, go on over to Louise's blog Satisfied for pasta dressed with fresh basil infused olive oil and some fried garlic and red peppers, twirled into nests and topped with a fried egg. The pasta? It's made from semolina flour and a flour made from grape skins! It is beautiful to look at and sounds very tasty. Thanks to Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies for the heads up on that post.

Finally Tomatoes Pasta with Bacon
serves two generously

for pasta: 1/2 lb of your favorite pasta, cooked according to package directions...al dente please

for sauce:

2 slices bacon, cut in 1 inch pieces
1 large onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic (or more!) peeled and minced
5-6 large ripe tomatoes (about 2 cups once peeled and diced), peeled and diced, juices saved
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2-3 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, broken
1/2 to 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a skillet cook the bacon until crisp. If you cook it over low heat toward the end it will render more of the fat, which is good. Remove the bacon to a paper towel to drain.

In the same skillet saute' the onion and garlic for 4 minutes, stirring a few times. Reduce the heat, cover and continue cooking for 5 more minutes.

While the onion mixture is cooking, fill a pot with water and heat it to cook the pasta.

Heat 2 cups water in a 4 cup heatproof measuring cup or narrow bowl with high sides. Add a couple of tomatoes and let sit 1-2 minutes to loosen the skins. Remove from the water and peel. Continue until all tomatoes are peeled.

If you don't like seeds in your pasta sauce, cut the tomato along the hemisphere and remove the seeds. Otherwise, just dice the tomatoes and reserve the juices, seeds and all. Empty the tomatoes from the cutting surface into the onion mixture in the skillet. Stir to combine. Add the salt and pepper, basil, Italian parsley, oregano and rosemary. Stir to combine. Cook over medium high heat, stirring often, to evaporate some of the liquid until sauce is the consistency you like for pasta.

If they have cooled, reheat the bacon pieces in the microwave.

Drain the pasta and plate it. Spoon the sauce on top. Sprinkle the bacon on top. Pass grated Parmesan at the table. Serve at once.

Asparagus Dish Bears Repeating

Springtime brings fresh asparagus at reasonable prices around here. Although I love them steamed with a little garlic, roasted with a little olive oil and some pepper, and blanched, cut in bite sized pieces, chilled and added to salads, my favorite dish that includes asparagus is a pasta dish that includes long, thin pasta, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, asparagus, garlic and some spices. It is simple but delicious. It turns out that I blogged about it last spring, but a recipe this good bears repeating.

Lately I've been turning to familiar recipes that I know work and are not too time consuming. Work has been eating up a lot of time lately, but we should soon be back to normal, whatever that is. I've also been doing some graphics at work, this week in relation to an FDA application, so that's been fun. On the home front we are still trying to find the leak by the window on the south wall and it looks like the window itself needs to be replaced. Planning has also begun on a bathroom remodel. Since the bathroom is over 25 years old it is probably mature enough for a face lift...and maybe a new shower enclosure. I'm the kind of girl who loves hardware stores almost as much as kitchen ware stores, so this is exciting.

To make this yummy asparagus dish this time I used angel hair pasta because that is what was in the pantry and it turned out to work very well with this sauce. Once you mix it with the sauce you pile it up on a platter. Since the asparagus is scattered on top of the pasta, then sprinkled with grated Parmesan, you don't have to worry about mixing it into the pasta. Although I didn't do it this time, sometimes I garnish this with pine nuts that I've toasted in a small cast iron skillet. A great dish becomes even better that way.

The quality of your ingredients shine with a dish this simple. Use the best asparagus you can find, fresh ricotta, good garlic, and grate the nutmeg right into the sauce if you have nutmegs and a grater. Freshly ground black pepper is a big plus, too.

The photos of the finished dish on this post are terrible. My only excuse is that it was late, I had worked all day and it smelled so good I didn't take many photos. Also this dish is best served right away...how's that for rationalization?

Pasta with Ricotta and Asparagus
from the Mediterranean Diet Cookbook

3/4 lb tender young asparagus
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tablespoons olive oil
(optional - 2 tablespoons fresh mint, minced)
1 pound long pasta - fettuccine, linguine, spaghetti, angel hair are all good
6 quarts water
1/2 pound fresh creamy ricotta (or mild goat cheese)
dash nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper to taste (I like a lot)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Trim tough ends off asparagus. Cut tender parts into 1 inch lengths. In a saute pan, gently stew the garlic and asparagus in the oil until the vegetables are tender, but not brown (about 15 minutes). Stir in mint if using. Set aside.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in lightly salted water. While pasta cooks, extract 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and mix it in a small saucepan with the ricotta. Set saucepan over low heat and gently cream the ricotta and cooking water. When the ricotta is warm, taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Add nutmeg and1 tablespoon grated cheese. Stir to combine.

Drain the pasta and combine immediately with the cheese sauce, tossing to mix well. Arrange on a warm platter and pour asparagus and oil mixture over the top. Sprinkle with the grated cheese and serve at once.

Serves 6

Flavors of Spring

The first wild iris are blooming at work in the woods, the birds are singing up a storm most mornings and the forsythia bush is beginning to have branches with bright yellow flowers dancing up and down. Driving around and about lots of daffodils are seen and our ancient cherry tree is putting on it's short annual floral show. Spring...official starting today.

One of my favorite flavors of spring is asparagus. Those green spears which turn brighter green when cooked are crisp and somehow taste green to me. Grandma L brought us some Meyer lemons, too. Although I think of winter as the citrus season, there are lots of Meyer lemons around when spring arrives.

A great dinner using these two ingredients and a few others was a hit this week with Sweetie. Chicken breasts can be pretty bland on their own, but perk up a lot when covered with a layer of thinly sliced lemons, splashed with some chicken broth, then set to cook over low heat until cooked through and browned a bit as the broth evaporates. We don't usually eat the lemon slices, but they look pretty on the plate with the chicken and a wonderful pasta and asparagus dish.

The asparagus dish is a little more complex. Pasta, usually linguine but this time angel hair style, is cooked and some of the cooking water is mixed with ricotta cheese to make a sauce. While that is happening, asparagus pieces are cooked until al dente and bright green. It all gets mixed together, seasoned, and topped with fluffy drifts of grated real Parmesan Reggiano.

Enjoy the flavors of spring in any way you can, even if there is still a nip in the air and snow on the ground in places. Spring is partly a way of relating to the world as much as a true season. Happy spring to each and every one of you.

Pasta with Ricotta and Asparagus
from the Mediterranean Diet Cookbook

3/4 lb tender young asparagus
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tablespoons olive oil
(optional - 2 tablespoons fresh mint, minced)
1 pound long pasta - fettuccine, linguine, spaghetti, angel hair are all good
6 quarts water
1/2 pound fresh creamy ricotta (or mild goat cheese)
dash nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper to taste (I like a lot)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Trim tough ends off asparagus. Cut tender parts into 2 inch lengths. In a saute pan, gently stew the garlic and asparagus in the oil until the vegetables are tender, but not brown (about 15 minutes). Stir in mint if using. Set aside.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in lightly salted water. While pasta cooks, extract 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and mix it in a small saucepan with the ricotta. Set saucepan over low heat and gently cream the ricotta and cooking water. When the ricotta is warm, taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Add nutmeg and1 tablespoon grated cheese. Stir to combine.

Drain the pasta and combine immediately with the cheese sauce, tossing to mix well. Arrange on a warm platter and pour asparagus and oil mixture over the top. Sprinkle with the grated cheese and serve at once.

Serves 6

Not So Lovely

Sometimes the best tasting food is not the best looking. Some of my favorite salads look like a mish mash of ingredients, held together by a little lettuce. I love soft polenta with a meat sauce, but when mixed together to combine the flavors in each bite, it really doesn't look very pretty even while it tastes delicious.

Tonight's pasta dish is a bit like that. Sweetie had found some beautiful ahi tuna steaks at a good price and I volunteered to make a baked pasta dish to go with it. A while ago I made a recipe which combined linguine, asparagus, ricotta and Parmesan cheeses and it seemed like a good jumping off point.

In the freezer I found a box of frozen chopped spinach (I know, I know, fresh is so much healthier or more virtuous or something, but I worked a twelve hour day yesterday and went to a funeral this morning, so frozen it is) and some dried noodles in the pantry. The fridge yielded both ricotta and Parmesan cheeses and the cupboard held some garlic, so we were in business. While things were cooking I decided that mixing some bread crumbs into the grated Parmesan for the topping would be a good idea and remembered that I still had some pine nuts in the fridge, so they went on the top, too.

This dish goes together fairly quickly, is fairly healthy, and is really, really good. If you don't want to bake it (it IS summer after all), you can put the pasta mixture right into a heated serving bowl and sprinkle on the cheese (no breadcrumbs) and some toasted pine nuts (which can be toasted on top of the stove in a small cast iron skillet in no time...toasted tastes MUCH better than raw pine nuts). If you are really hungry this won't serve 4, either. It's not so lovely, but it is very tasty.

Not Lovely Pasta and Spinach with Ricotta & Parmesan & Pine Nuts

½ lb dried flat noodles (I used no yolk egg noodles)
water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach ( or one bunch cleaned, stems removed, steamed, drained and chopped), thawed and drained of excess water
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg or ¼ teaspoon already ground nutmeg
½ cup ricotta cheese (I used low fat variety)
Salt and pepper
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (best quality you can use), divided
¼ cup dried bread crumbs, unseasoned
Optional: 1-2 tablespoons raw pine nuts

Fill a large pot with about 6 quarts of water and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling, add the dried pasta (you could also use linguine or spaghetti), return to a boil and stir. Boil until pasta is al dente.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Butter an 8 inch square baking dish, or equivalent.

While the pasta water is heating, heat the olive oil and a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and saute’ for about a minute, just until the garlic begins to color. Remove from heat and set aside.

To the garlic and oil mixture, add the thawed and drained or cooked, drained and chopped spinach. Stir to combine. Add the nutmeg and stir to combine. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, place the ricotta cheese. Add ¼ cup of the pasta water once it is hot. Using a whisk, stir well to combine the cheese and hot water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in 1 tablespoon of the Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

When the pasta is cooked al dente, drain it in a colander, then put the hot pasta over the spinach mixture. Pour the cheese mixture on top of that and stir quickly to combine all ingredients. Turn this mixture into the prepared baking dish.

On a plate or piece of waxed paper, combine the rest of the grated Parmesan and the bread crumbs. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the pasta mixture in the baking dish. Optional: sprinkle 1 – 2 tablespoons of pine nuts over the breadcrumb/cheese topping.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, until the edges of the pasta are browned and the pine nuts and cheese are golden. Serve at once.

Serves 4