Fantastic pasta and a few more laughs

Tonight, tired from all the yoga and pilates in the world because #electionstress, cold because #fall, and hungry because, well, #hungry, I wanted a quick, hearty dinner. I'd bought a lovely rotisserie chicken from the market earlier, knowing the boys wouldn't eat it all and so I'd have some leftover bird. On a hunch, I put a tub of mascarpone and a box of whole wheat spaghetti in my cart too, just in case. 

And so became dinner. I forgot about the originally-called-for fennel but subbed a celery heart with great results. Likewise, I didn't recall recently using up my stash of currants and so used chopped sultanas. Also a terrific sub. Lastly, I was again reminded that the best outcome for any pasta dish really depends on a salt-loving heavy hand. Go big or go home, be flexible, enjoy.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Chicken, Fennel, Currants and Mascarpone. 

In addition to all the yoga and pilates, I have drowned my election depression in my garden. Somewhere out there I lost my favorite pair of Fiskars clippers, but I planted a couple dozen tulip bulbs and trimmed away two garbage bins of yardly detritus.

And I have greatly appreciated the proliferation of more Biden-against-Trump jokes. A few more for you. God I'm gonna miss these two!

Fam dinner = delicious vat o' pasta

The boys were maniacs this afternoon after camp. Maniacs intensely focused on exposing to each other and me their private areas as.much.as.possible. I finally reached my limit with all things butt-and-penis and sent them to their rooms until dinner. Being that they eat at 4:45p this was not a huge punishment, but still. I got them fed and also started on our meal because T's mom and two of his cousins were to join us. While at the market yesterday, I spied a most gorgeous head of Savoy cabbage. I bought it and ever since have been noodling -hah, no pun intended (see rest of sentence)- on caramelizing it and then tossing that with whole wheat spaghetti. A Food 52 cook I admire posted a recipe for a "suspiciously good cabbage" a year or two ago, and I used that as my jumping-off point this evening.

I fried some bacon, poured off most of the drippings, added in some butter and then slowly cooked down a mess of shallots, the now-shredded cabbage and some garlic. Ultimately, some cream, a generous shower of salt, some pasta water, a rainfall of grated Parm, the now-crumbled bacon,  a handful of finely chopped mint and the zest of one lemon joined forces with the veggies and spaghetti and while wonderful, I felt it needed one last thing. Garlicky breadcrumbs? Yes! A perfect topping. Our fivesome devoured the entire vat of pasta, and I will surely make this again.

Pasta with bitter greens pesto, sundried tomatoes and chicken

What a delightful way to clean out my fridge! I pulled of the tops from a bunch of Hakurei turnips, took a few leaves from a bunch of red bor kale, sauteed them with garlic, a little lemon and a peperoncino (intero, cayenna, d'Italia) and then food processored them with two garlic-stuffed green olives and some pecorino. In the meantime, the whole wheat spaghetti cooked, and I chopped leftover roast chicken from last night and oil-packed sundried tomatoes. The latter items went into the skillet with the greens pesto and some pasta water, and finally, I tossed it all together with the hot noodles, more pecorino, and a little more cooking water. It was a healthy, satisfying, simple dinner that made good use of a handful of leftover and pantry ingredients.