I feel guilty that I haven't posted any new "Well Fed Writer" recipes lately. I cooked up another two which were very well received, by my partner and guests. They weren't anything special, but the ingredients, while unusual, were very inexpensive. With my strategic shopping method - basically menu planning a week ahead of time we get to eat three or four different dishes each 4 to 7 days. And with alternating leftovers, it's like something different for dinner every day. It's a taste-bud treat. All of the recipes leave enough for one lunch the next day, or the day after if properly stored in the fridge.
Before I go further with this though, I will give credit to whom credit is due: my older brother, Tony. He is the one who first came up with this recipe from "Eating Well" magazine about a dozen years ago. I've just taken it up a few notches over the years by experimenting and substituting here and there so that it now is a very hearty meal for 2, with leftovers. Ya gotta stretch that dollar these days, and I've been doing a lot of stretching for the past few years. I'm a master now.
Just to get you in the right mindset, buy the following ingredients for starters: 1small jar of marinated artichoke hearts (should be 4 in there), 1 can of pitted/sliced black olives, a pack of decent bacon (you'll) only need 1/3 of it for this recipe - the rest you'll put in zip lock freezer bags and freeze for later use. Find some sundried tomatoes. They're usually in specialty food sections of grocery stores, but you might have to ask around. If you can't find the sundried tomatoes, try a small jar of sundried tomato pesto. If you can't find either, well they're not crucial to this recipe. They just add a bit of an interesting tang to this concoction. If you have 2 or 3 relatively fresh large or extra large eggs in the fridge, that's great. Otherwise, splurge and buy a dozen of the least expensive ones. (The brown egg conspiracy is all an evil marketing ploy, so white eggs are fine.) I highly recommend about 2 & 1/2 cups of dry pasta (go with Rotini, sometimes called Fusili, as a backup you can use Penne Rigate but the eggs won't cook up as nicely on them as on the Fusili.) And for a garnish, a nice shredded, as opposed to grated, parmesan cheese, to your taste, is fantastic (If you know your cheeses as I do, asiago is a nice treat instead of trusty old parmesan. Also you could crumble a bit of Danish Blue or English Stilton on top, but only after you've mastered this super easy recipe.) And a wee bit of coarsely chopped parsley (fresh preferred - since you can dry the unused sprigs yourself in the microwave, crush them and store them for the next time and not pay something like a million dollars for a little spice jar worth). Oh I almost forgot: 3-5 cloves of garlic, 1 small red onion, and I do believe that's it.
If I have time this afternoon, I'll post the recipe by this evening, but this writer has an apartment to clean, go out and enjoy this gorgeous, crisp early December day, come home to wash dishes and make another el-cheapo pasta dinner (thanks to all Italians) for me and my bug.
If I wake up again at 5:00 am again, I'll post this recipe early tomorrow morning while having my coffee and smokes. (Hey what would a writer be without coffee and smokes?)
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