Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

Good morning!  A gorgeous, cool 60 degrees in the Park today. I soaked it up - Sofie hunted for turtles.  Bear chased Sofie. 

I made vegetarian recipe #13 last night.  I took it straight from Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen site.  It was really, really tasty - and - as she suggests, you can substitute a ton of vegetables for the sugar snap peas.  She suggested asparagus.  I don't really like asparagus, but if you like it, it would probably be good.  She also takes way prettier pictures than me so please check out her site if you like from the link I post below the recipe.  Note how Sofie is "Johnny-on-the-Spot."  Note how I am also getting very close to achieving one of my New Year's Resolutions of learning 15 new vegetarian recipes in 2013.

Vegetarian Recipe #13:  Bucatini with Sugar Snaps, Ricotta, and Lemon:
1 lb pasta of your choice- I chose bucatini, she chose bowties
1 lb sugar snap peas - stringed, nipped, and cut into 1/2 - 1 inch pieces
juice of 1 lemon
couple of big dollops of full fat (or low fat if you're no fun) ricotta cheese
1/2 cup parmesan + some for garnish
mint - cut into thin slices for garnish
pepper
salt

Cook your pasta in salted water, when it is still very al dénte - i.e. got about 3-4 minutes to go, add your sugar snaps and let them boil with the pasta for about 1-2 minutes.  Drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of the water you used to cook your pasta, then add back to your hot pot.  Add some of your pasta/snap pea water back to the pasta/snap peas, then add pepper, a bit of salt, and parmesan cheese.  Stir until melted.  Then add cold spoonfuls of ricotta, mixing just a little so there are nice, unmixed pockets of ricotta when you eat.  Squeeze lemon juice over your plate of pasta, then garnish with mint, and a bit more parmesan.  Enjoy!

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/06/bowties-with-sugar-snaps-lemon-and-ricotta/#more-10244

Carpe diem,

J