Well we are delighted to have a new bully in the house. Meet Fats Domino, rescue bully from the New Orleans Bulldog Rescue, the perfect partner to our rescue hound, Kermit Ruffins. Just in time for Jazz Fest we have some new sound in the house—a choir of baying and snuffle snores. With the chickens clucking out back, call us a farmhouse Brady Bunch.
A friend sent me an ad for goats this week, and I honestly considered it. Let’s see if I can get the garden to put out some produce before inviting in more hungry mouths. Maybe a beehive is next?
Since we have been working on training and discipline with these two funny buddies, I am all about easy cooking. This recipe for a simple Grecian pasta is the most delicious and speedy one-pot delight. You can have it ready in a good 25 minutes. Just the right tinge of brine.
Spaghettini with Tomatoes with Kalamata Olives Feta Mint
Adapted from Food and Wine
1 1/4 pounds multicolored cherry or grape tomatoes
12 ounce uncooked thin spaghetti (spaghettini) (I make my own fresh because it tastes so much better!!)
2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups water, plus more
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3/4 cup pitted Alive and Well kalamata mother brined olives, gently smashed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh oregano leaves
1/4 cup O Meyer Lemon olive oil
Stir together tomatoes, pasta, stock, 2 cups water, 1 teaspoon salt, and crushed red pepper in a large saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta is slightly softened, about 5 minutes.
Crush tomatoes in saucepan using the back of a spoon. Cook over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until pasta is al dente and liquid thickens and reduces slightly, about 6 minutes. (If needed, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until sauce reaches desired consistency.)
Stir in olives, black pepper, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Divide pasta mixture evenly among 4 bowls. Sprinkle with feta, mint, and oregano; drizzle with oil.
If you are cooking this pasta up on Sunday, consider making some Game of Thrones s’mores for dessert! Our neighborhood (Midcity NOLA, the best) set up a screen outside and we camped out in furs, with folding chairs and bows and arrows, roasting s’mores and toasting to new mottos like, “The dead may never die.”
KP and I have long been fans of using Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups instead of milk chocolate squares. Now we take s’mores to the next level, I have a new favorite, instead of plain graham crackers, try Nairn’s Chocolate oat grahams!
Also tasty is Lekkco Belgian Dark Chocolate spread.
And if after eating a mountain of smores you are feeling some repentant and sluggish chagrin, as we should on Good Friday… take a Voke! Vitamin supplement that is Vitamin C, beetroot, guarana, cherry and green tea caffeine.
“Food for thought” –what a brilliant concept. And since I know y’all probably aren’t shoveling beets and cherries on a daily basis, why not supplement?
#braingoals is the hashtag to go with GOT character Bran. I’ll bet Bran started with Voke. Now, as for Fats Domino, here he is enjoying a yellow snoball. A different take on brain goals. #joygoals
