Table Talk
Refrigerator pasta?
It was five o'clock, and I was hungry. I had no plan for dinner and wasn't interested in heading off to the grocery store at that point. It was going to have to be a pantry/refrigerator inspired menu! It's good to have these nights once a week or so. It allows me to use up the little bit of this and that that has accumulated over the last 5 or 6 days--you know, the things you can't quite bring yourself to toss out, knowing that you could use them in Something. The clean-out-the-refrigerator menu avoids the alternative, which is to stumble across that array of unidentified items shoved to the back shelf (or in the bottom of the veggie bin), which have become a science project.
This particular night, I sifted through the options and came upon crimini mushrooms, asparagus, cream, chicken stock, an aging red pepper, and some prosciutto. These were the makings of a nice pasta dish, and along with the end of the loaf of ciabatta in the freezer and the last of the bottle of Old Vine Zinfandel on the counter, would make for a delicious dinner.
After putting a pot of water on for pasta, I rummaged in my pasta drawer and found some Gemili pasta. I cleaned and cut the asparagus in one inch pieces, the pepper in 1 inch strips, sliced the mushrooms, chopped the prosciutto and half an onion, minced some garlic. I sauteed these in olive oil until softened. I mixed the chicken broth with a little cornstarch, added this and the cream to the vegetables, which I cooked until thickened. I added this to the cooked gemili, tossed it all with some freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and the prosciutto, added a teaspoon of smoked paprika, some salt and pepper and voila! Delizioso!
