Saturday ...Projects and Pasta

... Penne with Roasted Purple Onions and Buttermilk Blue Cheese ...

Today was a day for poking around with scraps of fabric, the back end of a book, a Boston Red Sox game on the television, and this wonderful pasta dish that was the center of a supper with steamed green beans and lemony, breaded and crisped chicken thighs. It's been a good day ...

I am starting a huge hand-sewing project that will probably follow me to the grave, but I am ever hopeful, so I started it anyway! I'm going through thirty-five years of sewing scraps and cutting scraps to use on these nifty little hexagons. One day, there will be enough of them to sew together to make the mother of all random quilt faces ...a sort of postage stamp album of hexagons ... a monumental project, to say the least. I shall putter along, as I do with much of life.

It's funny to look at all those bits of fabric. I see a dress that I made for Sprout Sara when she was three years old. I see Christmas stockings made for the little church's Holiday Fair. I see curtains from a kitchen in the Rowley, Massachusetts house that we lived in during the 80's. I see pieces of the runner I made for my niece Marsha, a fabric that was made into a dolly dress for another niece, Beth. The memories that come with this type of quilt will probably brings tears to my eyes at times. There will be a million thoughts and a million tangential thoughts that come from them. There will be time on my hands, literally and figuratively. Stay tuned.

Let's get back to food, though. This was meant to be a GF dish, but I didn't have the GF penne that I thought I had, so ... I bowed to my urge for pasta and used a conventional brand. I may well regret it tomorrow, but it was so good this evening. I know. I can almost hear the GF-intolerant in the crowd booing me. Sorry. I DO fall off the wagon . Ooops.

It was pretty worth it ... what can I say ? I know. Next time, I'll store up on GF penne and be guilt-free.

Penne with Roasted Purple Onions and Buttermilk Blue Cheese

a Diana Henry recipe

Serves 2 with leftovers or 3 as a hearty side dish

Ingredients:

1 large purple onion, peeled and cut length-wise into thin wedges

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Kosher salt and black pepper

6 oz. dry penne pasta

2 oz. buttermilk blue cheese, crumbled

3 tbsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

½ c. walnuts, chopped and toasted

2tbsp. olive oil for drizzling over the warm pasta

Making the Dish:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Place the onion wedges on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle on the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, kosher salt and black pepper. Toss gently.
3. Roast for 30 to 35 minutes until beginning to brown and char just a bit. Shake the pan every once in a while to flip them about a bit.
4. While the onions roast, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta to al dente stage.
5. While the pasta cooks, chop the parsley and crumble the cheese and have them by the stove.
6. Toast the walnuts in a small dry fry pan and then, set them aside.
7. Drain the pasta and return it to the hot pot. Toss in the parsley, walnuts, roasted onions and all their juices, and the crumbled blue cheese.
8. Toss gently - just to distribute things.
9. Correct the salt and black pepper. Drizzle with the last of the olive oil and serve warm on a pretty platter.