A Delicious Dish

So I'm sure you've all been anxiously awaiting my next blog post. I'd like to say I've been up to fun and exciting things that have kept me busy, but I would be lying. I have been watching my Big Love dvds, which took an ungodly amount of time to get here, thanks to the extreme efficiency of the USPS mail forwarding service.
I decided to share one of my easy recipes for pasta. I used to make it all the time back in my Law School Days because its easy and can be tweaked in lots of ways to accomodate what you have.
As a disclaimer, I never measure or follow recipe directions unless absolutely necessary. I blame this on the fact that I sort of have ADD and control issues and it stresses me out to follow someone else's instructions precisely. Yes, I'm crazy, this is not news to anyone. So use as much as you would for however many people you're cooking for. Play around with proportions and such. My "recipes" are more like loose guidelines suggesting the basic idea of what you're cooking but its essential you use your own judgment.
So without further ado....My Special Pasta

- Heat water for pasta. I prefer to use a whole wheat spaghetti for this, but pasta is pasta and you can really use any kind you like.
- Heat up some olive oil with spices of your choice in a frying pan. I like garlic, basic (fresh or frozen is preferable to dried), sea salt, ground pepper, herbes de provence and cumin but you can use whatever herbs, spices and seasonings you like.
- If desired, add some meat. Chicken sausage works well, but chicken, ground meat (beef, turkey, etc) or shrimp would work. Cook the meat in the spice-oil.
*This is entirely optional and can be omitted to be more appealing to your vegetarian friends (or self), or if you just don't feel like eating meat.
- Open a can of diced tomatoes. Pour as much as you want into the pan.
- Add in vegetables of your choice. Spinach and broccoli work well, but again, use whatever frozen or fresh veggies you have hanging around. I once used an extra avocado I had and it was excellent.
- Let the sauce simmer.
- When the pasta is almost done, throw it into the pan and let it all cook together. Be sure not to overcook the pasta when you boil it, because it will cook a little more in the sauce.
- Once everything is mixed and has cooked for a little while, transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with parmesean cheese (or don't, if you don't eat dairy).

I enjoy this because its lighter and than your typical jar of tomato sauce. I find heavy red sauces boring unless they are really well seasoned and made with fresh ingredients. What can I say, I'm from NY so I'm a snob about Italian food and I think a lot of restaurants bastardize Italian food by using heavy, bland sauces and over cooked pasta.
This was inspired by a goat cheese in tomato sauce skillet from a neat little tapas place in Clayton. The tomato sauce was light but sort of spicy and very delicious so tried to make my own. Of course, it isn't quite as good, but I think its tasty and easy and leaves lot of room for your own creativity!
Mangia!