Sunday Supper

I awoke at 6:00 AM on Sunday. I watched the Weather Channel and it said it's supposed to be partly cloudy today. I hope they are right! After two days of damp, gloomy weather, I could use some sunshine!

I warmed up some coffee and filled out the Blog entry. I turned on Sunday Morning, over Easy and began to strip the bed. I washed everything but the green blanket. Why not the blanket? Here's my thinking: I don't touch it due to the top sheet and the cats don't touch it due to the bedspread, so it really doesn't need to be washed once a week like the sheets and the cat-hairy bedspread.

Sadie called in the morning to see how I was doing. After we talked, I got the bedding out of the dryer and made up the bed.

I mostly worked inside today and did get in a nice nap, but I went outside about 4:30 PM. It was sunny and 61 degrees F. I filled the bird feeder and so on, just little stuff, but it was nice. The yard was way too wet to cut, though.

At 6:30 PM, I began Sunday dinner. I'm using a Jamie Oliver recipe for Baked Camembert Pasta. Now, I went to buy the Camembert cheese at lunch on Friday at Westborn and immediately ran into a problem. The recipe calls for an eight ounce circle of cheese and is supposed to come in a wooden box (later, you actually bake the then seasoned cheese in the wooden box!

Well, maybe that's how it comes over in England where Jamie lives, but here at Westborn, I could only get four ounce wheels of Camembert cheese (made from goat milk) wrapped in tinfoil or get eight ounces cut from a big wheel of Camembert cheese made from cow's milk. I consulted the cheese expert (yes, they do have one) and she asked what I was doing with it. I explained and she suggested going with the slightly tangier goat cheese. So, I bought two rounds.

Now, what to do about the missing wooden container? If I just baked it on a sheet pan, it would melt everywhere. But, I realized the little wheel would just fit inside one of my ramekins! Problem solved.

Another benefit is that I can only use half the pasta and spinach mix and add in the baked cheese. Later, I can warm up the leftovers, bake the other four ounce wheel of cheese and enjoy a fresh pasta dinner during the week.

So, I took off the foil from the cheese round and put it in a ramekin while the toaster oven preheated to 350 degrees F. I scored a circle into the top of the skin, then lifted it off and discarded it.

I laid one clove of peeled and finely sliced garlic on top of the cheese, (remember, this is just half of the original recipe) sprinkled some pepper and drizzled a little extra virgin olive oil. Then I scattered half a sprig of rosemary leaves over the top and gently patted them with my fingers to coat them in the oil. I baked the cheese in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, until golden and melted.

Meanwhile, I put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. I salted it heavily when it came up to a rolling boil. When the cheese had about 10 minutes left to cook, I added one pound of dried Rigatoni pasta to the pot and cooked it according to the instructions.

Once the pasta was cooked, I added six ounces (or six cups) of fresh spinach leaves to the pasta pot - it only needs cooking for 10 seconds or so. I drained the pot in a colander and reserved some of the cooking water. I returned the pasta and spinach to the pot and let it wilt. I drizzled the pasta and spinach with a couple of good slugs of extra virgin olive oil and added 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan. Note: If the sauce is too thick for you, add a splash of reserved cooking water to thin out a bit. I seasoned it with salt and pepper and gave it a good stir.

I removed the cheese from the oven. Here's what the recipe suggested next: Divide the pasta between your serving bowls. Either drizzle the melted Camembert on top or pop cheese on the table and let everyone help themselves to a lovely, gooey spoonful. Instead, I reserved 1/2 of the pasta spinach mix and topped the other half with my four ounces of melted cheese and mixed it in well.

The result? It had a very interesting taste and texture (the texture was more gooey than, say, macaroni and cheese). The only negative thing was that I didn't season it with enough salt, but I easily remedied that!

I watched my usual Sunday night shows and went to bed when the news was done.