Brilliant! Brilliant!

My friend, Clarice, is visiting in NYC for a short while. She brought me a fantastic gift. Oh, how did she know??!! LOL.

This wonderful book covers the history of rice and risotto, and then gives a multitude of recipes for my favorite thing on this Earth!! ... it even has recipes for making different kinds of stock! I'm so excited, especially because I started another blog a little while ago that I haven't had a chance to contribute to yet because I wanted to give CL its deserved respect!!! But watch this space, or rather that space for my fabulous adventures in risotti-eating, risotti-making, and other culinary adventures too, because even I could never eat risotto every day. :)) It won't turn into a risotto-ized version of Supersize Me, LOL.

Says he: "I prefer the chicken"

I'm continuing on my cooking marathon and going back to the Indian chapter, which I haven't visited in a long time.

118. Aubergine Tikka - *Indian*

Last time I made tikka, it was a chicken tikka. At that time, I paired it with Tom's masala sauce. I remember how lovely it tasted, so I thought it'd be a good idea to pair the veggie version with the sauce as well.

I have to say at this point that Rafa was not too enthusiastic about eating a veggie curry. He has been craving curry, and so have I, but his cravings for anything usually include some sort of meat. He finally gave in, so I made this dish for two.

First, you 'marinate' the vegetables. The marinade is basically lemon juice, minced garlic and ginger, salt, cumin, coriander, light olive oil and smoked paprika. The veggies (aubergine, red pepper and red onion) are chopped and tossed in the marinade. Then, they are roasted for 40 minutes in a moderate oven.


I made the masala sauce and rice while the veggies were roasting. I didn't make any changes to the sauce, but did use red onions instead of white, to mirror the onions in the roast.

Once the vegetables were fully roasted...


I added them to the gorgeous and silky sauce. I then scooped them on top the rice and served dinner.


This was delicious!! Many of you know I don't like roasted vegetables, especially peppers, but they were nice and soft, and besides, this masala sauce is killer! I am thinking of making a couple of batches and bottling it for when Rafa is home alone, and he could make chicken tikka masala.

Speaking of which, I asked for Rafa's opinion of the veggie tikka masala.

Me: So, was your veggie tikka masala so bad?
He: I prefer the chicken.
Me: I know, but was it so bad?
He: It was OK, but I prefer the chicken.

Oh well, I tried. LOL.

The 'Opa' Sandwich

With all the lovely goodies I got in Astoria, I wanted to commemorate my trip there with a lovely meal.
I had halloumi! Which means, I could make the halloumi sandwich in CL!

117. Halloumi, Rocket and Tomato 'Club' - *Toast*

This is the only vegetarian club sandwich in CL, and not having any bacon in it, it was A-OK with me. I put the sandwich together quickly and satisfied my hungry belly.

First, I made a sort of dressing - lemon juice, smoked paprika, and olive oil.

I tossed this with some salad leaves. The sandwich is supposed to have only rocket, but I didn't have that, so used a mixture, though, rocket (arugula) was in there! I also sliced a tomato very thinly.

I sliced some halloumi too...

and assembled the sandwich. I used the 'greek' bread, as it was just calling me the whole subway ride home.

This was delicious! YUM! Soooo good! I love halloumi! It is salty and has a different texture, but it was really good. I loved it in this sandwich. I even made one for my lunch today. Mmmm, can't wait.

Magical Culinary Tour: Astoria

Here we go again, on another trip to an exotic destination. This time, it's Astoria, Queens. :))

Let's face it, these trips are just as much for me as they are for you. I have lived in New York since I was six years old, but have not even scratched the surface when it comes to seeing all that New York has to offer. Astoria is no different. It is known for its Greek neighborhoods, and of course, its Greek food.

I was in search of one thing: halloumi! Halloumi is not impossible to find in Manhattan, but all the small blocks I have seen have been around the $7 mark. It's almost an insult to this New Yorker to go with the first price I see and not search for something better. And after shelling out close to $7 for the crapgonzola the other day, I cannot spend so much on cheese I am not entirely sure I would even like. Halloumi is described as squeaky, salty, styrofoamy... Mmmm, ok. Well it's just cheese for pete's sake; so why am I getting panic attacks about it??? Speaking of cheese, I am really happy I'm not a cheese-o-phile. I do love my parmesan (and I'm not talking poorman'sgrana) but I could see if I was obsessed with it how it would become a very expensive thang to be hung up on.

So back to the tour. I had do some recon before heading out. Ah, the wonders of a T1 connection at work ('bout time!) and free paper and printer ink at my disposal.



Plus, all photojournalists, such as myself (wink, wink) have a trusty MTA map on their office walls as well.

We don't want to get lost in the land of souvlaki and tzatziki. Opa! (By the way, Russians say that too!)

Back to the matter at hand, shortly after finishing up work I headed north and then east to Astoria. According to my 'Astoria File', Steinway Street was supposed to be a good starting point as it is known as "The World's Longest Department Store". I wouldn't say it was a department store, as such, it just seemed to be a long, very long, stretch with horrible Eurotrashy boutiques, blech. I went to Astoria to do some Greek-spotting, but wasn't seeing any. I finally turned on 30th Avenue and things started changing. There were some hip restaurants on the corners, and greek grocery stores cropped up here and there.

My first stop was Elliniki Gona ("Greek Corner"). What bullcrap. It was just a typical grocery store, and the only thing 'Greek' about it were the packages of feta that were found in the refrigerated section -- packages of feta, mind you, that anyone can find in any grocery store here.

I didn't let that distract me from my goal: cheap halloumi! Then I happened to see Cyprus Deli. Well, halloumi is from Cyprus, score! The store was cute and did offer halloumi at the cheapest I have seen. A package roughly double of what I have seen in Manhattan only cost me $5.19. The price for a pound was $7.99. Excellent, so I bought it, of course. I even managed a pic of the store, though I looked like a complete weirdo for taking a picture of cheese! Ah, all for my readers.


Then, I stopped off at a bigger store, Mediterranean Foods, with a huge deli counter. There, the halloumi was $5.99 a pound! What??!! Well I'm not all for returning cheese, so I lowered my head and declared myself un-victorious. Next time, next time. But here are some pics, and I got some fab kalamata olives and Greek yogurt. Though, of course, in Astoria, they just call it yogurt. ;)

Mediterranean Foods had Greek flags everywhere and was chock-full of products imported from the Motherland. I was really impressed; this must be a Greek New Yorker's idea of heaven.

Now that I had my halloumi plus other things, I decided to walk around and in and out of shops to see what else Greek Astoria had to offer. I went into a bakery...

... and had an interesting conversation with the young woman who worked there.

Me: Do you have Greek bread?

She: (Showing me a rustic-looking loaf of white bread) Here is a loaf of white bread.

Me: OK, but do you have Greek bread, maybe something smaller.

She: Well this is smaller, it's just white bread.

Me: Erm, ok, but is it Greek?

She: It's white bread.

LOL. Well I guess we've removed any doubts at all that it was white bread. I bought the yummy looking loaf, still not knowing if it is Greek. Hmmmn, no matter.

I set my sights on walkng a bit further to the supposed Greek superstore, Titan. I passed a window with a wide selection of olive oil on the way... (Man, these Greeks really love their flags, don't they?)

and a couple of more places where the names of the stores made me chuckle.

I shortly reached the mecca of all things Greek, Titan!

Not many things take my breath away. But walking into Titan, I was impressed!

I think it had to do with the entire fridge of Greek yogurt. You don't know what a big deal that is to me. And it's the cheapest I have ever seen it, I think, but I need to consult with my sources on that.

There were huge deli counters and endless vats of olives. A fabulous bakery, where I got my bro-in-law his favorite kourampiedes. They are powdered little cookies. That's the best way I could describe them.

The whole time I was at Titan I kept thinking how I wish I had a shopping list so I could really make the most of my trip there. I was completely unprepared!! I need to go back, just so that I could stock up on yogurt and olives.

So, all in all, the trip up there was definitely worth it. I got lots of goodies (pic to come), and even found a cute Italian deli where La Bella San Marzano tomatoes were to be found at the cheapest I have seen, just $1 a can. Astoria is a foodie's dream, not to mention the chic restaurant scene. Yes, yes I must go back!

When I got back home, I made good use of some of the stuff I bought... Coming soon!

Look up 'slacker' in the dictionary....

... and my smiling face is there!

I work for a textbook publisher. We publish the same books I used when I went to high school. Today, the Science Director asked me to send some sample books to one of our authors, a Chemistry teacher. I had written back to said Science Director that Mr. Author was actually my Chemistry teacher. We had a good cyber-chuckle over it, and I had remembered how Mr. Author and another Chemistry teacher of mine were so cross at me senior year; I had prepared and prepared, I mean came to school on Saturdays!!!, for the Advanced Placement Chemistry test. I was a fab student; kicked Chemistry's ass. There was no formula or chemical equation I couldn't figure out. When it came time for the morning of the exam, I just didn't show up. I, instead, went to Algebra class, and in true Ilana fashion, pretended like I had nowhere else to be that morning. Mr. Author and other teacher looked for me all over school and finally found me innocently doing some Algebra problems in class. They took me out of class and begged me, I think I even saw tears, to please follow them so I could take the AP exam. I flatly refused. I was scared, I told them. They said I could get a '3' (the passing grade) in my sleep. But that wasn't good enough for me; if I didn't get a 5, I didn't even want to bother.

I was thinking about all of this now at work and it has dawned on me, like it has time and time again, that I haven't changed one bit. I am a slacker. But more than that, my slacker tendencies have a root. I'm intimidated, scared of something, and instead of facing problems head-on I just go on with the rest of my life like nothing's wrong. I have been at this job for 3 1/2 years. I told myself I'd quit after 1 1/2 years. Well, obviously, I'm stilll here. I told myself I'd quit any second but it's just that uncertainty. I'd love to portray this persona of a tough-as-nails New Yorker, but that just ain't me. When the going gets tough, Ilana hides under her desk and hopes no one will find her. Eeek, too much info. All I'm trying to say is I'm trying to improve my life, and while doing so, I don't know how much cooking and creating I can accomplish, but I am trying, honest. Having a blog doesn't give you the luxury of disappearing from the face of the Earth, which I tend to do very well.

The Virtuous Soup

Although we were a bit cool here in NYC for a little while, the mercury was rising for a little bit and it's still not what you'd call soup weather! However, in my haste to get back into soup making, I had bought a couple of leeks over a week ago. The weather was just not cold enough to make soup but the leek was soon to go over into the 'other' world. To salvage it, I decided to make soup anyway, and a virtous one at that!

116. Leek and Potato Soup - *Soup*

Leek and potatoes seem to be a usual combination. Unsurprisingly, this combo was unknown to me but I don't have a problem with either so I figured this soup would be Ilana-friendly. I am still feeling a bit bruised after my gorgonzola debacle.

This soup is of the 'bulked up' variety that really is a meal in itself. That was good news for me since I was on my own and watching the final of the U.S. Open. I needed to keep my eye on every grunt and ace, so it was also great that this soup was not too labor-intensive.

First, I peeled and sliced a leek. I did the same with a garlic clove...

... and added them to a pan with a bit of 2% milk. When the leek and garlic became soft...

... I added salt, water, and a chopped potato. I let this simmer until the potato was very tender, and then I added a bit more milk and water and some rosemary (I didn't have tarragon, but that's OK because I don't like its licorice-ey taste). The soup was then done. I had it with some focaccia I made the other night that I had frozen for just this type of occasion.


I at first wasn't too sure how I would feel about a milky soup, but it was actually really nice and creamy and full of flavor. However, even though I successfully halved the recipe, I discovered that the soup was a bit too salty for my taste. I was thinking of how to improve the soup next time around with just about half the amount of salt, and then I realized I had actually forgotten to halve the amount of salt in the first place! Durr! So Tom's measurement of one teaspoon for 4-6 servings is spot on! I am sorry I doubted you, Master Tom!

I could really imagine eating this soup on cold winter nights. It is quick, easy, and most importantly, scrummy!

Rafa is due back from work in a little bit, and I have his portion on the hob. Since a lot of liquid is lost, I added more milk and water to his serving. Hopefully the salt component has gone down a bit! :)

Update: Rafa loved this soup! He was quite enthusiastic about it and actually asked if there was more! Capital! Well I guess I'll be making this soon. Next time I will watch the salt anyway and add more milk and water to give more soup. YUM!

Feel Bad Bleu

Pasta is comfort food - that's a given. In his Pasta chapter, Tom points out that one of the dishes just speaks a wet November. Well, we're in September, but are we wet!! Still pissing down here; hate this weather, just hate it.

Of course, that all changes when it comes to comfort food. Although the pasta includes a cheese I am not too sure I like too much, I decided to bite the bullet and get some of the cheese at the posh, fancy Manhattan grocery store after work. I was hoping that the dish would get me out of my cold-weather blues by introducing me to its own bleu.

115. Penne with Gorgonzola and Walnuts - *Pasta*


Gorgonzola, the final frontier. These are the eating adventures of the blogster Ilana. Her continuing mission: to explore strange new cheeses, to seek out new ingredients and new dishes, to boldly eat what most people have eaten before.

I chose the 'dolce' variety of gorgonzola because I wanted to take it a bit easy on myself. I have only really had gorgonzola in blue cheese dressing and on top of some salad a little while ago. It didn't appeal, but wasn't too bad, and it's not because it had blue veins, it was just, well, stinky. But I thought in a pasta and in a sauce it would mellow a bit.

The recipe couldn't be any easier. You first roast some walnuts in a moderate oven for about 10 minutes. Then, you boil up some penne, while you get on with the sauce. First, heat some heavy cream in a pan and add the walnuts and a few sage leaves.
Once it has simmered for about 3 minutes, you take the pan off the heat and add the gorgonzola, which has been cut into little cubes. The cheese is quite soft so melts in quite quickly, even though it is not on the heat.


Some butter is tossed through the cooked penne, and then the gorgonzola sauce is added. That's it.

Ok, the truth. I really didn't like it. :( Ok, even more truthful, I took three bites and threw out the entire thing. Waaaah. I don't even know why I feel so bad about it, but it's the same feeling I get when I admit that I hate wine.

See, I must have been asleep when everybody else around me learned to be cultural. All I know is after high school no one was drinking wine, and all of a sudden, in college, people would be having dinner parties and the thing to bring was wine. Everybody was drinking; I felt like the oddball, like what did they know that I didn't know. My disdain with most things people seem to like doesn't seem to be only in the alcohol realm. Tuna fish, smelly cheeses, dark chocolate, figs, etc. I just don't get it. Give me a chocolate cupcake over a chocolate mousse any day! Maybe I am the Petite Unsophisticate, but I really don't care anymore. I know what I like, and what I don't like. I don't like blue cheese, I DON'T LIKE BLUE CHEESE! LOL. But the one thing this blog has made me do is to at least try new things. At least I know for a fact that I don't like them.

So take your Murray's Cheese Shop and shove it. I'll meet you at the Magnolia Bakery instead. :)

Picky Eaters Club: Month 5

This is Tom N-D:

'Anyone, anyone???'

This is me:

'Huh?'

So I've made FIVE recipes in August. Count 'em - one two three four five! Woohoo! I really should slow down or I may have nothing to cook in September, my last month of the project!!

Ok well obviously I won't finish the project on time, surprise suprise. So, I have decided to free myself mentally and otherwise and not have a deadline. That's right, no deadline. I will finish CL when I finish it. But I don't intend to drag it out at all, so keep reading. I will be cooking, I promise.

So let's look on the bright side; I have cooked 114 recipes out of a single book! I don't think I have ever cooked that much out of one book, so good for you, Ilana. I made some lovely dishes in August. Here's a summary:

110. Bacon Omelette - *Toast*

111. Pasta with Pesto - *Pasta*

112. Spaghetti with Ricotta and Herbs (variation) - *Pasta*

113. Mackerel and Ginger (but with salmon) - Stir Fries

114. Potato, cabbage and chorizo soup - *Soup*

Now that the weather is getting cooler, I can imagine cooking lots more soups and curries and stir-fries. I really do hope I get back on-track because I fear I'm not being a very good Tom N-D representative. Considering that out of 114 recipes I've loved about 50-75% of them, I think that is a good indication of a great cookbook. My inability to make my target date is not so much an un-love of Tom and cupboarding, but more an un-love with scheduling and plans. Gives a whole new meaning to the lazy days of summer! :)

Forever Autumn

A bunch of people at Nigella.com joked a little while back how summer is completely overrated, and they preferred the coolness of autumn or even the cold that winter brings -- though I doubt that some of them have experienced New York blizzards! LOL. They even said that Nigella's next book should be called Forever Autumn. Though I don't really like cool weather, detest rain, there is just something so wonderful about the first cool days after a sweltering summer. Today was grey all day. The rain outside was more like a mist - almost made you feel like you were walking through a sprinkler. You smell autumn in the air. The salad days are far behind and all people could think about is hot chocolate, warm duvets, popcorn, tea with milk and honey.

With the ricotta I had left over from Tom's spaghetti recipe, I felt like I had to make something before it went to waste. I thought perhaps Nigella's baked pasta shells with ricotta and spinach, but I couldn't find jumbo shells after work. Then I looked up 'ricotta' in the index to Apples for Jam and thus I started on my journey of lovely autumn cooking.

The only entry under 'ricotta' is Ricotta Gnocchi. I love gnocchi, but I was a bit dubious about making it myself, and most importantly, if it would be any good or not. I looked at the ingredients and figured that if it was a waste, I wouldn't have ruined loads of expensive ingredients.

Well, it was ridiculously easy! Tessa says to serve it with tomato pesto, but I didn't really feel like blitzing so took my time in making a lovely and aromatic tomato sauce. Have a look yourself!

(click on the pic to see the lovely texture of the gnocchi! Trust me!)

And here's the recipe I came up with, if you're interested. Tessa's recipe, of course, was not adapted in any way. When I made it for myself, I quartered the recipe to make one serving, but I am including the ingredients for two servings.

Giacomo's Ricotta Gnocchi with Homemade Rosemary Tomato Sauce -- serves 2

Homemade Rosemary Tomato Sauce

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
leaves from 1 sprig of rosemary
1 small onion, chopped finely
about 1 cup passata (sieved tomatoes)
about 1/4 cup water
sea salt to taste

In a small pan, warm extra virgin olive oil. Add the garlic and rosemary. Let the flavor of the oil develop on a gentle heat for about five minutes. Add the onion to the pan with some sea salt. Put the lid on and let the onions sweat for five minutes. Then, add the passata and water. Add a bit more sea salt and bring to a boil. Then simmer covered on a very low heat for ten minutes. Keep warm while you get on with the gnocchi.

Ricotta Gnocchi: (from Apples for Jam)

250g (9 oz.) good-quality ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
50g (1 3/4 oz.) plain (all-purpose) flour
1 quantity Homemade Rosemary Tomato Sauce (above)
Parmesan shavings to serve
Handful pine nuts

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Mix together the ricotta, parmesan, flour and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. With lightly floured hands, roll out the dough into thin sausages (about 1.5 cm/ 5/8 inch thick). Try to avoid adding extra flour or your gnocchi will be tough. Cut with a sharp knife into little dumplings and about 2 cm (3/4 inch) long.

Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and cook for about 45 seconds until they float to the surface. As they bob up, lift them out with a slotted spoon and put them into warmed serving bowls. Drizzle on sauce and then pine nuts and a few parmesan shavings.

** I was so excited about sharing these recipes that I forgot to mention how delicious this was! Sooo delicious! I thought the gnocchi would be bland bland bland, but they weren't! Not in the slightest; they were light and fantastic! I think Tessa says they are something like fluffy pillows - what an accurate description. And not to toot my own horn, but TOOT TOOT! My sauce was fab! Mmmmmm.

I've run out of clever post titles! (But can think of some naughty ones!)

Sunday was a complete washout. It seemed to rain from morning to night; and the summer seems to be waning here as it was the first time in months that I had to put on a sweatshirt to go out. I looked on the bright side and knew that now was the time I could make the recipes I was saving for cooler weather. I did some baking and cooking out of Apples for Jam, but also wanted to make a warming soup for lunchtime.

114. Potato, cabbage and chorizo soup - *Soup*

This particular soup caught my eye because it just looked like it would be really good. My mouth would salivate at the thought of frying up onions and chorizo. As mentioned in previous times, I am not really a hot dog/sausage person at all. Chorizo is just about the only thing that doesn't make me gag - and thank goodness for that, because we have located some fabulous chorizo here in New York; chorizo that even my Spanish hubby happens to love.

The soup is very simple and works on building layers of flavor. First, you fry thin chorizo slices in a dry pan so that they release their fat and oil. Once they are crispy, you set them aside.

You use the oil from the chorizo to gently sweat some onions and garlic. This is about the time that the apartment started to smell HEAVENLY! Sorry for the CAPS, but oh my, did it smell good!

Then you add some chopped peeled potatoes (floury ones, not waxy ones!) and a mugful of water. This is brought to a boil and then left to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Then, finally, you add some chopped savoy cabbage leaves...

and the fried chorizo. You add more water and boil the soup until the greens are tender. We were a bit hungry at this point, so I have to admit to rushing things a bit. I served up the soup when the greens were just tender. Al dente would be a nicer way to describe them, LOL.

The soup was delicious but I guess not as good as it could have been. I blame the fact that I added too much water, as I don't really like thick soups, and the fact that I didn't leave the greens long enough to be really tender. However, the broth and potatoes and chorizo were really good.

I imagine this soup is the type that you slowly cook for a bit longer, and it really makes the flavor develop.

A lazy Sunday like yesterday was the perfect environment for that type of cooking, but we just happened to be really hungry! LOL.

Holy Mackerel!

Improvisation is key to innovation in the kitchen. Considering how picky I am, and how I would have to improvise in the kitchen if I didn't want to go hungry, then I must be getting to be a great innovator!

In the Stir Fries chapter, Tom includes a recipe for Mackerel and Ginger as a perfect accompaniment to stir-fries. Not being a fishy person at all, I couldn't face eating a non-familiar fish and a whole one at that! I instead focused on a fish I didn't have too much of a problem with -- salmon.

113. Mackerel and Ginger (but with salmon) - Stir Fries

Since I wasn't cooking a whole fish, I had to work around it but still give the salmon the same essence the mackerel would have.

I decided to combine all the ingredients for the fish in a paste first, rather than drizzling it over. The sauce consisted of minced garlic and ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, lemon juice and chilli flakes.

I cooked the salmon a la Tom's grilled fish instructions, using the 'hot pan/hot oven' method. Before I put the salmon in the oven, I pasted the sauce on it. I baked it in the hot oven for just a few minutes, and it was done! Nigella helped out with dinner too; I made her lovely Lemon Rice from Forever Summer. Apart from lemon juice and zest, the rice is wonderfully flavored with turmeric and dried mint.


The two together were really lovely. Salmon is usually bland, but the sauce flavored it beautifully. As good as it was, I don't think salmon is my thing. I just can't get excited about it. But for salmon fans, or fish fans, the sauce for the fish is really punchy and yummy. You should definitely give it a go.

Rafa liked the meal too... I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that he was starving, plus he was in a particulary good mood because his soccer (whoops, football!, sorry!) team won the Super Cup or something ridiculous like that. Sorry, had to add that part into my blog, otherwise he wouldn't talk to me.

Now we have a lovely weekend to enjoy.

It's not easy being Pluto!

We all sometimes feel the we're not really in the club! We all have our off days - those days where nothing seems right. I've had those off days for a long long time now, and I have no idea why. I hardly cook. The only thing that comforts me is the risotto I make now with practically my eyes closed. I am a full-fledged member of the Risotto Club, if there really was one actually. Well as bad as my day could be, at least I could say I don't have it bad as Pluto.

Pluto just got booted out of the planet club - that's right, Pluto is not a planet anymore. Hmmmn. Well some days I may not feel like human, but I bleed and I get headaches and get into arguments with my spouse, so yes, I am a human. Well all I could say is, at least I'm not Pluto. Poor Pluto , I need to send him/her a bowl of risotto. I've made history today too; I made it in 15 minutes! That has to be like a risotto-making record!

Ta Dum! (The Return of The Procrastinator)

With my friends now gone and no real reason not to be home, the procrastination has to come to an end -- NOW!


I flicked through Cupboard Love to get an idea of what I will be cooking... it's still pretty hot here so many things did not appeal, like the whole Soup chapter.

I had remembered a pasta dish I quite liked when I was cooking at Lisa's in Florida, so I made a variation of the recipe.

112. Spaghetti with Ricotta and Herbs (variation) - *Pasta*

There are a few suggestions for variations that Tom gives -- asparagus, broccoli, peas, broad beans, arugula, or my choice, baby spinach.

Spinach and ricotta go hand in hand in lasagna or pasta with shells, so I thought, why not?

As before, the preparation was very simple. While the pasta was boiling, I took out a few tablespoons of pasta water and mixed it with ricotta so that the cheese melted to make a sort of creamy sauce. I added pecorino this time, to ensure the sauce would be salty enough, plus some chilli flakes, as I wasn't catering to kiddies this time. I also chose oregano for this time, because basil around my parts never looks very pretty. With a tablespoon each of lemon juice and olive oil, the sauce was done.
I tossed it through the pasta with the chopped spinach, and the preparation was done!

This was really tasty! I think, though, that I should continue catering to kiddies' tastes as it was a taaaad too spicy for me, and this is after quartering the chilli flakes amount. Man, Tom, you like things spicy - wow! You know I was never a big fan of ricotta -- I always found it bland and bla. But this recipe really showcases it. I just love spaghetti, mmm.