Quick pork and mushroom pasta sauce

I haven’t been working at home this week, and missed lunch on Thursday, so was starving by the time I got to the market at 5 to shop for dinner.  Most of the pasta sauces I make are the all-afternoon kind, long braises of meat, garlic, and tomatoes in wine.  But, inspired by a large package of marked down pre-sliced button mushrooms and one of organic basil, I grabbed a 1/2 pound package of thinly sliced side pork (and 5 kinds of ice cream – it really is a mistake to shop when you are hungry) and headed home.

I try to keep canned diced tomatoes in the pantry, as well as pasta in some form, garlic, and olive oil.  There wasn’t any red wine I was willing to open for cooking in the house (need to remedy this pronto), but I wanted to go for a hearty sauce with bright basil flavor, so a splash of wine could go missing.  In retrospect, I should have put the pasta water on to boil the minute I started cooking the sauce, so I wouldn’t be found at the stove later yelling “BOIL!” at the pot.

Chicken liver paté

I recently got a copy of Elizabeth David’s Summer Cooking, and have read it cover to cover. Her style suits me, and her recipes suggest delights and enjoyment of simple fresh food beyond measure. Her recipes are also for the more advanced and adventurous cook, because they do assume a certain knowledge and because they are not precise. She expects a cook to be a person who loves food, who loves to taste and think about flavor and texture, a person who makes use of the senses with intelligence.

I went to the market yesterday for milk, butter, eggs, etc and stopped at the butcher who makes my favorite lamb/garlic/pine nut sausages. As he wrapped those up, I noticed a container labeled “young fresh chicken livers, $1.99/lb”. I’d been debating buying a chunk of paté from the cheese shop around the corner (they carry the standard Marcel & Henri brand), but thought well why not try making some?

Roast chicken, asparagus, and hollandaise

First, roast a chicken. You can do this several days in advance. Get a nice 5 pound or so bird, pasture-raised if possible. Rinse it inside and out and dry it thoroughly (paper towels or a hair dryer, or leave it uncovered overnight in the fridge. Set in a shallow roasting pan breast-side up (put it on a rack if you want, I don’t generally use one), and sprinkle generously with thyme and lightly with cayenne, black pepper, and salt. Let it sit while the oven heats up to 450 deg F.

Pasta with Lamb

I had a great idea for a post on comfort food, but that post will have to wait, as I seem to have misplaced a crucial bit of material evidence. (I assure you the above sentence will make sense just as soon as I make the aforementioned post.) In its place, I thought I’d report on the dinner I made this evening, which turned out to be pretty comforting (and one of those meals that seems to get better the more time I spend remembering it).

Lamb and pine nut sausages

On a whim, I bought a pound from the butcher last week, but they languished in the meat drawer. Today I lightly browned them in a bit of olive oil, then braised in 1/2 a bottle of red wine. About an hour, covered, in a 300 F oven. Served with corkscrew pasta tossed with olive oil, chopped basil, and a little grated parmesan. A++, would eat this again.