I miss my boyfriend. :( Rahul is off in Nashville, TN today and tomorrow for a job interview.

So he missed out on some yummy pasta:

Creamy Lemon Pasta
A couple of handfuls of dried extra-wide egg noodles
A couple of handfuls of frozen peas
About 1/4 bunch of fresh parsley
1/2 of a large lemon (I miss fresh, free California lemons! This one cost $1)
2 large cloves garlic
Olive oil
2 Tbsp mascarpone cheese
Salt
Pepper

Put on the water for the egg noodles.

While waiting for it to boil, mince the garlic. Heat up a dab of olive oil in a tiny pan and brown the garlic. Remove from heat and place in a serving bowl.

Cook the noodles according to directions.

Wash and chop the parsley.

Dump the frozen peas into the pasta water a minute before it's done; by the time you drain it, the peas should be thawed.

Pour the drained pasta and peas into the serving bowl. Throw in the mascarpone and the parsley. Zest and juice the lemon directly into the bowl. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, and stir together to melt the mascarpone into a creamy sauce.

Things that might have made this dish better, if I'd thought of them and had them all on hand:
- Parmesan cheese
- Fresh mint or basil
- More garlic!
- Chopped olives
- Capers

Overall, though, it's a lovely, delicious, simple dish. The mascarpone makes it really easy--the previous incarnations of this pasta dish I've made before (with lemon or with yellow bell peppers) called for using cream and reducing it in the pan, which is much more time-consuming. Since the mascarpone is thick and creamy and clingy already, you can easily make the sauce before the pasta is even done cooking.

So... time to get back to my project and some fashion-ogling. I'm really craving chocolate, or hot cocoa, or a mocha, and we don't have any in the house. Unfortunately, Rahul has the car and it's forecast to snow tomorrow, so I probably won't go out. Saturday I paid no attention and went downtown to get breakfast and to attend Nancy's birthday party and spin at the yarn shop, and by the time I left (with 237 yards of green-blue merino tencel, and 30 yards of angora/silk/cotton 3-ply handspun in hand), huge, horrible globs of wet slush were splattering down everywhere, inch-thick all over the car windows. There was a kind of crust of fluffy/icy slush on the road that was retaining water underneath and I was glad Bloomington is so small.

Vegetarian (not vegan) gravy


Worked up as a substitute for our favorite white bean gravy because of the tragic demise of our hand blender.

Make a light roux with one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon flour. When the roux is thick, but still very pale, add Morningstar Farm sausage crumbles (perhaps 1/2 cup). Mix well with the roux and saute until lightly browned. Add about 1/2 tsp Better than Bouillon vegetarian broth concentrate, and about 1 cup cool water. Stir well; cook until the gravy is the desired consistency, then stir in about a teaspoonful of mascarpone cheese. Cook for a minute longer and then serve with Remarkably Acceptable biscuits.