Kinda Sorta Pasta Primavera
Tuesday’s Dinner

I got home late from the Film Society, hungry. Carol is off at the toney Westerbeke Ranch on a “retreat” with her cohorts, no doubt dining on a gourmet dinner.

My weekly menu says leftover something. So I do what any guy would do, open the refrigerator. (Some guys might reach for the Chinese delivery menu, and I have done that on many occasions such as this.) Here’s what I found:

Some leftover spaghetti from last Thursday’s spaghetti with Tuscan meat sauce, A partial head of cauliflower and a partial head of broccoli from Saturday’s salmon dish. About a cup of my San Marzano tomato sauce, pretty much always on hand, stored in one of the handy POM Tea jars.

I can put together a kinda sorta pasta primavera, and add some ever-present Jimmy Dean hot sausage from the meat drawer.

This looks a lot my Saturday Brunch entry or Sunday Supper from a while back, but it just goes to show that eats for one has an enduring life, from the planned and precise to the thrown-together quickly, as long as I remember to take pictures.

I par-boiled cauliflower and broccoli flowerettes for two minutes each (cauliflower first, broccoli makes green water), and threw them on the magic strainer to cool.

[The magic strainer fits over the sink and allows vegetables to cool quickly and retain their color, much better than draining them in a colander and running cold water over them. Don’t remember where I got it, but I’m oh so glad.]

I browned about half-a-cup of the sausage, poured the tomato sauce over that – not enough — so I cheated and threw in a six-ounce can of Spicy V8 juice. I brought that to a nice simmer and folded in the spaghetti. Once that was up to a simmer again I added the cauliflower and broccoli just long enough to heat through, and that was dinner. The sauce was nice and spicy from the hot sausage and the Spicy V8, and the vegetables had a nice crunch and bright flavor.

Better, to me, than Chinese delivery, and probably quicker.