Remember when it was summer and I was still making pasta? And it was light outside when I got home from work? That was the best. Lets look back at the good times
Here are the best and worst of days 71-80, I would say it wasn't an exceptional 10 days, but I did make a few neat things. Read it, look at the pictures, and join me in remembering sunnier and warmer days.
The Tastiest: Spaghetti and Meatballs
It seems cliche to pick this as the tastiest, but it was, so here it is. These are really excellent meatballs. And what I love about them is that you basically make the meatballs and sauce at the same time, so no jar sauce! I use Smitten Kitchen's (the best food blog ever) recipe for everyday meatballs, but don't always follow it exactly, theres definitely a little wiggle room in this recipe.
The Most Exotic: Pad Thai with rice noodles
I really felt like I had to try to make rice noodles during this project, and ultimately I'm glad I did. They were alright, but definitely too much trouble to make again. Essentially they are steamed in a glass container floating in a pool of boiling water, and when theyre done they are VERY sticky, so everything they touch needs to be oiled or they will fuse to it. An adventure, yes, but something "everyone should try once" no.
The Most Disappointing: Conchiglie Lunge (long shells)
About a year ago I had a delicious creamy pasta with goat cheese, mint, and peas at pasta place in Boston; I thought it was something I could easily make at home. I had grabbed what I thought was mint from our CSA (it had a square stem much like mint and smelled vaguely minty) and set out to replicate the dish. The herb I was shiso, in the mint family, but more commonly used in Asian cooking. Needless to say, this did not turn out as planned, and I literally picked out the strands of leaves in an effort to salvage my dinner.
The Prettiest: Triangoli with ricotta and lemon
My favorite part about this pasta is the name, it takes the guess work out of figuring out what its supposed to look like. (triangoli - triangles, so great) I was on a real fresh ricotta kick at the time, and wanted to do something simple that would really highlight that flavor. So I added a little salt, lemon and parmesan cheese and that was the filling! Finished off with pesto (which I also make a little on the lemony side) it was a bright and happy dinner.
The one you could make tonight: Orecchiette with mini meatballs
This dish is suspiciously similar to the spaghetti and meatballs, but I'm not going to apologize and heres why: you should really make those smitten kitchen meatballs AND I've posted a tutorial for how to make orecchiette on this site! Those two things (and the fact that dinner can come together in an hour) are what make this an excellent easy dinner any day of the week.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from these 10 days, to see photos of all 10 finished dishes check out this link to my #100daysofpastafresca on instagram!