Today is an atypical day for me and therefore an excellent day to start a blog. I am sitting on an island on a lake in the middle of the great state of New Hampshire. If you have never made it to New Hampshire, I would highly recommend a trip. It is nice and green, lacks pretense, and smells fantastic.
I have been only mildly employed this summer which has lead me to question all that is my life up to this point and where it may lead in the future. Specifically, I have been questioning the ridiculous path of being a visual artist. This is a path, my friends, that chooses you. I have spoken with many of my artist friends and we are all in agreement. If there were another option we would definitely take it. If you are like most normal people, you will find this declaration to be both annoying and ridiculous. I do understand the sentiment. But the level of self-loathing and shear depression that would arise by straying from this path is, for most artists, far too much to handle. We would rather toil in our studios and complain about being broke. I know plenty of wonderful people that had dreams of being artists but lost the spark, got sick of being broke, or ran out of ideas. These people have moved on to have something called a “full-time job” which gives them something novel called a “salary.” This, I believe, makes it possible for them to “do things” and “see people.” I do know that many artists do have full time jobs, choosing to do their work in the evenings and on the weekends. Maybe one day I’ll be capable of that, but at this point, cooking dinner and relaxing with loved ones makes this option undesirable. This brings me to my first recipe that is all at once easy, breezy, and beautiful:
Paddy Paw Pasta
Serves 4
30 minutes from start to finish
This recipe makes the best of farmer’s market fresh summer squash. You can use plain ‘ol zucchini, yellow zucchini, paddy pans, eight balls, or anything else that falls into this category. I usually use a mixture of all of these. I also like to use small zucchini as they tend to be sweeter. My pasta dishes are always heavy on the sauce. As I like to say, “Would you care for some pasta with your sauce?”
10 small zucchini or 20 paddy pans or a mixture
1 large clove or two medium cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons good olive oil
juice from half a lemon
1 cup fresh parsely, chopped
¼ cup pine nuts
1 lb of fettucine
salt and pepper to taste
fresh grated parmesan for the top
heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat
smoosh the garlic through a garlic press or mince it finely and add it to the pan
after 30 seconds, add the squash plus a pinch or two of salt
after 5 minutes, add the lemon juice
cook the squash until it becomes a little bit translucent (about 12 minutes total)
*meanwhile* put water on for the pasta
place the pine nuts in a toaster oven and toast them until they are golden brown-it is important to watch them closely during the process as they can burn easily. Another method is to toast them in a pan if you don’t have a toaster oven.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and toss it in with the squash, along with the parsely and the pine nuts. Grate fresh parmesan over it and sit back while your guests sing your praises, hopefully to the tune of “Baby’s Got Back.”