Tuesday, May 11, 2010

"Make Do" Pasta

You ever start out with one recipe and find that you completely misplanned and have a totally different set of ingredients in the pantry? That's what happened to me a few days ago. And surprise of all surprises, "Make Do" Pasta was born.

As luck would have it, I was unable to find Orzo in my local grocery store. So on a whim, I picked up mini shell macaroni, hoping to get a similar texture. And that was all I needed, or so I thought.

Fast forward to a couple of nights later, trying to put together a quick pasta dinner and discovering I had nothing that the recipe called for. Well, I guess "nothing" would be a bit of a stretch, but it was looking pretty dismal. But the kids were hungry and what do you do at that point? Can't run to the store, so you just "make do."

I sauteed up some zucchini, red bell peppers, spinach and asparagus. Made them nice and tender then threw in some minced garlic for a few minutes. Boiled my pasta on the side. After everything was cooked, I dressed it with a little lemon juice, salt, pepper, and just a pinch of garlic powder.

Now here's the real clincher. The original recipe I was working with called for feta. But as much as I like feta, it's not something I generally keep on hand. So again, no ingredients. What have I been stocking in the kitchen lately? BLUE CHEESE!

I know there are people out there who HATE blue cheese. Or, so I've heard of them. My husband claims to be one of those people, but the minute he starts to go down that road, I tune him out. I prefer rather to believe that such people are merely mythical creatures. Or at least exist in a far off distant galaxy.

In my world, only lovers of blue cheese exist and therefore, revel in this dish.

Toss it all together and you have a scrumptious summer meal. I just love easy, light summer dishes like this one. Hope you do to!
*If you must substitute the blue cheese in this dish, do so with something truly flavorful, like tomato and basil feta. But please let me live in my fantasy world.

*Linked to these Parties.

5 comments:

Carolyn @ My Backyard Eden said...

Looks yummy! I love both feta and blue cheese!

Mom2fur said...

Mmmm! It's almost like a pasta primavera, only jazzed up. I'm not a lover of blue cheese, but since I love blue cheese dressing, I bet I'd like your dish with the cheese mixed in. (I'd pass on the asparagus. I absolutely hate it.)
Clever way to improvise, and isn't that how all great recipes start out?

Amy said...

that is a yummy pasta for sure..
Thanks for linking up to the Round Robin this month..

Heather said...

That looks and sounds delicious, and I am a sucker for blue cheese! I love how your improvised and made a recipe that worked with what you had on hand.

Kaysi said...

That looks super yummy!!

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