Saturday Night Comfort Food: Ravioli alla Tortorella

Last night, I invented this dish and named it in honor of the New York Rangers’ coach John Tortorella. There is no particular significance to the ingredients as pertaining to him; I just wanted to pay tribute to the man who has led my secret boyfriend Henrik Lundqvist and his teammates to be NUMBER FREAKING ONE IN THE NHL AND WINNERS OF THE WINTER CLASSIC!!! And whose name just sounds like it should be a pasta. Originally I was actually thinking of inventing a Tortellini alla Tortorella (you know how I love geeky wordplay, gentle reader), but I figured ravioli would work better, because the meat sauce would mingle with the cheese filling once you cut into the ravioli, whereas tortellini are all wound up tight (much like Tortorella).

While heating a large pot of salted water for a package of cheese ravioli (13 count), I sautéed a little over a pound of ground pork in a couple tablespoons of olive oil with a medium chopped onion, a bunch of minced garlic, and a 10-oz. package of cremini (a.k.a. "baby bella") mushrooms sliced and halved. Oh, and coarse salt and pepper of course, and some fresh thyme leaves. I broke up the meat with a wooden spoon as it cooked.

Once the meat was cooked through (it doesn’t really brown, it more like…whites), I added maybe 1/2 cup frozen peas, stirred them in to mix, and transferred the meat mixture to a bowl.

Quick Comfort Food: Fiori With Ham and Peas in Cream Sauce

As I've mentioned before, pasta is pretty much my go-to dish, and frozen peas are a staple. The simple one-pot, one-bowl meal I made tonight has some elements in common with Pasta With Peas and Bacon, and I think it serves to illustrate what a wide range of everyday pasta dishes you can make with a mix of rotating and standby ingredients.

This probably won't take more than 20 minutes, start to finish. You can use any pasta you like, but I thought fiori (Italian for “flower”), pictured at right, were awfully cute and would soak up a cream sauce nicely. (Incidentally, an image search for “fiori pasta” yielded this work of genius.) About three-quarters of a 1-lb. box of pasta serves two generously, although it's annoying to have a small amount left over, so you could always make the whole box and reserve some plain cooked noodles to add to salads or soup.

A Simple Spring Salad

This was a very lovely and delicious spring salad that I served with a lemon vinaigrette (Vinaigrette 101 coming soon, trust) and, at the request of The Rob, an on-the-fly version of Chicken Marsala (recipe also coming soonhere -- it turned out DE-LI-cious).

It goes without saying that you can vary the ingredients and/or proportions of any salad recipe--this one is really just a springboard for ideas a step beyond the standard lettuce-and-tomatoes formula.

In particular, it being spring, I was excited to use peas in a salad, even if they were frozen rather than fresh. If you have access to fresh peas this (or any) spring, say, at your local farmers' market, ZOMG you must try them--you can get shelled ones or do the tedious shelling in front of the TV, and the taste and texture are to frozen peas as home-grown tomatoes' are to supermarket ones'. They will erase any memory of negotiating with your mom about how many more withered little khaki pellets you had to swallow before leaving the table.

Anyhoo, here's what I combined in this spring salad, for two people (multiply as desired, with the proportions to taste):

Go-to Dinner: Pasta With Peas and Bacon

My ultimate standby recipe is pasta with bacon, peas, Parmesan, and garlic, a quick, easy, and wholly satisfying meal consisting of ingredients I usually have on hand.

I always thought of this as one of those dishes you want to make when you stumble home late and need something in your stomach to stave off a hangover. But then I made it for my friends' family, who include a 5- and a 2-year-old as well as a picky dad, and they all loved it -- so it appears it’s very family-friendly as well. To put it another way, it's so quick and easy that either a drunk or a parent of small children can manage it.

The main ingredients in this dish, pasta and frozen peas (get the peas in bags, not boxes, so you can control the amount you use at a time), are two items I recommend always having in your cupboard and freezer respectively -- they're wicked cheap, cheaper still if you stock up when they're on sale; they will not go bad; and together, they will ensure that you never have nothing in the house to eat. As for bacon, I recommend also always having a package in the fridge, but that's between you and your God and/or cardiologist.