Who Says 8 is Enough?

Russ is the cook in our home.
I’m the baker.
That’s not to say that I don’t cook at all, or that I don’t like to cook, but my passion is baking and Russ loves to cook.

He also likes to tease me about it because… I’m a baker.
I follow recipes.
Whether they are my own recipes or someone elses, I typically tend to follow some sort of guide when I cook a meal.

Russ doesn’t.
He likes to just throw together ingredients and 9 times out of 10, his meal is delicious.
Seriously, it’s more like every time.

I swear he gets it from growing up in a house where his father, a fire chief turned caterer, just threw together meals in the same manner… a self taught chef.

To say I don’t have a little jealousy that the kids get excited when I tell them “Dad is cooking tonight” would be a big huge fib
(although, in fairness, I know they get excited when they smell something I have baking in the oven)

One of our favorites Russ just throws together are his pasta meals…
They are never quite the same because he measures absolutely nothing, but they are seriously always delicious and there is never enough left over.

He always starts with some sort of pasta (obviously ).
A favorite of ours is penne.He’ll cook it according to the box directions, drain the pasta, and then drizzle with olive oil & usually large amounts of minced garlic.

{Because, you can never go wrong with garlic!}

Typically, he will take some sort of protein, like chicken, sausage or seafood or a combination of a few, and saute it in a pan on medium heat in olive oil.
Once the protein is fully cooked, he’ll add vegetables of some sort (spinach, peppers, onions, asparagus are favorites) and he’ll saute those until tender.Then he adds diced tomatoes, mushrooms, capers, olives or any sort of additional add-ins that he thinks might be tasty (artichoke was especially yummy)…

Then he plates it.
Pasta first.
Topped with cheese.
(Parmesan, Romano, Mozzarella..whatever you like)
Top with a healthy serving of the meat and vegetable mixture.
Top with a sprinkling of cheese.Serve with crusty bread and a side salad.

And eat to your heart’s content.
Mangia!

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