Spaghetti Carbonara

2 small or medium eggs
1/3 cup parmesean
1 Tbs butter
1/2 leek (or onion)
1 1/2 cup mushrooms (the ones in the picture are wild harvested Boletes)
4 oz pasta, spaghetti or fettucini

Whisk the eggs with the parmsean and set aside. Saute the leek and mushrooms in the butter. In the meantime, cook the pasta. The saute should be ready to add when the pasta is cooked. When the pasta is cooked, drain and quickly return to the pan. Drizzle the egg mixture into the pasta as it is being tossed. Have a friend help if needed, one pours, one tosses. The idea is to coat the hot noodles so the cheese melts and the egg cooks slightly. When it goes right, it makes a lovely cheesy coat on the noodles. Sometimes it clumps, as the egg cooks too much, but it's just as tasty. Add the saute and toss.

You can add meat, italian sausage, or ham, or prosciutto, but I think it's fine on its own. The original recipe is just onions, but I had ingredients to use up. I also think that whole wheat noodles would have complemented the mushrooms better, but I only had regular spaghetti.

Spinach-Gorgonzola Pasta

I can't believe my good fortune. My favorite bakery posted the recipe for my favorite dish that they make. I've stolen it verbatim from their site at Gayles Bakery just in case they come to their senses and remove it.

Serves 6 to 8

Gorgonzola Sauce:
4 cups of milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter
10 ounces Gorgonzola cheese
4 pinches nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 pound large pasta shells
2 bunches fresh spinach, cleaned and dried, or 1 package frozen
3/4 cup ricotta
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk until hot but not boiling.

At the same time, combine flour and butter in another heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat with a wooden spoon or whisk until the mixture has gently bubbled for 2 minutes. Be careful not to brown the flour.

Begin to add the hot milk to the flour mixture a little at a time while whisking vigorously. Continue to add the milk until it is fully incorporated. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, stirring constanly, until the mixture thickens, about 6 to 8 minutes. it will look like heavy cream. Crumble the cheese and add it to the hot béchamel sauce, whisking continuously until smooth. Add the nutmeg and pepper and stir. Remove form heat and let cool.

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente. Drain and set aside.

If using fresh spinach, blanch it 1 to 2 minutes in a little boiling water. Drain it, let it cool, and squeeze all of the water out several times. if you are using frozen spinach, let it defrost in a sieve over a bowl for at least 3 hours. Squeeze all the water out by hand.

Toss the pasta, Gorgonzola sauce, spinach, ricotta, and garlic in a large bowl until well combined. Taste and correct for salt and pepper.
Place in a 12 X 17-inch casserole dish and top with the Parmesan. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the cheese browns a little. you may make this a day ahead, and before baking, refrigerate well covered.

Simple Pasta Sauce

This is what I like to stir up for a batch of cheese raviolis, or some other equally Italian ravioli. Most of the time I let these be store bought, letting the experts do the complicated stuff. But plain noodles are nice too. This is chunky and I like it with large bits of pasta (i.e. wide noodles or penne but not angel hair)


enough oil to saute
1/2 onion diced small (and some garlic if you like a bite)
about 2 cups green beans, snapped to bite size
(or 2 cup of veg from the garden that would be nice - sometimes zukes, sometimes broccoli)
3 Tablespoons vermouth or vodka
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste and a few fresh herbs if you desire


Put oil into frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions (and garlic if you are using it) and saute until just turning golden. Add the green beans. Continue to cook until the green beans are turning bright green about 5-8 minutes. Add the vermouth or vodka and the tomatoes and the herbs if you got them.

(If the raviolis cook in 4 minutes this would be a good time to put them into the boiling water.) Continue to cook until the tomatoes are warmed through and the edges are just about to go mushy. It should also be making a light sauce at this point. Season to taste and pour over the cooked ravioli that are now on a serving plate. Sprinkling with parmesean is optional.