FOOD!
One of the things I really like about cooking is that sometimes everything goes right. Tonight was one of those nights. I bought fresh tomato, basil, and mozzarella the other day after getting back from New York because I had a good sandwich at Cosi which reminded me of the tasty simplicity of those three ingredients and the versatility they are capable of. So, I have been coming up with creative ways to cook with these three ingredients the past few days, and tonight was the pinnacle of success. I've been wanting to make a pasta primavera since spring will be here soon and we have lots of vegetables here at the house (including three said ingredients). Also, today was the first day back to classes, so I wanted something fulfilling and easy and good for getting back into the swing of things. So, I've been planning for a few days now to make this pasta and I knew how I wanted it to turn out, so I've been trying to think of the best way to accomplish that (I do this frequently, it actually gets kind of annoying because sometimes I can't figure out how to get the results I want, and I just end up planning forever and never being successful.) Sometimes I search for recipes and try and combine tactics or ingredients that sound like what I have in mind, but today I didn't do any of that. I knew what I had available and I what I wanted, and I just went for it and it turned out perfect! Yay! I used my favorite special spaghetti and a new sauce that I found that is an alfredo with sundried tomatoes, it is very good. To go with that I had broccoli and zucchini both cooked in a wok with wok oil to give them extra flavor and keep them crisp (but still cooked) instead of mushy, they taste much better that way and have more nutritional value. So, when all the cooked ingredients were ready I put them all back into the pot and turned the heat on to do the final mixing. The spaghetti, sauce, broccoli, and zucchini all went in first and got mixed together, then I added the famous ingredients, tomato, basil, and mozzarella, with some toasted pine nuts (pignoli) and freshly grated parmesan on top. The tomato and basil and stuff went in last so it could get warmed up a little with everything else without completely losing it's shape and becoming mush, this worked out amazingly well, the mozzarella melted like it was supposed to and the basil wilted well, but the tomato didn't die. The results were delicious! It was exactly what I wanted and was hoping for. Anyone who cooks regularly knows that things don't usually happen that way. Some things may be good but then other things are disappointing, etc. Tonight I liked everything, and the vegetables were very fresh, I loved it. OK, so that's enough nerdy food rambling, I was just very pleased by my dinner results and I had to document it. Oh yeah, and the best part? I have just enough leftover for lunch tomorrow so the satisfaction can carry on. Too bad I didn't plan ahead and make some more of those Chez Pannise gingersnaps, they would have been good right about now.