Veggie dinner, well not entirely

Saturday marked the one-week anniversary of moving to Mission Hill, Mass. It also signaled the low-point of my mood life during that span. Guilt, panic, anxiety and depression squiggled their way inside my mind. It wasn’t a particularly eventful day. I went to the ATM, CVS and the grocery store. Not like Friday when I visisted Lexington, site of the first shot of the American Revolution. But no matter where I go, my mind trudges along.

So to occupy the evening, I cooked a variation of the french onion pastina, a recipe from, I believe Michele Humes,  from the Serious Eats website, and the roasted sweet potato salad with red bell pepper, a recipe from Gabe Soria and Amanda Zug-Moore that appeared in Bon Appetit magazine (I used orange bell pepper). If it wasn’t for the beef stock, the entire meal would be a vegetarian delight. You could substitute vegetable stock for beef stock in the “pastina.” I didn’t make the Parmesan crisps.

This stuff took time to prepare and cook, but the payoff is worth it. And there’s leftovers. For the “pastina,” slicing the onions as fine as you can, as the recipe suggests, is crucial. Mine weren’t paper thin so it took  a while (probably 45 minutes until those bits turned a dark brown and amber patches meandered through the glossed onions).    

 

I substituted shortened strands of whole-grain spaghetti in place of acini di pepe (or other small pasta like orzo), and started pouring in beef broth without measuring. Cover the pot and cook until the pasta is soft to the tooth and has absorbed nearly all the liquid. I used one onion, whereas the recipe calls for two large for two servings.  And I probably threw in too much pasta. Anyway, this is a savory way to use spaghetti away from the tomato-based sauces. The beef stock gives it some heft and Parmesan, well, that just makes many foods better. Slurp the spaghetti, coated in the beef stock, which has a little flour and dried thyme mixed in. If you can find a good-quality beef stock, all the better. It might not be the most visually-stunning, or exciting-sounding dish, but it tastes good and it’s a recipe that could feed a group.

The roasted sweet potato salad with orange bell pepper (not red bell pepper as the recipe calls for) is a suitable side that is also a pleasant diversion.  I used balsamic vinegar in place of mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine) and omitted green onions. Make sure to cut the potatoes in UNIFORM chunks. Some of my cuts were larger and a little toothy. They also dried on the outside during roasting, so I didn’t use enough oil.  Other than that, this salad, with cilantro, is a nice change. The bell pepper strips are still crunchy and the balsamic didn’t overpower the ingredients other than maybe the sauteed-nearly-caramelized shallots. I wonder if the salad will be better if left to sit? I’ll let you know.

Have a great Memorial Day and enjoy the cooking, and eating!