The Latest Delicious Presto Pasta Night Roundup

Deb at Kahakai Kitchen did a superb job of hosting this week's fabulous Presto Pasta Night Roundup #141. The roundup is fantastic - Nineteen droolingly delicious dishes to whet your appetites.

I don't know where the time flies, but it does...in spades and we're about to start that really crazy month.... December....with lots of holidays toward the end of the month and pre-holiday celebrations and preparations before that. A perfect month for whipping up stress reducing pasta dishes. Hopefully your December will be more JOYful than STRESSful and I do hope you plan on sharing your pasta treats with us.

I'm hosting next, so send all your tasty pastas to me by next Thursday... ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com to start off December's PPN roundups. If it's half as great as this week's roundup it will be amazing.

Thanks Deb for a terrific hosting job. And all you excellent pasta makers...you make every week special!

Revisiting an Old Pasta Friend

Since I didn't actually make any pasta this week, I thought I'd take a walk down memory lane and see what pasta dishes I wrote about when I started blogging back in 2005.



I found this one, adapted from an early Donna Hay Magazine, back in June, 2005 and still makes it onto our table often...Winter Greens, Pancetta & Mushroom Pasta. It's still my favorite- easy-to-put-together, comfort food. And, believe it or not, that's still my favorite pasta bowl.
I'm sharing this with Presto Pasta Nights...this week Deb of Kahakai Kitchen is hosting. Next week it's back to me and, if I don't see you at this week's round up, I can't wait to see what you all plan on sending my way.

Hard to Believe - No Pasta To Write About

What a sad day indeed. Somehow, I made it to Thursday without one pasta dish this week! Shocking, I know. I even tried to make a pasta for lunch...sounded good - crab, peas & white wine. What could be bad? It even looked pretty. That said, it was probably the blandest pasta I've ever made. Good thing that tomorrow Deb of Kahakai Kitchen is hosting this week's Presto Pasta Night. I know I'll find some amazing choices there.

If you're not too busy celebrating American Thanksgiving, you still have time to share a dish by sending it to debinhawaii (at) gmail (dot) com and cc me - ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com

Happy American Thanksgiving

Wishing my American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you're spending it with those you love and ....on the off chance that you don't have all the dishes done for your dinner, here are a couple of fantastic side dishes from The Blackberry Farm Cookbook: Four Seasons of Great Food and the Good Life which is stunning and delicious. I'll be writing much more about it soon.
Even if you usually turn your nose up at Brussels Sprouts, you should give these Roasted Pecan Brussels Sprouts a try. The toasted pecans and the oven roasting with olive oil give the leaves a crispness and cut that often bitter flavor.
While this is not the prettiest photo I've ever taken, the Roasted Winter Squash Puree was unbelievably easy to prepare and (shhhh...don't tell anyone...) I must have eaten more than a portion during the "tasting"...even though it didn't need anything else to make it delicious.

These two sides are so tasty, I could easily forget about the turkey!

A Lovely Anniversary Dinner

I won't tell you how long we've been married....long enough to not believe it's been that long, and yet it still feels perfect and as if we've always been together. Enough mush!

This post...without photos of food, if you can believe that!...is about our dinner. We went to Da Maurizio in the heart of Heritage Properties just off the Halifax Harbour and right next door to my favorite Saturday haunt...the farmers' market. They specialize in Northern Italian food and the rich setting, with high ceilings and Botticelli et al prints and lots of candles makes it a perfect refuge on a wintry day. We could imagine snow outside, a sleigh pulled by horses, waiting for us outside....but I digress...service was friendly, but not intrusive. Our knowledgeable waiter seemed to show up just when we wanted something or other, like he read our minds.

But let's face it....you really want to know about the meal. We almost went for the all inclusive seasonal dinner...appetizer, main and dessert for $40, with lots of choices in each category, but I had my eye on ....I was going to say a couple of dishes ...but actually, make that a bazillion choices... on the regular menu.

We started out sharing Calamari alla Gradese - flash fried calamari finished with tomato, sautéed garlic, crushed chilies, lemon and fresh Italian parsley. It was so fantastic, I could go back and make a complete meal of a double portion...crispy yet light batter coating the tenderest calamari rings and lightly topped with a perfect sauce. I'm drooling as I write about them, before 8A.M. the next morning.

Perhaps next time I'll just do appetizers...
Salmone Affumicato Cipollato - Nova Scotia smoked salmon layered with horseradish mascarpone, lime marinated red onion, shaved cucumber, lemon, capers and grilled bread.

Lumache al Tartufo - Snails sautéed with garlic butter and white wine, baked on crostini with melted truffled pecorino and fresh herbs.

Fegato Grasso all’ Amarena -seared foie gras deglazed with brandied cherries, orange, honey and port, served on toasted brioche.

Muscoli alla Triestina - fresh mussels sautéed with garlic, onions, chilies, white wine, leeks, tomato and fresh herbs, topped with crusty bread.

Prosciutto e Fromaggi ai Datteri - San Daniele prosciutto and medjool dates stuffed with goat cheese and fresh basil, garnished with shaved grano padano and balsamic reduction.

There's more and I haven't even mentioned the soups and salads.

But on to the next course....we should have done a pasta course, but passed. Not because there was nothing appealing...there are ten droolingly delicious sounding varieties to choose from. Perhaps next time I'll forgo the Secondi Piatti (main course) and choose Fettucine All’ Aragosta - Fettucine sautéed with fresh lobster, shallots, garlic butter, wine white, tomato and cream, finished with fresh herbs.

This time around, though we opted for veal scaloppine - Lombarda for my Honey -sautéed with cremini, oyster, porcini and shiitake mushrooms, finished with red wine and demi-glaze and, for me.... all’ Astice - sautéed with fresh lobster and finished with a garlic, tomato, brandy and cream sauce. One word - DIVINE! So rich, I could barely eat a third of our shared dessert...Crema Bruciata alla Canadese - maple crème brûlée garnished with candied nuts and cinnamon sugar cookie. Don't worry, my Honey finished it up.

So...stretchy pants and much yoga on tap for today before I make my own simple pasta for dinner...not sure what exactly...stay tuned.

Just don't forget that this Friday, Deb of Kahakai Kitchen will be hosting Presto Pasta Night Roundup #141, all the way from Hawaii. You can send your entries to her debinhawaii (at) gmail (dot) com and cc me - ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com

Now that I've whetted your appetite, where do you like to go for a celebration dinner?

Lentil Soup -Old Favorite with a New Twist

Let me start by saying...I love cookbooks. I love flipping through them in book stores, at friends and family...in fact I just borrowed New Vegetarian: Bold and Beautiful Recipes for Every Occasion from my daughter, but more about that some other time. And currently there are eight evaluation copies of great cookbooks from various publishers and author/agents for me to review, sitting on my table.

One of them is even called "Soup" and even though there are tons of great recipes in the book, I was in a very particular mood. I wanted to use the short ribs and marrow bone I had on hand to go with a lentil base. And the funny thing is, I ended up making my own old favorite - Mellow Lentil Soup, adding, not only a marrow bone for extra richness, but a grated sweet potato to thicken and sweeten it up a bit.

It was the grated sweet potato that was really calling me, and I was worried that it would overwhelm the earthiness of the lentils. It didn't and I got to add all that nutritional value without anyone being the wiser.

Did you know that nutritionists at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), ranked the sweet potato number one in nutrition of all vegetables? With a score of 184, the sweet potato outscored the next highest vegetable by more than 100 points. (Info found at FoodReference - almost twice the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, 42 percent of the recommendation for vitamin C, four times the RDA for beta carotene, and, when eaten with the skin, sweet potatoes have more fiber than oatmeal. All these benefits with only about 130 to 160 calories).

Just curious....what healthful ingredients do you "hide" from your family?