Seems I'm really feeling the pasta lately. But, please humor me while I diverge from my food topic to what brought up the pasta topic...
Saturday I enjoyed a heart-warming, albeit drizzly day out with the family. We visited the Lake Farmpark for their annual Horsefest. Before it became the Farmpark, in the 1980's this property was owned by a doctor who raised perfect examples of Polish Arabian horses, including Gwalior, who is forever immortalized with a statue that still stands there, despite now being owned by Lake County.
Happily I can report that I was finally rewarded with a bit of a horse fix, which I've desperately craved and needed. A little on my background. In 1984 I bought Margaux, a pretty little grey 8-year-old Arabian mare who I initially rode Western. When we changed boarding barns, I switched over to dressage, as every other person there rode dressage (plus the saddle is so much lighter in weight and thus much easier to lift up over a horse's back).
We spent many years together, until she passed away 11 years ago, just a few days shy of turning the grand old age of 29. But sadly, I've experienced very few truly satisfying horse encounters since then, with the exception of trail rides in Bryce and Arches National Parks in Utah. One of my most notable horseback experiences came 2 years ago when we went to Vermont and I was able to mark riding the tolt on an Icelandic horse off my Bucket List. Quite a thrill, but nearly surpassed 8 years ago when I was within touching distance of a very pregnant wild mare, along with several others from her herd in the Pryor Mountains.
In search of some kind of solution to the lack of my own horse, 2 years ago I volunteered with an equine therapy riding school, where I was a side walker, which is someone who walks along on either side of the horse and either helps reassure the rider by gently holding their leg in position or simply being there just in case the rider loses their balance.
I hoped that with my love of horses, this would be a good fit for me - I would be around horses, and I would be helping someone else with therapy, whether an autistic child or an adult with multiple sclerosis. Unfortunately, the thing I desired most was closeness to a horse, but while you were allowed to touch the horse, you really weren't afforded the opportunity to love them up properly. So, when summer rolled around, I decided that volunteering position would end for me.
While we were loving up the horses Saturday, my younger daughter asked which I'd rather have - a horse or a new car. I replied that hands down it would be a horse. I'd be more than content to drive our cars til they run out of steam for the opportunity to have another horse.
The Horsefest this year featured/compared draft horses and miniatures - from the biggest to the tiniest. My thought now is that instead of the black Friesian I'd dearly love (and OMG there was a mighty fine example of one there I would have loved to bring home and adore forever!), or a Peruvian Paso, Lusitano, Lipizzaner, or another Arabian, I may at some time in the future decide that just having ANY horse will do, and "settle" for having a miniature horse. It's more about the horse than it is about riding, and the expenditure and space required is much more minimal.
Happily I can report that I was finally rewarded with a bit of a horse fix, which I've desperately craved and needed. A little on my background. In 1984 I bought Margaux, a pretty little grey 8-year-old Arabian mare who I initially rode Western. When we changed boarding barns, I switched over to dressage, as every other person there rode dressage (plus the saddle is so much lighter in weight and thus much easier to lift up over a horse's back).
We spent many years together, until she passed away 11 years ago, just a few days shy of turning the grand old age of 29. But sadly, I've experienced very few truly satisfying horse encounters since then, with the exception of trail rides in Bryce and Arches National Parks in Utah. One of my most notable horseback experiences came 2 years ago when we went to Vermont and I was able to mark riding the tolt on an Icelandic horse off my Bucket List. Quite a thrill, but nearly surpassed 8 years ago when I was within touching distance of a very pregnant wild mare, along with several others from her herd in the Pryor Mountains.
In search of some kind of solution to the lack of my own horse, 2 years ago I volunteered with an equine therapy riding school, where I was a side walker, which is someone who walks along on either side of the horse and either helps reassure the rider by gently holding their leg in position or simply being there just in case the rider loses their balance.
I hoped that with my love of horses, this would be a good fit for me - I would be around horses, and I would be helping someone else with therapy, whether an autistic child or an adult with multiple sclerosis. Unfortunately, the thing I desired most was closeness to a horse, but while you were allowed to touch the horse, you really weren't afforded the opportunity to love them up properly. So, when summer rolled around, I decided that volunteering position would end for me.
While we were loving up the horses Saturday, my younger daughter asked which I'd rather have - a horse or a new car. I replied that hands down it would be a horse. I'd be more than content to drive our cars til they run out of steam for the opportunity to have another horse.
The Horsefest this year featured/compared draft horses and miniatures - from the biggest to the tiniest. My thought now is that instead of the black Friesian I'd dearly love (and OMG there was a mighty fine example of one there I would have loved to bring home and adore forever!), or a Peruvian Paso, Lusitano, Lipizzaner, or another Arabian, I may at some time in the future decide that just having ANY horse will do, and "settle" for having a miniature horse. It's more about the horse than it is about riding, and the expenditure and space required is much more minimal.
When I began my businesses, The Ku-kie Baker and Pasticceria Ventoso, I had a stall at the Farmpark's farmers' market, which was one of the smaller ones locally. Sadly I found out that while those folks who shopped there might be willing to buy someone's 1# loaf of anyone-could-bake-it zucchini bread or other products made with generic ingredients, there were still people around who apparently weren't as food obsessed as I, and who had no clue as to what biscotti or focaccia bread are - thus my more upscale selections weren't embraced enough for me to feel my time investment was warranted, especially when it felt like I was taking a large chunk of time away from the family.
I think about giving it another try at a larger farmers' market, but am still not convinced that people will pay an individual the same prices they'll pay at somewhere like Whole Foods. Ah, to the future...But I digress, right?
And now, it's time to wrap back to the beginning of this post - we were out all day enjoying the horses, so I didn't feel like making a big fuss over dinner. It was going to have to be no stress and easy to make. My solution was to first get my pasta pot full of water and set it to boil, then grab a bowl and dice up a few heirloom tomatoes, grate in a little Parmigiano-Reggiano, toss in some cubes of fresh mozzarella, chiffonade some basil leaves, add a drizzle of EVO and balsamic vinegar, and S&P to taste.
Next, I grabbed a baguette, sliced it, brushed w/EVO, and set it to toast in my toaster oven while I got down a small bowl and diced up a ball of burrata cheese (my current fav). This was placed on the table to smear on the crostini slices.
Then my choice of pasta sauce was pesto, as I had 2 basil plants I'd just picked up at Heinen's. Just a typical pesto recipe - so easy - NO cooking required! Take 2 cups of basil leaves packed down to measure, then toss into a mini food processor along with 1/3 cup pine nuts, a clove of garlic, and 1/4 tsp salt. Take it for a spin, then leave it running, while you slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup EVO until an emulsion forms. Scrape the pesto into a bowl and fold in 1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Once my pasta was nearly done, I took a ladleful of the pasta water and stirred it into my bowl of pesto before draining the rigatoni into the bowl to toss.
My pasta choice was a whole wheat durum rigatoni, which the package tells you to boil 10 minutes. Here's a couple of secrets for pasta and its sauce:
1 - Always generously add salt once your water is boiling. Pasta will taste rather bland even with the sauce if it hasn't been salted.
2 - Subtract a couple of minutes from the suggested time on the box, and when (in this case 8 minutes) that time is up, pick out one piece, run it under cold water long enough to cool it so you can taste test it to be al dente. You can always continue cooking if it's too crunchy, but you can never make pasta go from overcooked and limp to the proper firmness you truly want to experience.
3 - Just before draining your pasta into your sauce, take a large ladleful of the pasta water and stir it into your sauce. The starches released from your pasta into the water will help thicken your sauce, giving it a more creamy mouthfeel.
4 - The last minute or two of the suggested time the pasta should spend being gently stirred or tossed with the sauce over heat to combine.
5 - If you're not serving directly out of your pan, preheat your pasta serving bowl, spoon in the pasta with its sauce, then grate more cheese on top if desired, along with a fresh chiffonade of basil, and a drizzle of EVO.
We ended up with a lovely bowl of rigatoni with pesto, and tossed in some of the tomato mixture to our individual tastes, along with that delectable smear of burrata on crostini. I seriously think dinner was ready in 15 minutes - boiling the pasta took the longest time and that was only 8 minutes.
Next post, I'll tell you about another pasta adventure of mine - homemade basil fettuccine from Wednesday. Seriously, I think I've made a pasta dish 4 times in 10 days. Until then, ciao!
I think about giving it another try at a larger farmers' market, but am still not convinced that people will pay an individual the same prices they'll pay at somewhere like Whole Foods. Ah, to the future...But I digress, right?
And now, it's time to wrap back to the beginning of this post - we were out all day enjoying the horses, so I didn't feel like making a big fuss over dinner. It was going to have to be no stress and easy to make. My solution was to first get my pasta pot full of water and set it to boil, then grab a bowl and dice up a few heirloom tomatoes, grate in a little Parmigiano-Reggiano, toss in some cubes of fresh mozzarella, chiffonade some basil leaves, add a drizzle of EVO and balsamic vinegar, and S&P to taste.
Next, I grabbed a baguette, sliced it, brushed w/EVO, and set it to toast in my toaster oven while I got down a small bowl and diced up a ball of burrata cheese (my current fav). This was placed on the table to smear on the crostini slices.
Then my choice of pasta sauce was pesto, as I had 2 basil plants I'd just picked up at Heinen's. Just a typical pesto recipe - so easy - NO cooking required! Take 2 cups of basil leaves packed down to measure, then toss into a mini food processor along with 1/3 cup pine nuts, a clove of garlic, and 1/4 tsp salt. Take it for a spin, then leave it running, while you slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup EVO until an emulsion forms. Scrape the pesto into a bowl and fold in 1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Once my pasta was nearly done, I took a ladleful of the pasta water and stirred it into my bowl of pesto before draining the rigatoni into the bowl to toss.
My pasta choice was a whole wheat durum rigatoni, which the package tells you to boil 10 minutes. Here's a couple of secrets for pasta and its sauce:
1 - Always generously add salt once your water is boiling. Pasta will taste rather bland even with the sauce if it hasn't been salted.
2 - Subtract a couple of minutes from the suggested time on the box, and when (in this case 8 minutes) that time is up, pick out one piece, run it under cold water long enough to cool it so you can taste test it to be al dente. You can always continue cooking if it's too crunchy, but you can never make pasta go from overcooked and limp to the proper firmness you truly want to experience.
3 - Just before draining your pasta into your sauce, take a large ladleful of the pasta water and stir it into your sauce. The starches released from your pasta into the water will help thicken your sauce, giving it a more creamy mouthfeel.
4 - The last minute or two of the suggested time the pasta should spend being gently stirred or tossed with the sauce over heat to combine.
5 - If you're not serving directly out of your pan, preheat your pasta serving bowl, spoon in the pasta with its sauce, then grate more cheese on top if desired, along with a fresh chiffonade of basil, and a drizzle of EVO.
We ended up with a lovely bowl of rigatoni with pesto, and tossed in some of the tomato mixture to our individual tastes, along with that delectable smear of burrata on crostini. I seriously think dinner was ready in 15 minutes - boiling the pasta took the longest time and that was only 8 minutes.
Next post, I'll tell you about another pasta adventure of mine - homemade basil fettuccine from Wednesday. Seriously, I think I've made a pasta dish 4 times in 10 days. Until then, ciao!
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