sunday supper: more pasta, more green

It's a spring thing.



The weather gets warm and I want green stuff. And I just always want pasta. Last night's dinner was a pasta sauce from Lidia's Family Table by Lidia Bastianich. Back when I was with the BBC and working with PBS stations, I was lucky enough to go to an American Public Television conference where Lidia was promoting her new series and it's accompanying cookbook. A signed copy of the book was by far the best conference swag I've ever gotten. I've been a big fan of hers for many years. This was a sauce of asparagus, peas, leeks, and scallions. A simple, fresh topping for pasta, or a great base for a risotto.

Dessert was also spring-inspired, a mixed berry strata that I saw Giada make a couple of weekends ago.



J-Cat could not stop eating this. You can see the complete recipe here. I did choose to add more bread than the recipe called for (which was 4 cups). I added probably 1 additional cup, because it just seemed a little too liquidy when I initially mixed it. I used challah bread, and cooked it about 5 minutes longer than the recipe called for. I actually thought it would end up more custardy, but it was fantastic the way it was.