Mussel, Wine and Tomato Pasta

We bought these nice (and cheap) mussels at the farmer's market yesterday. We had wine on hand but figured it would be better with something a bit more than just a typical wine and herb sauce. So out came the ingredients. And this time it wasn't me who was experimenting. It was my girlfriend.

She started out by frying up some mushrooms, onions, a shallot and some garlic in a frying pan and then dropping a got glass of local white wine and French vermouth. In another pot (don't ask me why she didn't just use one pot) she put in some organic chicken stock (not the bland Campbell's crap), a can of organic crushed tomatoes and the wine soaked aliums and mushrooms. I then advised her to reduce it by at least half and then add some oregano and thyme that we'd picked up at the market. That and cleaning up was my contribution.

She then cooked up some long macaroni while I cleaned and bearded the mussels. We just dropped the mussels in the now sputtering sauce and stired them once in awhile till they opened up and added even more flavour to the sauce.

Everything turned out to be delicious. With a bit of grated parmesan cheese, this simple plate would put to shame any chain Italian restaurant any day. At least our sauce didn't come out of a plastic bag. Plus we got to work together in the kitchen. Which is not alway the case when I'm in charge. I have a "my kitchen, my rules" sort of attitude that's somewhat out of character. I get real posessive about my kitchen sometimes.

Pasta Lunch Delivery

I love being back in my kitchen. I've cooked 3 meals today. Market bought bacon, free range eggs, and multigrain bread toast with hot red pepper jelly (sweet and spicy...yumm) in the morning. For lunch, I was kindly asked by my girlfriend if I'd meet her at university to have lunch. It meant that I had to go early to school. But at least it gave me an excuse to cook something for lunch. I would probably just have eaten a Pop Tart if I was the only one to feed.

This dish was basically just a fridge emptying entreprise. Half a zuchinni, six or so tomatoes from a crate we'd purchased and have been eating away at for the last week, on onion, a good dollop of pesto, lots of pequin chili flakes, the rest of a bag of penne and the really tasty left over crumbling salami. I simply cooked the penne while I cut up the veggies. I then used the same pot to cook the veggies. I should have used some of the pasta water but it was down the drain before I could think about it. Anyways, I added the salami last, put the dish in 2 portable containers, took a picture and met my girlfriend for lunch. She was happy that I'd made something as opposed to just bringing her something like cold Pop Tarts. What the hell is up with Pop Tarts anyways?

Jamie's wife's favorite Saturday afternoon pasta

Yet another recipe from Cook with Jamie, this pasta dish is simple, quick and pretty good. It's not of the same oh-my-god-this-is-the-greatest-thing-ever caliber (see Sticky Finger Lobster) but it was pretty good. Jamie himself admits that he can't see what his wife sees in this dish but she loves it and so, being the good husband that he undoubtedly is, he added it to his cookbook.

As always, I'm not going to give you his exact recipe but I will tell you what the ingredients are. Basically you've got red onion, red chilli, cinnamon, fresh basil, canned tomatoes (or try fresh, they're in season right now up here in the North Hemisphere), canned tuna in olive oil (I bought some lovely line caught, selective fishing tuna which, fingers crossed, might have less mercury in them), penne, lemon zest, olive oil and the pasta cheese of cheeses parmigiano reggiano. Combine as your cook logic dictates and you should be fine. And maybe not providing amounts is actually a good thing. You're not following some Brit's scientific equation. You're actually going at it for yourself...more or less. Anyways, it's worth trying. Really simple and good.