How to Eat Supper

Do you know NPR's The Splendid Table? If yes, then you must know about the How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show cookbook. If no, then go find a copy. It has all the qualities a cookbook, or any book, should have: nice binding, great pictures, solid writing and strong opinions, and a pretty cover. Then there are the recipes, which haven't let me down yet.

I took their recipe for Sweet Roasted Butternut Squash and Greens over Bow Tie Pasta and turned it into Here's What I had in the Fridge Instead Pasta, and it was delicious. Instead of greens I used brocolinii, a delicious cross between broccoli and Asian broccoli, and substituted a different pasta and cheese.

Following their recipe I tossed butternut squash, broccolini, onion, basil, sage, and garlic with olive oil and a bit of brown sugar. 

Everything was roasted for about 25 minutes and then the whole sheet had a quick broil to caramelize the squash a bit.

Meanwhile, since my husband really thinks every meal and snack should include bread and I have him convinced that polenta is the very same thing, I started some spears crisping on the stovetop.

I had some really nice pappardelle left from a whole package. My ratio of pasta to vegetables is usually quite heavy on the vegetable side, much to my husband's dismay, but gives me less of a twinge nutritionally and financially when I buy a fabulous imported pasta. 

Finally, the drained pappardelle went back into the pot where it was tossed with the vegetables, a little half and half, and Parmigiano-Reggiano (another substitution). 

It's going into the recipe journal, by unanimous decision. The crisped polenta was a nice accompaniment, as would be some white beans with sage. Next time.