CARNIVAL TIME
With the Christmas holidays behind us, we in south Louisiana are now in the midst of Carnival season. Mardi Gras is early this year—February 5th and everyone is scrambling to attend a myriad balls, parades, luncheons, and cocktail receptions. Whew! After the whirl-wind, I’ll almost looking forward to the quiet season of Lent.
I don’t know what’s come over me, but lately I have been having an "envie" (French for "yen") for pasta. I’ve been cutting out recipes from magazines and scanning my recipe data base for pasta dishes. (If I’m not carefuly I won’t be able to get into my evening gown for an upcoming Mardi Gras ball.) Anyway, last night, I made meatballs from sweet Italian sausage that was removed from the casings, added a goodly amount of chopped garlic and grated Romano cheese, some Italian seasoning mix and a smattering of chopped flat-leaf pasta. After browning the meatballs in olive oil, I removed them from the skillet and discarded the pan drippings. In more olive oil, I sauteed sliced onions, sliced red bell peppers, more garlic and salt and crused red pepper. Once the vegetables were slightly wilted, I splashed in some red wine, returned the meatballs to the pan, covered it and cooked for about 10 minutes. The mixture was then tossed with cooked rotini and a little of the cooking liquid from the rotini pot and a handfull of shredded Romano. Not bad for a quicky meal. A salad of crisp chunks of iceberg lettuce, olive salad, cherry tomatoes tossed with homemade vinaigrette, and French bread spread with roasted garlic completed my meal. Yum!
During the week I made a chicken and sausage gumbo. The weather outside was awful—rainy, windy and cold! Perfect weather in which to enjoy a gumbo meal (baked sweet potatoes and hot crusty French bread and homemade lemon pie) while my husband and I cozied up in front of a roaring fire.
Let me hear what you’re doing in the middle of winter!
