going vegetarian

I am a prisoner of restaurant dining.  A willing prisoner, mind you.

Our local restaurants offer up food good enough to keep me fueled through the day -- and at a price I can easily afford for my daily two meal intake.

But I enjoy cooking.  On Friday, I decided enough was enough.  Even though our local markets do not seem to receive the first quality produce, it is a lot better than anything my Salem Safeway offered.  So, I went in search of vegetables to make a pasta dish.

We are one season late for primavera spaghetti.  But that is what I eventually set my mind on.  Onions.  Garlic.  Carrots.  Little zucchini.  Tomatoes.  Poblano peppers.   I even found a couple of eggplant, but they were so far gone, they would not make a good neighbor to the rest of the culinary neighborhood.

Some basil, celery, and squash would have been nice.  But what I found would do.  So I thought.

I toted my trove to the house.  And rinsed them with full intention of cooking them up that afternoon.

That was not to be.  Friends invited me to dinner.  And the vegetables (now dry) went into the refrigerator.

On Saturday afternoon I pulled everything out to continue where I left off.  When I opened the vegetable bag I re-discovered one of the constants of storing vegetables in the tropics.  The carrots and peppers were fine.  The tomatoes and zucchini had evolved into an unappetizing puddle.

That was easy to resolve.  Tomatoes and zucchini are almost always available.

So, with a rinse they joined the other chopped vegetables, several anchovy fillets, and a lot of diced Kalamata olives to create the salsa for my spaghetti.

You have already guessed it is featured at the top of this post.  And it was mighty good.  Especially with the shaved Parmesan.  Good enough that I need to remember how much fun putting together a good meal can be.

If you stop by, I have a couple servings left.  And spaghetti is hardly improved by freezing.