pasta without tomatoes.

it wasn't until college that i started making pasta without a tomato sauce of some kind. for some reason it seemed sacrilegious.

in fact, there were a few times when i ate spaghetti with medium salsa .. but hey, we're all young once. (;

---

when i think about it, this recipe sounds like one that mark bittman (the "Minimalist") would think of.

green (but not pesto) pasta
(serves 1, but can be scaled up)

ingredients:

• 1 serving whole wheat thin spaghetti / angel hair pasta
  
  
• 1 fistful curly parsley [1], finely chopped
  
  
• 1 small bowl of frozen peas, thawed [2]
  
  
• 1 big / 2 small cloves of garlic,
  smashed with the side of a chef's knife and chopped finely.
  
  
• enough olive oil to dress the pasta
  
  
• salt & pepper to taste
  

<digression>
if anyone cares to try, some ground parmigiano-reggiano cheese would probably do very well, but i didn't have any.

small, pitted deli olives would have been good, now that i think about it. argh .. i should have bought some!

the best thing about this recipe is that it can be made in parallel: several steps at the same time!
</digression>

"directions"

1. boil water, thaw out peas, chop parsley. (since the water will take a while to boil, you can slow down your chopping; i'm not that fast, myself.)
   
   
2. add pasta to the boil, smash/peel/chop garlic.
   (as a tip, smash first, then peel.)
   
   
3. add peas to the boil, heat up a pan and add olive oil.
   when ready, add garlic to the pan.
   
   
4. when you can smell garlic, remove from heat.
   drain pasta/peas in a colander, but do not rinse!
   dress pasta with the garlic and oil, parsley, salt, pepper.
   

[1] at some point in my life, i developed the habit of buying the cheapest fresh herbs (per bunch) from the grocery, each week. admittedly, i like cilantro more than parsley, but parsley seems a more adaptable ingredient.

[2] a bag of frozen peans are great in a pinch. they also serve well as an ice pack, in the event of sprains, bruises, and burns.

thoughts about a(n upcoming) dinner party.

1. having friends over for dinner is a good excuse to buy several types of good cheese. some items, in plenty, are too decadent for solitary consumption.
   
   
2. one guest has repeatedly offered to make something. in retrospect i should have let him make the salad. in conversation and in email, he's brought it up ..
   
   as for why i didn't, he called me (less than an hour after emailing me) about whether he should bring salad. i was at the grocery at the time and had just bagged a head of green-leaf lettuce, as well as other sundries.
   
   he's on baguette-&-red wine detail, now. hopefully he isn't offended.

tonight's dinner: "leftovers" sandwich.

ingredients:

* last 2 pieces of whole wheat bread, pan-toasted [1]
* last 2 dollops of roasted red pepper hommos
* leftover chopped salad (cucumbers, tomatoes, curly parsley, vinaigrette)
* several slices of gorgonzola (under the salad layer)

this was a wonderful sandwich.

i would have taken photos of the cross section, between bites, but the filling overflowed and my fingers were too deliciously messy to operate a camera.


[1] if you own a toaster, go ahead and use it.
it's a labor-saving invention, after all.