Pasta Monday...uh, Month-8/17/09

Pasta is pretty amazing. Using it as a base, you can pretty much put anything around it and make a really good meal. Tonight's Gourmet recipe, the Mozzarella Arrabbitata Salsa, was from The Last Touch section that is focusing on no-bake pasta sauces this month. I had to look up what arrabbitata was and basically this dish is it. The interesting thing was that all'arrabbiata means "angry style" in Italian, due to the heat of the peppers. I didn't find this dish all that hot, which was alright since Eyrleigh was eating it too. It was a very fresh dish and felt much lighter than a traditional red sauce. It was interesting to have the mozzarella still in chunks, as the pasta was not hot enough to melt it.
I made dessert to go with this meal but I hardly felt guilty at all. This was probably one of the yummiest, healthiest desserts I've ever made. The Peaches Under Meringue on page 53 was simply a peach half sprinkled with sugar and roasted, then topped with a dollop of meringue. Meringue is egg white, sugar, and a whole lot of air so not a lot of fat there. The only problem came when I tried to make meringue with only one egg white in my stand mixer. I don't think there was enough liquid for the beater to properly agitate the white and it stayed liquid. When I tried again with two egg white, it worked fine. Eyrleigh looked cute as a button with meringue on her nose. I got it on my nose, too but I'm not quite as cute.
Mozzarella Arrabbiata Salsa-B+
Peaches Under Meringue-A

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