A Change in Plans

I had planned to make the asparagus pancetta flatbread pizza tonight, but after shelving our books in the new apartment all day (two English majors with grad schooling makes for an absurd number of books) I was not in the mood to knead the dough for flatbread. So I resorted to an old favorite that I haven’t made in years.

I tossed the asparagus with extra virgin olive oil and roasted it at 450 until tender-crisp. While the asparagus roasted, I sautéed diced pancetta until golden and crisp. I combined the asparagus and pancetta and served it over rice drizzled with a little evoo and dusted the whole dish with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

Dishes don’t get much simpler than this one, but there’s something delicious about the asparagus, pancetta, and cheese combination.

When Jon is away...

I'll play. Jon does not like shrimp and I love them. With him away at a conference, I pulled out the ol' shrimp scampi recipe. I used to make this dish a lot because it's fast, simple and tasty. I can't remember the origins of the recipe but I think that I combined one from Rachael Ray and one from Ina Garten. Most of this can be changed to suit your tastes, but I do recommend using lots of garlic.

Mince 4-5 cloves of garlic. Combine approximately 1 clove with 6-8 medium shrimp. Sprinkle liberally with red pepper flakes. Add the juice of half a lemon and extra virgin olive oil and toss to coat.

While the shrimp are marinating, cook the pasta. We've recently switched to whole wheat pasta. I have to say that this is the first dish I didn't like it in.

When the pasta is a few minutes from done, heat some evoo in a saute pan over medium and add 3-4 anchovy fillets. Cook until they melt. (You can omit the anchovies but they give the dish great flavor and is not at all fishy). Add the rest of the garlic and more red pepper flacks and saute until garlic starts getting tender. Add the shrimp and cook until done. Do not overcook! Add the pasta and toss with a little extra lemon juice.

I really like to add some chopped fresh parsley at the eat but alas I had none.

The sweet taste of summer...

While I was home in Virginia, I picked up this recipe from my mom. It's a simple and quick take on strawberry shortcake. I've already made it a few times for events and it's always a hit. The best part is that there's almost zero clean-up.

Ingredients:

1 store-bought angel food cake*

2 packs of fresh strawberries

2 packages of Cool Whip (light works fine)

sugar or Splenda

Tear 1/2 of the cake into bite-sized pieces and line the bottom of the dish. Slice one pack of strawberries on top of the cake and sprinkle lightly with sugar (this helps the berries make a little syrup). Spoon one package of Cool Whip on top of the berries. Repeat to make a second layer. Top with a strawberry for decoration. Done--delicious, fast, pretty and easy. What more could you want?

*Note: if you can find an angel food cake in a tall container (like the one pictured), you can invert the cover and use to hold the dessert and use the bottom as a lid. This is nice if you are taking the dessert to an event because the "dish" can just be tossed at the end of the evening.