Important: Use linguini or other thin noodle. The best kind is the fresh pasta found in the refrigerated section. Contadina is my favorite, but there are other brands. You’ll need about a ½ pound of pasta to feed two people.

Start your pasta water boiling while you fix the rest of the dish.

Mince 2 to 3 cloves of fresh garlic.

Next, sauté or toast the garlic in 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a deep skillet. It burns easily so be careful!

When the garlic is done, add 2 tablespoons fresh, minced parsley.

Add two cans of minced clams including juice and heat slowly.

Add about ¼ cup chardonnay. Splurge and get a decent wine—not one from the “cooking” wine section of the store (salt is added to ”cooking wines”). I use Fairbanks.

Simmer this whole mixture for a couple of minutes. It’s going to be mostly water.

Finish the pasta. When the pasta is done, add it to the pan with the clams. You need to simmer again, very low. You don’t want to boil off the juice, but you want some of it to soak into the pasta. I usually heat it through, turn it off and let it sit five or ten minutes, and then heat it up again.

Last, take 2 tablespoons of cream or olive oil and a splash of chardonnay and toss the whole mix around and around. Cream will help the clams stick to the pasta a little bit. The last splash of chardonnay will bring a sweet, lingering taste.

Serve with parmesan cheese and garlic bread.

Note: You can substitute shrimp for the clams—if you do, you’ll need to add bottled clam juice or about 1 cup of chicken broth. Add the chopped shrimp right after the parsley and cook through before adding the clam juice and chardonnay.

Wild Side While the mixture is simmering, add a dash of roasted pepper flakes! Not too many, just enough to hint at heat.

I’ve been playing with recipes for Alfredo Sauce for years. I found one that I liked in the cold section of my grocery and relied on that until recently when the price went way up and they slashed the size of the container. So this is my recipe so far. Subject to change. And it may be a bit hard to follow because the measurements are somewhat inexact at this time. Boil the noodles and have them ready before you begin the sauce. If you want grilled chicken in the dish, grill and dice it ahead of time. Mushrooms should always be cooked ahead of time, separate from the sauce. If you add uncooked or slightly cooked mushrooms to alfredo sauce it gets very thin and watery.

Okay, here it is, the almost masterpiece:

1/4 cup butter melted in heavy-duty sauce pan

To the butter add:
2 ounces cream cheese

Stir constantly with a wire wisk while melting the cheese/butter over low heat.

When the cream cheese is melted, it will result in a somewhat thick sauce. Slowly add half and half, about 1/4 cup at a time, up to about 3/4 cup. Continue stirring with the wire wisk as you add. You want the mixture to thin before you add the “real” cheese.

Begin adding shredded parmesan or romano cheese, about 1/8 cup (not packed) at a time. Add and stir with the wisk slowly to give it time to melt into the mixture. I used between 4 and 5 ounces total. If the mixture gets too thick while you’re adding the cheese, add a little half and half (drizzle some in–I’d guess about 1/8th cup) and then more cheese until the consistency is right. You don’t want it too thick–it will thicken as it cools and adheres to the noodles. I like mine just a little thinner/runnier than pancake mix.

The above amount easily serves two people as a main course (with chicken) with plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day. If you serve salad and bread, I’d say the above can accommodate four people.

The first few times I made this dish with cream–it results in a thicker sauce that doesn’t reheat as well (tends to separate). The half and half is also marginally better for me.

When the sauce is the consistency you want, toss the noodles and chicken in the dish. Grilled shrimp, crab and/or grilled scallops go very well in this dish also.

Summertime isn’t my favorite time for soup, but when you have tomatoes…you gotta use’m up! My neighbor actually made this little soup and brought some over. I’ve changed it here and there, but it’s a good summer soup with lots of veggies (you can put almost anything in here.)

2 cans chicken stock (4 cups)
2 cans water (4 cups)

Bring to almost a boil. Dip 5 to 7 tomatoes into the stock for about 5 minutes so that you can peel them. I do this using the soup stock so that the flavor and whatnot from the skins goes straight into the soup. When the tomato skins split, remove them from the stock using prongs. Set them in a bowl to cool.

Add three celery stocks (these do not have to be cut as you will remove them after cooking.) to the broth and simmer.

Dice two small zucchini and add to the broth, continuing to simmer.
Add 1 tsp thyme
Add 1/2 to 1 tsp finely diced fresh rosemary (This is a strong flavor so you might want to start with 1/2 tsp and go up from there if you like it.)

When the tomatoes are cooled, dice them carefully, saving as much juice for the stock as possible. Add the diced tomatoes to the stock.

Add 1 tablespoon sugar.

Optional: Dice in some cooked sausage. I used Wisconsin beef sausage (sliced about an ounce, grilled it, and then diced it.)

Simmer, covered for about an hour.

You can add meatballs, cooked beans (white northern, pinto or red) and other vegetables (onions, garlic, parsley). After the soup has simmered, remove the celery stalks and discard.

Prepare two cups of dried pasta by following the directions on the bag. Little shells, small elbow pasta or any small noodle will do.

Add the noodles right before eating.

It’s a simple soup, but a very nice tomato based soup. It is quite good, even on a hot summer day!!

An excellent pasta dish with or without meat.

Start water boiling to prepare a pound of pasta. I use linguini or pasta bowties for this dish.

Ingredients:

Fresh asparagus spears
1 cup fresh broccoli
1 medium chopped onion
½ cup chopped carrots
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet yellow pepper or 1 sweet red pepper or half of each
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
2 or 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
½ tsp salt
1 cup grated Romano cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
¾ cup whipping cream
½ to ¾ cup chicken broth

Use the chicken broth to steam:

Fresh asparagus cut to 1 ½ inch pieces
broccoli
Add pinch of sugar and pinch of marjoram

Sauté in 2 tablespoons olive oil:

onion
garlic
carrots
1 medium yellow and red/yellow sweet pepper
mushrooms

When the vegetables are crisp-tender, add the cream, salt and chicken broth from the asparagus/broccoli. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add asparagus, broccoli, and pasta. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of Romano cheese and toss. Add basil, another 2 tablespoons of Romano cheese and toss again. Remove from heat and let sit covered for 5 to 10 minutes. This allows the cream and flavors to blend into the pasta.

Serve with Romano sprinkled on top of each serving. This dish is enhanced by adding shrimp/scallops or grilled chicken!

This is a simple recipe because I use any Italian dressing as the seasoning. My favorite is Olive Garden dressing, but use your favorite Italian dressing.

Chop the following ingredients into bite sized pieces:

Broccoli
Cauliflower
Onions (green onions or regular onions. Purple or red onions add a nice touch of color.)
Fresh Mushrooms
Baby Carrots
Celery

Boil pasta of your choice and rinse in cold water. Toss pasta and veggies with dressing. Add green olives and sprinkle with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. Chill.

For added flavor try adding Italian sausage tortellini or cheese tortellini in place of some of the plain pasta. I usually use Buitoni brand and use about half of a package of tortellini. You can also use colored pasta to make the dish more interesting. On occasion, I will also put in halved grape tomatoes, pepperoni or grilled chicken.

A friend of mine makes this same pasta salad, but cooks the vegetables and serves it warm. Green, yellow or red peppers look very good in this salad.

Serve with warm buttered bread or garlic breadsticks!