Usually, when people start talking about food, I kind of sit back and let the conversation take its own course. I would rather listen to their ideas of how to prepare certain dishes, or some of the steps you have to follow in order to produce a good meal, or even talk about ingredients that must be included for the dish in question. Sometimes, the issue has more to do with the logistics of doing the prep work and the cooking than it does the menu. No matter what the topic, it often can be fun to listen to but frustrating to get involved.
You can make the prep easier by taking a minute and writing out what you are going to make, down to each course. This might seem like a waste of time, but it will save a lot of time, effort and cleaning later. After doing this a few times, you become more aware of the process and will naturally follow the steps without writing everything out. The list also allows you to prep food at one time that will be used in multiple recipes. The other important step is to clean as you go. This will give you more space to use for prep and laying out your ingredients, but that space and empty sink can become crucial once you start cooking.
And now let’s move to dinner. As I so often say, think of the recipe as a guide and not as law. Only really in baking is it necessary to stick to the recipe. That is because baking is a lot more science and cooking is more taste and using your senses. You can see, smell, taste, feel and even hear what is going in the pan, so use these senses to your advantage. Since you are the one in charge, change the recipe so it tastes good to you. If the recipe calls for thyme but you are way more of a basil fan, by all means, use the basil. Do you like your mashed potatoes skin on or off, lumpy or smooth?
The original recipe for the pasta in this article called for sautéed veggies. I happen to think baked veggies add more flavor, so I changed the recipe. And don’t forget, no matter how much you cook, there will always be that occasional meal that just doesn’t work.
I recently made two of the worst meals I’ve made in a long time and they were back to back, breakfast and dinner. I left out one key ingredient in the French toast somehow (should have written it down) and added too much salt to the potatoes and sauce for dinner (seasoned too soon). The toast was awful but I ate mine because it had real maple syrup. The sauce wasn’t too bad and since no one said anything about the salt until the next day after a keg party when they were hammered, oh well.
I won’t lose sleep and if they turn down the next dinner invite, it means less work for me. Don’t worry, they’ll be back. The moral is to know everything you are going to be making, feel free to change things for your taste buds and season at the end a little at a time. Give this simple pasta a try and enjoy.
Roasted Vegetable Pasta
1 box fussily or penne, cooked al dente
1 red pepper
½ zucchini sliced in half- inch wheels, then halved
½ yellow squash sliced in half-inch wheels & the large wheels halved
½ red onion, sliced
8 whole cloves garlic
8 asparagus, cut in half
1 carrot, sliced
1/3 head cauliflower cut into small flowerets
Add green beans or any other of your favorite veggies if desired
½ bunch fresh basil, chopped
¼ C olive oil
1 C mozzarella cut into small cubes
¾ C fresh grated Parmesan
Turn your oven to 450 degrees and roast the red peppers in a pan until dark and burnt looking. Roll them once the top is black so the bottom also will turn dark. Remove the peppers from the oven, place in a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.
Salt and bring your water to a boil. Cook off your pasta to al dente and strain, but keep the water hot on the stove.
Drizzle the pasta with a little extra virgin olive oil. Turn the oven down to 350, drizzle a little olive oil over the veggies, lightly season with salt and pepper and roast them.
While the veggies are roasting, peel and seed the pepper and cut into strips. When the veggies are ready, pour the hot water over the pasta to heat it up and then toss the veggies, mozzarella and basil in and pasta. Top with Parmesan and serve.
