I totally blow my supper!

(and I know better)

I washed my car at the quarter carwash at lunchtime on Thursday. It’s the first time in a long time. As I told Jake, I was tired of driving by various grass sprinklers in the morning to try and wash the dust off (a trick I learned when I was on part-time).

Once home, I went to get out a beef roast for Friday night’s crock-pot dinner. But, there were none in the freezer! I don’t understand this, other than we must have gotten a lot less “cow” last fall. I had tons of meat left over from the year before when we got this load. But, now I am out of hamburger and out of roasts. I have only some stew meat, one or two short ribs and about eight steaks left. I don’t recall eating that much beef during the winter and spring...

When I got home after work, I watched the news until 7:00 PM and then went to make the dinner I’d planned with the mascarpone cheese and Pecorino Romano cheese I bought yesterday. It is a Giada De Laurentis recipe called Fusilli with Pecorino Romano and Pepper (there is an Italian name for it that I can’t even pronounce, much less spell). Now I could only find Fusilli pasta in whole wheat (which I hate), so I settled for its American cousin, Rotini (they are identical, in shape, anyway).

So, I brought a large pot of salted water to boil and added a pound of Rotini.

Meanwhile, I heated a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil in my 12-inch skillet over medium heat. I added two cloves of smashed and peeled garlic and heated that until lightly brown, about two minutes (hint: If you can smell the garlic, pull it out. Garlic can burn in an instant and turns the oil bitter). Discard the garlic (it’s only purpose is to perfume the oil).

I added five cups of rough-chopped baby spinach (along with two teaspoons of coarse ground black pepper) and let it wilt (about a minute). I added the al dente pasta after draining and reserving about 3/4 cup of the pasta water, and then I added about 1 1/2 cups of the Pecorino Romano I had grated. Then I put in two more teaspoons of coarse ground pepper and two teaspoons of salt.

I was following the recipe you see. And, that’s where I blew it. I didn’t taste it as I went along (and I know better, dammit!)

I mixed the reserved pasta water with the mascarpone cheese until smooth. I poured it over the pasta after and tossed it until coated. Then the instructions were to season it with salt.

I plated it and went to eat it and it was WAY too salty (and I like salt). I don’t know (since I’ve never used it before) if Pecorino Romano is saltier than say, Parmigiano-Reggiano (my go-to Italian cheese) or what. I did manage to down the bowl I’d plated, but the rest of it went into the trash (and my stomach was upset for the rest of the night).

I will definitely try this again (it looks and sounds fantastic) but this particular meal was a complete waste (and I won’t even tell you what I spent for the Pecorino Romano).

I was so pissed...