Pasta Presto!

My new favorite thing is Pasta.

I know, I know. I couldn't be more surprised myself. For years now, I've quietly loathed it, knowing full well how much joy it brings to the people I love. But I cannot support a food with virtually no nutritional value that doesn't have a taste experience to make it worthwhile.

Take chocolate cake, for example. Thousands of calories, pounds of saturated fat, enough sugar to kill an army of ants. Why bother? Because chocolate cake is amazing. Not only does it taste like we imagine heaven to taste, it makes you feel so good, even when you KNOW that it's so very BAD.

But Pasta? Stupid texture. Most jarred sauces are disgusting, even the "good" ones usually need some doctoring up. And I had finally given up on ever replicating the one sauce I do love (Trattoria Delia's spicy pan-fried tomato sauce.) I have always thought of pasta as food for people who are too lazy to cook, and too unimaginative to try something more adventurous. Until now.

Last week, I went thrifting. And I found a little book hiding in a musty corner. It is actually called "The Joy of Pasta", funnily enough. And the authors have written for many worthy publications, so they instantly had my esteem in that regard. And now they have my gratitude for changing my mind and adding a whole new factor of "Joy" to my kitchen.

First, I tried making as simple a pasta as possible. The way they have written the recipes makes it easy to make do. They don't call for all of the crazy machinery that I always thought was necessary, but they show you how to implement them if you are lucky enough to have a well-equipped kitchen. I made linguini. And it was easy! Very basic ingredients that most of us have at all times in the kitchen. Flour, eggs, salt, olive oil, water. Mix, knead, rest, roll, slice. Boil and toss. I used a hearts of palm and artichoke heart bruchetta topping sauteed with a shallot and some mushrooms as a sauce. Topped with a little cabot extra sharp and voila! Homemade pasta. And it was divine.

Then, last night, I got adventurous. When I worked at the half lounge, we got this genius of a pasta chef in the kitchen, Hillary. She made these little pasta's that she called ricotta gnocchi. I remembered her telling me the recipe and that there was no flour or potato in them. So I found a fun recipe in my new favorite book called Cheese and Spinach Dumplings that seemed like it might be similar.

First things first. I made a sauce from scratch and it was GREAT! Once again, very simple ingredients: Tomatoes, onion, carrot, olive oil, salt and pepper. Simmer for 40 minutes until you've reached perfection.

The dumplings were a bit of a challenge. The texture was very gooey and sticky, and to roll into a shape of any kind required lots of flour and patience. Thank god Brian had both! Together we conjured up an amazing, new and exciting meal like nothing we had ever tasted before.

I am anxious to try the potato gnocchi next, but think I should wait a few days and have a break from all the indulgence. Too much of a good thing might make us unappreciative of our creative genius in the kitchen. Our standards become so high, we find ordinary food unacceptable, inedible. Maybe that's a good thing....