Random Acts of Cooking

We'd been home from our recent travels for what seemed like 15 minutes - but it was, in reality, 12 hours.

We were hungry, we were off schedule, and we just didn’t want to leave home to shop for food. We needed a full day in our pajamas.

The trip home had been endless. Delays. Canceled flights. Rebooked flights. More delays. Arrival in Tucson sometime around 2:00am. A long wait for luggage, which was pointless, as it had apparently never made the flight. Home. Sleep came at about 3:00am.

This is the perfect situation to assess the larder and see what you can do.

As my friend Mikey says, I am the kind of person who can open a fridge, see a jar of mustard and a half-can of flat Tab, and somehow pull off a three-course meal.

Okay, he is prone to exaggeration, but I do pride myself on my ability to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear - or a decent meal out of what's on hand. Mark is also really good at this. Sometimes I think it is moments like this that we are at our best together.

Mark often wonders how we can have a refrigerator that is practically overflowing, yet there never seems to be any food there. Dozens of condiments, partial containers of this or that, forgotten sauces, tubes of concentrated pastes, bits and pieces of leftovers.

But it's all that "stuff" that makes cookery interesting and miracles possible.

We use the term "pasta impromptu" for this kind of meal. About 20 years ago, we wrote down the recipe for Mark’s mother and realized that, in doing so, it was no longer impromptu. Not that we ever prepare it the same twice.

Now, all these years later, we have a nice stack of impromptu recipes. If they were good, they were worth writing down and remembering.

In the end, they are just a series of random acts of cooking, unplanned successes worth passing on. This is one of them.

~ David

Pasta with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Sausage, Olives, Capers, and Lemon

A.K.A. - Pasta Impromptu

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, cut into strips

1/2 cup wine, divided - red, white, rosé... sweet or dry

6 ounces spaghetti

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 shallot, minced

2 ounces hard-cured sausage/salami, sliced and cut into batons

1/2 cup green olives (with or without pimento), pitted and cut in half

1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and drained

2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano (1/2 teaspoon dried)

1/4 of a preserved lemon, pith only, rinsed, dried, and diced

2 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted

1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated

Place the tomato slices in a microwave-safe bowl and add 1/4 cup wine. If wine doesn't cover tomatoes, add a little water until it just covers them. Microwave for 30 seconds and set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt well. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Do not overcook.

While the pasta is cooking, place a large skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil. When hot, add the shallot and cook until softened. Add the sausage/salami and sauté a minute or two more. Drain the tomatoes and add to the pan along with the olives, capers, and oregano, and sauté another minute. Add remaining wine and cook until reduced. Finally add the preserved lemon, stir, and turn off the heat.

When the pasta is al dente, remove from the pot and add to the skillet, reserving the cooking water. Return the skillet to medium-high heat and toss the pasta with the sauce ingredients to mix well. Add a little cooking water, 1/4 cup at a time, to ensure the sauce is dressing the pasta well.

Divide among two large pasta plates and sprinkle with pine nuts and grated cheese.

Serves 2, and can be doubled or tripled.