Tag Archives: pasta

Sunday Pasta: Uncomplicated Bolognese

Cupcakes for Breakfast: Sunday Pasta Bolognese

A simple bolognese comes with many food memories for me. Mostly involving boys. Boys like meat sauce. It’s just a given. It’s hearty and manly, yet also comforting like something mom would make to feed them while they were growing kids. See? It’s all about the memories.

I made my first bolognese when I was 14 for Aaron, my high school boyfriend. I shopped for all the ingredients myself – especially confused that you’d put carrots in tomato sauce. I studied my mom’s Joy of Cooking recipe with each step: the chopping, sautéeing, sweating, browning, simmering, stirring. I was on my own on this cooking endeavor. I was so anxious about doing it right and if he would like it. I learned so much that afternoon.

I didn’t know I would want to become very familiar with this kind of adventure as an adult. It’s still a treat to me when I learn in the kitchen. I really should do this more. In addition to the joy I get from cooking, there’s also a zen that comes with it. Life isn’t complicated in here. Men aren’t confusing. Work isn’t overwhelming. It’s ok that I’m not doing something more or making more plans. I crave these moments of uncomplicated. Thank you, food.

This bolognese is not a challenge. It’s uncomplicated. At least I hope it’s not for you if you would like to try it. I threw this together within in hour when I made impromptu plans to have guest over for dinner. Running to the market for supplies (don’t forget a crusty baguette for garlic bread), swiftly getting the ingredients into the pot, cleaning as I’m going (I rarely do this, but when I do I love myself), teeing up the pasta to cook and the dishes for serving, saving a minute to check your hair isn’t a complete mess. Brush off your shoulder. Damn nice work.

It doesn’t take much to impress me or bring me joy. I’d like to think this bolognese is the same way. A simple way to impress and bring joy. We ate comfortably on the couch with a bottle of pale rosé. With a salad of torn local lettuces and heirloom tomatoe slices. We sopped up the sauce with thick pieces of garlic bread. Casual. Easy. Memorable. Uncomplicated.

Cupcakes for Breakfast: Sunday Pasta Bolognese

Sunday Pasta – Uncomplicated Bolognese

In a heavy sauce pan, heat about 1/4 cup olive oil. Sauté onion (about one whole, chopped) and a few cloves of chopped garlic. Once onions are soft, add carrot (about 2 whole, shredded) and stir. Add ground beef, break up pieces, and stir until browned. Once the beef is browned, add a can of whole peeled tomatoes (squish tomatoes in your hand to break up before adding) and a can of crushed tomatoes. Simmer on low for a while. If needed, add some tomato paste to thicken. Season with salt, pepper, oregano, basil. Spoon over thick pasta & sprinkle with Parm.

For garlic bread – melt butter and a few chopped cloves of garlic in a small sauce pan. Pour over bread that’s halved lengthwise. Bake for about 10 minutes in a 400° oven or until browned.

Cupcakes for Breakfast: Sunday Pasta Bolognese

Sunday Pasta: Rigatoni, Spinach, Goat Cheese, Pistachio

Sunday Pasta: Rigatoni, Spinach, Goat Cheese, Pistachio Green Weekend Moments – Sunday PastaSome of my favorite moments with Sunday. Nothing drastically new here, although things do feel a little different since last summer. I like the repetition and routine still. Getting to the farmer’s market early and experimenting with produce; wandering Dupont feels pretty much the same; trying new coffee beans and trying to remember what I like and why; reading…sometimes fiction [The Interestings], sometimes for work [Creating Magic], sometimes stacks of food magazines; repeating playlists with favorite songs from Urban Cone, Smallpools, CHVRCHES, Tanlines, James Bay, Of Monsters and Men; then ending with cooking some pasta for dinner. Mostly I eat alone while making to-do lists for the week ahead. Every so often I let someone in on this, which probably means much more to me than to them. My roof is a lovely alternative setting than my couch if weather permits. Soaking up the final moments of calm, collecting creativity for later in the week.

This was one of my most favorite pasta recently: leafy farmer’s market spinach, creamy goat cheese, crunchy pistachios, bright lemony flavor.

Sunday Pasta: Rigatoni with Spinach, Goat Cheese, Pistachios

Satuée spinach with garlic in olive oil til wilted. Add cooked pasta and a little reserved pasta water. Stir in goat cheese til pasta is coated evenly. Squeeze in a little lemon juice if you’d like. Top with crushed pistachios and cracked pepper.

Eat this outside. With Urban Cone “Weekends” playing. Read the Vacationers. Snapchat a pasta pic your crush to make them jealous. A glass of rosé is necessary too. Enjoy dinner, this time…it’s all yours.

Sunday Pasta: with hot pepper oil, egg, parm, pistachio

Sunday Pasta: with hot pepper oil, egg, parm, pistachio

Sunday Pasta and a perfect weekend | Cupcakes for Breakfast

This is what a good weekend looks like. Pasta and wine out with friends at Cashion’s. Lazy mornings in bed. Fresh fragrant roses. Reading a great quick book with a cup of hot chocolate in hand. Eating more pasta while watching a movie. This time: capellini with hot pepper oil, egg, parmesan, crushed pistachio.

This is my idea of a perfect weekend. Something that doesn’t happen enough. But I love how it transports me. To a quiet place of reflection. To Paris – books and movies that allow me to be there. To the kitchen where I can experiment with simple ingredients to make something new. These are my favorite places for my mind to go. Wandering, dreaming, creating. And I so appreciate these small weekend moments to get there.

Sunday Pasta: with hot pepper oil, egg, parm, pistachio

Capellini with Hot Pepper Oil, Egg, Parmesan, Crushed Pistachio

Cook olive oil in a hot pan with red pepper flakes and minced garlic. Toss with hot cooked pasta, an egg yolk, and pepper. Top with grated fresh parm and crushed pistachios. Eat in heapfulls.

Sunday Pasta: with hot pepper oil, egg, parm, pistachio

Sunday Pasta: Rigatoni with Sausage Ragu

Sunday Pasta: Rigatoni with Sausage Ragu

I’ve always been a pasta girl. My favorite meal growing up was rigatoni in red sauce. With a glass of milk. Sometimes my mom added chicken to the rigatoni, creating “chicken and pasta” and my most requested dinner dish ever. Mom’s pasta masterpiece.

Wanting to recreate it recently, I asked her about how it was made and she just laughed. No recipe. Sauce out of a jar of course. But the good kind. Never Prego. Maybe she baked the chicken? And then just added it to the pot of pasta and sauce? As few dishes to wash later as possible. Possibly every time she made it, it was a little different, she said. But I didn’t notice. Cause I loved rigatoni and red sauce. Today I love that it seemed so effortless to her. I’m sure it wasn’t. My mom the most dedicated and hard working woman…she taught me what hustle is all about. And how to love it too. She didn’t always have time or energy to make dinner (nor should she), but when she did, and it happened to be one of my favorite meals, I know she loved the work.

Sunday Pasta: Rigatoni with Sausage Ragu

I’m pretty skilled in the 10-minute Sunday Pasta. Just need butter, cheese, parm, and angel hair which only takes 3 minutes to cook. I’ve been breaking this out a lot recently, in between thai/deli/pizza/burger takeout orders…to remind myself that I am a real person who eats real food when I’m not at work. (At least work feeds me good, real food, right?)

Well this Sunday I had time. To grocery shop. To let my sauce simmer. To chop an onion. To drink a great glass a wine and dance around to LFO while cooking. To taste as I was cooking. To actually eat with someone else. To do all the dishes. Ok, I didn’t make the grilled caesar salad to go along with it or sit at a real table to eat. But just like mom, I can’t do it all, but I can absolutely squeeze in time for my favorite meal, and a little feel-good, during a crazy week.

Sunday Pasta: Rigatoni with Sausage Ragu

Since we never figured out the whole chicken part of “chicken and pasta” I added a mild Italian sausage instead. I probably wouldn’t have liked this when I was five. But I’m way into it at 27.

Sunday Pasta: Rigatoni With Sausage Ragu

In a dutch oven, sauté onion and garlic until onion softens. Add grated carrot. Open the casings of the sausage – I used mild Italian pork sausage – and satué until brown. Add herbs like rosemary and thyme + salt and pepper. When sausage is browned, add several cans of whole peel tomatoes to the pot. You could cook this all afternoon or just 30 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down. Add a splash of red wine and heavy cream. Toss with cooked rigatoni and grate fresh parm on top.

Sunday Pasta: Summer Tomato & Burrata Fettuccine

Sunday Pasta: Summer Tomato & Burrata Fettuccine

This one’s for the tomatoes. The ones that are so ripe right now they can be popped in your mouth whole or bit into like an apple. Even though I’ve already bought two new pairs of boots and a couple new sweaters, these tomatoes make me realize I want to slow summer down. Don’t forget to go to the market this Sunday. What haven’t I made yet? How can I savor these longer? The taste of late sunsets, feeling carefree, getting your hands dirty, everyday celebration.

Sunday Pasta: Summer Tomato & Burrata Fettuccine

This is an easy one….

Summer Tomato & Burrata Fettuccine

In a large pan, sauté tomatoes in olive oil and garlic until blistered. Make fettuccine. Toss the fettuccine and some pasta water with the tomatoes. Add ribbons of fresh basil. Top with burrata. Stir together. Serve with rosé and savor.

Sunday Pasta: Summer Tomato & Burrata Fettuccine