Advertisement
Chatelaine Kitchen

My dinner table

finished.jpg

rapini.jpg

IMG_0416.JPG

basics.jpg

Advertisement
Last night was pasta night. Pasta is an - faithful for me, especially when I want to just throw something together. Here's what I threw together. I hope you'll see something new to add to your next pasta dish. I started with a few basics: A can of tomatoes, onion, garlic, and a little bit of pesto and penne pasta.This penne is a little bigger than the usual; they're called pennoni rigati. But pretty much any pasta would work for this type of dish. Then I usually add a couple flourishes. This time it's blue cheese and bacon. Any blue will do. (Excuse the rhyme.) This is Le Ciel de Charlevoix: It's a blue cheese that's firm but really creamy. I like it because it melts but you still get some chunks too. It gives this dish a creamy texture without using fatty whipping cream. If you can't find this blue, cambazola or bleubry are good substitutes. Pancetta: Italian style bacon that's been cured with dried herbs and salt. I bought a hunk of it but you can also buy it already sliced at the grocery store. I find a little goes a long way so I only used half of this piece. And just chopped it up. The last, but not least important, ingredient is a vegetable. (At this point in the meal prep, the words of Brian Wilson spring to mind¦ I'm gonna love my vegetables, I love you most of all, My favorite vege-table) Sometimes it's hard to pick a favourite but today mine is rapini. You can choose your whatever your favourite vegetable of the moment is: peppers, asparagus or broccoli. Rapini is a type of broccoli. It's more flavourful and even leans a bit to the bitter side. I just stirred it into the sauce to soften a little which also helps to mellow the bitter flavour. And voila. Here the whole kit and kaboodle. What are your favourite ingredients to add to pasta dinner?

GET CHATELAINE IN YOUR INBOX!

Subscribe to our newsletters for our very best stories, recipes, style and shopping tips, horoscopes and special offers.

By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Advertisement
Advertisement