Little Bow-Ties

I haven't written for a while. It's not because I haven't been cooking or baking. I've been doing both. It's because I've been writing other things. Papers on Russian literature and the editing techniques of film noir. And I love writing both of those things, but it doesn't leave me much spare time.

What it does leave me time for is quick dinners, and midnight baking. I bake, as you can probably guess, for stress relief. It makes me feel better to have coconut cupcakes or homemade doughnuts in the house. But I'll tell you about those later. Right now what I'm thinking about is pasta. Tiny little bow-ties dotted with green spinach and parmesean, and glistening with lemon butter sauce. How does that sound?

I eat pasta all the time. I think it might be the only thing besides desserts that I always, always have in my house. But I was getting tired of tomato sauce. And I was getting tired of white wine cream sauce. I even tried red wine cream sauce, which turned a rather frightening purple color. I needed something else, and that's when Ina Garten came to the rescue. Does anyone have her cookbook? Because I'm obsessed. (It was also the inspiration for those coconut cupcakes I mentioned.) Her food is beautiful, simple, and so good that it's almost hard to believe.

I had to tweak this recipe a little. I don't keep caviar around the house. But even with my adjustments, it's become my new favorite dish to have when I don't want to feel like I'm eating junk, or something incredibly boring. It's easy, pretty, and so, so good. Really.

Pasta with Lemon Butter Sauce and Spinach
Adapted from Ina Garten

Note: I usually just make this for myself, but it could very, very easily be adapted for more people. Also, all the amounts are approximate--it's pretty hard to mess up.

2 c. pasta (I like farfalle, the little bow ties)
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp lemon juice
1 serving frozen spinach
Parmesean
Salt and pepper

Put water on for your pasta to boil. While it's heating up, melt the butter in the microwave and sautee the spinach in some olive oil, salt and pepper. Set both things aside. Once water is boiling, add the pasta. Mine usually takes around 7-9 minutes to cook. Drain the pasta, and toss it with the butter, lemon juice and spinach. Sprinkle it with salt, pepper, and parmesean.