wine – Page 3 – The High Heeled C*ntessa

Saturday Night In and Seafood

FML… this is me, starting over, after I just wrote almost an entire blog and then accidentally deleted it and couldn’t recover it. This single action sums up my week in a nutshell.

Yes, this also sums up my week perfectly. Alphabet soup is my go-to when I’m under the weather or in need of some comfort food. This is Amy’s organic brand, but to be honest, I prefer Campbell’s from concentrate…. it tastes like childhood and home.

I’m staying in tonight, and so happy with my decision to do so. I am mentally and physically exhausted and need a night of no-drinking, going to sleep before 1am, and some alone time with my thoughts. It was a long week (as every week spent working a corporate job seems to be), and I need some serious beauty sleep, as I am currently looking haggard AF. At the start of each work week, all I look forward to is making it to Friday again, with the intent that I will use the weekend to catch up on sleep and relax for once. That never actually happens though, since I also have to use the weekend to run errands, clean the house, and have a social life. Then I end up feeling as exhausted as ever by the time Monday morning rolls around again and like I need another weekend just to recover from the weekend. It’s truly a vicious cycle. I start to feel extremely unhealthy and ugly when I don’t take care of myself the way I should (i.e. drinking water, NOT drinking alcohol, getting more than 6 hours of sleep each night, etc.).

I drank way too much this week, ate really crappy, didn’t get enough sleep, and therefore needed this night of solitude as a means of repentance (not that I can undo the basket of sugar cookies I devoured, or the 6,000 calories in alcohol that went down my throat over the course of the week). I went over to a friend’s house on Wednesday night for dinner. We grilled squid skewers and skewers of baby potatoes. She also made a delightful beet and dill salad:

Night Vision: The squid and potato skewers on the barbie

The finished squid skewers, hot off the grill, and the awesome beet salad

As is par for the course, I consumed excessive amounts of wine, and then some half-assed blueberry martinis I tried to make. I woke up on Thursday with only 3 hours of sleep under my belt and spent the day at my work desk wanting to die and eating sugar cookies in a futile attempt to feel normal again. Will I ever learn my lesson? Probably not, if I haven’t by now.

Last night, I had another friend over and also consumed more wine than I should have as well as more cheese than I should have in such close proximity to hitting the hay. I can’t consume alcohol or heavy food before bed, because my metabolism goes into overdrive and my core temperature skyrockets to the point that I wish I could crawl out of my own skin because of how hot I get. How is it that a person can be sleeping in just their underwear, with NO covers on, when it’s only 45 degrees outside, and still wake up boiling hot? It’s uncomfortable… I can tell you that much; and it greatly hindered my ability to get quality sleep last night, so I’ve been looking shitty all day.

I started this week with every intention of cooking and eating healthy, but that plan went down the toilet as soon as a tin of cookies arrived at my work desk, courtesy (cough *SABOTAGE* cough) of one of the service companies we use. That coupled with my alcohol intake and lack of sleep has me feeling rather unhealthy as I sit here typing this.

I started my week with a broiled salmon fillet, some mashed potatoes (<— not particularly healthy, but damn good), and steamed spinach and kale.

9B5A3A6C-7FE2-4F76-A888-5E016C0416B6 — The only nourishing thing I fed my body this week

For the Salmon:

Start with one or two large salmon fillets; make sure there are no bones before cooking (skin on is fine, as it will come off when cooked)
Heat the over to 375 degrees
Generously oil a baking sheet with some olive oil and place the salmon fillets skin-side-down on the baking sheet
Drizzle and brush more olive oil onto the tops of the fillets and squeeze fresh lemon juice over them
Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, and granulated garlic
Cut another lemon into round slices, and place a couple of slices on top of each fillet
Bake for 15 minutes (give or take depending on the size and thickness of the fillet
Serve with a wedge of fresh lemon and sprinkle with fresh parsley

For the Mashed Potatoes:

Start with a sack of yellow or white potatoes, or use 3-4 large Yukon or Idaho potatoes; potatoes should be scrubbed thoroughly and cut into halves or quarters depending on their size
Boil the potatoes in a large pot of salted water until they are penetrable with the tines of a fork (usually 20 minutes of boiling)

I like to use the baby potatoes when I make mashed potatoes, as they don’t need to be cut up or peeled. I like to include the skin of the potato when I mash them, as it creates texture, flavor, and the skin is full of nutrients

After the potatoes are cooked through, reserve about 1/3 of a cup of the potato water (you can ladle it out into a measuring cup if needed)
Drain the potatoes (apart from about 1/3 of a cup of the potato water which you will mash them in)
Add a generous amount of butter (I’d say about 2 TBS.), salt and pepper, and granulated garlic and give them a good mashing
If they are to dry (which they really shouldn’t be if you added enough butter and left in enough water), feel free to add some cream or even a dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche
Make sure you taste test them to see if they need more seasoning!

One of the ultimate comfort foods… you really can’t go wrong with some good mashed potatoes, unless of course you’ve f*cked them up and they aren’t good ;p

I can’t wait to wake up tomorrow feeling refreshed having slept for 10 hours straight. I want to go off on a political tangent right now about the state of the world, but no one needs that since we’re all inundated with tragic news 24/7 these days. I guess when times are bad and it seems the entire world is falling apart, we have to make changes and make a difference where we can, and that means starting with ourselves (queue Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”). I’ve been trying to be more conscious of my plastic use as well as my use of palm oil products (hello Nutella …. looking at you). I can’t change the world or reverse climate change or animal extinction as a single person, but I can certainly do my part to help.

Kitchen Accidents and Wasted Cake

I’m a clumsy person by nature, I always have been and I always will be – drunk, sober, in-between… it doesn’t matter. At any given time, I have at least three (usually more) bruises on my body from running into shit or hitting myself on some object. My hands are usually covered in a splendid assortment of cat scratches, or burns from cooking. Spending so much time cooking, I’ve had several incidents involving knives to fingers, burns from the oven and boiling water, etc., but this week’s accident really took the cake. I was making an artichoke pasta using fresh artichokes, which are evidently hard AF, when I attempted to quarter them with a large knife. The knife slipped off the artichoke and came down on my fingernail – one of the worst pains I have ever felt. I was honestly scared to look as I thought I’d cut through to the bone. This is the second time I’ve ever had an injury involving a nail/toenail, and let me tell you – I totally know why they torture Prisoners of War by ripping their nails off now….

The pain doesn’t go away – my finger was THROBBING all night to the point that the pain kept waking me up out of my sleep, and the next day at work, it hurt to type at the keyboard. Naturally I was slammed with work that day and therefore wanted to die. My finger still hurts, although it isn’t pulsating now. The nail is basically cracked 3/4 of the way through from a horizontal angle starting at the cuticle… sexy, I know. What can I say? I’m not a kept woman or lady who lunches, and therefore I will never have the unblemished, manicured hands of my dreams. Unless someone wants to make me a kept woman or afford me the life of a lady who lunches… but even then, I am so clumsy and like cooking/doing crafts etc., so my hands would never actually be nice.

Fresh artichokes, although delicious, are such a pain in the ass to prepare – almost not worth it. Also, as I found out this week, dangerous as hell given their tough exterior… use caution.

My clumsy streak continued when I stubbed my toes so hard a couple of nights later, that I thought I broke a toe. Luckily nothing was broken, I just chipped the nail polish and now have a bruise covering the top half of my foot #blessed

This week’s injuries – check that bruise out! I haven’t bothered repainting my toenails, what’s the point? I’ll just run into more shit and chip them again.

In my last blog post, I was ranting about Dolly Parton not calling herself a feminist and how much it disappointed me – looks like I’m not the only one she disappointed: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/mar/03/dolly-parton-sister-ashamed-stars-silence-metoo-protest Dolly’s own sister is pretty peeved at her as well. Just thought I’d share – this is always a topic near and dear to my heart as a woman.

Anyhow, I feel like I’ve cooked such a random assortment of things over the last couple of weeks that I’ve neglected to share. Work was insane this past week, and I worked late three out of five nights, so my cooking was kept to a minimum until this weekend. I made these really awesome shrimp tostadas the week before last:

I cooked the shrimp in some minced garlic, smoked paprika, onion powder, cumin, salt, pepper, splash of hot sauce, and a splash of freshly squeezed lime juice. I also used purple (red) cabbage, which I now have a weird obsession with for some reason – it’s so much heartier and tastier than lettuce in salads, and so good for you vitamin wise. I made a sauce that I both tossed the chopped cabbage in and then put a dollop of over the shrimp once plated.

For the sauce, I used a dollop of sour cream, about 2 Tbs. of mayonnaise, fresh lime juice, smoked paprika, and a generous squirt of sriracha sauce (hey – I never said these were authentic Mexican tostadas…).

I made fresh guacamole to top it off (smashed avocados, diced cherry tomatoes, granulated garlic, cayenne pepper, fresh lime juice, and chopped cilantro), and then fried the corn tortillas in hot vegetable oil. Voila! A relatively fast meal to prepare, yet very impressive when plated, semi-healthy, and insanely delicious.

Sometimes I just want to bake – I don’t even like baked goods or sweets that much, but I think of baking as an artistic endeavor. I think I just like frosting things for the aesthetics of it.

I had some free time on my hands the week before last, and got the urge to bake a cake on a random week night. Since I am avoiding do my taxes for now, among some other things I should really sit down and make myself do, I decided it seemed like a great idea to follow through with my desire to bake a cake. Big mistake – it took so long start to finish (this is why I hate baking).

I usually only bake when I have to (Christmas, special occasions, etc.), but I really don’t like the process of baking. Not only is it time consuming (batch in – batch out of cookies over the course of hours, waiting for shit to cool before frosting it, etc.), but the precision required is painful for me. I guess I don’t really like to follow instructions or something, but in baking you HAVE to follow directions to a fault, otherwise it goes horribly awry. Cooking is great, because as long as you know the basics (how to make a sauce, how long to cook things, what combinations of food and seasonings go together), you can improvise. There really isn’t much improvisation to be had in baking. Anyhow, I think I enjoy the decorative part of baking. Sometimes I just want to see pretty, pink-frosted cupcakes, or in this case, frost and decorate a cake. I decided to make a red velvet cake, and it turned out alright – nothing to write home about. The recipe I used called for buttermilk and red food dye. I have heard the best recipes call for mayonnaise (sounds gross, but keeps cake moist) and beet juice to dye the cake (but ain’t nobody got time for that on a Wednesday night). Next time, I guess I’ll go all out with the beet juice dye.

Enough about my failed cake though, onto the pasta recipe that was out-of-this world delicious and nearly cost me a finger:

B580ECA5-A500-492E-873C-8652F08F44F7 — The finished pasta – rigatoni with artichokes, white wine, lemon, and Pecorino Romano – a really impressive pasta for the artichoke junkie in your life.

I’m a real junkie for artichokes – fried artichokes, artichoke dip, artichokes on salad, pizza – anything artichoke. *** A WORD OF ADVICE*** fresh artichokes are a real bitch to clean, whittle down to the edible parts, and also take FOREVER to cook. You’ve been warned.

INGREDIENTS:

4 large, fresh artichoke heads
1 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 cup dry white wine
3 lemons
4 cloves of finely minced garlic
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
4 Tbs. olive oil
3 Tbs. butter
Box of pasta – rigatoni or penne
Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Peel the tough, outer leaves off of the artichokes and then trim the ends. You’ll basically end up with an artichoke that is 1/3 of the size of what you initially started with.
Using a small knife, shave/whittle the base of the artichoke (the point where the leaves were attached), so you see the white, tender part of the base.
Cut the artichokes into quarters – be careful… they’re hard to cut! :p
Place the artichokes in a pot of enough water that they are fully submerged, salt the water, and squeeze in the juice from a whole lemon
Bring the water to a low boil.

9E80DFDB-1A27-41C6-ACA2-551E0368332B

While the artichokes are boiling, put on a pot of heavily salted water for the pasta and bring to a high boil.
While you wait for the pasta water to come to a boil, heat the oil in a large saucepan over low-medium heat.
Add in the minced onion and cook about 6 minutes or until tender and translucent.
Add in the minced garlic and cook for another 3 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic.
Once the artichokes have been cooking for about 15 minutes in the hot water, drain them and add them into the saucepan with the garlic and onion.
Add in about half of the butter (1 and 1/2 Tbs) to the saucepan and increase the heat to medium, stirring the artichokes so they’re coated with the butter/oil and cooking evenly.
Salt and pepper the artichokes, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, and then add the white wine – the heat should be high enough at this point that the wine makes a sizzling sound and steam comes off the pan when you add it in. Stir the artichokes frequently.

Add the pasta to the boiling water, and cook according to time listed on pasta box.
You’ll want to occasional taste-test the artichokes, to make sure they’ve become tender, and also see that you’ve seasoned appropriately (add more salt, pepper, or lemon as necessary – do keep in mind that Pecorino is a very salty cheese though, and will add a substantial amount of salty once added to the pasta).

Remove the artichoke saucepan from heat once they’re cooked through and tender.
Grate about 1 cup of the Pecorino Romano into a separate bowl

Don’t make the mistake I always make when grating cheese and accidentally grate your finger – it hurts like hell

Once the pasta is cooked, drain the water and add the pasta into the artichoke saucepan, or add the contents of the artichoke saucepan into the pasta pot with the pasta (whichever pan/pot is more accommodating)
Add in the rest of the butter (another 1-2 Tbs.), the Pecorino cheese, and juice from another lemon
Stir everything together until the pasta is coated and all ingredients are evenly dispersed.
Serve hot and accompany with a glass of white wine… or two 😉

I’m so happy it is Sunday – I just wish every day was Sunday. The only day of the week geared specifically towards taking it easy, lounging around and consuming food in excess. Maybe I’ll get around to filing my taxes tonight – I know the outcome is going to be depressing, which is why I’ve been putting it off as long as possible. I wanted to attempt a food vlog this weekend, or at least set up a Twitch account – I’ll look into that later. I’m not the best at technology and have no video editing skills of which to speak, so I’ll see what I can do.

Hangry and Sleep Deprived

What a day… I can’t even begin to get into it, or I’ll never stop. Let’s just say – I’m over it…. over everything … on every possible level you can imagine.

I’m currently listing to Dolly Parton, which is another level of disgusting in itself, considering that I hate country music and recently learned that Dolly doesn’t even call or consider herself a feminist. I won’t go into that either. I’m not sure why some women think the label ‘feminist’ is a bad thing, especially in the year 2019. It simply means a person (man, woman, etc.) who wants equal rights for both men and women (and everyone in between). I guess the people who consider it a dirty term have never taken a women’s studies class in their life, and therefore associate the label with a “feminazi,” or a man-hating, non-armpit-shaving, bra-burning, lesbian straight out of 1968 (**not that that would be a bad thing to be, even if you were that person I just described…). I’m just saying – calling yourself a feminist doesn’t mean you hate men or that you shun makeup and heels in favor of cargo shorts and trips to Home Depot. It means you want equal pay, rights, and equal opportunities for all – regardless of sex, gender, or sexual orientation. I guess in Dolly’s case, even though she has a large gay fan-base, she also has to cater to her equally-as-large, republican, pro-Trump fan base too… sad.

Dolly – you really disappointed me on top of everything else that disappointed me today…

201606-omag-dolly-parton-miss-mona-450x450

I had the shittiest dinner after the shittiest day – it was only fitting. I was so pissed off by the time I arrived home at 9pm, I had no appetite. I kind of love when that happens, but naturally I had to go and ruin it by drinking a glass of wine and it spurred my appetite into action. If I never drank alcohol, I’m pretty sure I would never be hungry. But, given my lifestyle, quitting wine isn’t really an option, unless I can take up MMA fighting or get a prescription for Klonopin…

881817FC-4EAA-4EEE-B3A1-D3B3583AD0D8 — If the outside matched the inside – this would be my attitude all day everyday… instead I’m relegated to Hillary Clinton-esque slacks and button ups and playing nice.

When I finally got home, ravaged and miserable, I fed my poor little catty, who should have even three hours prior to my arrival time, and then took a bath with a generous glass of Malbec. I proceeded to electrocute my face with the NuFace, since I have been so exhausted these past few mornings that I’ve neglected to do so. When I came out of the bath, I could smell my neighbor’s cooking – and tonight it smelled like fried artichoke hearts and stuffed mushroom poppers. Suddenly, I was salivating. Instead of eating pasta at 11pm, I decided to be healthy and make a salad to satiate my unrelenting hunger:

I guess everything is sad today – because this is one of the saddest salads I’ve ever tried to make into a meal. No cheese, nuts, olives, avocados, or any sort of protein or healthy fat. The salad is mostly purple cabbage. At least the dressing is homemade and delicious – that’s the only thing this salad has going for it. Kind of like the only thing I have going for me is my cute cat.

It doesn’t really help that I also only average about 6 hours of sleep a night or less. The only time it seems like I get enough sleep is on the weekends (and only sometimes), when I can go to bed at 10pm and sleep until 9am. This happens maybe once a month now, since even weekends seem to be full of obligations and plans. I feel like I’m so haggard when I don’t sleep – I seriously feel I have aged about 6 years in the past 2.5 years given my lack of sleep.

Anyhow, enough about me and my anger and sleep deprivation. Yesterday, I made a delightful pasta with a creamy sauce made of pureed zucchini. I’m too fucking tired to write the recipe, but I’ll update tomorrow if I don’t work another 12 hour day…. JK, I’ll write it now… what’s another 20 minutes off my sleep time?

The finished product: Penne with pureed zucchini sauce and cherry tomatoes

INGREDIENTS:

Box of penne, rigatoni, or fussili
4 Tbs. Olive Oil
2 Tbs. butter
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (plus more to sprinkle on top)
1/2 chicken stock
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 small, green zucchinis, chopped up into small chunks
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely minced
6 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 small carton of cherry or grape tomatoes, cut into halves
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
Fresh basil to garnish

DIRECTIONS:

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil (2 Tbs.) and butter over low heat
Add in the minced onion and cook for 5 minutes over low heat, until the onions are translucent and soft
Add in the minced garlic (about 4 cloves worth) and cook for another 3 minutes (as usual, be careful not to burn the garlic!)
Add in the chopped zucchini and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently
Continue to stir and cook until the zucchini is soft and fully cooked (taste test to make sure)
Remove the zucchini from the the heat
Place a large pot of heavily salted water on high heat and bring to a boil for the pasta
While the pasta water comes to a boil, add the contents of the zucchini saucepan into a blender
Add in about 1/2 cup chicken stock
Blend over high speed until mixture is thick and saucy – there shouldn’t be any large chunks

After adding the cooked zucchini, onion and garlic mixture to the blender, add 1/2 cup chicken stock blend on high until sauce is thick and blended fully

Return the mixture to the saucepan and turn to low heat
Add the pasta into the pot of boiling water and cook according to time on box
Add in the cream, salt, pepper, cayenne, dried basil and dried oregano as well as the Parmesan cheese and stir until all ingredients have combined into thick sauce
Add additional seasoning as necessary, depending on your tastes
Once pasta is done cooking, drain the water, and add the pasta into the sauce (or add the sauce into the pasta pot – whichever is more accommodating)
In a clean sauce pan, add in 2 Tbs. of olive oil over low heat
Add in another 2 cloves of minced garlic and cook for about 2 minutes
Add in the cherry tomatoes, season with a bit more salt and pepper and cook over low-medium heat for about 6 minutes

After adding the zucchini sauce to the cooked pasta, use a clean plan to saute the remaining cloves of garlic with some cherry or grape tomatoes in olive oil/butter

Add the tomatoes to the rest of the pasta/sauce once cooked through
Top with additional sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves

I wish I had a shot of adrenaline that would be dispensed into my arm when my alarm went off tomorrow morning. But sadly the best I could muster was setting up my coffee machine so all I have to do is hit a single button. Looks like 5 hours of sleep for me tonight…. cheers.

After-Birthday Blues and Garbage Take Out Food

I need to find a way to wake up like this every morning – waking up in ugly NYC and having to ride the MTA after drinking my cup of coffee in 2 minutes flat just isn’t cutting it

My birthday has once again come and gone, but the celebration isn’t over yet kids. I plan on going ballz to the wall this weekend come hell or high water. This past weekend was just the calm before the storm. I spent a relaxing 24 hours (… yeah, you heard me; 24 hours) in a cabin in the woods with my boyfriend and cat. It was perfect, despite being about 48 hours too short. The hot tub, the solitude, and the snow that fell Sunday night was perfect – I finally got some snow, on my birthday no less 🙂 I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect night in.

Finally some fresh snow! There is nothing better than sitting in a hot tub while snow flakes fall all around you

Mr. Peeper also enjoyed getting the f*ck out of NYC and getting some fresh, country air

The house came equipped with a grill and some sort of outdoor fire pit decorative thing, which miraculously kept burning even throughout the snowfall. We did groceries at the local Shop Rite grocery store, and they had a surprisingly good seafood section – the scallops were way better than the ones I get at my local ratchet market here in Brooklyn, and the fish was also excellent on the grill:

The pasta I made was incredibly simple (recipe to follow), but amazingly delicious. Don’t mind the ugly-ass plates… not my aesthetic. The pasta also looks monochromatic as f*ck because I forgot to buy fresh parsley at the grocery store

Grilled haddock kept simple with salt, pepper, lemon, and a drizzle of olive oil

Fresh beet and goat cheese salad… my favorite! The fresh beets make all the difference, although it is time consuming to clean, peel and boil them – they take about 35 minutes to cook through when boiling.

It truly sucks to be back in the city and back to work after such a short respite. I think I need at least a full week off to feel fully refreshed, and even that will be cutting it short (I think I am just not suited to working a 9-5, Monday thru Friday corporate job, if I’m to be completely honest…). I went to sleep at like 9:30pm last night watching At Eternity’s Gate (the new-ish Willem Dafoe movie wherein he plays van Gogh), but I still woke up absolutely exhausted and in need of at least 3 more hours of sleep this morning. I hate falling asleep before 11pm because I feel like I am wasting precious non-work hours. I am also upset that I missed the end of the movie, since it was right up my ally and I was really enjoying it. Willem Dafoe and van Gogh – two of my favorites… what’s not to love?! I will finish it tonight, if the rental is still available.

Tomorrow is already Wednesday, but the weekend feels so very far away. I guess you’ll have that when you live for the weekends. Last night upon returning to NYC, I was just too tired to do groceries and cook, so I ordered an eggplant parm hero and fries. What a way to start the week and celebrate a birthday. Anyhow, here is the recipe for the scallop pasta pictured above!

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. of wild-caught sea scallops (fresh or frozen is fine)
2 lemons
4 TBS. (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves fresh, finely minced garlic
2 TBS. finely chopped, fresh parsley (plus more to garnish… which I failed to do as seen above)
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 box of linguine (or fettuccine, or spaghetti…)

DIRECTIONS:

Put a large pot of heavily-salted water on high heat (for the pasta) to bring to a boil, while you prepare the scallops.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter and about 2 TBS. of the olive oil together, over low heat.
Add in the minced garlic and cook over low heat for about 2 minutes, being careful not to burn.
Add in the scallops and raise the heat to medium.
Cook the scallops for about 3 minutes on each side – I suggest flipping each scallop only once.
After the scallops are cooked through (I suggest taking one out and cutting in half to try), add in the salt, pepper, dried oregano and dried basil and squeeze in the juice from one lemon.
Once the pasta water has come to a rolling boil, add in the box of pasta and cook until al dente.
Drain the pasta and add into the saucepan with the scallops.
Add in the rest of the olive oil, along with the freshly chopped parsley, more pepper, and the juice of the second lemon and stir/toss together all ingredients.
Add a garnish of fresh parsley to serve.

#basicbitch

The Ultimate Sacrilege – My Week in Bastardized Food

It’s been quite a week, and it’s only Tuesday. Once again, I overindulged in a bit too much vino this weekend and thus have sworn off even a glass of wine with dinner this week (unheard of, I know…) in order to look super-svelte for my birthday next week. As a testament to just how much I overindulged, I left my purse at my friend’s house on Friday night – like who the f*ck leaves behind their entire purse? We did however make an amazing fondue though… so I guess it was worth it.

The next day, in an Uber back to my friend’s house to retrieve my purse, the car I was in got into an accident with a motorcycle. I decided to take an Uber pool, and when the car pulled over in Bushwick to let out the backseat passenger, she opened her door to the right side of the street and into an on-coming motorcyclist who was stupidly passing on the right. He slammed head-on into the back door of the vehicle with his motorcycle, which than fell over onto two parked cars. Lovely. Thankfully no one was hurt, however, the passenger who opened her door peaced-out to wherever she was going, and I had to stay and wait for the cops since I was a witness. The motorcyclist was also making me nervous as he kept screaming obscenities at the poor driver, even though it wasn’t the driver’s fault – it was his. He said terrible things like “go back to your country” and “you don’t even speak English – stop talking to me.” The driver was super apologetic and thankful that I waited around for the police with him and gave them the correct version of the story. I assured the driver it wasn’t a problem and I was happy I could help him out – it did add another hour and a half onto what should have been a 15 minute trip one way, but whatever. It’s amazing no one was injured, and I can’t complain because the driver was nice enough to give me a ride the rest of the way to my friend’s after the cops left, off the clock.

Saturday night, I had another friend over for shrimp tacos – I was feeling very inspired by an amazing taco dip my cousin made at his super bowl party: sour cream and cream cheese mixed with a packet of taco seasoning, layered with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, and chopped avocado. I topped it off with some home made guacamole and about a bottle of wine …. kill me.

Sunday morning, after a second night of indulgence, I decided to make pasta e fagioli (pasta and bean stew), which I have been meaning to make for the last two weeks… it was pretty tasty and enough to feed an army, as per usual.

I’m still not sure what I am doing for my bday – it’s up in the air between going away for a night or going out and partying here in NYC. Either way, I hope this cold I’m coming down with doesn’t stick around. I am starting to feel like shit ….

Tonight’s dinner – tagliatelle with salmon and spinach in a cream sauce (this is the ultimate sacrilege for Italians – combining fish or seafood with heavy cream and Parmesano). It was delightful and got the seal of approval from the Italian boyfriend

Tonight I made the scrumptious pasta pictured above – I wouldn’t consider it an Italian dish by any means, but it was f*cking delicious. I am feeling too lazy to write out the recipe… but I’ll do it for you anyhow, because I love you.

TAGLIATELLE CON SALMONE E SPINACI

INGREDIENTS:

1 large fillet of fresh Salmon, de-boned, de-skinned, and cut or torn into small pieces
1 ripe lemon (you’ll use both the juice, and the zest (aka the grated skin))
1 package fresh spinach (**do NOT use frozen)
1/2 stick butter
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 pint heavy cream
4 cloves of garlic (minced finely)
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesano
1 package of tagliatelle egg noodles (if you can’t find tagliatelle, another egg noodle will do – but regular pasta is too heavy for this dish)
1/2 tsp. ground (or freshly grated) nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Skin and de-bone the salmon fillet, tear or cut the salmon into small, bite-size pieces and set aside.

2. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter together over low heat.

3. Mince the garlic and add into sauce pan, stirring over low heat (as always – do NOT burn the garlic!).

4. Add in the entire bag or package of fresh spinach and stir, coating with melted butter and oil.

5. Add in the heavy cream and stir over low heat until spinach is completely wilted.

6. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil (for the pasta).

7. Add the nutmeg, salt and pepper, as well as the grated Parmesan cheese to the spinach/cream sauce mixture and stir until mixed.

8. Add in the salmon and reduce to lowest heat (the salmon wont take much to cook through) – remove from heat once salmon has cooked through.

9. Once the pot of water has come to a boil, follow pasta instructions and cook tagliatelle to al dente texture.

10. Drain pasta and add back to large pot; squeeze the juice from 1/2 of the lemon and grate in about 2 tsp. worth of zest from the lemon’s skin into the pasta and stir.

11. Finally, you will combine the contents of the saucepan (cream sauce containing the salmon and spinach) into the pasta and stir together:

57171184815__6862889B-2869-4D7C-BF91-8A9DEFF35424 — Serve hot and with a garnish of a bit more lemon zest on top, if desired

This is definitely a meal that will please anyone – despite being made with heavy cream, the fact that it is made with fish and also that the pasta is an egg-noodle helps keep it from being too heavy – in fact it tastes rather light.

Now that it’s back to being freezing cold and snowy/slushy outside, I am really craving some quality soups again (when am I not craving soup – let’s be honest). I wanted to cook homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese tonight – a classic, childhood ‘feel-good’ meal. Maybe tomorrow night. I may even go all in and bake my own bread if I don’t have to work late. I also have some dried split peas I’m itching to make into soup… nothing beats a good split pea soup!

Bolognese and Home

Currently stress eating Bugles and dreading going back to NYC tomorrow after a lovely three days at home (lovely, minus my work inbox blowing up all day…the beauty of work email on your personal phone 🙂 LOVES IT).

I feel creatively repressed and personally stifled just thinking about going back to the office on Wednesday. Hence, the Bugle binge. It was so nice to be out of NYC for a few days, away from the crazies on the subway, the scents of the sewers and trash-strewn sidewalks, dealing with the MTA’s bullshit, the commute into and out of work, and of course, work itself. It’s so nice to wake up and be able to drink my coffee at a leisurely pace while watching daytime TV as opposed to swigging it down while simultaneously applying mascara. The pleasure to be had in taking a long walk while the sun is still up in the sky, or to be able cook or bake at 2pm is insurmountable. It’s so nice to have control over my own daytime schedule and not spend 10 hours a day split between commuting and sitting at a desk. I guess it’s time to become a stay-at-home cat mom, or a SAHCM. I must find a way to make this happen… even if means selling my soul to the devil (oh wait, I already did… JK).

I was able to spend some quality time with my brother and his girlfriend on Saturday, as well as with my parents. I also had a chance to hang out with my cousin at the Super Bowl party he hosted, and took a long walk with my other cousin (his mom) earlier that day. And then of course, there was the quality time spent with the family pets, which is the reason I came home in the first place – to watch them while my parents were away. I got in a couple of long walks with and without the dog, and ate a lot of deliciously unhealthy food – some of which I graciously shared with Ceely (the dog), as she came with me to the Super Bowl party with me.

Saturday night, after grocery shopping with my mom, I decided to make rigatoni Bolognese for my parents – they loved it!!! Such a great dish for the winter (even though the last couple of days were unseasonably warm).

Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. of high-quality beef ( you can substitute in cooked brown lentils if you’re a vegetarian, or ground turkey if you prefer a healthier meat)
1/2 cup pancetta (OPTIONAL – I did not add this time, but I have in the past and it elevates to another level)
1 box pasta of your choice (rigatoni, spaghetti, penne, linguini all work great)
1/3 cup olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of a large sauce-pan)
2 large carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1/2 of a white or yellow onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 cup dry, white wine (Pinot Grigio works well!)
1 cup freshly shaved Parmesan (plus more to sprinkle over finished pasta)
1 large can of San Marzano crushed tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
fresh parsley
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbs. dried basil
1 Tbs. dried oregano
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. granulated garlic
Salt and pepper (add to desired taste)

DIRECTIONS:

Start by heating the olive oil in a large sauce pan over a low-medium heat
Add in onions and cook until a yellow-y translucent color (about 6 minutes), stirring occasionally
Add in carrots and celery and continue to cook over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally for another 5 min.
Add in garlic and continue to cook and stir, being careful not to burn garlic
Add in the meat (or cooked lentils) and cook for a couple of minutes over low-medium heat. If you’re cooking ground meat, break it up using the spoon or spatula (should not be left in large chunks)

Add in the white wine and simmer for about 3 minutes
Add in the can of crushed tomatoes along with the granulated garlic, sugar, salt, pepper, dried basil and oregano, and crushed red pepper; stir together and reduce to low heat
Add in the small can of tomato paste and stir in thoroughly; continue to stir and cook over a low heat.
After cooking over low heat for another 10 minutes or so, add in the heavy cream and stir
Add in the Parmesan cheese and continue to stir and cook, making sure cheese is incorporated into the sauce

Add in the fresh chopped parsley and stir
I advise taste-testing as you go along (make sure meat is cooked through before taste testing!), to ensure the sauce has a good balance – feel free to add more salt, pepper, pepper flakes, oregano/basil, or sugar if needed
Let the sauce continue to simmer over minimum heat and boil a large pot of heavily salted water for the pasta
Cook pasta according to cook time advised on packaging; once pasta is cooked to al dente, drain and either add to sauce pan, if large enough, or back to pot and then add the Bolognese sauce into the pot of pasta – stir well
Serve in bowls with freshly grated Parmesan over-top and a garnish of fresh parsley or fresh basil!
Voila! A hit every single time

I cannot wait to be reunited with my cat tomorrow – I am going to take him out in his stroller since it is going to be about 60 degrees. I hope that the rest of this week goes smoothly and work isn’t too insane, like it was last week. It will be nice to get back to the city tomorrow and be able to organize myself, clean the apartment, and make a nice meal before going back to work on Wednesday… I’m already thinking about what I can cook. That’s how much I love cooking – I dream of what I will make in advance :p

Polpette

What are polpette you ask? They’re basically a croquette – a fried meatball, wherein the meat is mixed with mashed potatoes, bread crumbs, and a bunch of seasonings and/or cheese. Oftentimes, they are stuffed with cheese, so that when you bit into it warm, it oozes out of the center. In a word, they are delicious.

Polpette are the authentic, Italian version of the bastardized Italian-American meatball. The ‘meatball’ as we know it here in the U.S., is the result of Italian immigrants making use of the abundance of meat that was readily available in every butcher shop or grocery when they moved from the homeland to New York/Brooklyn, etc.. If anyone enjoys food documentaries or cooking shows as much as I do, I highly recommend “Food on the Go.” It’s a documentary that is currently available on Netflix and is all about the evolution of Italian food into American-Italian food as we know it today! It was really informative and made me hungry for pasta, calamari, and meatballs.

The finished product: I used turkey and mashed potatoes to make these polpette, which I stuffed with mozzarella (recipe is below) – they can be served with a side of marinara or not… they’re equally delicious either way

Polpette, since they are prepared like a croquette, can be comprised of a variety of ingredients – anything from fish, veal, mortadella, or even squid. What really distinguished this ball, is the fact that it combines mashed potatoes with the protein and is fried. They originated in ancient Roman times, and today they are served as appetizers, snacks or bar food all over Italy, however, they are especially popular in Venice where you might take them as cicchetti, with a glass of afternoon wine. My favorite activity in Venice is probably sampling the variety of cicchetti each bar has to offer while drinking far too much red wine… and it’s so cheap compared to the U.S…. you don’t have to worry about breaking the bank.

Venice – I snapped this pic crossing a bridge on the way to one of my (three) favorite cicchetti bars

View from a little cicchetti bar we randomly stumbled upon while shopping… it was a Monday or Tuesday afternoon so the street was empty… nothing better than a leisurely glass of vino at 2pm when everyone else is working

To make the best possible polpette or meatballs, you should hypothetically use a combination of ground beef, ground pork, and/or veal. I don’t support the veal industry because it’s totally fucked up, and I also don’t like buying ground pork anymore because it’s impossible to find organic and ethical pig meat (unless it comes from a super small farming operation, industrial pig farms are not OK). I used turkey instead (I’m sure it was still abused, but at least it claimed itself to be cage-free, hormone free, antibiotic free, etc…). It’s pretty tasty and stays moist when combined with the milk-soaked bread crumbs and eggs.

INGREDIENTS:

2 Idaho potatoes (these will be peeled, cut, boiled, and mashed)
1-1.5 lbs. meat of your choice (turkey, or any combination of beef, pork, or veal if you’re a real sadist)
1/2 cup milk
2 slices of white bread, or baguette, or any white-ish bread you have
2 eggs
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup finely grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese
2 Tbs. freshly chopped parsley
1 ball fresh mozzarella, cut into cubes
Salt (add to desired taste)
Pepper (add to desired taste)
Granulated garlic ( ” ” )
Dried Basil ( ” ” )
Onion Powder ( ” ” )
Dried oregano ( ” ” )
Olive oil or canola oil for frying

DIRECTIONS:

Use the potatoes to make mashed potatoes (peel, cut into large chunks, and boil in salted water until penetrable with the tines of a fork… usually 15-20 min)
You can go ahead and season the potatoes as you normally would with mashed potatoes – a generous cube of butter, salt, granulated garlic and pepper

The key to really good mashed potatoes, is leaving some of the potato water you boiled them in in the pot… not enough to make them watery though

Set potatoes aside in a large bowl – the bowl needs to be big enough for the meat to be mixed in, along with all of the other seasonings.
While the potatoes cool, chop up the parsley, which you will be adding into the mix.
Chop up the mozzarella into small cubes and set aside – you will use this to stuff the polpette when the time comes:

Next, in a separate bowl, crumble/rip up the two pieces of white bread and pour the milk over them – there should be enough liquid that it is all absorbed and all the crumbs are saturated

White bread breadcrumbs soaking in milk ^^^ this helps keep the ballz extra moist 😉

Now it’s time to combine all of the ingredients – add the meat, eggs, seasonings, milk-soaked bread crumbs, grated cheese, and fresh parsley to the big bowl holding the mashed potatoes
Set aside 1 cup of bread crumbs – you will roll the balls in this reserve before frying
Add 1 cup of the breadcrumbs to the mixture and dig in! You have to use your hands – it’s impossible to do it right with a spoon. Make sure everything is thoroughly mixed – especially the eggs and breadcrumbs.
Heat up the oil in a large sauce pan/frying pan over low-medium heat – you should use enough oil that bottom of the pan is covered.
Now for the really fun part – making the ballz! Grab a small handful of the meat mixture and form it into a thick patty on your palm

The “patty” with the mozzarella in the center – next you’ll shape the meat over the mozzarella as if you’re making something with playdough

Before rolling the patty into a ball, place a cube of mozzarella in the center.
Form the meat around the cheese center, and roll into a ball
Roll the polpette in a light layer of breadcrumbs before placing in the frying pan
You can make all of the balls and set on a plate so that they’re ready to go at the same time into the frying pan, although it is unlikely that they will all fit at the same time, so you’ll probably have to do two or three batches.
Heat the over to 350 degrees and get a large baking sheet or casserole dish ready to place the fried balls in (I finish them in the oven to ensure they’re thoroughly cooked and not overly browned)
Fry the polpette over low-medium heat in the saucepan, turning with a spoon or fork to ensure all sides are evenly browned.
As they are browned on each side, remove from saucepan and place on baking sheet/casserole dish

Before going into the oven to finish cooking – notice how they’re browned on all sides… I like to sprinkle a little more chopped parsley on them for extra flavor and aesthetics

The polpette will only need about 15 minutes in the oven before they’re fully cooked through and ready to serve! These are great to re-heat the next day as well (or the next or the next… they can also be frozen)!

What a week it’s been… I can’t wait to be home-home (aka my parent’s house) for some quality R&R. Work was insane this week, and the cold made it impossible to get any walking done. I will miss my cat immensely while I’m gone – I’m riding home dirty on the Greyhound bus instead of the train, so he unfortunately has to stay here all weekend (they only allow pets on MetroNorth and NJTransit). He loves being at my parent’s house 😦 … poor thing 😦

Peep’s new cat tree – this is basically the face I made every time my phone rang at work today…

I am also looking forward to my hair appointment tomorrow to get some red low-lights added in. My hair has been going white, probably from stress. I’m not old enough for white hair yet… fuck that shit. I’ll just enhance my natural color and tell the hairdresser to concentrate the color near the front of my face where the whites are coming in hot and heavy.

Chicken Cordon Bleu and Sub-Zero Temps

Dude, it is SO F*CKING COLD…. and I am one of the few people who actually LIKES COLD!!!! It is not as cold in NYC as it is in the Mid-West right now, so I really shouldn’t be complaining. I also have a roof over my head, warm clothes, and food and wine to keep me warm and fed, so I should consider myself fortunate. I do wish I had a fireplace though, and maybe the option to call out of work tomorrow. Also, I wish I had a hot tub, some Manitobah Mukluks, and a snow suit, but I digress (next year, Santa…… 😉 )

I can’t stop dwelling on feral cats and stray dogs right now. I don’t think there are really that many stray dogs in NYC (it’s not Greece after all…), but there are probably scumbags who tie their dogs outside… I hope no one is heartless or ignorant enough to do that in this weather. I hope that all of the poor cats living on the streets were able to find some sort of shelter or slightly warmer place to hide out until this cold passes through – it’s devastatingly brutal. I have more empathy towards animals than I do humans, and I always will. A human can at least ask for help if they need it, and even homeless people have resources available when the weather is this brutal. Animals can’t ask for help or just walk into a shelter for the night. I just wish I could save all the homeless cats and dogs from life on the streets. I used to do my part by fostering cats, but that didn’t work out so well after about a year with two ferals who hid under my bed and had diarrhea issues non-stop. And all of this was DESPITE me starving to death on my lowly server’s salary while spending all my hard earned cash on the most expensive cat food available… good times.

The cold would be so much more tolerable if it were also snowing right now. We had about five minutes of snow this afternoon and that was that. It’s the only snow NYC has gotten all winter, and next week the temperature is back up into the 50s. Will we ever get snow this year? At least I’m guaranteed to have some snow when I’m at my parent’s house this weekend. Why am I writing about weather? Because I’m a loser baby.

The only upside of the cold, or going out-on-the-town in the cold, is wearing my pimp furs… I have one in almost every color now… perfect for warehouse parties and after hours 😉

I made a delicious bean chili last night, but it didn’t photograph well and is frankly a bit boring to write about. Not much of creative / hands-on process goes into making chili. I did, however, make a delicious chicken cordon bleu this past Sunday night. Although that also photographed rather unfortunately. It tasted amazing though (yes, I had to go “sometimes-etarian” and at least try it…).

Not the comeliest plating, but it was moist, flavorful, and all around delicious. Served with baked potatoes and Brussels

INGREDIENTS (** recipe below will make 4 servings):

1 1/2 – 2 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breast (organic, free-range, antibiotic and hormone free… some Gwyneth Paltrow approved shit… preferably raised and killed by your own hand)
2 cups Panko bread crumbs
1 cup shredded gruyere cheese
4 pieces of thinly sliced prosciutto (cooked, thinly sliced ham will substitute if your local grocery doesn’t carry proscuitto)
1 cup flour (for rolling chicken in)
2 well-beaten eggs
Salt, pepper, granulated garlic to taste
Olive oil (to coat baking pan and also drizzle over chicken)
Plastic wrap

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Set up your breading station: flour seasoned with salt and pepper (in a bowl), beaten eggs (in a bowl), and panko bread crumbs seasoned with granulated garlic, salt and pepper (also in a bowl)

This is the “breading station”: chicken rolls will first be rolled in flour, then egg, then the panko breadcrumbs before going into the baking pan (coated with olive oil) – season the flour and the panko bread crumbs with salt, pepper, and granulated garlic for maximum flavor

Place chicken in between two sheets of plastic wrap, one on the bottom and one on top, beat the chicken gently (LOL) with a meat hammer or a rolling pin

Next, you’re going to “fill” the chicken before rolling it up… place the prosciutto down first (one sheet per chicken cutlet) followed by the shredded gruyere

After the “prosciutto” (why do I hear Giada De Laurentiis voice saying this?) and gruyere are placed on the chicken, it is time to roll them up! Start on one end and roll it up like you would a piece of paper or sleeping bag… it should be rolled pretty tightly
Tightly wrap each finished roll in plastic wrap to help keep the shape and place in the fridge for 15 minutes

These are the pre-breaded chicken rolls, about to go into the fridge before taking a dip in the egg/breading

After you take the rolls out of the fridge, unwrap and bread one by one, placing the finished product into your baking pan (flour first, than into the egg, than rolled in the panko crumbs)
Drizzle the tops of the rolls with olive oil (this will help the breadcrumbs brown up nicely – you can also use little slices of butter on top in place of oil)

These are the stuffed and breaded chicken rolls, about to go into the oven

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 (since the chicken is pounded pretty thin, you shouldn’t need to bake much longer… maybe 35 minutes depending on how browned the breadcrumbs are looking)
To serve, cut the roll into slices so you can see that nice cross-section/swirl of ham and melted cheese; serve with a veggie or salad on the side!

I probably won’t be doing much cooking this weekend since I’m going to my parent’s to dog-sit/cat-sit the family pets. I will be doing some “meal prep” (ew…) tomorrow and Friday though, so that the fridge is full while I am away – otherwise a certain someone will eat pizza, burgers, and not a single goddamn vegetable all weekend.

I mean, who doesn’t love pizza? I almost finished off a whole one last Saturday… my new favorite pizza is from a place down the street called Chiara’s… so good

I’ll probably try to be somewhat healthy this weekend while I am at my parent’s house since my bday is fast approaching, and I will want to dress in some scandalous outfit if I go out to celebrate.

I’m sure the fridge at my parent’s house is already chock-full of my favorite foods waiting for me to devour them – that’s how they do, loading up the fridge and cupboards with my favorite things before I come home. I’ll end up sabotaging myself with a brick of pepper jack cheese from Pine Ridge and lobster mac and cheese from Wegman’s.

Oh well 🙂

Wine, Wine, and Cacio e Pepe

I was home ‘alone’ last week, and alternated between eating healthy and abstaining from wine on the nights I was actually all alone, to cooking gnocchi in cheese sauce or frying eggplant Parmesan and guzzling down the nectar of the gods in copious quantities on the nights I was with friends. There really is no in between for me…. abstinence or gluttony, all or nothing, feast or famine… give me life or give me death!

The random and “healthy” sh*t I eat when I’m alone and have no one to cook for ^ – I alternate between salads, blocks of tofu, homemade veggie soup, or weird shit I concoct using whatever I find in the cupboards. It brings me back to the days of almost starving to death while working as a waitress and having no money…good times. And yes, I take my meals in the bath tub sometimes….

Regarding my previous post on learning the art of driving stick-shift, I failed miserably at my mission and will be requiring a lot more practice. I thought I could handle jostling my boyfriend’s car around the local streets all week in accordance with NYC street-cleaning/parking regulations. However, I failed to even work up enough ballz to attempt to move the car, and had to enlist the help of my brother-in-law to move it into the parking garage. I thought I could handle it, but freaked out when I thought about accidentally flooring it with the clutch and gas, and hitting a car parked to the front or back, or stalling out in the middle of the street or intersection. I guess learning to master stick will be another goal for me in 2019.

We finally got some winter weather in NYC, although not the snow that was predicted earlier in the week – just bitter temperatures. My family (upstate) got around 18″ of the snow over the course of Saturday and Sunday. Naturally, after setting my sites on a weekend filled with glorious walks in the snow and an opportunity to camp out at home, the carpet was ripped out from under me, and temperatures were in the 40s. The weather channel predicted significant snowfall in NYC up until Friday, when the forecast suddenly called for rain. It rained all night on Saturday, and then by late Sunday night, temperatures plummeted to single-degrees.

I almost lost my favorite hat (pictured above ^^^) on Monday, when I had way too much fun at a friend’s birthday brunch party… (i.e. way too much to drink) and walked out into the 6 degree night without my hat to get into the Uber. Thankfully the restaurant had my hat when I called the next day… a true miracle. Only I would lose my warmest and most valuable hat on the coldest night of the year…. I am a mess. I guess this was karma for the fact that another friend and I accidentally took someone else’s hat by mistake on our Saturday night escapades… oopsie 😉

After my boyfriend finally returned home from Italy, I decided to make a nice pasta dish to celebrate: cacio e pepe. A classic Roman staple, this is a simple dish, using only a few ingredients, but perfect comfort food and maximum taste for a winter day.

INGREDIENTS:

1 box thick spaghetti (or bucatini, or linguini… whatever floats your boat)
Salt (to season boiling pasta water)
2 tsp freshly ground black Pepper
4 Tbs. Butter
4 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano (more if desired)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (more if desired)

DIRECTIONS:

Heat large pot of well-salted water over high heat (bring to a boil); in the meantime;
Melt butter over low heat, in a LARGE saucepan
Add freshly ground black pepper to butter, and continue to cook over lowest possible heat…. do not burn the butter!
Once water is at a heavy boil, add in pasta and cook until al dente (pasta box should provide cook times for al dente and fully done)
Stir pasta occasionally to prevent it from clumping together,
Once pasta is al dente, turn off heat, and using a measuring cup or ladle, spoon about 1/3 cup of pasta water from pot and add into the saucepan with the butter and pepper
Set aside additional pasta water – you may need a bit more later…
Drain the pasta and add the drained pasta into the pan with the sauce continuing to cook over low heat and stirring continuously
Add in (or if you’re like me, grate in directly) the cheese…. it is important the cheese is distributed evenly or it will also clump
Keep stirring and cooking over low heat, until moisture is absorbed by pasta and cheese integrates into sauce
Stir in olive oil, add more cheese or water as necessary… the sauce should be rich and fairly thick but still viscous
Grate more cheese over pasta when serving!