Art of the Odd

Macaroni and cheese.

With Italian sausage.

And organic veggies.

And chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.

All baked with a crust of breadcrumbs and shredded cheese.

Hey, I didn’t say it was good for you.

I just said it was good.

So, we just watched Breathless, which a certain young man I once had a terrible crush on told me reminded him of me. I’m no longer certain that was a compliment. I’ll hope he meant that our affair was romantic and a little dangerous, and not that I was a stupid girl in love with an asshole. (Joshua, if you’re out there – it was Breathless you were talking about?)

But that’s over now, and NovySan’s just made me a vanilla steamer (hot milk and vanilla syrup, and I see he’s added some nutmeg, too). Traci, over at 38 and Growing, introduced me to the vanilla steamer when we worked together in San Francisco, and I’ve gotta tell you guys, it’s like relaxation in a mug.

Especially when someone else makes it for you.

I don’t remember when Noirbettie posted that she’d just boiled spaghetti in wine and it was the Best Thing Ever, but she did, and then I did, and it was.

I immediately combined this Drunken Spaghetti with another great pasta recipe, Pasta with Cauliflower, Walnuts and Feta. (Seriously, if you’ve never sauteed cauliflower, go get yourself some olive oil and some cauliflower and give it a shot. “Wow,” I said, the first time I tried it. “So this is what cauliflower is supposed to taste like.” I don’t think I’ve steamed one since.)

Tonight, though, I asked NovySan if he’d rather have walnuts or sausage in his pasta. “Sausage,” he said. (I should have known it was a silly question.)

I figured out awhile ago that if I drop the sausage, which we keep in the freezer, into the pasta water, it’s fully thawed by the time the water starts to boil. Except tonight I wasn’t boiling water – I was boiling water mixed with wine.

Have you ever had sausage boiled in wine? Yes? Then you know what I’m talking about. No? Okay, put down the head of cauliflower – it’ll keep. You have to try this immediately. The skin goes purple, and the sausage picks up the most amazing flavor.

Now, pick up the cauliflower again and throw it together with the sausage and whatever else you’ve got (I had zucchini and asparagus and onion and the oil left over from making tortilla Espanola Monday night), and enjoy your meal.