Arne, Carlos and other good things

I had breakfast with Arne and Carlos this morning, catching up on yesterday's episode of sit and knit a bit. Left to right, Carlos and Arne. They always sit the "wrong" way just because.

They're in the local (Norwegian) woods today, a little nervous since a neighbor had seen a moose. They are the most calming and funny couple, well worth finding if you're not already a fan. I usually make a cup of tea to watch with.

Back at the ranch, the outside faucet is officially finally not dripping. In fact there's a new spiderweb across the top of the catching bucket. Proof!

And Winnowing is happening, rather specialized this time. Freezer Winnowing. The big freezer was getting a bit chaotic with the addition of the Misfit Market produce, and I needed anyway to look out dyes for papermaking. Here's where Joanne is an Influencer. Her lint has changed my plans, more about that in Art, the Beautiful Metaphor when I get to it.

Meanwhile the lint caused me to ditch a huge frozen bag of paper-destined foliage, opening up a lot more room.

 Then in the small freezer, the one above the fridge, I ruthlessly winnowed out bags of herbs surplus to requirements. I kept bags of about eight herbs that I'll use, and the rest is now out in the woods feeding the earth and probably the groundhogs.

Just to show you, here are all the emptied bags, washed and drying over the sink.

No wonder the freezer space was jammed.

I made the first pasta of fall, using the penne from Misfit Market, and the rest of the mushrooms. I thought I'd try that method of cooking the pasta in the sauce. Up to now, I've always preferred adding it afterwards, in the plate.

This is largely because my intro to pasta in NJ was in little Trenton Italian restaurants where the pasta was freshly homemade, probably by a Nonna in the kitchen, always family places, and very tender. 

 You treated it with care and it was wonderful. I've made pasta and it's delicate even when you've dried it. A couple of minutes in the boiling water is all it takes.

However, this penne, a very good Italian import, is harder, needs more cooking and can stand up to this more rugged process.

So I cooked down the mushrooms and chopped garlic, in butter and oil, and cooked the pasta separately for about half its recommended time, about 8 minutes, then drained it and kept the water.

At the same time I was heating in another pot,  tomatoes and tomato paste and salt and hot pepper flakes and a chunk of sage pesto, then added in the mushrooms and some pasta water.

All this I poured over the hot pasta in the big pot. It looked a bit liquid, so after a few minutes on medium heat,  I turned off the heat, put on a lid, and left it alone. Too early for lunch, anyway.

Came back and it was very happy. Just right. Penne is great for holding onto a really good sauce.Three meals from this.

On the subject of garlic, I expect you know that the more finely you cut, the more flavor you cause? Because every surface emits flavor and the more you cut, the more surface you expose.

So you can sling half a dozen whole cloves into soup for a vegetable as much as a flavor source, or you can finely mince for much more power. Here I chopped, but not minced, not wanting the garlic to overcome the mushrooms.

Credit for this learning goes to Dee Whitman, reference librarian by day, world class cook by night, who founded the South Brunswick library's Bite Club, and from whom I learned a ton. Take a bow, Dee!