It’s been a long week.. no no let me rephrase that.. it’s been a loooong month! Hands On Gourmet hosted 32 cooking parties last month and my dogs are killing me! Sadly, cooking for pleasure has taken a back burner. Late night tacos, jam sandwiches, chips, beer and random leftovers have been my main staple. I’ve been out of the loop with friends, surfing and my new hobby, blogging!This brings me to a considerably slower paced Saturday. Molly’s parents are here from Michigan. Jim is watching football and the girls just came back from the San Francisco botanical gardens. I’m still exhausted and would much rather read a book while munching on popcorn and sipping a black cherry soda. But the cook in me says “go at it boy”, get off your fat butt and make some vittles. So off to the market I go to forage for something quick and easy.

I always get a kick out the 20 minute meals you see in magazines… it cracks me up to see a beautiful manicured plate of food cooked in a mere 20 minutes!? come on… So with that in mind I bought ingredients for my own, at home, 20 minute meal. The photo above is the result. A bowl of fresh pasta with ripe tomatoes, herbs, olive oil, lemon juice, chili flakes, pine nuts, garlic, grated cheese and toasted baguette. Below is a step by step recipe. Try it and see if takes you 20 minutes, not including a trip to the market.

feeds 4 feisty diners
1. take out a large pot, fill up 3/4 of the way with water, add a dash of salt and a squeeze of oil, throw on flame (15 seconds)
2. turn on the oven (1.4 seconds)
3. take out cutting board, place a moist towel under the board, pull a sharp knife from the block (12 seconds)
4. crab a cold brew from the fridge, open bottle and take a long pull (blink of an eye)
5. rough chop 3 large tomatoes and 1/2 cup assorted herbs… mince 4 cloves garlic, grate 1 cup hard cheese, throw the baguette in the oven, toast 1/4 cup pine nuts in a hot pan (5 minutes)
6. open 1 pound box of fresh pasta and toss into gently boiling water, cook until al dente (3 minutes)
7. drain pasta and in the same pot fold in tomatoes, garlic, 3 tablespoons good olive oil, juice of one lemon, teaspoon of chili flake, salt and black pepper (2 minutes)
8. place the pasta in bowls, throw a handful of cheese and some toasted pine nuts over top, pull bread from oven. (3 minutes)

sit and eat! total time… 13 minutes, with time to spare!

A satisfying light and snappy meal for a lazy summer’s afternoon.This is Chef Stephen saying “boyyaaa” live from HOG Land USA…until next time

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 8th, 2007 at 8:50 pm and is filed under Food Experiences. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.