It worked, by golly it worked!

[CrayonAngelss]

Adjusting from cooking for 2 to cooking for 1 over the past year has been a challenge.

I used to be so deft in the kitchen, but I lost my spark somewhere. I've had some wins in the kitchen; isolated moments of tasty victory. Dumb luck? Mostly, I've had blunders and f*ck-ups.

But today! Today, I decided to improvise. I said, "You know what? To hell with it. It's 3pm on a Sunday. Hoarders is on, and I've got some bow-tie pasta and a bottle of wine and nowhere to be." So I made a creamy wine sauce with garlic, cooked down cherry tomatoes for a fast sauce, and threw it all together with a handful of peas and a sprig of fresh basil from the plant I've yet to murder.

It was the first dish I've made in a long time where I took a bite and said, "Oh, CrayonAngelss? Yea, I know her :cool: "

What's your latest cooking success?

[Jon Szanto]

That's a wonderful story, and I'm glad you enjoyed the fruits (and pastas) of your labor.

Keeping with your theme, we are nearing 40 years together and, early on, it was made clear that it would be best for both of us if I steered clear of the kitchen. I always utter the "can I do anything" plea, which usually goes nowhere. However, we have made our own pasta for many years and it has finally evolved that after my dear has made the dough and let it rest, I get to do the work with the Atlas hand-crank machine. I really enjoy it, small a task as it is, and a new cutter I got for her for Christmas (about as wide as pappardelle but with fluted edges) is fun to use. My only other task is keeping one of our cats away, as when the pasta is hanging on the rack, waiting for a swim in boiling, salted water, Ranger goes "ooooh, look, TOYS!" and nothing will stop him from grabbing some noodles. Well, except that I stop him.

Buon appetito!

[Chrissy]

Great CA and well done you. Yeah :)

[CrayonAngelss]

That's a wonderful story, and I'm glad you enjoyed the fruits (and pastas) of your labor.

Keeping with your theme, we are nearing 40 years together and, early on, it was made clear that it would be best for both of us if I steered clear of the kitchen. I always utter the "can I do anything" plea, which usually goes nowhere. However, we have made our own pasta for many years and it has finally evolved that after my dear has made the dough and let it rest, I get to do the work with the Atlas hand-crank machine. I really enjoy it, small a task as it is, and a new cutter I got for her for Christmas (about as wide as pappardelle but with fluted edges) is fun to use. My only other task is keeping one of our cats away, as when the pasta is hanging on the rack, waiting for a swim in boiling, salted water, Ranger goes "ooooh, look, TOYS!" and nothing will stop him from grabbing some noodles. Well, except that I stop him.

Buon appetito!
Thanks Jon! I like your story, too. I don't have any pets, but my kids are now old enough that I can decorate my apartment with long, trailing plants without being yanked off the bookcase ;)

[FredRydr]

…Today, I decided to improvise. I said, "You know what? To hell with it. It's 3pm on a Sunday. Hoarders is on, and I've got some bow-tie pasta and a bottle of wine and nowhere to be." So I made a creamy wine sauce with garlic, cooked down cherry tomatoes for a fast sauce, and threw it all together with a handful of peas and a sprig of fresh basil from the plant I've yet to murder….
That has to be delicious. Had you added squid ink to your pasta in the Mediterranean tradition, you could’ve even had ingredient left over to fill your pens.

[CrayonAngelss]

…Today, I decided to improvise. I said, "You know what? To hell with it. It's 3pm on a Sunday. Hoarders is on, and I've got some bow-tie pasta and a bottle of wine and nowhere to be." So I made a creamy wine sauce with garlic, cooked down cherry tomatoes for a fast sauce, and threw it all together with a handful of peas and a sprig of fresh basil from the plant I've yet to murder….
That has to be delicious. Had you added squid ink to your pasta in the Mediterranean tradition, you could’ve even had ingredient left over to fill your pens.

When I worked at Andalusia downtown, they had squid ink pasta one night as a special...yes, it was black! This was 10 years ago, so I didn't think to slip one of the noodles into a pen.

[Chip]

A trick for cooking for one or two that I've adopted is to make sauces in larger batches and then freeze them in serving-size portions.

That way, you can cook the rice or pasta, heat a portion of sauce, and have a good meal with a minimum of fuss and clean-up.

With some sauces, you can make the base, then add fresh bits (chopped peppers and tomatoes, herbs) before serving.

[manoeuver]

Instead of abandoning my pepper plants like I do most years, I pulled them, harvested all the peps and put em in to ferment for hot sauce:
https://timhofmann.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-21-15.06.37-scaled.jpg
https://timhofmann.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-21-15.06.43-scaled-e1666781263651.jpg
https://timhofmann.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-21-17.46.42-scaled-e1666781283607.jpg

tomorrow I'll blend these and see what happens.
however it turns out it'll be better than walking past pepper plants with forlorn ripe fruits covered in ice...

[FredRydr]

They look dangerously good.

[Chrissy]

@Tim Is there some liquid in the jar with the peppers? If so, what is the process there?