Kitchen Comforts

Zucchini and Macaroni

3 large zucchini, diced
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 pound fresh tomatoes, diced or 1 large can Italian tomatoes (crushed with a potato masher)
2 TBS olive oil
salt
pepper
big handful of fresh basil
1 pound elbow macaroni or little seashells
grated parmesan cheese

Put the water on to boil the macaroni. Saute the onion in the olive oil in large skillet until it's very soft. Add the zucchini and cook until it begins to soften. Add the tomatoes to the zucchini and continue to cook gently while the macaroni boils in the other pot. Don't overcook the macaroni because it will soften some more when it's added to the zucchini and don't discard the cooking water until you add a cup or so to the zucchini. Add the basil and simmer for a few minutes. Add the pasta to the zucchini and tomatoes. This should be a bit soupy and require a bowl and a spoon. Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Baked Mac and Cheese

1 lb elbow macaroni
1 lb mild cheddar, grated
1/4 lb butter
6 eggs
2 13oz cans evaporated milk
salt and pepper

Cook macaroni according to directions on box, drain. Dump into large bowl. Add cheese, reserving 1/2 c. to sprinkle on top. Stir until melted.

Stir in butter and eggs. Add milk, salt and pepper. Mixture will be fairly liquid.

Pour into a 9" x 13" dish, sprinkling top w/ reserved cheese.

Bake in 350 for 45 minutes until set.

Roasted tomato sauce

Begin with garden-fresh, sun-ripened tomatoes of any and every variety. I usually plant some plum tomatoes for this, but by the end of the summer, I'm throwing all varieties into the pan. Clean the tomatoes and core them and put them in an 11X17 inch pan. Peel an entire BULB of garlic and scatter the cloves throughout the tomatoes. Douse with extra-virgin olive oil. Roast at 450 degrees for about a half an hour, until the whole house smells like summertime and the tomatoes are blistered. Pull the pan from the over and sprinkle with fresh, whole basil leaves. Cover with foil and allow to cool until you can handle it comfortably. Carefully transfer everything (including the juices) to the blender. You'll have to bend in two batches. Whir it all together and pour it over hot pasta. This makes enough for 4 pounds of hearty pasta. I usually cook two pounds to feed my family. So, the other half gets poured into a gallon size zippered freezer bag and then frozen flat on the freezer shelf. In the middle of winter, thaw, heat, pour and remember the summer!

Bobby's Favorite Dinner

Bobby Convey leaves for Germany soon to play on the US National Team in the World Cup. Bobby loves Spaghetti Carbonara and we make it every time he comes home. Time to carbo-load before the biggest tournament of them all:

2 pounds bacon, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
Freshly ground black pepper
2  pounds fresh spaghetti, cooked al dente
8-10  large eggs, beaten
2 cups warm half and half or cream

Salt
2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

In a large iron skillet, over medium heat, cook the bacon until crispy. Remove the bacon and drain on paper towels. Pour off all of the oil except for about a 1/4 cup. Add the garlic. Season with black pepper. Saute for 30 seconds. Add the crispy bacon and the pasta. Stir it all together. Remove the pan from the heat and add the eggs, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble. (Don't let the kids watch if they'll be grossed out). Add warm cream. Add the cheese and re-season with salt and pepper. Mound into serving bowls. This makes a lot of food but it's good the next morning for breakfast.

Casual Fridays

Many years ago, when I was a new mother, my aunt made a priceless heirloom for me.  She hand-lettered and painted this rendition of all our family's pasta sauce recipes.

While I know these recipes by heart, I still consult the painting when it's time to cook.  It's so beautiful and it so inspires me. The same painting hangs in my aunt's house, in my sister's house, and in my mother's house.  (Not sure which one of us has the original.)

My daughter is endeavoring to learn all the recipes this year, working her way through them with a joy that warms my heart.

Fridays are casual meal days here.  My husband frequently travels on Fridays, so it's just mom and the kids.  Often, Friday's dinner precedes a full slate of weekend athletic competitions and I try to carbo-load my growing athletes.  And, Fridays are meatless--they are perfect days for hearty peasant pasta meals. 

Tonight's dinner is Pasta with a very simple Agli Olio sauce.  That's just pasta with garlic and olive oil. Lots of garlic--another good reason to make it when Daddy's not here. According to my Aunt Lisette, boil enough water for two pounds of pasta and finely chop 15 to 20 cloves of garlic.  Saute the garlic in 3/4 cup to 1 cup olive oil until just golden.  Be careful not to burn it. Burned garlic is bitter! Let the garlic sit in the oil while you chop a bunch of parsley and grate about a cup or so of Pecorino Romano cheese.  When the pasta is al dente (or firm to the tooth), reserve about 2 cups of the pasta water.  Add about a cup of the water to the garlic oil. Drain the rest of the water and then sauce the pasta with the garlic oil.  Sprinkle generously with cheese and parsley and toss. If it seems to dry, add more pasta water.

Variations:  I often stir some arugula or spinach just briefly into the garlic oil and toss that, too, omitting the parsley.  Slivered sun dried   tomatoes are another great addition.  And, you can make this recipe into pasta with white clam sauce by adding chopped fresh clams in juice or canned clams with all the juice and cutting back on the pasta water.

Wheat free note:  Ever since I discovered Tinkyada Rice Pasta, I haven't been deprived of favorite pasta dishes.  It's almost as good as dried semolina pasta.