I love my latest cookbook find... Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone
You can read all about it, but the bottom line is - all the recipes are gorgeous, delicious and simple to prepare. Even more to my liking is the fact that there are few ingredients required and each recipe inspires your own creativity.
I had every intention of making Fresh Linguine with Garlic Shrimp & Homemade Pesto exactly as he did, but...
...although I love pesto in everything from scrambled eggs, to frittatas, soups, roasted & grilled fish and chicken,...pasta of course! After all, a dollup of pesto over some pasta is a complete meal in just the time it takes to boil water...okay, perhaps five more minutes for the pasta to be al dente and a salad whipped up... sorry, I digress... Living in Halifax means that fresh basil is hard to come by, especially at this time of year. Little bundles, already beginning to brown, cost $2-3 per bunch and you'd need at least 3 bunches to make a batch of pesto. So, until later this summer, I'll be trying out different pestos from a jar...not quite as wonderful as my own, but good enough.
...although I have my own wonderful pasta making attachment for my KitchenAid Mixer sitting on my counter...I was lazy and went for some healthy multigrain fusili sitting in my pantry instead.
...although the recipe calls for beautifully roasted cherry tomatoes on the vine to be served along side...I left them in the oven too long, sidetracked by one thing or another, and, somehow charred cherry tomatoes are not appealing - call me crazy.
...and because I can never leave well enough alone, I had to add some pancetta that was sitting in my fridge, along with some white wine and a pinch or two of dried red chili pepper flakes.
So here's my own version inspired by Curtis Stone...
I'd love to know your favorite cookbook...the one that inspires you to be creative.
And don't forget that Tigerfish of Teczcape is our gracious host for this week's Presto Pasta Night Roundup. Send your entries to her - tigerfish1101(at) yahoo(dot)com (dot)sg cc me ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com
Guidelines to share your pasta dishes.
And if you'd like to host a Presto Pasta Night Roundup yourself, just send me an email. There are still some open slots for June and lots of dates in the summer. What are you waiting for...it's great fun and a fabulous way to get introduced to other awesome bloggers.
5 comments:
I've had my eye on that cookbook, so it's good to know that it's worth picking up! I love the changes you made, which I think is kind of the idea behind cookbooks like his... inspire you to create your own version of each dish!
What cookbook inspires me right now? Well, I have a pile of them, but I think I'm going to focus on learning some techniques from Martha Stewart's Cooking School book over the next few months.
Patsy, the book is great and now I'll have to add Martha Stewart's Cooking School book to my list. Thanks
Curtis' cookbook sounds like a must have Ruth.
Robust flavors of the garlic! Yum!
It was very flavorful...thanks again for being a great Presto Pasta Night Host
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