Here's what I do when I want to try something new but don't want to spend forever putting together a menu, shopping for tons of ingredients, and figuring out how to make a totally new dish: I play the "What's About To Go Bad In My Refrigerator Game."
When you can count the number of ingredients in a dish on one hand, it's best to go for the (really, really) good stuff.
There are many reasons why this is the perfect warm-weather pasta, including the fact that it's so pretty and spring-y-looking and uses all those delicious things that are just started to appear on grocery store shelves.
Artichokes are about to come back in season!
They say that trying to cook with a newborn is a total lost cause, but I haven't actually found that to be true. You just have to be...flexible.
Now, I love my Linguine Carbonara recipe...but when it comes to cheesy pastas, I'm extremely open to suggestion.
Can you tell that I'm maybe compiling a bunch of these to have ready for the arrival of The Small One? Yes yes, I'll freeze a whole bunch of stuff to have at the ready for those first couple of weeks, but honestly, I'd rather spend the before-bed hours with my family than with the stove...
Since the preparation here is so simple, the key is to use great ingredients like fresh, organic pastas and gorgeous vegetables (yet another big thumbs-up to Fairway, Iloveyouneverchange). And don't dress it too heavily; the goal is to let the pasta and vegetables shine.
I first ate a version of this meal over at my friends Jeremy and Eric's place many years ago - I remember feeling very glamorous and grown-up about having a for-real dinner party, so it had to have been sometime right around high school graduation - and ever since then it's been an easy summer staple for me.
I did a little scouting in the freezer, and came up with some vegetables that I'd bought to go into a risotto. And then I looked in the refrigerator, and there was the mint that had been intended for the risotto, along with some ricotta leftover from making these the other night...
