The recipe I’m sharing with you today is strange. While it’s called a gratin, it’s really more of a vegetable pie in a couscous crust. I found it on the side of a jar of wheat germ seven or eight years ago, which is also strange. I mean, who buys wheat germ? And then there’s the fact that I still regularly buy wheat germ just to make this recipe that I’m not even that crazy about. So, why share it with you? It’s partly because Matt requested it this week, but mostly because it reminds me of another strangely delicious baked pasta dish that my grandma used to make for me: spaghetti pie. It was a little brown and crunchy-chewy around the edges and the bottom was dense with egg, topped with tomato sauce and a layer of melted cheese. I adored that spaghetti pie and I was always excited when I got to stay with grandma and grandpa because grandma would always make it for me. I liked it so much she shared the recipe with my mom, but it wasn’t quite the same if grandma didn’t make it. Continue reading
Tag Archives: pasta
A Few Words to Say Goodbye to 2014
This is the last post of 2014. This afternoon Matt and I head to Berlin to visit our best friends. We will ring in the new year with wienerschnitzel and German beer. Like many of you, I am running a list in my head of the things I will do to make 2015 better, of the ways that I will be a better person this time around. You know, lose 10 pounds, eat more vegetables, volunteer for a charity, drink less, run more, pick up a new hobby, be an all around better person. My 2015 list is basically identical to my 2014 list and if this past year was any indicator, I will end 2015 as roughly the same person I am right now. This is the very definition of insanity – going through the same motions and expecting a different outcome. No wonder the countdown to the New Year always devolves into a drunken, manic, and frenzied moment of mass hysteria. Continue reading
The Matt Chronicles: Macaroni and Cheese
Ten years ago next month, Matt and I met in the Newark airport. Matt can tell you the exact date (and probably the exact time) because he has an uncanny knack for remembering scarily specific details. Speaking of details, we didn’t technically meet in the airport. I scowled at him from my seat at the gate, while he stood, arms crossed, weight on his heels, talking to a group of our Heathrow-bound peers. Matt has a knack for that, too. Being the one to introduce himself (formally and politely), to make new friends, and to start conversations. We didn’t actually meet until a week later, when I found myself in the dorm room next door to his and realized that I probably needed to acknowledge his existence. Given the impending anniversary of this momentous occasion, I feel compelled to share with you some of my favorite Matt stories and memories over the next several/very many posts. Continue reading
The Proverbial Chicken Soup
Tonight I am returning to routine, preparing to wake up to an alarm, and trying to remember how to survive a 9 hour workday. It was a beautiful last day of funemployment in Washington. Fifty-five degrees when I went for my morning run. It warmed into the low seventies, with a light breeze, and full sun. I opened our windows and the music and buzz of conversation from the annual neighborhood street festival drifted in. It felt like fall and a warm bowl of chicken noodle soup struck me as the perfect back to school dinner. Continue reading
Father-Daughter Lentils and a Lasting Friendship
We just returned from another weekend away, but this time I really wasn’t ready to come home. For the past four years, we’ve been going to Ocean City with my best friend Jeremy, his wife Sara, and for the first time this year, their cherubic son Jackson. We spent lazy hours on the beach, in the pool, drinking beers in the hot tub, and eating family dinners on our deck. It’s always difficult to leave the beach, that magical edge of the world where no one wears a watch and only your appetite and the tides dictate your schedule. But this year it was particularly bittersweet, because Jeremy and Sara and Jackson are moving to Florida in two months and this will likely be our last annual trip to Ocean City. Continue reading
A Very Special Bottle of Wine
My favorite type of meal is a celebratory meal and this week I have been inundated with them. I went to one of my closest childhood friend’s bachelorette party in South Dartmouth last weekend. Fifteen girls gathered to celebrate. We made tortilla soup and tacos for dinner, and eggs and bacon and hash browns for breakfast both mornings. We took turns stirring and taste testing, chopping vegetables and toasting bagels, we added salt, and we nodded in agreement at the improvement. It was collaborative and communal and satisfying in a way that I wasn’t expecting. Continue reading
For the Love of Pasta
Pasta has always been my comfort food. Mostly because it was the only food I ate for the first 6 years of my life, pasta with cheese and the occasional side of bologna or cucumbers. I had a very discerning palette. Continue reading
Cooking For Sig 