Ambitious Deliciousness – Dont Eat Lazy.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ll say it again: I love all things that taste similar to pumpkin! The good thing our fall butternut squash is that it’s here to stay, even through the winter months. That’s how versatile they are!

This dish is going to quickly become one of my favorites; a good candidate dish to make for guests so that I can take all the credit for its tasty goodness while pretending to have spent all day slaving over it. A simple sauce is features the sweetness of the squash, mixed with earthy spices, then a hint of milk. I would recommend going easy on Parmesan cheese, as to not overpower the delicate flavors.

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During Thanksgiving weekend, I had the pleasure of cooking a meal for our extended family of 13 people. The thought was overwhelming at first, but I had a lot of help, which made the entire process go by quickly. It ended up being a fun group project!

At the kitchen table, I overheard my dad giving directions on how to devein shrimp. The next time I looked over, my uncles and aunts were deveining and peeling shrimp together while my little cousin grated some cheese. My sister chopped onions on the island while my mom peeled the squid skin over the sink, not to mention my other two cousins who ran around slicing tomatoes, turning the basil into chiffonade, and seasoning the caprese salad with fresh cracked pepper and salt.

We started with a caprese salad. I paired this entree with a simple romaine salad with cranberries, walnuts and feta cheese, along with garlic bread that my cousin so successfully made.

This yummy Italian dish is originally made with littleneck clams and mussels. I chose not to use those, due to a lack of access. Be sure to scrub the clams and mussels well, and make sure they are cooked thoroughly, until they open up.

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This classic Italian dish made of bacon, cheese and parsley was so scrumptious that I was really, genuinely sad when I was done and even wanted to eat it again the day after. I paired this pasta dish with arugula from my CSA share this week with some sweet, crunchy, seedless watermelon.

One thing to note – it’s important to time everything so that the sauce and the pasta are ready around the same time, as the heat from the pasta will help to cook the eggs. The water boiled too quickly for me, so I am suggesting that you start the sauce first, then make the pasta second.

A special shoutout to my cousins, who visited all the way from VA  One of them did a great job helping me wash the arugula and dice the parsley, while the other did an even better job of helping by eating!

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I went to a liquor store and asked for the cheapest vodka they had. The owner gave me a huge plastic bottle of vodka from upstate New York.

Penne a la vodka is one of my favorite pasta dishes to eat. Never mind favorite; it’s actually one of the few pasta dishes that I actually like. I try to stay away from the heavy cream based sauces. They are delicious but sleep inducing for me, especially after eating it at restaurants!

I didn’t have access to a recipe that I found on Food Blog Search (a great recipe search tool, by the way), so resorted to using a recipe from a cookbook by a person I don’t adore so much.

It was Rachael Ray’s 30 minute meals.

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