Lazy Pasta

When I was younger, I was a very picky eater. There were more things I didn't like than things that I liked. This pickiness - which made my mom's life ridiculously difficult - stretched on into high school, to the point where if my family wanted to go out for dinner, I would get moody if they chose to go somewhere new because I wouldn't know if I'd be able to find something on the menu.

One of the things that I wouldn't eat was pasta with any kind of red sauce, which my family loved to make loaded with sausage and vegetables. Usually my parents would have to make me something completely different for dinner, but pasta had an easier fix - leave some pasta out for me before tossing it with the sauce and I'll fix it up with some olive oil, salt, and dried basil. This was a dish that my mom's friend Carolyn had made for me when she babysat, and it stuck with me as a favorite for my whole life.

When I got to college, I didn't know how to cook much, so I'd usually stick with a few easy favorites, and this pasta was one of them. I can't even tell you how much pasta I ate sophomore year when I cooked dinner for myself, but gradually I learned too cook with more variety and flavor. Additionally, and this is even more important, my tastes have opened up monumentally in the past three years. This pasta has fallen pretty low on the list of dinner options as there are many more flavorful and adventurous possibilities, but I still love to pull it out on a night when Corbin's at work because it's simple and doesn't require thought. It was, in fact, the first food that was prepared in our new apartment!

This evening, I shared it for the first time with Corbin (I know, you'd think we'd have done this sooner, right?), and we agreed that this dish, lovingly named "Lazy Pasta," is perfect when you have absolutely no idea what to eat for dinner, or when it's really late and you've already eaten but you're hungry again, or when you're too busy to think about eating dinner but you're hungry. I think that's even part of what I love about it - saving it for random, lazy nights, not allowing it to enter into the realm of "actual dinner."

To make lazy pasta, pull out whatever unfinished box of pasta you have sitting in your pantry. I forbid you to go out and buy yourself a new box of pasta unless you don't have a single piece of pasta anywhere in your house. Personally, I prefer short pasta - penne, gemelli, ziti as opposed to spaghetti or capellini - and this evening we used the rest of a box of elbow macaroni that I bought to use in my spicy tomato soup (believe me, you want that recipe - keep your eye out, I'll write about it). Once your big pot of water is boiling - and this is a step you don't want to skip - heavily salt the water. It will blow your mind how this will bring out the natural flavor of the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, cooking it as long as the lower end of the time range. If it says to cook the pasta for 9-11 minutes, cook it for 9 to get that delicious al dente texture. Once it's done cooking and you've strained it and served it into bowls, drizzle olive oil over it and add some salt and whatever italian blend seasoning you have that you like. The dish originated with dried basil, but I like to add a little more flavor with a rosemary blend we have. It's as simple as that! Quick and lazy.

If you want to make your pasta a little less lazy, do what Corbin suggested we do this evening - shave a little parmesan on top (fresh only! I forbid you to use those green cans of powdered parmesan). Last week I splurged on a small piece of Parmigiano Reggiano, so we grated a bit on top of our pasta and wow, did it taste good!

What's your go-to dinner on a lazy night?