next_to_normal | Cooking with Eowyn

Watch while I pretend I'm still on vacation!

In Key West, there was this really fancy restaurant that had some kind of fish in a key lime beurre blanc sauce, and we were all, "Oh, we should totally go there." And we never made it (there are just soooo many restaurants in Key West, we couldn't fit them all in), and my mom was like, "Oh, you never got your key lime beurre blanc," and I said, "Well, maybe I could make it."

I made Pan-Seared Scallops, pretty much the same as last time. I think I'm getting better with practice. And I used this recipe for the Key Lime Beurre Blanc. I was conflicted, though - buy the fresh (regular) limes or go for the key lime juice in a bottle? Having experimented with both fresh and bottled lemon juice, I'd found I far prefer fresh-squeezed, but the key lime is supposed to be, well, key, right? In the end, I went bottle, which may have been too strong. It was very limey, that's for sure, but I served it over rice, so that cut the flavor to a more manageable amount.

And now for some classic comfort food. I come from an Italian family, and so when I was a kid, my mother always used to make me Pastina. If you've never heard of it, it's a type of pasta, in teeny tiny star shapes, smaller than a grain of rice. The cool thing about it is that you cook it more like rice than pasta - you put in just enough water to cover the pastina, and let it boil until all the water is absorbed. Add butter and salt, and you've got a yummy kid-friendly pasta dish. So, of course, when I was sick, my mother bought me pastina, because it's easy on the tummy, and I had some left over and wanted to make a more grown-up dish.

I browned about 1/2 lb. of Italian sausage - I used a kind that was slightly spicy and flavored with sage, but you can use whatever you like - out of the casing. I also grated some asiago cheese (I didn't measure, but maybe 1 oz.? Use as much as you like!), and stirred both in with the cooked pastina (I used about 6 oz. dry) while it was still piping hot to melt the cheese. Then I topped it with some parmesan. I didn't really need to season it, other than the butter and salt, since the sausage added enough flavor, but you can play around with your favorite Italian spices. I did feel like it was missing something - when I was talking to my mother on the phone, she misheard and thought I said "peas" instead of "cheese," so I'm thinking maybe that or some other green vegetable would be a good addition. Oooh, or roasted red peppers, maybe. I don't like 'em, but I bet mushrooms might go nicely, too.

My parents are coming this weekend for Easter, and I said I'd cook for them. Oh, the pressure!