pasta for lunch

I was watching Criminal Minds and saw the episode where Agent Rossi had the team over for cooking lessons in his home and he cooked pasta. That made me want pasta so I hunted in my refrigerator and kitchen cabinets for anything I could throw together into a pasta dish.

I am so sorry that I totally forgot to take a photo of the cooked dish because the moment I smelled/saw/tasted it, I lost all control and just gobbled it all up.

But here is the recipe in case you want to see and taste for yourself:

1. Cook bacon until crisp then set aside.
2. Saute in olive oil some garlic, then add fresh mushrooms.
3. Add the tomatoes (I use whole canned tomatoes.)
4. Let simmer for a minute or two.
5. Add bacon.
6. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano. and basil. Taste and adjust the seasonings as preferred.

By this time you should have cooked the pasta al dente.

Serve the sauce over pasta.

dinner from an almost empty kitchen

It's one of those days again! Almost out of many things and I make do with what's available. I am putting off going to the supermarket because I will be out of the country by next week and it would not do to have too many things stocked in the refrigerator.

Tonight I was wanting some soup because the day has been gray and rainy.

Mushroom Noodle Soup

I found:

Dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in water to soften and then sliced - I kept a few tablespoons of the water for flavoring later on
2 small poor-looking carrots forgotten in the corner of the veggie bin
3 small bundles of egg noodles
1 medium onion, chopped
2 big cloves of garlic, chopped
2 hard-boiled eggs for serving with later
A little canola oil
A splash of sesame oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Then I:

Stir-fried the garlic and onion in the combined oils until translucent.
Added the carrots and stirred until coated.
Added the sliced mushrooms and mixed them all up until the mushrooms are glistening.
Seasoned with salt and pepper.
Added 3 cups of water. Added the mushroom juice I had set aside. Brought to a simmer.
Tasted the soup and adjusted by adding salt, pepper, or mushroom juice.
Just before it got to a boil I dropped the egg noodles.
Waited for 3-5 minutes while the noodles cooked.
Served myself a generous helping in a bowl topped with slices of hard-boiled eggs.

Lovely and filling!

What did you have for dinner tonight?