A Yucky Looking Yum.

I conducted a cooking experiment last night. I had some left over red wine from the weekend and thus I was left with the perfect opportunity to try making "drunken pasta".

Below is my pasta boiling in wine: ...And this is my pasta looking like... (How do I put this?)... something that belongs on the inside of living creatures:

Despite it's visceral appearance, the pasta was pretty tasty. My drunken pasta was accompanied by baby mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, a bit of pesto, some Japanese style super thin sliced pork loin seasoned with my mom's blend of herbs de Provence, and parmesan cheese. Overall the pasta tasted rich and warming, but a little heavy because of the oil based pesto and red wine flavor. The acidity of a tomato based sauce or a variety of vegetables oven roasted with lemon zest would brighten the dish. This recipe would be one to perfect for cold winter nights.

Next time I would like to try using spicy Italian sausage or prosciutto instead of pork loin. Since the pasta itself is so flavorful, the pork loin just got lost. It would have been better as a separate dish. I may try putting a sachet of rosemary in the wine while boiling the pasta. I'm curious about how the pasta would taste if I had boiled it in a different wine. I look forward to continuing the drunken pasta experiment.

happy cooking. xoxo