What’s for dinner tonight?

There was a time when I made dinner at least 5 times a week now it is mostly for holidays. Every night is beginning to be less of a fun challenge and more of an ugh. I have been taking pictures of every meal. It is not as much as fun as it was three weeks ago.
I rarely make pasta but last night I pulled together this pasta to shake things up. It is a winner and super easy.
A big bag of cremini mushrooms (but you can use whatever mushrooms you prefer), thinly sliced, one lb of asparagus peeled and cut into thirds, one large shallot thinly sliced, about a cup of so of frozen peas (fresh if you have them), 1/2 cup or more of cream, salt and olive oil.
In a big pot, boil up that ziti with plenty of salt.
In a large deep frying pan cover the bottom with olive oil, saute the shallots for about 2 minutes. Add the asparagus and continue sauteeing until they begin to brown. Add the mushrooms and saute until done (few minutes) and then add the peas. Once everything is combined (and salted for taste) then add the cream. Mix together, bring to a high simmer and let sit.
Once the ziti is done, turn off the water and using a slotted spoon, put the ziti in the frying pan with the vegetable mixture. Depending on how many vegetables are in there (again you can up and down the quantity in this recipe with ease) add as much ziti as you want. I wanted the dish to be a bit heavy on the veggies vs the ziti. I’d add about 1/4 cup or more of the water from the ziti pot too for taste.
Serve and finish off with some ground Parm. Super simple and delish.
Comments (Archived):
I do this fairly regularly but throw in fork shredded chicken (leftover from the grill or rotisserie) and chicken stock instead of cream. It’s an easy, relatively light meal (esp in summer) that hits all the marks for me.
nice addition.
hmm great to listen from you
OMG, me too. I used to cook always for the family. Then a tiny bit for Glenn and me. Not it’s every night. I just had a total breakdown when Fresh Direct for the ninth time this week told me something else was not available. You have to order nine days in advance now for delivery. Then someone else buys your stuff. I think these ingredients are still in the bag. Take care.
Looks delish.Eating super light, all healthy as in NY everyone needs to act like they have covid and work on their immune systems as well as be crazy careful not to get it.Being at Ground Zero in 2001 and now this is a bit much at times as much as I truly love this city.
We all would like to get to the other side at the same weight!
It’s funny, the little non-life threatening things you notice about quarantine. Like, the amount of loads of dishes you do. Or, my wrists. I call them tan, but they’re really just getting color from drying out. They are the first place the water in my faucet hits when I wash my hands. And I wash my hands so frequently that they are so dry. But I often don’t get moisturizer all the way down to my wrist. Hence: quarantine-tanned wrists.
so true. we have thick moisturizer at the sink.
I’m going to have to learn how to cook lol. Hate it. If I could’ve done quarantine with literally any of my exes….they’re all good cooks.